8 months old!

Oliver is 8 months today! My sister is arriving late afternoon and our baby sitting routine will begin. I have to be calm and relaxed, everything will be well. This is my mantra.

In other news my stimming protocol is the same as the last time, I started my puregon (225 U) and luveris last night. I have this thing that I fear I'll forget the injections...It was a strange feeling taking out my Puregon pen from the fridge (I store it there, it's the one I used the last time and so I think it's my lucky pen). Definitely the anxiety about the cycle is minimal which is great, but still I had this thought in my mind "we are going to try and add to the family" and a smile came to my face.

I slept a bit better, I think I'm overcoming the terror of what had happened. I would go as far as saying that Oliver would have been absolutely fine in any case and that I can only do my best to keep him safe. Let's hope it'll last!

Good to start!

Thanks my friends for the kind words. I am slowly getting back to less anxiety again. I now am quite sure that by the time I reached Oliver the other night he was definitely breathing so much so that the alarm stopped before I touched him (of course we had several tests and it takes a few seconds for the alarm to stop when you resume motion). Still. He almost certainly had stopped breathing for the alarm to go off. The sensor pad is ultra sensitive and a feather brushing against the mattress, even at the edge, would be getting registered. I do remember when I had the first scare the paed said that when the alarm goes of after 15 seconds it's still at the high end of normal. This time it may have been 20-25 seconds, and I think it was because he was face down on the mattress. But I will make sure to tell the doctor at the next appointment or I'll book in early if it happens again. God please don't let it happen again.

I also called the crèche today to find out what their safety protocol for sleeping babies is. The manager was very very understanding, she said they have a baby monitor in the room but that they check the babies every 5 minutes (of all ages up to the time they leave for school) and keep it on record for years so they are all available to me even now if I want to check. Of course she said if I feel more comfortable they'll clip on the breathing monitor too, no problem. She was so so reassuring, they don't want to take any chance and she encouraged me to call again if I have any worry at all. I do feel better. A bit.

I will post some pics of our last holiday soon but for now I'll show you how happy he is at bath time! This one was taken only a couple of nights ago.

In other news, my scan at the clinic went well, still a bit of lining to be shed but bloods were good so I will start stimming tomorrow. They changed back my meds to what I had used before with no problem. Of course meds change also depending on which pharma company gives them the best perks but for veteran clients like me they'll prescribe what worked before. Delighted not to have to use steroids and clexane this time as I won't do a transfer, but let's hope we'll have something to freeze! Next scan on Monday. Mike will go in for a SA on tuesday. We are quite curious to see if the new super duper facilities has upgraded the "Sample room" too. I will let you know.

My dear friend The Ultimate Vet Hero will fly to Cali for good tomorrow morning, I sure will miss her.

And my sister will be here on Thursday to babysit for a couple of weeks, hopefully she won't be too tired by the end of it!

Anxiety is back

Last night at 4.30am I heard the sensor monitor alarm going off (the full thing, not just the warning "bip"). I was in Oliver's bedroom within seconds. He seemed to be just fine, but sleeping at the edge of the cot, on is belly, with his knees up, so I thought the alarm went off as perhaps his breathing motion was not really happening on the mattress. Of course I moved him, he didn't even wake up, he was breathing just fine, didn't gasp for air on anything, I gave him his soother and then listen, from my bedroom to his sucking noises. I just couldn't sleep again. Heart pounding. What if he had actually stopped breathing? Maybe he had and I'm just telling myself it was the position he was sleeping in that triggered the alarm.

And so of course today I fell back into the loop of reading about SIDS stories frightening myself to tears. I was doing so well, this summer I felt comfortable enough to not have the Snoo.za monitor on him at night (it was falling off the nappy and going off consistently) and today I had to go and watch him breathe. He's going to be 8 months on Thursday, I know the major risk should be over and yet you always read about a tragedy. Today I read that SIDS seems to happen more commonly when the child is minded by someone else. For the love of God...I'm going to insist that they'll have his breathing monitor on in the crèche (yes, sorry, that's day care) when they put him down for his nap. This is bad and I know it. I know I cannot control what will happen, I can only take precautions. I'm back to being anxious and what would I do if something happens. Damn anxiety...I was ok and then the monitor had to go off just to remind me I'll never be free from worrying.

In other news tomorrow I'm going in for my baseline scan. I got the prescription and they changed a couple of meds, not sure why, I'll ask about it tomorrow and very likely will go back to what I previously used. I'll update with news then. Love to all and thanks for listening.

7 and half months check up with the nurse

Today I brought Oliver to the local health centre to be checked out by the nurse. I would have walked but we seem to be experiencing quite a few summer thunderstorms (at least 3 today).

Anyway, I wasn't particularly worried about anything, I know that at this visit they would check baby's hearing, height and weight, postural milestones etc. We had Oliver's ear check when he was 2 weeks old at the paed and I know he's growing like a weed and he's in good health. If I had one small concern is that I'm under the impression that his foreskin is a bit tight (circumcision is not commonly done in Europe), but I didn't really know what it should look like at this age.

