Lily's 9-Month Pediatrician Visit

Lily's 9-month pediatrician visit was this Wednesday. She saw Dr. Schluper, Dr. Polonsky's daughter. We've only been to her once or twice before and I never really had an opinion about her methods either way. After this visit, I still feel the same.

I'm so grateful for the wonderful 8+ months I had with Dr. Polonsky before she passed away. I feel like I'm over the hump with the majority of baby questions I may have had related to food, weight, breasfteeding, vaccines, etc. that I had with Lily, and that I'll do my best to remember with subsequent babies. Every day, Lily seems a little less baby and a little more little person. And little person is so much less of an unknown health-wise. So yes, I'm thankful for a wonderful 8+ months.

I asked the receptionist about what happened with Dr. Polonsky. Seems she wasn't feeling well during the day, felt OK before bed, and then never woke up. So it was pretty much as I had heard. I didn't ask if it was a heart attack, because it didn't really seem necessary - either way, she died in the night. There is going to be a memorial service for her at some local gardens on a Sunday morning in October. Apparently, the garden owners will be dedicating part of the grounds to her, in appreciation for her help with their special-needs children at her alternative-medicine office. I'm still debating whether or not to go - it's right during church.

Lily did great at her check-up. She is in the 90th percentile for height (tall like Daddy) and the 50th percentile for weight. I asked Dr. Schluper if the big gap between the two percentages was a problem, and she said for a girl of Lily's age and activity level, it was completely normal. She's not underweight, just extra tall.

I mentioned that Lily is about eating us out of house and home, and Dr. Schluper said she wished she had that problem with her kids - they're picky eaters. It always amazes me that Lily doesn't gain more than about a 1/2 lb at every visit, with the mountains of food she devours. That little mouth is ALWAYS OPEN, waiting for the next full spoon to come sailing in. And oh the drama if you don't get it to her mouth fast enough! Apparently, her uncle Seth was the same way. Aunt Ilse tells stories of having to eat in the closet when he was around, because of how much he wanted whatever you were eating. So Lily not only LOOKS like my brother, she EATS like him, too.



When is she going to start resembling US? Come on, now.

How I'm Feeling - Week 8

Very groggy and tired all day. 0% engery level. Poor Lily is bearing the brunt of my tiredness. All day, I look forward to her naps, so I can stop chasing after her and take a nap myself. Her lack of EVER sitting still frustrates me, because I just want to sit still myself - zone out on the couch and watch TV. She deserves her fun Mama back, and that's not me right now. I'm sleeeeepy, lazy Mama.

I'm also a little queasier than I was last time around - at least from what I remember. I now understand when women say they feel sick UNTIL they eat, which always made no sense to me. It's such a strange thing to wrap your head around - my tummy is empty and feels unsettled so I'd better go ADD to it. But it really does work. So long as I snack throughout the day, I'm not quite so unsettled. Too bad I never remember to do that until it starts.

The lack of being able to eat a full meal at once has returned, though not yet in full force. Sometimes I can eat, sometimes I can only pick. Very frustrating for a girl who loves to eat, but probably the only way I'll lose some more baby weight before I start gaining NEW baby weight.

Who am I kidding? My pre-pre-pregnancy clothes are NEVER going to fit me again. I'm slowly getting used to that idea, but not enough to drop my clothes off at the nearest donation bin. At least this time I can look forward to borrowing more maternity clothes, since a lot more friends/relatives have had babies since I was pregnant with Lily. Rock on, new wardrobe.

8-Week Ultrasound

Ryan and I saw our midwife Tina yesterday for my 8-week appointment (technically 7 weeks, 6 days - close enough). She was unable to hear the heartbeat with the doppler and was a little surprised when I asked for an internal ultrasound just to verify that all was well in there. I know the midwives are used to getting patients who want the LEAST tests, the LEAST monitoring, and normally that's me, but I couldn't help myself. There was a huge part of me that wouldn't believe everything was OK until I saw that little heart beating. So she got Dr. Karen, one of the OBs, to come give me an ultrasound.

And as we all watched, there on the monitor was a little beating heart. So tiny. So perfect.



The little peanut is in between the two plus (+) signs.

Now I believe it! Lily's really going to be a big sister.

