1 Month Old

June 4th 2010

*You can see more pictures of Kailyn by clicking on the Abramczyk Family Photo Album link on the left top side of blog*

Weight: 9lbs 1oz

Height: 22 inches

I have been trying to post this entry since last Friday after Kailyn's 1 month Dr. appointment with no luck. I am now typing while she is laying in my lap. What can I say, she is a baby that likes to be held. At least while she is sleeping. But as many of you Mommies know, sleep anywhere, even if on you, is better than no sleep. We have had those day's where she will not take a nap and be up from 11am until 10pm. NOT good days! lol

So let's start off with Kailyn's Firsts this month.

Smile: 5/09 Although now that we have seen her real smile just recently we realize those first few week smiles were just from gas! ;-)

Hiccups: These pretty much started from day 1. She gets them all the time just like when she was in Mommy's belly. ♥

Lost her belly cord: 5/27 (i was beginning to think it would never fall off!!)

First real bath: 5/27

First time away from Mommy: 6/01 Mommy went to get her eyebrows waxed

First bottle: (breast milk only) I forget the exact day but she was about 3 1/2 weeks old and she HATED it. We tried Playtex VentAire slow flow nipple. This is what the Lactation specialist recommended in the beginning as to not cause confusion so she would still breast feed. We waited a few days and then tried again. She is now doing much better. Thank goodness because Mommy has to go back to work in less than 3 weeks. :*(

First time Mommy and Daddy ate out: Forgot exact date but she was around 3 weeks. We went to Olive Garden for lunch. I fed her in the car when we got there and she slept the whole time! We still haven't ventured out for dinner as that is when she gets really bad from what we think is Colic.

First Party: 5/30 One of the Firefighters Chris works with had his daughters 7th Birthday. Kailyn did great. She slept most of the time, then woke to eat. Then she started to get fussy so we went home.

Kailyn's "Love's and Hate's"

She hates her pack n play

Loves her changing table

Loves looking at everything in her room

Loves being on her tummy

Hated sponge baths but....

Loves real baths (she loves being able to sit in the warm water because she hates being cold)

Love/Hate relationship with her car seat. Sometimes she is fine and sleeps, other time's she SCREAMS!

Loves going on the patio or outside if it's not to sunny.

Loves to sleep on Mommy or Daddy

Loves to hear the vacuum, her white noise CD or the blow dryer

Hates everything in the evening. Poor thing is just so upset during these hours

Hates the pacifier

Kailyn's 1 month appointment went great. She got the second part of the Hep B shot. She screamed, Mommy cried again. I also cried when she had blood drawn at her one week check up. The doctor said twice how impressed he was with her head control! Mommy and Daddy were so proud. Mommy was also proud of her weight gain. Over 2 pounds in 1 month! So happy to know Mommy's milk is doing the job! At her 1 week check up she was almost back to her birth weighing 7 pounds. I decided to go for another weight check when she was 2 weeks and she weight 7lbs 9oz!! 9 ounces in one week! Dr. and Mommy were very happy with this. She does love to eat and definitely has a strong little mouth!! Her doctor even said at her 1 month check up she has powerful suck! (he put his finger in her mouth) I said believe me, I know!! Breastfeeding was very hard in the beginning and even now still have our days. She is tongue tied (tight frenulum) so she was making Mommy's nipples (TMI) a bloody mess!! My Mom paid to have a lactation specialist come to the house our 2nd day home. This was my Mothers Day gift from her. And boy was it worth it!! She was great and gave me renewed hope which is what I needed at that point. The night before I had a meltdown and could not stop crying. Breastfeeding is something I always wanted to be able to do for my baby and I was in such pain and did not know what to do. But this lady helped. She had me use nipple shields while my nipples healed and then I stopped using them as I taught Kailyn how to latch on as best as she could even with the tongue tie. The lactation specialist suggested getting her frenulum clipped. When we asked her Dr. he said he didn't feel we should, but if we wanted to he could send us to an E,N,T doctor. We decided not to. We have our good and bad days. If she hurts me I just use the nipple shield again for a day or two and then we start again. After hearing her weight gain at her 1 month appointment it really does make everything worth it! =o)

Things have been pretty hard at time's this first month. At exactly one week old is when the Colic started. What is Colic??

