Weeks 5-6 were pretty brutal, if I'm honest. Probably a low point in our time with Ace, but not really because of HIM. Just because of life.
Right, my man?
During his one month pediatrician appointment, the doc announced that Wallace has thrush on his tongue. He DOES have a white tongue but all of our kids have had that, and we always chalked it up to 'milk tongue'. He is not in pain when he nurses and seriously rarely cries anyway. He has a great latch and nurses all.the.time, and gained three pounds his first month of life. So I think nursing is going pretty well, you know?
All three kids with their 'milk tongues'...or was it thrush then, too?
But back to the thrush: I also don't seem to have any signs or symptoms of thrush. No cracked nipples or pain or anything. However, I was on IV antibiotics during Wallace's birth due to Strep B....but again, I've had that every single time with each kid and received at least some antibiotics during every birth. Then I had mastitis around week four (I think? Did I even mention that one here yet?), so I was on antibiotics for seven days including the day we went to Ace's appointment.
I suppose the antibiotics could set me and therefore him up for thrush? All I know about thrush is that it can be horribly difficult to get rid of, just from hearing other moms' horror stories. I started to feel kind of panicky about what this could become and looked back at pictures of Ace to see that even on day ten, he had the white tongue.
The pediatrician was very non-chalant about it, but prescribed Nystatin drops for Wallace to take four times per day 'until the symptoms are gone.' Which, he has no symptoms of thrush except for a white tongue. I gave the drops for about three days and it was horrible--he gagged, choked, cried, and spit almost all of it out each time. I was supposed to give it to him after feeding, but then not nurse again for 30 minutes. IMPOSSIBLE for Wallace since he would nurse constantly if I let him. I applied anti-fungal cream to my nipples after feedings but then felt weird nursing him later with it on there, even though the doc said it was fine for him to eat it (???!!!!). I was super stressed about the 80+ oz of milk I had pumped and frozen, if it was 'contaminated' with yeast or not and worried about my pump parts. Again, the doc was very laid back about the whole thing and didn't really tell me much of anything except that thrush is very common and it usually resolves by 2-3 months of age. If it is still present at our two month appointment, he said the lactation consultant could give me some magical nipple cream that works really well.
So anyway, all of that to say that I did try treating it with the drops and cream but then I just had to stop because it was becoming super stressful in itself (and combined with everything else in life). And Ace is not at all bothered by it, and neither am I. I might buy some Genetian Violet after reading about it online, since it seems to act quickly and pretty effectively. I've tried to cut back on sugar and alcohol too, and am taking a probiotic still even after my antibiotics are long gone. So really, who knows? Is this even thrush? And if so, did my other kids have it and we didn't know? I will treat it again if I need to but it does seem like his tongue is not quite as white as before. And he's just so stinking happy.....
Enough thrush talk, but have any of you had a thrush diagnosis that seemed iffy and then it went away on it's own?
The other reason weeks 5-6 were pretty hard was because of the mastitis I already mentioned. I felt the clogged duct one day, tried massaging it out and nursed a ton on that side, but by the same evening I already had the fever, body aches, chills, and red hot streaky boob. It was rough, and thankfully the OB on call agreed to call in the antibiotics for me to begin right away. I slept on the couch that night because I was freezing and yet sweating, and basically totally miserable. Luckily the meds did help within about 48 hours.
Unaffected by the meds or thrush or mastitis:
Cheeeeeeeks:
That next morning after I started meds, we had three leaks into our kitchen ceiling from construction. And I started potty training Porter, which was no walk in the park. When it rains it pours, right??
Once we got over the hump of that nonsense, things have been settling into a better routine. I had to adjust to my parents being away again, after their amazing twelve day visit with us. My mom and dad flew here from Colorado while Tony and Lois were out in Oregon. My brother also came for a bit, as did my grandma and grandpa---it was an amazing span of two weeks with tons of visitors and helping hands.
When they left, that is when I got mastitis and the thrush diagnosis and the leaky ceiling happened...but then a week later the cloud lifted and I thought, 'I can do this.' My in-laws will still help me out here and there, and even if it's just taking the big kids to a playground for two hours it is MUCH appreciated. Nate is back to his regular hours including several late nights working until 7:30-8, so sometimes he is gone for a solid twelve hour stretch. On those days I try to give myself as much grace as possible and we HAVE to get out of the house by 9:30-10 or we all start to go a little nuts.
Because Wallace is the fourth child, he is getting really talented at sleeping on the go, and sleeping during incredibly noisy construction! He's doing much better in his car seat now and we've taken our first run together in the single BOB. Ace didn't even fall asleep during our run, he preferred to stare at me and smile and coo and cheer me on during my snails-pace jog. But it's a start of a nice running relationship we will have together, I can feel it. He likes the Ergo just fine, too, since we mostly walk everywhere we go right now and he absolutely prefers to sleep while being held.
Peaceful angel.
In the past week, I have been making a conscious effort to lay him down in the Mamaroo, upstairs in Truman/Cecelia's room, for naps. Some days he does really well with that---he even napped for 3+ hours two days in a row while snoozing in that swing, swaddled, with white noise and in a dark room. We can't ALWAYS force the 'real' naps since we are out and about most of the time, but when the stars align this child can nap like a boss. Best naps are in the morning and evenings can be a little fussy.
