Eluned G. Sharron Bethea » April 2008 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Wed, Apr 30, 2008 12:00 PM
Eluned just had her 4-month appointment. She's 12 pounds 8 ounces and 24 1/4 inches long, which puts her at the 25% percentile for weight and the 50% for height. This just confirms what we already knew, that she's had quite a growth spurt recently, as she was at much smaller percentiles at her 2 and 3 month appointments. Overall, though, she's following a nice smooth growth curve, which is what's most important.

We met a new pediatrician today, Dr. Ahmadian. She's a D.O. instead of a M.D.; I need to look up the difference but I've heard good things about D.O.s. She's very nice, and she has a 15-month-old of her own.

We talked about sleep and poop and food. Dr. Ahmadian wants us to start feeding Els food before her next appointment at 6 months, and to start her with rice cereal. I'm not sold on either idea -- early introduction of food increases the risk of food allergies, and rice cereal is processed and sugary -- but more than anything I just want to follow Els' cues. She's already showing interest in Will's and my food. And I have no problem giving her rice cereal for a few days, before switching to real food, so I took a sample of cereal to keep on hand.

Els had her 4-month vaccinations, 4 shots and an oral vaccine, and she hated the whole thing. Last time she liked the oral vaccine, but this time she kept trying to spit it out. The nurse has been through this a few times, however, so the nurse prevailed -- and she told us that this is why they give 3 separate doses. Els is now dealing with these vaccinations the same way she dealt with her 2-month vaccinations, by sleeping.

Dr. Zimble's office gives lots of combination vaccines (multiple vaccines together in one shot) to minimize the number of shots, but one of their combos isn't available right now. So in consultation with Dr. Ahmadian we decided to postpone Els' polio vaccine until her 6-month appointment. I'm more worried about polio than Hepatitis B, but Dr. Ahmadian pointed out that Hep B is more prevalent today.

And Dr. Ahmadian ordered an ultrasound of Els' lower back; we go in for it way too early Friday morning. She has sacral dimples on both sides, which I'd noticed but not thought anything of. Turns out in a few cases a sacral dimple (or two) can indicate that the spine didn't form correctly. Dr. Ahmadian was more focused on assuaging our concerns that giving us a full explanation. I'm not concerned (yet). Dr. Schramm and Dr. Zimble weren't concerned, Els had a thorough ultrasound in utero that indicated no problems, and at 4 months she has none of the symptoms associated with this problem (except the dimples). But I would have liked a better explanation, so I'm going to do my own research.

Comments:
Sarah: My grandson had a "click" which indicated a slight problem with the hip joint. Our M.O. took care of it and he's had no problems since (he's 24). So I'm sold on the approach an M.O. takes.

An M.D. and an M.O. both do the 4 years of medical school. However, the D.O. receives training in the muscular and skeletal system, and also in muscular and skeletal manipulation. A doctor who is a D.O. tends to evaluate a personâ€™s health in terms of viewing the body as a complex related network. Any disease affects the whole body. The M.D., conversely, may evaluate the disease in terms of how it affects certain parts of the body only.

The emphasis in training is given to preventative care and on the philosophy of taking time with patients to assess their total health and total health needs. This does not mean that the D.O. cannot prescribe medicines and treat a disease with equal competency. It does, however, mean that the D.O. may consider alternative approaches to treating disease, and may be more apt to consider the disease as a dysfunction of the total working of the body.
(copied from our doctor's pamphlet)

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Sun, Apr 27, 2008 1:00 PM
Eluned dances. She loves to stand (with support, of course) and when she's really happy she'll shake her hips and dance, usually to music that only she hears.

Comments:
Sarah: The music of the spheres, perhaps? I can see it now...Eluned dancing with the stars!

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Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:00 PM
Eluned has gone through another growth spurt. (How much of that was her, and how much was Will's tendency to feed her everything in the fridge while I'm away, we'll never know.) She has her 4-month appointment on Weds., so we'll find out exactly how big she is then.

