A return to normalcy.

So we are just getting our life back to normal. Clark is still being cute, Tom is still being wonderful, and I'm still trying to document it all. Clark slept a bunch this week. It got warm in Maryland and we spent a bunch of time in the back yard this weekend. I took a bunch of pictures of Clark.


On Tuesday I hung out with another mom, Lauren . She was in my Bradley Childbirth Class and her baby, Bernadette, was born 2.5 weeks before Clark. This is a picture of our kids hanging out on the floor gym. They had a bunch of fun.


Here's our video of the week: Clark's Mobile.

What a week!!!

Clark and I went to the ER on Tuesday night at the pediatrician's command. At home he had an axial temp of 99.9. At the hospital he had a rectal temp of 101.4. They took blood and urine samples, he had a spinal tap & chest x-ray. He had a urinary tract infection, so they also did a kidney ultrasound.

They admitted him to the hospital because he was so young and a fever in an infant can be really dangerous. They cultured the urine, blood and spinal samples to see if the infection had spread, which it can do really fast in a little one.We had our own room for the first 24 hours, and then got a roommate. The roommate was another young mother with her 3 week old baby. Her baby had a UTI as well. She was really nice to visit with. Tom and her husband got along quite well. She was a nice roommate to have. It was also nice to have another baby with a UTI. All of the doctors said that a UTI is a common thing in an infant, and having another baby with one made us both feel better - like they weren't making it up.

We also had visits from Tom's sister, Andrea, and Aunt Mary and Sean. Their visits were encouraging and wonderful. We were thankful that they came by to hang out and encourage us.

Tom and I spent our evenings cuddling with each other and Clark, watching movies, playing Scrabble, and talking with our roommates.

A few days later, the samples were still clear, so it was just a urinary tract infection. They had to culture the bacteria to figure out which bacteria it was, and which antibiotics the bacteria would respond to. He just had regular old E. Coli. He was on IV antibiotics, he got 5 days in the hospital. On Sunday morning, they told me that we could go home! He is now on oral antibiotics for 10 more days to kill the infection. Then he will take another antibiotic for another 2 weeks to prevent a recurrent infection.
He will have to get another test to rule out structural problems that could have caused the infection, the test is called VUCG. They squirt some dye in the bladder and kidney. The VUCG will test to make sure his pee flows out and not in.
We both slept well last night and are resting at home today.

In developmental news, Clark discovered his hands on Monday/Tuesday. He was quite frustrated at the hospital when they wrapped his hand up. He kept trying to put it in his mouth, like it was a giant cotton candy. After our release from the hosptial, we came home and slept, then we went to mass, and then to Rock Bottom Brewery to have a burger and beer and nachos. Clark gripped some silverware, it was the first thing he ever actually held that we put in his hands. =)
He is holding his head up with more control, but we are still wary of whiplash. The top picture shows him pushing up while on his tummy and holding his head. Unfortunately the flash was too bright for him, so its not great, but its PROOF!
He weighs 11 lbs 12 oz. What a huge baby, huh?
He also laughed, for real. it was super cute. He smiles all of the time. It's great.

In conclusion: it sucked to have to go to the hospital, but we are glad we did. We are happy it was something simple like a UTI, and that it can be treated with oral antibiotics. We are happy to be home, and resting. Clark is feeling fine, and so is everyone else. We are just pretty tired, but doing quite well.

Love, V

Sick Clark

Hi everyone!
Please pray for us this week.
After a high temperature and some fussiness, Veronica took Clark to the hospital last night. It turns out that he somehow got a urinary tract infection. They are treating him, but it is going to be a few days in the hospital.

Love

Tom and Veronica and Clark

one month and counting!

Clark is now just over a month old. At my one month checkup, I had him weighed. He has already gained 2lbs and now weighs in at 11lbs 6oz. Holy smokes! I'm glad he is so strong and healthy, because then I don't worry about things so much. Its amazing how big he is though.

