Potty Training Cadence!

Where do I even begin with this?  Well I guess I'll start off by saying we're retrying this potty training business with Cadence.  We first started training her at age 18 months as she clearly showed signs of readiness.  As soon as Nixon came though, she regressed slowly back into wearing diapers full-time.  That was a real bummer for us as she was doing really well with going potty by herself.  She would always tell us that she had to go and then one day she decided to say "no" when I asked her if she had to and then proceed to pee on the floor.  But dealing with a newborn and trying to potty train was not realistic and she was already stressed out with the new baby anyway.  So now we're back to square one.

Our approach to potty training is pretty simple really and it worked very well the first time.  When you first start potty training make sure you're schedule isn't busy and that you have time to just stay home for a week.  You'll learn how long they can hold their bladders for and their "cues" so to speak when they're about to go potty and you can catch it before they have any accidents.

Here's what we are doing:
1.  Take all her day-time diapers away and only have her wear cotton panties.  We don't believe in pull-ups as that is just a more expensive diaper and it causes confusion in the child.
2.  Have her little potty in the room she's in at the moment.  Ex:  If she's watching a movie, I'll put it in the living room where she's at and we don't have any accidents.
3.  Have her have accidents in her panties, they don't like the wet, cold feeling and immediately learn not to pee in their pants.  There will be accidents and a lot of cleanup but they learn fairly quickly.  Cadence also does very well without panties and we do a lot of naked time as well.
4.  When we first started potty training we didn't believe in giving her treats for going potty, praise was all she needed.  But this time around we've been giving her one M&M for pee and two for poop and of course a lot of praise.  Feelings of frustration are bound to set in when your child has accidents but we've learned to not be openly frustrated with them as that hinders the progress.  They'll continue to have accidents if they're yelled, spanked, etc.  Just have them help you clean up their mess, change their pants and act as if nothing happened.  I will also explain to Cadence that pee does not go in her panties, only in the potty.  I will also tell her that if she needs to pee or poop to come tell mommy or daddy.

When she is old enough to understand the concept of stickers I will stop using treats and make a potty poster for her.  So far potty training her has gone really well, I just learned that I have to be consistent and not put her in diapers just because I fear she'll pee in them.  Especially at church and going into town.  She has to learn that even if we're at the store that we go to the potty and pee and not to pee in her pants.  Too much switching between panties and diapers and that'll only confuse her.  She is also learning the feeling of a full bladder and will tell me she has to pee, try and go but can't and then 10 minutes later pee on the floor.  It's a learning process and I have to be patient.  She is in cotton panties all day long and even for nap time (as she was waking up from naps with dry diapers), and wears a diaper at night.  I'm hoping to have her day-time potty trained by her 2nd birthday next month, and I know she can do it if I give her the chance to.

Nixon 3 Month Update!!

  

3 Month Stats

Height: 23 in

Weight: 16 lbs

I'll probably say this a million times but where has the time gone?  3 Months has just flown by and my little squishy is getting so big and handsome if I do say so myself. LOL 

What is he doing now?  

1.  He's found his hands and feet and stares at them every chance he gets.

2.  He loves bearing weight on his legs and jumping in his Jolly Jumper. 

3.  He's now tall enough to fit in his exersaucer and just started playing in it.  He likes to try and grab at all the toys.

4.  He coos and talks when smiled and talked at.  He won't just sit there and talk unless he's trying to communicate with someone.

5.  He loves being up and walking, not much sitting down for this momma!!

What is he eating?

He is still breastfed exclusively and boy has this been a trial for us both.  First with his dairy protein allergy and now battling a bad case of thrush!  His allergy is pretty much under control now, I just eat 1-2 servings of dairy per day and sorry if TMI but no more diarrhea and no more blood!!  Praise the LORD!!  He is back down to having 1 maybe 2 stools per day.  The thrush on the other hand is horrible!  Cadence and I never had it this bad.  It hasn't responded at all to Nystatin so now we're going to go at it with Gentian Violet.  We're going to say Buh-Bye to Thrush and hello to Purple People Eater (pictures to follow once we start full treatment).