Anyway, the hearing test was quite fun, I sat with Oliver on my lap facing a nurse who would grab his attention with a toy. Meanwhile another nurse (the assessing one) was behind me making noises to our right or left and Oliver would turn his head to the right or left. Actually he didn't hear two tones from his right and a different tone from his left but the nurse said it's very common and to go back in 2/4 weeks to repeat it. Hopefully it'll be fine then.

His weight is a whopping 9kg (a kg in just over a month!!) and his hight is 71cm which puts him nicely between the 50th and the 75th percentile!! Wohoo this is coming from a little one who was always in the 25th percentile!! He sat up nicely for the nurse and showed her how much he's keen to actually stand on his feet. His feeding stage is where it should be so I'm pleased I got full marks for my little one.

She had a look at his foreskin and yes, she think it's a bit tight but that a doctor should have a look. I'm thinking to wait till the next hearing test and then go back to the paediatrician.

I'm also happy to say that he's back to sleeping much better, last night he slept from 8pm to 6 am this morning, it was a soother emergency and he went right back to sleep for another hour and a half.

In other news, I got a call from the crèche where he'll be going to set up his induction dates. It'll happen the week before he starts so wednesday the 28th of September is the first hour! Also, I'll be unfortunately at a conference his first full day there (monday the 3rd) so it'll be up to Mike to drop him at the crèche that morning. My flight is due back in Dub at 2pm though so I'll go straight to pick him up. I'm really excited and not worried about this new step in his growth, I think he'll have a great time, hopefully I won't be proven wrong!

Home sweet home

We are back!

Holiday was fab as always but this time we were eaten by mosquitoes (Oliver not so much thank to a mosquito net and citronella and geranium essential oils) and the temperature in the last few days was unbearably hot even up in the hills. This made for some very interesting nights... Oliver was back to waking every couple of hours, I also couldn't sleep much and Mike and I got a few headaches from heat and dehydration.

But the positives were so many more.

Oliver is now sitting up on his own! Still loves to bath in the little pool and he's eating practically everything which is great. He also discovered his willy and oh boy the fun he's having every time we change the nappy/bath/shower/naked time etc. I'm told it's very normal, but the way he's pulling at it looks painful! Again I'm told it isn't.

Peeing and pooing in the toilet is going great, admittedly in Italy he was drinking so much water that it was difficult to catch every pee, but he certainly knows that when I hold him over the loo it's the signal to pee/poo if he has to. He has successfully used toilets at airports and even on the plane! He's very vocal, nearly always smiling and he's very cuddly. He hugs us any time we pick him up from bed and he's started stretching his arms out when he's tired to sit/stay where he is.

I think we all gained a bit of weight (damn for me!!) despite playing tennis and doing regular walks, but I'll go back to yoga soon and I'll start bringing Oliver to the local pool this weekend! I have a plan, let's hope it'll work!

In other news, I'm waiting for AF to show up to start my ICSI cycle with elective freezing!! Really excited but also soooooooooo much more relaxed knowing we already had one miracle, and if we get a second it'll only be an additional blessing.

I'll get back to commenting asap!

Checking out

Suitcase is packed.

Passports and tickets are on the table.

Cats are at the cattery already.

Washing machine is still going but should be finished soon. Dishwasher about to be started.

Aircoach lives tomorrow morning at 6.30 (aggh) and our flight is at 9.30.

Italy here we come!

No internet at all till the 22nd when we'll fly back, thinking of you all and I'll be looking forward to catching up with blogland on my return!

7 monthiversary!

Oliver is 7 months today and I did a bit of shopping for my little one!

First let me say that I got another load of things from friends and colleagues last friday. We are now in possession of a few hundred euro worth of clothing (practically new), two bumbo seats (one for the living-room and one for the attic), and a baby play mat the size of a room (well...almost!). So I had a few things I needed to get and then it so happens that one of my former student gave me a voucher today so I added a few more things to the mix!

I had bought a summer sleep bag the other day as Oliver is quickly outgrowing the one he currently uses. I love the Gro company so that's where this is coming from.

To this I added a less needed Organic-cotton sleep bag (6-18 months!) for the winter time (he has one already which came with the cot-bed but they do get used a lot). The colour looks a bit pale, but it's actually a nice warm straw colour.

Then, given that we now posses a bumbo seat (ops, sorry, I meant two for just one baby!) we bought the tray.

But the cherry on the cake goes to the gro-clock!

I absolutely loved this clock the first time I saw it on the website, it's such a clever idea! You can set it to whichever time you like to indicate night-time and day-time and that should help the toddler to stay in bed till "the sun comes up"! Of course Oliver doesn't need it yet so it'll stay on my bedside locker for the time being!

And talking about sleeping, Oliver is a bit more settled, doesn't sleep fully through the night but we may have to get up only a couple of times. Anyway, let's hope we heading in the right direction!