Clark is getting out and about (with our help) and seeing the world! This is the list of the many places he has been since we last posted here: post office, grocery store, dairy queen, the library, Rock Creek Park, Washington DC, Cherry Blossom Festival,Church, La Leche League meeting, Rockville City Hall, Chemonics (my work), National Arboretum. He also had his first metro ride!

He has also met many new people including: Tom's family: Monica, Ruby, and James, and friends: Anna, Bucca, Scott, Lishue, Meghan, Lili, Lindsey, Martha, Andie and everyone else at Chemonics.

We really, really, really love him. He is so incredibly precious and cute. He spends lots of time sleeping and most of the rest of his time eating. However, he is spending more and more time awake. When he is awake he looks around and smiles a little bit. Here is him smiling: and here is his daddy smiling at one month:


He can lift and maneuver his head quite well. He is starting to reposition his head on me when he is falling asleep which I find so precious!


The week before Easter & Easter was a whirlwind of excitement! We had Auntie Mo and Cousin Ruby staying at our house, Uncle James stayed with Auntie A, Uncle Jake and Cousin Sophia. We made lots of food, and ate out a bunch. The days were mostly busy and loud, punctuated by naps, which gave some parents a moments rest. Clark liked meeting everyone but it really wore him out.

He woke up long enough to snuggle with Uncle James.

Before passing out on the ride home:




Ruby seemed to have a fantastic time. She is really fun and energetic in addition to being absolutely adorable!!! She is an explorer and put our (sorry attempt at) baby proofing to the test. Luckily, her mom isn't that concerned about safety and is pretty quick on her feet!!!! =)

Sophia is getting really smart and can tell you lots of animal sounds and show you some of her body parts. I'm glad she lives nearby so Clark can learn things from her and benefit from having a local cousin.
For Easter we had breakfast of bacon, eggs, veggie sausage, chocolate croissants, french toast and mimosas. Then we went to mass. Then we came home and made Carne Asada, Pollo Asado, and Shrimp Fajitas. These were eaten in conjunction with a LAMB CAKE!!!
We ate our delicous Easter lunch in the back yard in the beautiful sunshine. It was a beautiful and relaxing time as all 3 kids were asleep at the same time. ( I don't know why this line is hyperlinked, there is no link, sorry).

The only sadness is that I ate something funny this weekend, most likely it was some incredibly spicy Thai food (which burned my lips). It ended up in my milk, and therefore in Clark. He was really unhappy as you can see below. I had to pump and dump my milk. We fed him a little bit of some I had pumped that morning (his first food not immediately from my body). He slept pretty well that night and by his next feeding seemed to tolerate the milk better. Poor little guy - but check out his cute outfit!
Nothing makes you feel so bad as pratically poisioning your baby with some food you ate. So, now I know I cannot eat Shrimp and I cannot eat food so hot that it burns my mouth. I should also lower that threshold and not eat anything that has visible peppers in it. bummer for me, but safer for the precious child. He was completely empting his stomach by vomiting. However, throwing up didn't seem to upset him. He felt pretty good from it. I'm just glad that it cleared out of my milk pretty quickly.

I had my one-month checkup and it looks like I'm almost healed up. I have another week left of "resting" before I am "recovered" from the birth. We did not do the triathlon (it was the same day we went to Cherry Blossom Fest). There is no way I could sit on a bike seat for 30 minutes. Its a bummer to have missed this once a year opportunity to do a mini-tri, but Clark was 2 weeks late. If he had been born on his due date, it would have been more possible. I would have been 6 weeks healed by then. Oh well, we will just have to try one that is a little bit longer and wait for next years mini-tri.

In other health news, I had a clogged milk duct that was giving me some problems, but thanks to the internet I figured out how to solve the problem. I am much more comfortable now.

Too cute to wait for a weekly update!

Clark started smiling AT us on Monday night (he previously would smile in his sleep and while eating). Here is a video I took on Tuesday evening. HE IS SOOOOO CUTE! We can't stand it!