The plan to attack Thrush:

1) Apply Gentian Violet to nipples before I go to bed  for 5 nights

2) Apply to Nixon's tongue once daily (diluted) for 5 days

3) After each breastfeeding session wash nipples with mixture of vinegar and water solution

4) Try to walk around and air the girls out as much as possible :) (at home of course LOL)

WISH ME LUCK!!

Right now Nixon is wearing size 6-12 month clothing and I've had to adjust his cloth diapers to one size bigger.  Holy smokes kid, slow down!!  It's actually quite exciting, I don't have any anxiety when it comes to his growth.  I had anxiety with Cadence because she was so small!  She still is though and I've come to terms that she is just petite.  He is also a complete momma's boy right now, he won't let anybody hold him.  Cadence was the same way and I didn't mind it as much with her but with Nixon, sometimes it's nice to have your hands free and have someone take him from you.  SHEESH!!  

Sleep Schedule

Naps are sorta all over the place right now, but what I know is he takes 3 large naps/ day.  He sleeps anywhere from 6-9 hours straight at night, wakes up anywhere from 4-6am to feed and goes back to sleep until 7am.  He's been so easy to sleep train and it's been wicked nice!

We love our little squishy so much and it's hard to watch him grow up so fast.  I just want him to stay little forever.  Well that's it for 3 months, ciao!!

2 month update and hospital admission

Hospital Story

Nixon has been very fussy lately, and the last couple of days he has had diarrhea and I can't keep up with how much he is pooping. Our family has been struggling with this Norovirus that is going around and we can't seem to kick it out of our house!! On the 16th I noticed blood on the insert of his cloth diapers after every bowel movement and decided to take him to the doctors because of course I was thinking the worst. The worst being intussusception which could lead to an obstruction. He saw Dr. Greg Smith and after he looked at Nixon and noticed that there wasn't any anal fissures causing the bleeding, he called the Pediatrician on call in Lethbridge. They told us to bring him into Emerg to have Dr. Capasonda assess him.

We dropped Cadence off at my parents house (because taking an almost 2 year old into a hospital and expect them to behave was not practical) and headed to Lethbridge Hospital. We were there for almost 4 hours before the doctor even saw him. But after she assessed him she wanted to keep him overnight for observation just to see what happens. We agreed and that's where we stayed for the night. Of course Nixon was on his best behaviour, never cried and didn't poop anymore blood. The next day they discharged us and said that if the blood comes back to come right back, we agreed. That night I was putting Nixon to bed and he was drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden his eyes flung open and he started screaming in pain and did for the next 1.5 hours. I called my dad and brother in law to come over and assist Andrew in giving him a blessing, which after was done he calmed down a little bit. He still persisted and my gut told me to call Healthlink and get their advice as to what to do. They did a head-to-toe assessment on him and told me to take him to the hospital to be seen by a doctor within the next 4 hours. We get t0 the hospital and just before the doctor comes in he vomits literally all the contents of his stomach (which was a lot, and it was yellow). The doctor summed it up to being a stomach flu and to push breastfeeding more frequently and let him sleep. We went home and I fed him, but he threw that all up and then he had an explosive bowel movement. I changed his diaper and lo and behold more blood, his scrotum and penis had also doubled in size and I freaked out. FRACK!! will this night ever end? I called Raymond Hospital to have Dr. Tollestrup call Lethbridge and tell them we are on our way in and to give them a heads up. We drive into Lethbridge and Dr. Capasonda admitted us again. They drew a bunch of blood for bloodwork and hooked him up to an IV because he was losing too much fluid and was getting lethargic. I had to leave the room because I couldn't take watching what they were about to do to my poor son!! We were in the waiting room and I was sobbing as I heard Nixon screaming in pain!!