We know she's grown quite a bit, though, because she's moved into another size of clothing. Almost none of her newborn/0-3 month clothes fit anymore. She's wearing her 3-6 month clothes now.

This is terrific fun for me. She has some outfits I've been waiting to dress her in, like her cat sleeper and her froggie jumper.

Comments:
Sarah: Oh, yes, this is a fun time. You've got all those neat things just waiting for her to grow into them. I hope people gave you (or you gave yourself) larger sizes for her. Sometimes they go through sizes so fast they only get worn once or twice. I used to change my daughter from one top to another, just to enjoy dressing her up. Now (she's 40) she dresses herself....

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Fri, Apr 25, 2008 12:00 PM
So a pretty surprising thing happened this week: I was laid off from my job at Murad. This may not be as bad as it sounds. I haven't written about this here before, because my (now former) co-workers read this too, but I had already decided to leave Murad and have been actively looking for a new job.

I leave Murad with more references than I'll probably need, and everyone I've talked to there has been very supportive. The Murads apparently are aware that I'm the sole support for my little family, and they're being honorable in that regard.

The most promising lead at the moment is with a company in Portland. I've completed 2 phone interviews with them (3 if you count the recruiter), and this weekend they're flying me up for an in-person interview on Monday.

This is the first time Eluned and I will be separated overnight. Also, I don't know if I'm going to get any time to pump on Monday, so I'm planning on being pretty uncomfortable all day, and spending the rest of the week undoing the damage.

The Portland contingent (Will's Mom, Cindy and Sarah) and the soon-to-be Portland contingent (Tom and Vic) are pretty excited about this lead. The company has other candidates -- they're interviewing 2 of us on Monday -- so I'm tempering my excitement for now.

In another vein, I've been truly lucky to have 2 bosses in a row now, Nate and Valerie, who are exceptional people and who have become my mentors and friends. So I was surprised and hurt during my maternity leave and return to work to sense that a rift had developed between me and Valerie. Now I know that Valerie and I are fine (and always have been), and that what I sensed came from Murad, not her.

In my line of work, companies are temporary, but good relationships can last for years. I'm looking forward to a new chapter in my relationship with Valerie and some of the other key people I met through Murad.

Comments:
Melissa: Kate, I just found out today. Boy am I out of the loop. I am so excited for your opportunity in Portland as we had spoken so much about you wanting to go there. Good luck!!!!

Aunt Marilyn: Good luck on your job interview Kate. There must be some kind of portable pump that doesn't use electricity that you could get for this trip. Otherwise you will be uncomfortable for sure. Parker and I will be thinking of you tomorrow.

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Sun, Apr 20, 2008 2:00 PM
The good news is, Eluned and I have made great progress with nursing. The bad news is, I inadvertently took away one of Will's most useful tools to pacify the baby.

Els and I have had a number of breakthroughs lately:
* We nursed in public for the first time, and now we'll nurse just about anywhere.
* We've gone through whole days without a bottle, just nursing.
* We figured out side-lying nursing, so now we sleep together and Els nurses as much or as little as she likes during the night.
* Els has discovered comfort nursing, which is just what it sounds like: nursing not for food, but to meet some of her other needs.
* And most importantly, one day a few weeks ago I realized that I was looking forward to nursing, that I couldn't wait for her to wake up and nurse again. That was our biggest breakthrough of all.

But with all this nursing success, Els has given up on her pacifiers -- just in time for me to go back to work. So now Will's home all day with a baby who has a physical need to suckle, but won't take a pacifier. So they've had some grumpy days. Oops.

Els is getting better and better at sucking her thumb, so that will help.

And we hit on a happy discovery yesterday. Nearly every time Els finishes a bottle, she fusses for a few minutes. I thought, maybe some of the fussing is because she's happily sucking on her bottle, and then when it's empty we take it away. So yesterday we tried giving her a pacifier right after she finished. It doesn't always work, but it does help.

Comments:
Sarah: She's as beautiful as ever. It was nice to see you yesterday even if I didn't have time to come over and speak. What's amazing to me is how she grows from week to week, practically before our eyes! The changes are so small, but over a week I can really see them. Wow.

