The Infamous Easter of 2013

I will be telling Iyla about this year's Easter celebration for the rest of her life. 'Twas the year we spent 3 hours at the doctor while our 15 some guests arrived, then spent the rest of the afternoon with her scream-crying in my arms- not letting me put her down, eat, socialize, etc.

Who, me?

Let's start from the beginning.

Last week on Tuesday Iyla had myofascial & cranial sacral work done. It actually went really well- and at the chiropractor on Wednesday, he noted that he could tell a HUGE difference with her neck & overall muscles. So that was great news!

Wednesday night I cooked dinner for BC and I- and amazingly enough, Iyla went down for a nap while I cooked. We sat down at the table like excited school kids- praising our good luck at an actual seated dinner with just the two of us. The SECOND we clinked wine glasses- I kid you not- Iyla woke up crying.

Attack of the BABY RADAR!

BC got her, put her in the sling, and starting pacing around the house. At one point he had to sneeze, which startled Iyla so badly she started screaming. And there was no consoling her- the screaming lasted right up until she went to sleep.

Then the scream-crying continued on and off Thursday & Friday. Both nights we had plans for early dinners out with friends, and both nights Iyla had absolute MELTDOWNS of intense, inconsolable crying. Very out of her recent norm. A quick desperate poll to my November Mamas Board Friday night led to several responses saying it could be an ear infection and that I should take her in to be seen ASAP.

Saturday I got an appointment with the on call doc at 11:50- 2 hours before all of our company was scheduled to arrive. Iyla and I waited for over an hour to be seen. When we finally got into the exam room, I seriously felt like I was putting my sweet baby girl through torture. They took her temp rectally (a first for her) and proceeded to check her ears & mouth. The on call doc did NOT have a gentle bedside manner, and poor Iyla was crying during the entire exam.

The good news? Ears were clear.

The bad news? We still didn't have answers.

The doc said we needed to do blood work & get a urine sample. My poor girl had to get her toe pricked for blood and then have a catheter inserted to extract urine (we'd waited 45 minutes hoping she'd pee on her own, but to no avail).

The time was now well past guests arriving for Easter, and I had a sad, exhausted baby on my hands. It was awful. And guess what? Blood and urine were both normal so the conclusion was....

She must be TEETHING.

Seriously?! Good God. I put my daughter through all that to be told she was TEETHING?!?

We did discover something at the visit that totally made it worthwhile to be there, however. When the nurse was examining Iyla, she discovered that Iyla's private little lady parts had partially fused together. It was a total surprise to me- I didn't even know that could happen! The nurse had to slowly pull them apart while Iyla screamed some more. I am to now check on those after every bath to ensure this doesn't happen again. I am SO glad we caught it now, before things closed up further & we did have issues with infections/etc.

When we finally got home to a house full of relatives, Iyla and I were both totally spent. She proceeded to spend the entire afternoon scream-crying or sleeping in my arms- not wanting to be put down. There were a few brief beautiful smiling moments- but those were fleeting, and our guests didn't really get to enjoy her. Not that I blame her after all she had gone through!

She DID look adorable in her Easter dress... unfortunately we didn't get a lot of photo evidence. Here's a cute one my dad took:

I look exhausted, and I was. 

Not only did we have a rough afternoon, but Iyla had been up 4x the night before.

A brief moment to catch up with family while my Aunt Sheri held a sleeping Iyla in the other room

Iyla's fussiness continued Sunday... but I am happy to report (knocking on wood here!) that today the clouds seemed to lift and my sweet, playful, smiley little girl made a return. It's amazing what a good mood that instantly puts me in!

Video documentation of a happy girl today

I leave you with several photos from this past week. Here's hoping my little lady continues to have happier days!

 Practicing her Blue Steel look

What's so funny?

So over having her picture taken

Sweet bedtime shot with her Papa

Pre-bath mirror admiration

Love those blue eyes

And a closing shot of Sam & Iyla's 'cute-off.'

I call it a draw!

My Teenaged 19 Week Old

I think Iyla has turned into a teenager. Case in point:

1. She has several adult like pimples on her face- and while BC and I would like to blame his genes (he had acne as a teen) baby acne is usually due to the mother's hormones (sorry Iyla!).

Thanks Mom

2. She has begun wearing ultra hip jeans (courtesy of a fabulous box of hand-me-down clothes from my dear friend Jenny):

Do you think someone knows she's cute?

3. She has developed a fondness for motorcycles:

Hanging on the Harley with our friend Dustin

4. She is very unpredictable with her sleep. We are now a week into the transition to the Pack n Play, and her first stretch of evening sleep has gotten slowly but surely longer, from 4 hours to a 7 hour stretch two nights ago. Last night? Down at 8pm, then up at 1, 3, 5, & 6:30. I am one tired Mama this morning.

I've also begun swaddling & doing a routine for Iyla's nap times. She doesn't have set naps quite yet, but we are a couple days into getting a pretty consistent 30-60 minute morning nap starting around 9. I'm hoping that one lengthens a bit and a more defined afternoon nap starts to take place. She still likes to snooze 4-5x/day.

Think she's on to me?