We finally get up to the room and we stayed for 2 more nights as we waited for his stool culture and bloodwork to come back. Everything came back ok and the pediatrician asked if I drink dairy or consume much dairy products? I told him that I did and he said that Nixon has a Dairy Protein Allergy and that I need to go on a strict no dairy diet and see if Nixon improves. He also has hydrocele which his undescended testicle is causing. It's harmless and they usually won't do anything about it until he is 1 years old. It was the worst 3 days of my life and I'm sure for Nixon as well!! But at least we pinpointed what was causing his pain, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

2 Month Stats and Update

2 Month Stats (weight taken at Dr. appt on the 16th)

Weight: 14 lbs

Height: 23 inches

He is getting so big and so stinking cute. Of course it's a biased opinion as I am his mother. LOL. He is waking up more and interacting more with us with smiles and sometimes cooing. He'll do it more for Cadence than for Andrew or I and it's so cute watching the kids interact with one another. He hates tummy time and refuses to do so, but when he's on his back he can almost roll to his tummy!! That's my boy!!

He has gone through a little bit of a growth spurt and will cluster feed every hour for a couple of days. He usually eats every 2-3 hours and will sleep still most of the day. He is an awesome sleeper at night and we're getting into a little bit of a routine. He loves bathtime and hates coming out of the water. He also likes white noise to help him get to sleep better. We just love our Little Man!!

Cadence loves lipstick!!

Man this little girl keeps us on our toes. Turn our backs for literally a second and she's found something she wasn't supposed to find and making messes with it. This time it's RED LIPSTICK!! Silly girl!!

(trying to clean it off herself)

(look what she did to our couches)

Sometimes I feel like selling her to the zoo!! lol just kidding We love our little girl!!

Nixon 1 month old

One month goes by so quickly, WTF!! Right now he doesn't do much of anything. He still eats so much (every hour), and sleeps most of the time. He gets really fussy at nighttime but i'm thinking it has to do with something I'm eating. For now I don't eat anything onions, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, chocolate or spicy!!

Weight: 10 lbs 6 oz

Height: 22 inches

Nixon's Delivery Story

(Just a little background on this pregnancy): It was horrible. I was on Diclectin pretty much all the way through it due to nausea and vomiting. I was such an emotional wreck all the way through it. I was always losing my patience with not only my daughter, but everyone I came in contact with. I wanted to be left alone and I felt like a bear. I was growing facial hair at a very rapid rate and couldn't keep up with it. I was gaining weight rapidly due to swelling, and looking back on it now, I was really swollen!! Due to the rapid weight gain, my joints really felt it and it hurt to be up and walking. I felt like my knees would give out on me at any moment. I WAS DESPERATE to get this baby out of me!! I had an emotional breakdown January 11th and bawled my eyes out all day, I just layed in bed sobbing!

Friday, January 6, 2012: I was 37 weeks pregnant, and went to my prenatal appointment. This appointment my cervix was barely a fingertip dilated, firm and very posterior. I wasn't surprised as he was still very high and I knew he hadn't dropped yet, which didn't help my cervix what-so-ever. This check was very uncomfortable, I don't know what he did in there but I was sore the whole weekend and very crampy. I knew something was going to happen soon as that weekend I was having indigestion and (sorry if this is TMI) my system was evacuating if you know what I mean.

Sunday, January 9th: I lost my mucous plug.

Friday, January 13th: I was 38 weeks and at this prenatal everything was looking ok, 1 cm dilated and my cervix was starting to thin out but it was still very posterior. Again, I'm pretty sure the doc did a membrane sweep, as this check was more painful than the one the week prior. Discouraged and desperate I went home and looked up natural ways to induce labour. Out of all the ones I found and researched, the least invasive and more safe sounding to me was Accupressure. So I started pressing on all of the accupressure points and after doing a couple of them I started having contractions. Obviously nothing consistent, they would come every 20 or so minutes for a couple of hours and then go away. I had these contractions for a couple of days where they would come and go and that made me mad and discouraged, so I gave up and decided to just hang in there and that there is an end to pregnancy. When the baby is good and ready to come, they will come. So to keep my mind off pregnancy and the fact that I was still pregnant and uncomfortable, I decided to take my husband out on a date. We asked my grandparents to watch Cadence and we went to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and then watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It was a lot of fun and little did we know it would be our last date in a long time. LOL

