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| Hey! What's Up? |
Its been two weeks since Maia turned three months old, and I had planned to do a post for each month during the first year, if for nothing else just to have as a time capsule of sort for that first year. My plans for that post got delayed, when immediately following that 3 month benchmark, Maia ended up getting sick, then sicker, then diagnosed with RSV and ending up in the hospital for a couple days. It was an eventful last half of March to say the least...
The time between the second month and third month benchmark has continued to confirm in many ways how good of a baby Maia is, and how fortunate we are as a result. She has continued to be a model "bottle eater," consistently taking more and more up to just now recently taking the maximum she can during a day, and extending her sleeping over night.
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| Everyone wants to be part of the fun! |
During the month, her routine seemed to be awake for most of the morning, with a small catnap occasionally, a longer 2 hour nap or so in the afternoon, and then a solid 8-9 hour stretch overnight (we usually don't broadcast this too much). At this point, the trade off for the solid nights is that there is occasionally a pretty fussy period during the day; but honestly, there are no complaints. Maia has been a wonderful baby, and we are very fortunate (and grateful).
Right when Maia turned 3 months, we took her to her first sporting event (Jackie and I love going to varying sporting events) - a Fort Wayne Komets game with Jackie's parents. Jackie grew up going to games with her dad, and Jackie and I have gone to numerous games over the past several years. So the games represent a link both to Jackie's childhood and our relationship, and we were excited to begin those types of experiences with Maia (even if she won't remember it). It was a great time, Maia was just as happy as could be the entire time we were at the game, and slept like a rock afterwards. It was a great night.
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Ready for her first hockey game!
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But, life sometimes has a way of reminding us that its path isn't without bumps. The following week, we started noticing that Maia had some congestion, and a little cough. When we called the doctor's office, they advised us to monitor her temperature, her eating habits, and her attitude; if she developed a fever, or began having issues eating, and become more fussy than usual, we should schedule an appointment. For the first couple days of the week, while the congestion stuck around and the cough became more persistent, nothing else changed for Maia - she remained the happy baby she usually is, her temperatures remained normal, and she had no issues eating. That changed heading into Wednesday night.
Due to the congestion issues while she was eating, when she coughed she would have a little spit up. On Wednesday night, the little spit up turned into a large spit up (twice, both times going down my back. Sticky.). So we decided then that we would schedule a doctor appointment the next day, and Jackie's mom was kind enough to take a day off work and come to babysit for the day, until I could take Maia to the appointment that afternoon. Maia, despite the congestion, coughing, and spitting up, was still generally happy, and greeted me that Thursday morning, which happened to be my birthday, with a big grin.
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| Is this what a sick baby looks like? |
So, I got home from the office and got Maia ready to go to the doctor's office. She had ate fairly normal that day - similar amount of food, just smaller amounts more frequently. And she was a happy baby on the way over. Considering everything that happens during a doctor's appointment, I thought she (and I) was doing pretty well. First they weighed her, and she didn't like getting undressed, but I was able to calm her back down. Then they took her temperature (where the sun don't shine), and she hated that; but I was able to calm her back down. Then they took a swab from her nose, which she hated; but I got her to calm back down. Then they strapped a mask to her head to attempt a breathing treatment to see how it would go, and (you guessed it), she hated it; but I once again got her to calm down. And at this point, considering everything that is going on, I feel so badly for her as all of these tests and procedures are upsetting her when she seems otherwise in a good mood, but I'm also feeling not too shabby about myself - I mean, I got her to calm down from various stages of upsettedness (its a word) in a small exam room, way to go Dad.
Then the doctor comes back in, says it looks like she is positive for RSV, and she is a bit dehydrated, so we're going to do a direct admit to the hospital. Maia was okay with the news (she apparently likes charming nurses and doctors at hospitals), but Dad wasn't feeling so great anymore. Obviously, taking one's sick baby to the hospital isn't a great way to spend one's birthday. But, it was my first birthday as a Dad. I was doing something to take care of my child, a child I've waited a long time to have. I was being Dad on my birthday - there are much worse things than that. So, after my initial shock (because again, besides the coughing, which was never excessive, and the couple large spit ups Wednesday night, Maia was the same baby she has always been - happy and predictable), on to the hospital it was.
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| Warm and fuzzy, right? |
And the long hospital check in progress. Registration. Insurance cards and information. Passwords for access to the relevant section of the hospital. And the whole time, Maia's just looking around, quiet and calm, a virtual sea of tranquility next to her frantic Dad who is worried at any moment she will eventually lose it. But she doesn't, and we eventually make it through the maze of the hospital wings, and to her room, where she would spend the next three nights. While I'm waiting for them to bring in the crib, Jackie arrives (fresh off of parent-teacher conferences), relieved that she is finally there, and just as nervous as I am. Maia - just looking around taking it all in. Then they wheel in her crib, which literally looks like a jail cell for an baby.
The next three days are a blur. Fortunately, Jackie had the Friday off from work, so she could be there Friday while I had some work stuff. We're both running back and forth from home to the hospital, running errands, and making sure that one of us is always at the hospital. Jackie took the tough job of staying at the hospital over night, while I stayed at home with Ellie each night (who, by the way, I don't think has ever been so confused).
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| I'm done touring this hospital now. We can go home. |
But Maia did what she was supposed to do at the hospital. She got her fluids through her IV. While she received the IV most of the time she was there, along with breathing treatments, she was able to bottle feed the entire time, thankfully. It was interesting to compare this trip to the hospital with the time she spend in the NICU right after birth. She could barely take 2 ounces at that time, would take 45 minutes to do it, we would have to help force it along near the end, and she was completely zonked by the end. This time, even with the congestion, she was taking 4 ounces within 15-20 minutes, did NOT want to be stopped during the process for burping, and was alert when finished. And her little attitude stayed great the entire time, smiling and cooing at nurses and doctors (when they weren't poking her, of course). We are very lucky.
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| Um, what are we doing again? |
Sunday afternoon Maia was released with an almost clean bill of health - we needed to continue breathing treatments at home on her own, and have a follow up appointment within a couple days. The breathing treatments went well, although Maia always had this quizzical look on her face when we did the treatments.
We managed the week without having to send her back to the sitter, trying to couple it with Jackie's spring break to give her a two week break. Jackie stayed home on Monday, her mom covered Tuesday, I stayed home on Wednesday, and my mom covered Thursdays (grandparents are wonderful, aren't they). On that Wednesday, I also took Maia in for her follow up appointment; and I was pretty nervous about it, considering my track record with the doctor's appointments. The first one I took her too, she got shots and screamed like I wish I never hear again. The second one, we ended up in a direct admit to the hospital. Thankfully, this one was better, and she had a clean bill of health. And, as if we had any doubt, she quickly upped her feeding to the point where she was taking 6 ounces at a time, and within 20 minutes or so. She's come a long ways, and time sure does fly.
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| Really, being a big sister is hard work! |
It was a crazy and hectic two weeks that encompassed her 3 month old day. Our first hockey game. A trip to the hospital on my first birthday as Dad. 3 nights in the hospital, 3 more of breathing treatments. And all of sudden, we're sneaking up on her being 4 months old already. But after all that excitement, a nice quiet week of rest was welcomed.
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| Okay sleep, I give up. |
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