Not him!
Worn out from crying:
Actually he probably did have a string of 5-6 fairly fussy evenings a week ago, but that seems to be improving a lot now. And really, he was fussy for HIM but not compared to Cecelia or Porter as babies. He'd calm down after an hour of bouncing/walking/nursing/shushing.
He's still usually awake for maybe an hour max, then needs to sleep again during the day. At night he's waking up after a 4-6 hour stretch at first, then after that it's every 2-3 hours. This is another way to say he's usually up twice at night to eat and it's been like this pretty much since he came home from the hospital. He sleeps in our room, in the Mamaroo and I'm swaddling him but I don't think it makes much of a difference. We are really grateful for a good sleeper and hope it doesn't change anytime soon, so let's pretend I didn't even mention it so the blogging gods don't strike me down.
Fave:
Where we spend the early morning, pre-nap:
Sleepy smiles:
Next up? Stats from his one month appointment. He stayed in the 84th percentile for weight, and was officially heavier than ALL of the other kids were at one month. By a lot!! His 11lbs 12oz was way more than T, C, and P's 10lbs 2 or 3oz, and my little fatty gained exactly three pounds in his first month of life. He measured 23" long which I always assume is totally inaccurate as they wiggle around on the table, but that would be 93rd percentile. And his head is still slightly big at 39cm or 88th percentile. The doc loved Wallace at this appointment, and even with the thrush diagnosis it seemed like everything looked very normal. His baby acne cleared up around the 6-7 week mark and so far he doesn't have cradle cap. He wears all 0-3 or 3 month clothes and some seem a little snug. Slow down, baby boy!
Loved the zoo! ;)
Another really amazing milestone would be Wallace giving us genuine smiles. I think this started happening pretty consistently somewhere between 5-6 weeks, and now we can get him to smile just by looking at him;) I really think this is the BEST gift as a mom to a newborn: seeing him smile at me makes my heart to funny things and it makes me talk in a sickeningly high-pitched delusional voice, too. I take way too many pictures of this child, thus bucking the trend for the fourth kid to be under-documented. I mean, it's hard to avoid this face, especially when he looks right at me and smiles! It's like he recognizes me and it's the best. Throw in some adorable 'coo's and 'goo's and you have a recipe for the sweetest, happiest babe ever.
I've mentioned nursing already, but Wallace nurses on demand so I'm not sure how often. I'd say he likes to eat at least every 2-3 hours during the day if not more often. Usually takes both sides but sometimes he will stay latched on one side until he drifts off to sleep. I'm trying to keep him on an Eat-Play-Sleep schedule but I fail quite regularly at this goal. He will nurse for at least 10 minutes but again, many times he just falls off when he is asleep or totally full. Wallace has now had a few GIANT spit-ups but maybe only two times has it seemed like a ridiculous amount. I think he just likes to overeat, really, and doesn't seem to be upset when he barfs.
Arm rolls <3 a="" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24311709@N06/36615693415/in/datetaken-public/" title="Untitled">
Still tiny, though.
I'm pumping most days, just one time for about five minutes, but I'll get 5-7 ounces at a time. I just added it up and have a grand total of 148 ounces frozen right now. I have about a month to go before I return to work on October 2, so this number makes me happy!
OH, and Wallace took his first bottle right before he turned six weeks old. I went out for a girls night dinner and was away for two hours...my longest stint without my baby yet. Nate was home with all four kids and managed to give Ace a 3oz bottle of freshly pumped milk. I was afraid he wouldn't take it, since he hates the pacifier now and only wants to nurse/be held by me when I'm around. But go figure, he took it just fine! And he also took a pacifier and didn't scream his head off the entire time I was away. When I returned he was wide awake and content for about two hours, nursing only a little bit and mostly just staring directly into my soul;) I have a feeling he will do great for Tony and Lois when I return to work but I still don't love being away from him at all right now.
Concerned citizen with a muscle tank
Happiest.
I seriously cannot handle him.
We are trying to remember to do tummy time and Ace is rocking it better than I thought he would. The big kids find tummy time to be their favorite because they yell and cheer for baby Wallace when he slightly twitches his neck muscles:) I also realized he is ready for something to DO when awake. So I pulled out the activity mat and he happily passes the time staring at the aged, dangling animals for a good 10-20 minutes at a time.
The bigger kids are still completely obsessed with Wallace, but I think Cecelia's love for this baby is the most apparent. She calls him her best friend and definitely has a natural motherly instinct with him---covering him up, snuggling him, asking to hold him.
I think he looks most like Truman these days, too. It has to be the double chin! T on left, W on right.
Porter and Ace just have totally different face shapes! (Ports on the left, Ace right)
Three boys, all their own person!
In conclusion, we all just love this guy so much! I mean, how could we not be totally under his spell? It's not all puppies and rainbows over here and we are quite ready for school to start at the end of this week. But the newborn baby part of life is pretty amazing.
Headed towards two months, and it seems like he's been with us forever. But it's flying by! Love you, Ace-man/Acey-Base/Waller/Wallipop.
