Water "Therapy"

My husband played water polo for his high school. He loves swimming and his mom is proud of the fact that he swam before he walked. Before Collin was born Dan and I agreed that we wouldn't have any expectations of him (this had nothing to do with his syndrome because we didn't find out until after he was born). We just wanted to support him in whatever he decided was right for him. So keeping that in mind I didn't ever really think about putting him in a pool at an early age.

After was born and diagnosed I decided that being in the pool would probably help with his low muscle tone so I went out and bought a baby life vest and swim trunks for him. When he was around 5 weeks we started him out in a nice warm bath to get him used to the vest and suit. He sucked on the vest and kicked the walls of the tub and moved himself around the tiny bath.

I waited a few weeks and then we got him into the pool at our apartment complex. When we first put his little feet into the cooler water he let out a little squawk so we took him out and were worried that he wasn't going to like it. The last thing that we wanted to do is make him hate the water. We waited a few minutes and tried again.

This time he just looked up at us and then started kicking. He really does enjoy water. Now he will kick around the pool and has started to use the walls of the pool to propel himself. I found a swim class for infants but I've decided to wait and take him to the one for 6 month olds. I can't wait to see him swimming without the vest. I hope this is something that he continues to enjoy.

The Hair



Collin's uncontrollable mane.

 

My little brother and his crazy do.

 Collin is blessed with a bit more hair than the typical baby. People are always commenting on it. They always think that it is so cute that I style it into a faux hawk. The truth is that I try my hardest to get it to stay down. Unfortunately it is in his blood and you can't fight genetics. Good thing it is so cute.  

Independence Day



3 carseats in the back seat of our truck!



My husband and I have always moved away for work during the summer. In past years we have gone to California. This year we decided to come to Oregon and it has been a lot of fun. Dan grew up here and still has two brothers living nearby. His older brother is married with two boys.

Yesterday for Independence day we went with his wife and boys to the Tillamook cheese factory and then the beach. Tillamook was delicious and a needed break from the drive to the beach.

Oregon beaches are nothing like California beaches. The high yesterday was 65 degrees and it was super windy, and we were still excited because it wasn't cloudy. Collin was extremely fussy when we got there. He did not stop screaming until we got him into the tent that Dan was smart enough to bring. I tried a few times to take him out of the tent but he would have none of it. So Dan and I took turns caring for him and our gutless pitbull in the tent.

When it was Dan's turn to man the tent I got to spend time playing in the sand with my nephews, they are 1 and 4. I saw that the people around us had all dug holes as shelter from the wind, so I grabbed the biggest toy shovel we had and broke ground. My youngest nephew had fun throwing toys into the hole so that I could throw them back out to him, and my oldest nephew had fun standing on the edge of the hole to make sand slide in.

  

By the time my glorious hole was finished it was almost time to watch fireworks. We didn't end up using the hole because one nephew fell asleep on his mom's lap, one nephew and one dog were scared, and one baby had to be filmed because he loved the fireworks. It was such a sweet experience to watch the wonder and awe in my son's eyes. I get so used to the routine of nursing, playing sleeping, nursing, playing, sleeping, I sometimes forget that he is someone unique and special and fun.

Reactive Smile

Collin is 12 weeks old and he has been smiling when I touch his bottom lip for a month or so, but yesterday he started to smile in reaction to my goofy smile. It is so much fun to know that he is continuing to develop his senses. Now I know that he can see me and he can tell when I am making different faces.

I loved grocery shopping with him yesterday because every time he saw me smiling at him he gave me a little sunshine in return. It is such a great feeling to know that he is happy. For the first little while I just assumed that whenever he wasn't crying he was happy, now I get to know he is happy whenever he is feeling happy.

Dan is a little jealous because he hasn't gotten that same reaction from him yet. I keep telling him that getting to see his progress before everyone else is one of the upsides and that most of the time caring for him is pretty hard work... hard, but rewarding work.

Birth

Well, let's start from the beginning. (I wish that I would have sat down to write the birth story sooner than this, but I have been a little busy trying to figure out my new life.) I am a Type 1 diabetic with a history of pregnancy loss so I was monitored very closely throughout my pregnancy. Because of the diabetes my doctor's thought that they might want to induce me early term around 37 weeks or so. So on Thursday April 5th at 37 weeks I was really anxious to have a baby. At 8:45 am after we updated our Facebook status to something like "we might be parents in 24 hours!" we went in to the hospital for our scheduled amniocentesis.

An amniocentesis is a minor procedure that the doctor does to extract some amniotic fluid. This is done doing an ultrasound while inserting a needle into the womb and extracting amniotic fluid. The doctor then sends the fluid down to the lab to check the level of surfactant in the baby's lungs. Surfactant is a substance that keeps the baby's lungs from collapsing after that first breath out of the womb. ~ ok, I think I have reached my educational quota for this post  ~

While we were waiting for the results of the amniocentesis my husband and I went to have my bi-weekly stress test. The doctor came in maybe 30 minutes into the test to tell us that the test results only came back as a 13. I have no idea what the number means, I only know that we needed a 28 to start the induction. My husband updated our status to "not having a baby today". I was pretty upset, but I would not give up, I knew we were going to have him today.

The stress test wasn't going well. They noticed that his heart kept decelerating, because it was happening so regularly they decided to move us to labor and delivery and continue monitoring his heart. At 4:00 they decided to induce and at 5:00 they started the oxytocin. Our status was then "ok, I know we told everyone it wasn't going to be today, but ..."

Our family members and friends started showing up after we were all settled in. Most of the people with us in labor and delivery live in Utah but my sweet sister in law is a doula and she came to Utah from Oregon to help me through labor. She really was able to reduce the pain that I experienced. She also happens to be a gifted photographer and took many of the photos in this post. I am so grateful to her for being so supportive and for caring so much.

My husband and his mom playing ticket to ride while they wait.

With help from my sister in law and my husband I was able to tolerate the pain pretty well. When I progressed to 6 cm I was at my pain threshold and I decided to ask for an epidural. Receiving an epidural really is comical. It takes longer than the few minutes you have between contractions so not only are you expected to hold still while they stick a needle into your spine but you also need to hold still through at least one contraction. I am getting uncomfortable just thinking about it.

After they finished the epidural and I was no longer able to feel (or move) the lower half of my body, things progressed even more quickly. At around 2:30 am on April 6th it was time to push. Our friends and family had helped us through so much while we were trying to have a baby the last 4 years, we really felt that they were just as invested as we were in this baby. We invited everyone to stay and ended up having like nine members of our family in the delivery room with us to welcome our son. Our bundle of joy was born at 2:53 am. What an amazing feeling! We finally got to meet our son. We could not stop smiling and crying and laughing. It was a sweet mixture of happiness, relief, and exhaustion.

I got to spend a few minutes holding him and then my husband took him down to the NICU because, as expected, he was having trouble breathing. After he felt like the baby was stable he snapped a few photos and came back up to be with me.

When he came back up he told me that he wanted to name the baby Collin Reid. I guess one of the nurses in the NICU had commented that he was the reddest baby she had ever seen. Dan loves that he is part Irish and decided that Collin needed a super Irish name.

. . . and a star is born.