Colic is a term used to describe uncontrollable crying in an otherwise healthy baby. If your baby is younger than 5 months old and cries for more than three hours in a row on three or more days a week for at least three weeks (phew!), chances are he's colicky. Colic isn't a disease and won't cause your baby any long-term harm, but it's a tough thing to go through for both babies and their parents.

Tough is an understatement! lol She usually starts her fussy time around 6pm and it lasts until bed time at around 9:30-10pm. The hardest part is that nothing we do can make her stop crying. And sometimes she will REALLY scream. She shakes her arms and kicks her legs. I have noticed she usually gets warm (probably from the crying and shaking). We have tried SO many different things people have suggested. Nothing works. Some things take her from a full scream to a low cry, but nothing really totally helps. As it says in books, Colic is an uncontrollable crying. Often my Mom will come over so we can eat or take showers. Otherwise we take turns eating. My Mom is great with her and Kailyn loves her. During the day my Mom has her smiling constantly. But at night even my Mom can't always console her. The only thing that can stop her crying is to pacify herself on me. Which ends up making Mommy VERY sore and we have been also told is a horrible habit to start. It's a shame she won't take a pacifier because I think that would really help soothe her during this difficult time for her. She will now take the pacifier sometimes during the day but still not in the evening. And yes we have tried EVERY brand. lol
List of things we have tried:
Gripe water
White noise
Blow dryer
Putting her on the dryer
Stroller ride
Colic cradle hold
Rocking her
Warm compress on belly
Car ride
Pacifier (she gags and spits it out)
If there is anything we haven't tried we are willing to try anything. Let us know!

During the day she is usually such a good baby!! Any of those things will calm her right down if she is fussy during the day. Colic usually goes away anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months. It also usually starts around 2-3 weeks but with her it started exactly at 1 week old. So we are hoping that means it will be gone sooner. And yes I do watch what I eat. Plus during the day she is usually fine. If she shows signs that her belly might be upset we give her Mylicon and that usually helps.I think the only left I didn't mention is sleep. The most important thing! lol Well we had a rough start with that also, but we are happy to say she is now getting on a schedule.
She would only sleep on us the first few weeks. And since she was colicky once she fell asleep on us we would just leave her there. We even went out and bought a glider that a friend recommended since she hated her pack n play so much. No luck. She would nap in it during the day but that was it. I know people have mixed feelings about co-sleeping but once you become a Mommy, as many of you are, you will see you will be making your own decisions what is really ok for your baby. Even my Mom who was totally against co-sleeping ended up falling asleep with Kailyn on her chest when she stayed the night her a few time's while Chris was on shift. Then 2 weeks ago our friend Katrina suggested trying the Miracle Blanket. Now we had tried swaddling her many times but she would get right out of it. Even the Swaddle Me blanket she would get out of. Katrina brought us over this Miracle Blanket her daughter used so we could borrow it. So we gave it a shot. At that point it was getting really uncomfortable for me to only be sleeping with her on me. Not to mention I couldn't get into a deep sleep since I was constantly checking her. So we wrapped her up that night. You kind of feel bad because it wraps them pretty good. Almost like a straight jacket! Here is the video if you want to check it out.
http://www.miracleblanket.com/indexb.htm
It even says on the website great for Colic babies. She cried for about 10 minutes once we wrapped her and put her in her glider. And then she was out! For 3 hours!! And we had to wake her. Then at her 1 month appointment we asked the Doctor if we should wake her at night to eat. He said no. She will wake when she gets hungry enough. So we stopped and the next night she slept 4 hours. Then five!! She does still have to cry herself to sleep sometimes (Dr. said this was ok also) but once she is asleep she sleeps GREAT!! I would definitely recommend this blanket! Thanks again Katrina!! I would also like to thank my Mom again for all her help that first month. I only hope to be that helpful for my daughter one day. ♥
**You can also click this link to see mobile upload pictures of Kailyn**
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicole-Magrone-Abramczyk/591022306?ref=search#!/album.php?aid=156221&id=591022306&ref=pb