Sunday January 15, 2012: Due to Sister Steed being sick, I was asked if I could whip up a lesson to teach our Beehives. I was a little overwhelmed and nervous as I was having contractions all night the night before and I was so uncomfortable but I thought as soon as we went to church the contractions would lighten up. They didn't, and I cried every now and then at church and people could just tell things were about to happen, and that I was done being pregnant. It also didn't help that everyone would come up to me and ask me how I was doing. That night we had family dinner at my moms house and I was still having contractions about every 10 minutes at this point. My mom asked if I thought this was it and I said I think it is but we'll wait things out and if things progress during the night that I'd call her. She told me it had better not be tonight as she couldn't get anyone to cover her at work. I said at this point, things are out of my hands and if this baby wants to come, he will.

Now is the part where things get good!!

January 16, 2012:

2:45am- I was woken up by an excrutiating pain in my stomach, but it subsided so I tried to get back to sleep.

3am- Half out of it, I felt a little warm trickle and thought "WOW, that is a lot of discharge." I sat up to see what was going on and all of a sudden an even bigger gush. I leaned over to Andrew and shook him awake and said, "I think I just peed?" I had heard that pregnant ladies can pee there pants due to baby kicking the bladder and such, so that is my reasoning behind the comment. I got out of bed and it just kept coming, at this point I knew I hadn't peed and that my water broke. IT WAS GO TIME!! I went and just sat on the toilet, because the water just kept coming. Andrew had to run around the house and grab things that I might possibly need. Note: I had not packed my hospital bag yet. I was supposed to go grocery shopping, clean my house and pack my hospital bag this day but alas my water broke and couldn't do any of that. HA HA!

3:45am- Arrived at the Raymond Hospital, was checked and was only 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. I was admitted and given this pad to absorb all of the amniotic fluid draining from my body.

I had to take a picture of it, because it was so huge!! We thought it was hilarious! Anyways back to the story, sorry. So now we're in our Labour and Delivery room and was told that now we wait until contractions pick up and we start progressing. Then Dr. Steed walks in and tells me Dr. Smith can't make it as there was an emergency at home.. So now I don't have my doctor that I've been seeing this whole pregnancy and I'm left with a doctor that I'm not familiar with.

10:30am- Was checked and still only 2 cm dilated and very posterior. What the crap!! They tell me I'm showing little progress and that we need to start talking induction. I was scared to death as that meant Cervadil and if that doesn't speed things up, PITOCIN!! This is all without pain medication. I was scared, and they could see that, so they said they'd give me until noon before they'd do anything if I hadn't progressed.

12pm- Well, they checked me and guess what? Still 2 cm and still posterior. He inserted the Cervadil at this time. Now the protocol for Cervadil is once inserted you can't get anymore administered until 6 hours has passed. I told them that we'll go with the one dose and if still making little progress to just hook me up to the Pitocin. They were fine with that.

6pm- 2.5 cm dilated, 100% effaced. Gotta wait for Dr. Steed to come give the orders for Pitocin to be hooked up and administered.

8pm- Pitocin finally hooked up and coursing through my veins! YIKES! Was given the ok to walk the halls to see if that helps as well. Contractions are starting to pick up and get more intense as soon as it's hooked up. They are still tolerable and I can just breath and concentrate through them.

12am- 5cm dilated, still very posterior. Due to my cervix being very posterior the cervical checks were very painful and long as he had to dig around to find it! Not very pleasant. I am so excited to finally be showing progress. The contractions are still very manageable, I continue to breath and concentrate through them. I also grabbed the birthing ball and rocked through every contraction on it. I loved that birthing ball and had a hard time parting with it once I hit transition.

