My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

milk protein AND soy allergy?!?

So we found out about a month ago that Lilah was allergic to milk proteins! today i had the soy based cream cheese and she hase been screaming her head off, won't eat very much (jsut barely enough to get by) is pooping like crazy and got her rash back...same stuff that happened for milk! Ugh how many things is my sweet bean going to be allergic too? Being a vegetarian while pregnant I used dairy as my main source of calcium as well as soy based things like edamame etc
Did I do this to her? Also my husband is severely lactose intolerant so that and me may have caused it!? Poor baby! It is so sad to see her in pain and know there is literally nothing I can do about it until it leaves my/our system!
Anyone else have little ones going through this or something similar?

Lilah's firsts....

Lilah pushed herself from her tummy to her back twice while having tummy time today!!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~L I L A H' S F I R S T S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3/16/10---Lilah's first pediatrician appointment
3/17/10---Lilah's first bath
3/18/10---Lilah's first walk (with mommy, daddy, and grammy)
3/20/10---Lilah started looking at toys/into mirror
3/25/10---Lilah first push over, tummy to back (2x)-12 days old
3/28/10---Lilah first time going to church
3/31/10---Lilah's first visit with the plastic surgeon
4/2/10 ---Lilah's first time taking probiotics/first mega puke on daddy
4/3/10---Lilah's first dinner out in public (Moe's slept through the whole thing)
4/4/10---Lilah's first Easter
4/6/10---Lilah's first time alone with daddy(mommy picked up dinner at Tapas)
4/7/10---Lilah's first time wearing sunglasses
4/8/10---Lilah got her finger tied AND held her head up for at least a minute in tummy time!
4/9/10---Lilah's first frequent sound; "gleh"
4/13/10---Lilah's first smiles
4/16/10---Lilah's first shot :(
4/24/10---Lilah's first Cherokee Naming Ceremony for her friend Chayton Marson-Rhodes
5/7/10---Lilah's first bottle
5/12/10---Lilah slept 8 hours (8pm-4am) and the ate and back to sleep (slept "whole night" )

Her tongue-tie...

http://www.aap.org/breastfeeding/files/pdf/BBM-8-27%20Newsletter.pdf

An answer to the breastfeeding woes!!

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/nipple-blanching.html

Fun first days home!

Meeting the kitties


Tummy Time with Daddy


First Bath

Lilah's not-so-very-birth-plan birth story....

Ok so we went into the hospital Thursday night @ about 2:30am with contractions VERY close together about 2-3 minutes, I was doing GREAT! Contractions had started at about 5pm. I had lost the mucus plug that morning and had blood show throughout the contractions. They took us in for testing to find (after 2 uncomfortable checks-one due to the nurses fingers not being "long enough") that I was 3cm and 80% effaced.....so they suggested that we walk....so we walked for about an hour and they were about 2-3 min apart still, feeling stronger, and it certainly wasn't as comfortable as home.
We chose to go in to the hospital due to wanting to make sure the baby was ok (which she was doing great!) and thought that contractions that were 2min apart and VERY uncomfortably painful was a good sign. Well the nurse talked to the on-call doctor (because our MW is on call friday from 5pm-sunday at 5pm) and he said that we could either stay or go home whichever would be more comfortable. We chose to go home--there we would have minimal interventions and we knew we could progress better there. They told us to come back when either the water breaks or the contractions are 3-5 minutes apart and I can't talk in between. So, very disappointed and uncomfortable we got all of our stuff, got into the car, I started to cry, and we went home @ 5:45 am.

When we got home we were so exhausted from not sleeping all night and I from the contractions, that we tried our best to get some sleep. What a HORRIBLE sleep that was! I would wake up with a contraction, but was so tired and out of it that I didn't know what was going on and tried to struggle through each one, trying to remember to relax, but much to late in the contraction to be beneficial. My body calmed down enough for me to get sleep in between, but short, uncomfortable spurts...I got up this am feeling tender and sore, contracting less often, about every 4 minutes, then fell back asleep between, woke up again to about 6-7 minutes apart, then got "up" and they are spaced pretty far apart (about 7-10 minutes). I was thinking "I CANNOT do this again!" 3 bouts of false labor and then the failed early labor where I was contracting at about 2-3 minutes (sometimes even 1.5 minutes!), getting checked, hooked up to the machine, pooing 50 zilllion times, and pacing the hospital hallways thinking THIS COULD FINALLY BE IT----to feeling tired, hopeless, and back to square one....all i could do was cry at that point. I was so tired and frustrated...and uncomfortable.