Sarah: She's as beautiful as ever. It was nice to see you yesterday even if I didn't have time to come over and speak. What's amazing to me is how she grows from week to week, practically before our eyes! The changes are so small, but over a week I can really see them. Wow.

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Mon, Apr 14, 2008 2:00 PM
Cindy and Sarah bring up a good point. I'll find some baby photos of me and Will to scan. But it's pretty clear who Eluned looks most like: my sister Rachel. And Rachel and I look nothing alike. Go figure. (Rachel, send me a good photo of you to post here for comparison.)

The first people to note this were some friends of my family who know my sister better than they know me. They were right, though, and their observation has since been born out by other people. Even Binky, my lactation consultant, agreed that Eluned looks like Rachel when Rachel accompanied me to an appointment on a visit out here.

Some background on my sister: next year she will graduate with a dual law degree and Master's in Sports Administration from Valparaiso University in Indiana. She hopes to become a lawyer for a professional sports team, ideally the Yankees. Rachel, along with Will's sister Nicky, is responsible for the sports education of our children, since Will and I are hard-pressed to catch a ball.

This summer, Rachel was accepted into some prestigious law school summer program thing out here at Pepperdine University in Malibu, so she'll be right over Topanga Canyon from us all summer. We can't wait until she gets out here. (And if she doesn't play along and send me a photo, I'll take one this summer when she's not paying attention.)

Comments:
Nicky: I have a ton of Will's baby pictures. I will scan some this weekend and send to you.

Sarah: Yes, more pictures! I love 'em. Hope all is going well at work. Tell Will it's the hardest job he'll ever love (as if he didn't know that already). And when you're my age, you'll look back with amazement--'how did we manage to do it all?'

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Sun, Apr 13, 2008 7:00 PM
Just in case the dearth of posts didn't tip you off, I'm back at work now.

We went up to my parents' near Santa Cruz, CA, for Easter weekend. Well, really we went up the second to last weekend before I went back, but that turned out to be Easter. So it wasn't quite as restful as I was hoping, but it was a great trip. Eluned met many friends and family, including Aunt Vic and Tom, and we saw Nico again for the first time since she was born.

Unfortunately, Els came home from that trip with a severe loathing for her car seat, and we're only just now getting back to the point where she can enjoy a car ride again.

Will's Mom came down the last weekend before I went back and stayed through the week. While she was here she transformed our patio; see the photo album "Visit with Mom."

Going back to work wasn't as bad as I was forewarned. I hate to leave her in the morning, when she's usually all smiles and laughter. Between that and some logistics, I'm not leaving as early as I had planned. In the evening I can't wait to get home. But in between I do okay. My commute is about 2 hours, 15 minutes each day -- not as bad as I feared, but still a problem.

I did come back to my own office, so I can pump in there. I had planned to work while I pumped. However, my office wasn't completely set up; I don't have a network connection. Yes, still. So I read. I finished "No Country for Old Men": good book. Since I can't use my office for, y'know, working (yet), I'm sharing it with Amy so she can pump in there too. (In the "Baby Boom" album, in the first two photos, Amy's on the far right.)

Eluned eats a little bit more while I'm gone than I pump each day, so I'm trying to make up the difference on the weekends.

Will is adjusting to being a stay-at-home-dad. My first day back, and it was a short day, when I got home he said, "This is the hardest thing I've ever done."

So what's our girl up to? Right before I went back Eluned had her 3-month appointment. She was 10 and a half pounds and right on track with her development. She laughs and "talks" now, and tries to stand. She has noticed herself in the mirror, so we hang out there while she smiles at herself. And she has discovered that an object in her hand can be brought to her mouth. She is still, all in all, a happy easy baby.

Comments:
Sarah: Paucity of posts more than made up for (enough prepositions for you?) by a delightful, interesting one. It's great to read about her progress and your return to work. Sorry about the long commute--from personal experience, I can tell you that it can be the most tiring part of the day (not to mention boring). So when are you going to be networked? Some time this year? Best wishes to all.

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