3am- I asked for something for pain as the contractions were getting unmanageable. I was exhausted from the already long labour. At this point I was starting to sound animalistic and moaned through every contraction. Sitting on the birthing ball at this point was excrutiating as he was making his way down the canal. I got into the only position that felt comfortable which was my hands and knees and rocking back and forth. They said the only thing I could have at this stage in labour is nitrous oxide (laughing gas). I willingly took it and sucked that crap back with every contraction. After the 5th or 6th contraction my body started convulsing and shaking on it's own. It was a very out of body experience for me. My mom grabbed the laughing gas mask from me and blamed the convulsions and shaking on that. I quickly grabbed it back from her and explained I am in transition. I knew what was happening as it happened with Cadence as well. Sure enough I'm at 9cm. The nurse was getting everything ready for the baby to arrive and I knew we were almost done. SO I THOUGHT!! I was stuck at 9cm dilated with an anterior lip for 4 BLOODY HOURS!!! I was getting delirious and telling the doctors to stall my labour for a few hours so I could get some sleep and then retry this later. I got weird looks from everybody and at the time I didn't know why!! Ha ha ha

7am- I asked my husband for a blessing and of course he agreed. We kicked everybody out of the room, including my mother to allow Andrew to focus on getting the spirit. It was a wonderful blessing and it helped clear my head! I told the nurse to grab the doctor and I told him I couldnt take this anymore. I demanded to be transferred to Lethbridge with the option of drugs! Dr. Steed called Lethbridge where Dr. Davey was on-call, they told him to send me in.

7:15am- I was still hooked up to the max dose of Pitocin at this point and I was writhing in pain. Andrew didn't like seeing me in this much pain so he closed off the IV to the Pitocin because the nurse was taking her time.

7:30am- The EMT's showed up to my room and strapped me onto the gurney, laying flat on my back!! OUCH is all I have to say about that!! On the way to LRH we hit a couple of bumps 10 minutes into the drive and all of a sudden I had a strong urge to push. I screamed to the Paramedic with me that I have to push, she quickly checked me but didn't see any crowning just bulging. We then sped all the way to the hospital, sirens blazing and lights flashing. Oh ya baby!!

8:00am- The rest is quite a blur as it happened so fast. We arrived into the labour and delivery room packed with nurses and student nurses. One of the more experienced nurses checked me and said my cervix was still 9cm but almost a 10, she instructed that with my next contraction to push with all my might. BAD IDEA!! She reamed the cervix to 10 cm and Nixon shot down the birth canal. Dr. Davey wasn't there yet so the nurse told me to stop pushing! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!! The urge to push was so strong I couldn't resist and I was grunting and panting to try and stop the urge! Finally Dr. Davey ran in, suited up, got into position and told me to push with all my might. I was so tired I couldn't muster up any strength, plus it hurt like hell!! The ring-of-fire is real and boy does it hurt. They told me to keep pushing and focus on pushing where his fingers were. I continued scooting back because the pain and burning was immense and intense. I screamed that I couldn't do this, it hurt too much. Finally I looked up at my husband and the fear in his eyes gave me enough energy to push with all my might. I pushed and screamed so loud I think I scared all the ladies who were in labour. Nixon's head emerged sunny side up (explains why my labour was so long) and Dr. Davey told me to stop pushing so he could turn his body into a better position and suction out his nose. Then he told me to push one last time.

8:08am- He was finally out!! No stitches required thankfully. 9lbs 9oz 21.75 inches long. His face and body were badly bruised with how fast he shot down the canal in anterior position. They also told us he has an undescended right testicle and that he is tongue-tied. They cleaned him up and I was finally able to hold my precious baby. He latched immediately and breastfed like a champ.

I am very greatful for my Father in Heaven. He watched over and protected Nixon and I during this beautiful experience. I'm greatful for beautiful, healthy children and what a true miracle and blessing it is to give birth to something so perfect. I'm very greatful to my family for taking such good care of Cadence during this and for their continuous love and support. I couldn't have done it without them. Nixon is such a good baby so far. Just eats, sleeps and poops. :) We love him so much and we are excited we have him for all eternity!!