Marching For Babies At 34 Weeks Old!!

First time we did
a "faux hawk"!

Today, at 34 weeks old, Cael, my sister and I, along with some Sweet Peas, walked in the March for Babies/March of Dimes walk. We walked in memory of Baby Dylan, who passed away in October 2011 (a baby Sweet Pea). But we also walked in memory of Baby Z, Baby E, and for all babies everywhere. Both my youngest brother and sister were 6 weeks early, and as you may know, I went into premature labor with Cael at 30&5 weeks pregnant. I was fortunate in that the medication and bed rest worked for me, and Cael made it all the way to one day past his due date. But there are several others who aren't as fortunate, and they may be born extremely premature with complications, or be born sleeping. It really was such a moving and incredible experience, to see all the walkers there for the same common interest - raising money to help save the lives of babies. They did a moment of silence for us to reflect on those babies who were no longer with us, and I became extremely emotional and teared up. I held Cael close to me and snuggled him as I thought about Dylan, E and Z, and every other baby who is no longer with us. I'm resisting the urge to cry right now as I think back on it.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, with not one cloud in the sky. I think the news called for rain earlier in the week, so we were lucky it was so beautiful. The perfect day for a 3.5 mile walk. It was nice that our group was able to stay together, too. The last walk I did, which was for breast cancer, was very crowded, and I felt like we were all sardines. Plus, it was easy to get separated from who you were walking with, and difficult to stay next to them. This walk was much different. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to walking again next month back in PA.

Cael hasn't really been doing anything new, but I'm not really surprised. If he started walking only weeks after starting to pull himself up, I think I would shit myself. He's still crawling all over the place, and pulling himself up on anything and everything he can. But my favorite is when he crawls over to where I'm standing, and starts pulling himself up on my pants. He looks up at me with this gummy grin, like "I got you, mommy. Now pick me up!" He hasn't figured out how to clap his hands together yet, but he is banging things a lot more. I think he likes the noise he makes, even though he flinches his eyes with each bang.

And speaking of gummy grin, Cael now has "two toofs", as I say it! It's his second bottom middle tooth, on his right. I saw the white spot under his gums on Sunday, the day before we left for Long Island. I figured it would be a few days before it would break through. However, on Monday evening, while sitting on my moms couch, I felt his gums, and there it was. It had broke through! I can't believe my baby has 2 teeth. And yes, he was screaming in this picture, because he hates when you look in his mouth. The picture to the left was taken on Wednesday, and it has since come up even more.

Nomming on some watermelon

We've introduced a few new foods to Cael recently. Yesterday I gave him some watermelon in his mesh teether, and he loved it. He's also had oatmeal, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and stole an all-natural pomegranate fruit bar right out of my hands! I was watching my mom knead dough to make bread, and I had him on my left hip holding him. I had the fruit bar in my other hand. Well, I guess I was so encompassed in what my mom was doing, because all of a sudden we realized Cael was sucking on something. He had the fruit bar in both hands, and was sucking on the bar and wrapper! It took me a second, but when we finally realized what he was eating, and that I didn't know he took it out of my hands, we busted out laughing. But not only was he making slurping noises, he was going "mmmmm" as well. So he was thoroughly enjoying it. Because it was all natural, I decided to let him have it. I was letting him take little bites of it (it's a mushy-esque bar), and also taking small pieces and giving it to him off my finger. I'm really happy I was doing this, though, because my finger came out of his mouth with a huge glop of fruit bar! It had all collected and stuck together on the roof of his mouth! I got so nervous after that, because I thought it was a huge choking risk. It was one big mush ball on the roof of his mouth. I thought he was swallowing it, and doing a good job with it, but instead it was sticking to the roof of his mouth. He was probably wondering where it all went! Haha. You live and you learn, I guess.

Cael has become quite the picky eater! He gags on almost everything now (meal-wise), and I feel he's been eating less at meals than he used to. He hated the zucchini, and gagged on that almost to the point of making himself throw up. He hated regular potatoes, prunes, and he even gagged on plums I made a few days ago. I don't know what has changed. I figured it was a texture issue, but he'll eat puffs and sweet foods without a problem. I will admit that the zucchini had a bitter after taste because I steamed and pureed it with the skin on. I've read that the skin of squash has a lot of vitamins in it, so I decided to leave it on. But it did cause the puree to taste bitter. I have to figure out a way to mask that flavor, because I'm thinking that is why he was gagging.

Cael has been having some major constipation issues for the past week. Minutes before we got in the car on Monday morning to leave for LI, Cael had a blow-out. That was the first time in a while that his poop wasn't hard enough to plop in the toilet. It was a mess! I had to clean the diaper off in the bath tub, and then clean the tub out - that's how bad it was. But then after that, he didn't go again until Saturday morning (yesterday)! That's 5 days! He was straining to poop, though, every day, and nothing would come out. I feel like I tried EVERYTHING! Prunes and prune juice (both of which he hated), strait pear juice, sugar water, rectal thermometer and rectal stimulation with a Q-Tip, and finally a Fleet infant suppository. I feel like I pulled out all the stops, and I was waiting for an epic poop to happen. But it didn't. Especially after the suppository, which usually always works within an hour. He didn't have any type of bowel movement until Saturday morning, and even then, it wasn't 5 days worth, and was still firm. I never thought I would ask for a blow-out, but I was hoping it would be - for Cael's sake. He was growing increasingly uncomfortable, and straining more and more to go. He'd even turn red in the face while pushing. I feel so bad for my little man, but I guess he takes after his Mommy. According to my mom, Cael is me all over again with this issue. When I was his age and up to about 4 years old, I had the same problems, and would need more assistance than a suppository to go to the bathroom. Embarrassing for me to share that? Eh, not really - it happens to the best of us. Since yesterday morning, he's gone a few more times, but it's still firm, and not very much. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing to help him as much as I can.

I did feel bad after inserting the suppository though. He screamed for about a half hour afterwards, and would want me to only hold him. He kept arching his back, sticking his butt out and straining. I thought it was just working. But then I read the label. It says "may cause rectal discomfort or a burning sensation." WHAT?! My poor little man! That's probably why he was screaming. It was probably really hurting him, and knowing that just kills me. Maybe if it had worked with the hour like it was supposed to, I wouldn't feel as bad. But it didn't. I haven't used them since, and I'll only use them as a last resort. I'm also going to try and give him more water, but out of a cup so he drinks it. I did this last night, out of a little cup, and he actually enjoyed drinking it. I was surprised.

Ah, the joys of parenthood! :) But I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world.