Well, after breakfast, the contractions then started to get stronger again! They never actually went away, but picked up again, about where they left off....only were coming on closer and MUCH stronger. We labored at home for as long as we could...we rested, used the ball, walked, swayed, showered, got on all fours, my hubby was the lifesaver by applying counter back pressure, and i just tried to progress and get through each contraction. They were getting stronger and I felt like it was time to go to the hospital at 4:45pm on friday--so we called the OB/GYN office to call our MW who would be on call in 15 minutes and headed out...to hit major friday night rush hour traffic. We finally got to the hospital and they put us in the room to see whether or not we would get admitted and found that I was STILL 3 (maybe about 4) cm dilated and 80% effaced. That was the progress in 13 hours?!?! I was so beyond tired at this point, still with barely any sleep, energy draining by the minute and being told that all the pain in my RAW body was a result of NO PROGRESS in the 13 hours...they told us to go walk. We walked for an hour an a half to be check at 8pm. I tried everything to get myself to relax, but was so beyond tired and losing control of my body that every contraction was a fight. I would tighten when i needed to relax the pain was raw and I wasn't progressing. My eyes were puffy, my body was beyond exhausted, my contractions were becoming raw, and I was starting to realize that I just couldn't relax. It needed to stop so I could sleep and recover or I wasn't going to make it, I wasn't progressing outside of early labor. I was given my options: the only option that I could see as a possibility was an epidural, which is the polar opposite from my birth plan...but i needed sleep, I needed to rest and relax and without those things, I wouldn't be able to have this baby. I knew what i needed to do for my body and they hospital was so supportive of my birth plan that they asked me several times if i was sure because it isn't what i wanted in my birth plan and even called my midwife to come and talk to me to be sure this what what i wanted. What a great hospital! So I went to get hooked up to the IV at 9pm and knew the sacrifice I was making...no tub and laboring and birthing in the bed. This was what i needed to do and i was sure and confident in my decision...so i did. Well epidural number one, while having contractions didn't take, I still felt every contraction which were getting increasingly stronger, but not closer together. The anesthesiologist was called to give me another dose of medication because this one wasn't enough, so he added more. Still felt EVERYTHING! The only thing he could think of was that somehow it didn't make it to where it needed to be and that we needed to do the whole procedure over again...so out came all the tubes and everything and we did it again! This time the epi and double dose of medication took and i was able to finally relax. I had made it to 5-6 cm and 100% effaced by myself before the epidural finally took effect! I was proud :) BUT EXHAUSTED! Although being told I was having Prodromal labor which is not very common, progress was made, the MW broke my water, and then I slept! 3am it was time to push! We were ready! About a half hour into the pushing we found out that the cord may be around her neck because her heartrate would plummet with every push and contraction. It went from about 150's to about 70 and they MW, nurse, and Brian would watch the monitor breathless until it went up again. My MW told me what was happening and that I needed to get her down lower as fast as I could or .....well I just had to give it everything. I pushed as hard s I could and she suggested pushing that hard, plus more and holding it longer than a 10 count, if we could get the baby down further, we could use the vacuum to get her out and avoid a c-section but we had to work as hard and as fast as we could. So I found the energy from somewhere unknown and knew i needed to get my baby out safe...I pushed harder, longer, and until my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my sockets....I COULDN'T HAVE CARED ANY LESS ABOUT POOPING on the table!! My MW, nurse, and Hubby were awesome! My hubby couched me through it all and my MW cheered on! She pointed out her head and that was all i needed! She showed me the little piece of my baby girl i needed to go all the way, my can of pop-eye spinach so to speak. I pushed and pushed and the team came in in a whirlwind! The doctor came in the with vacuum, the warmer was getting set up, and all i could say was that someone needed to get the moms, the once shred of plan i held onto....but there wasn't time! I needed to get her out as soon as we could. So I pushed, he pulled, the cord was wrapped around her neck and her hand/arm and he got it off her, couple more pushes , the lights were bright, i was tired....then there was a baby on my belly, my baby?! I had a baby! The cord was cut by a nurse and she was whisked away. I wanted things done on my belly, but she wasn't crying, I wanted my hubby to cut the cord, but they needed to check and make sure she was okay. I wanted to breastfeed, but I was getting stitched up from a mild tear up, down, and lacerations inside. SHE CRIED! She got 9/9 Apgar! She was healthy I was healthy---I was a mom, my hubby, a dad. Tears of joy and pride welled up in my eyes and euphoria spread all over. 3/13/10, at 4:44am my life changed for the better. Ms. Lilah Rose, the most beautiful and gorgeous baby I have ever seen lit up our lives. 7 lbs 6 oz 20 inches long and we are so in love. My life has never been better!
So our not-so-very-birth-plan birth story comes with one moral! Plans change, but in the end, you get the most amazing gift of all--a family---and a pride in yourself that no one can ever take away! And that is my Birth Plan!