Park "Play Dates"

The last two weeks, Lily and I have had a "play date" in a local park with her cousin Kirsten and her friend Nehemiah from church (Lori and Datnee being the moms, respectively). What a nice time! It's great getting out of the house and having an excuse to hang out with other moms. And here I always thought play dates were for the kids! Haha. Now I know the truth

Here are some of my favorite Lily pics from our adventures:

Peek-A-Boo

Yesterday, I couldn't figure out why Lily was fussing so much in her carseat on the way to her Aunt Lori's house (or her cousin Kirsten's house, from Lily's POV). Finally, when we got there, I climbed in the backseat to get her out and realized her jacket hood had slipped down over her whole face! I think it was covering everything except her lips and her chin. So the poor thing couldn't see the whole car ride, and in retrospect, she was such a good sport about it.

This is a time when I really wish the mirror I bought for the rear window would actually stay in place! (Although I've found that driving while constantly admiring your baby in the backseat is a little dangerous.)

Sleep Update

Lily slept through the night last night. Cried once, but wasn't really awake - by the time I found my glasses and got in there, she was already stopping and snuggling her blankets.

Um, I mean, cold hard cribsheet. There are no blankets in her crib. Or stuffed animals. Or fuzzy dice. Nope.

So that counts! I'll take it.

I love my little Lily so much. Our little fuzzhead. Ryan just can't get enough of her, either. He was working late last night and she was asleep when he got home, so he was happy to hear her talking in her crib this morning while he was getting ready for work (me? not so happy). He went in there, scooped her up, smothered her with kisses, talked to her privately (I know not to ask what the conversation is about - it's just between them), and gave her a big squeeze before putting her in our bed next to me.

For the record? She did not go back to sleep.

Nothing melts me more than seeing his love for her. I never knew being a parent would bring out so many emotions in this cold, hard German... ;)

Confirmation

Lily was the first one I told.

She was already in the bathroom with me, so it seemed the logical choice. I told her she was going to have a little sibling. Then I called Ryan. His voice almost shook as he said how excited he was. We had briefly talked about this possibility last night after I checked the calendar, but we both kinda brushed it off until we had concrete proof (who am I kidding, I thought about it all night AND even dreamed about it) because we're logical like that. I still couldn't say the words out loud on the phone. He had to guess, just like the first time.

Holy cow. This is amazing. I'm still in shock. Please oh please oh please someone slap me silly and don't let me get this excited so early on...I am not prepared for another heartbreak.

Blog Title

So I'm not crazy about this blog's address or title: Lily Boeple. It's too specific to Lily - we do want more kids - and it's confusing to anyone who doesn't speak Schwabische. I guess I shouldn't stress about the name too much. It's not like I'm naming a BOAT after her or something...



(Yes. That is for real. My dad finally named his boat - it was my mom's idea. He says he can remove the "Ann" and add another name if we have another kid. At least THEY'RE thinking ahead.)

But seriously, I can't think of any other good names that aren't taken... The search continues.

Oh, and about sleeping through the night? Seems posting about it and saying your baby does it, makes it stop happening. Two nights ago, I blamed it on breast milk. Last night, I had no excuse. I got up to keep giving her her pacifier for about an hour (with 5-10 minute breaks in between - just long enough for me to just about fall back to sleep before she started crying again) before finally deciding enough was enough and I was NOT going back in there.

Sure enough, after about 5-10 minutes of crying, she was fast asleep for the rest of the night. Hopefully, blogging about her NOT sleeping will also have the reverse effect. Yeah, she really really really isn't sleeping well at night AT ALL. Haha. We'll see.

I Finally Let Myself Do the Math

Today, I saw our midwife, Allison. I went to her office with a friend, who had an appointment with another doctor. I was there for moral support and was very happy when I spotted Allison behind the desk. She was excited to see Lily, and bragged to her, "Hey, beautiful, I saw you first!" Which I guess I had never really thought about. Lucky ducky.

I made a comment about how I was sorry I hadn't been to see her in a while. She knew what I meant. At my yearly exam in April when Lily was 4 months old, Allison asked what type of birth control we had decided to use. I told her, "The kind that gets you pregnant." After her initial shock wore off, she was very encouraging. She got pregnant with her 2nd child five months after delivering her 1st. "The 1st are always easy to make you want the 2nd." Sounds about right.

So the clincher? After that conversation, that I wasn't there to see her but wished I was?

It's been 39 days since I've had my period. I finally counted after resisting the urge for so long.

When I was on the pill, my schedule was so predictable that I knew every 4th Wednesday at noon to go prepare myself for the inevitable. It was crazy. Off the pill, something between 30 and 35 days was always normal. But 39 days? This seems a little extreme. I don't want to waste another perfectly good pregnancy test just to see "Not Pregnant" on the readout again.

Um, I SO didn't do that month...

But 39 days? I think I need to go back to when we were "charting" for Lily to see how many days I went before testing positive then. That would be good information to know.

I think I need to "cool my jets" here before I go getting all hopeful unnecessarily. [Dare I say, too late?]

Maybe I'd better wait a few more days before wasting the extra Clearblue Easy under the bathroom sink...

Foods Lily Has Eaten

Following the advice of this wonderful book, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron, and of my [now deceased] pediatrician, Lily has eaten the following foods by 8.5 months:

Rice, Oatmeal, Barley, and Multi-Grain Cereal
Carrots
Sweet Potatoes, White Potatoes, and Red Potatoes
Summer Squash and Zuchinni (from my garden)
Green Beans
Peas (smooshed)
Chicken and Turkey
White Fish
Avocado
Bananas
Applesauce
Apricots, Nectarines, and Peaches
Plums and Prunes (in a packet)
Spinach
Butternut Squash and Corn (in a packet)
Watermelon and Canteloupe
Blueberries (in a packet)
Cinnamon (in a packet)
Egg Yolk (no whites!)
Grapes (cut really, really small)
Cherries (in cereal puffs)
Provolone Cheese

These were going to be in order with dates, but that got a little complicated once I started combining things. I'll add to this list as she tries new things. And I've got plenty of new things in the fridge for her to try!

Sleeping Through the Night...Mostly

Seems "crying it out" worked. For Lily, anyway. For the last few weeks, she has been [mostly] sleeping through the night. Every once in a while, she wakes up and will accept her pacifier and go right back to sleep. Last night, she woke up at 4:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep, and then I realized that "treat" I gave her before bed of a defrosted bottle of breast milk probably wasn't the best idea. It doesn't keep her full the way a bottle would. So for the first time in weeks, I gave her a two-ounce bottle in the night, which sent her straight back to dreamland.

One night last week, she was inconsolable at 5 a.m. (she normally wakes up around 7:30), so I took her into our bed instead of letting her cry it out, because my mom was staying over and I didn't want Lily's howling to bother her.

Big mistake. Ryan's alarm goes off every 9 minutes for an hour starting at 5:30 a.m., and it seemed nearly every time I just about had Lily back to sleep, his alarm would go off, so he'd hear it after a few minutes, roll over and fumble around to turn it off. That made for one grumpy sleepy Mama after an hour and a half.

Of course, it wasn't his fault, and if my mom wasn't sleeping over, we could have handled the situation a little differently. Figures, right? The one night we have a guest, she decides she doesn't want to sleep anymore. I think she just wanted to get up and play with her Oma. ;)

Pediatrician's Death Details

Today, my Bradley teacher told me that our pediatrician went to sleep with a fever the night before Labor Day, and never woke up. They are assuming it was a heart attack, and if there are more conclusive findings, we don't have them yet. In a way, it sounds like a nice, calm, non-painful way to go, but boy it certainly doesn't give you a chance to tie up any loose ends or say your goodbye's. Makes you think...

In Shock and Awe

Here's an e-mail I received this morning:

"With great sadness, one of the very few pediatricians around that was honoring holistic beliefs in her practice, Dr. Mila Polonsky, passed away last Monday. Having been to 5 pediatricians, I know she took very great care of my children, while honoring my wishes. I know alot of you have gone to her and will miss her..."

(From our Bradley Birth teacher)

This doctor was Lily's pediatrician! The woman who saw Lily at least once a month since literally the day she was born. The woman who told me at our last two visits, "If all my patients were like this one, I'd be out of business."

I can't believe she's dead. It's so awful. I don't have any details other than that e-mail, but I'm chomping at the bit to find out more. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. It's been a long time since someone I've known and seen regularly died.

I feel especially bad for her daughter, who was the only other doctor in their practice and now has to take over (I'm assuming she will) after just having had a baby (her third) a month or two ago.

At least her granddaugher got to meet her grandma before she passed away...