Iyla's been loving this red ball toy and is working hard on perfecting her iron clad grasp on it:

I'd like to note how straight her head looks in those pictures! We've been to the chiropractor every week, and last week he said the rotation in her neck had definitely eased up. Her head is still sitting just slightly off to the right, but I'm hopeful that continued care & stretches will help straighten her out! Iyla is also going to get some cranial sacral work done today as well... I'm curious what that will look like for an infant.

She's getting stronger in the Bumbo! Still a little floppy, but better.

Perfecting the Aunt Jemima Bumbo look

Ha- taken literally minutes after the last shot. 

She always sleeps with her legs Spread Eagle!

One thing that isn't so teen like? Her love for BC and I. Last night she would NOT let me put her down at dinner time, so I very clumsily ate left handed as we cuddled. BC noticed she was staring right up at me the entire time and snapped this sweet shot:

Iyla says: who needs to eat when you can stare at my adorable face?

 Happy girl with her Papa. Apparently he doesn't need to eat either...

Rockin' the sassy Flashdance leggings

That sweet love is something I am going to cherish every.single.day. She'll be a real teen soon enough, so for now we'll take the pimples, motorcycles, fashion, & erratic sleep!

Torti-what?

TortiCOLLIS.

It's confirmed that Iyla has Torticollis- which literally means "twisted neck." Not that this is any surprise. We've noticed from the beginning that Iyla preferred looking to her left. At her 2 month appointment I brought it up with the Pediatrician filling in for our regular one, who didn't seem to think it was a big deal (in retrospect I am a little annoyed by that- obviously we thought there was a concern, and interventions should probably have begun then). Since that appointment her tilt has become more pronounced, and when I visited our chiropractor this week he confirmed that indeed she had toriticollis, and that he wanted to now see her weekly for treatments.

So just what causes this pasta sounding ailment? With babies it can either develop in utero from being a bit cramped and having the neck tilted in one direction, or during the birth process if the neck gets strained. In both instances one side of the neck can become restricted and tight. As far as treatment goes, our Pediatrician said that one school of thought would refer her at this stage for a corrective helmet (NOOO- not the helmet!) while another school of thought opts to do daily stretching to hopefully correct the tightness. She is in the vein of following a stretching regime- and I will also continue our weekly visits to the chiropractor. I am hopeful that is all it will take!

You can see in this shot how her head shape is flat on the bottom and elongated on the top... which should hopefully normalize with sleeping flat & stretching. 

More importantly- how cute is this picture?

When we move back into our house Sunday (we have renters there now during Austin's SXSW Music Festival) another shift we'll have to make is to go cold turkey on the bed routine with no more swaddling and no more Rock n Play inclined sleeping. I expect to be a walking zombie for awhile as Iyla gets adjusted to sleeping flat on her back with occasional flailing arms waking her (this is a girl who LOVES her swaddle!). I was a big weenie when I tried to transition her to her flat Pack n Play last month- after 2 nights of poor sleep I resigned and put her back in the Rock n Play. Apparently the Rock n Play sleeper doesn't encourage her to be moving her neck around as much as she should be (first time mom FAIL) -so sadly it will be a thing of the past.

We are also supposed to have her doing tummy time a LOT more (avoiding lying her flat on her back as much as possible save for sleeping). Good thing this little one loves standing strong on her feet (which is acceptable); bad thing that she screams after about 1 minute of tummy time. We have a lot of adjusting to do!

Limiting the play time on her back will definitely be a challenge! 

She and Sam love laying on the play mat together.

This is how tummy time begins.....

And this is what happens after about one minute

I hate tummy time!

Iyla's stats, as I suspected, are still long and lean! At her 4 month appointment today she was 24 inches tall (25-50%), 10 pounds 12.2 ounces (5-10%) and her head's circumference was 15 1/4 (5-10%). And that girl was charming our Pediatrician! She was smiling, cooing and squawking away while being examined. She cried hard when her shots were administered but settled quickly once I nursed her. She was in great spirits for the first couple of hours after we got home- but had a bit of a meltdown at bedtime, prompting me to give her a very low dose of Tylenol.

A brief conversation about her doctor appointment

In other news, Iyla is rockin' some seriously ADORABLE new headbands I found on Etsy. I haven't been a fan of any head bows or head gear on her save for cute hats- but these headbands are a whole different story. I am a bit obsessed!

Melt my heart! 

And this was taken post shots- what a trooper! You can tell her eyes are a bit glazed, but she was doing everything she could to remain in good spirits. 

Can you say DROOL!?!

Yes, I am cute. Even with my drool neck.

We've been enjoying our time staying in our sweet little garage apartment. Iyla is back to bathing in her baby bathtub (there is only a shower up here)... and BC has been spearheading the bath time. She loves it!

Absolute delight for her Papa

Tomorrow we are hoping to make it out to enjoy some of the SXSW Festival action. I've purchased baby headphones, and we will make the most of the ONE baby wearing item Iyla will tolerate- my Maya Ring Sling:

Here's hoping our little one gets a good night's sleep tonight so she can be back to her joyful spirits tomorrow!

One Month Old!

It's 12-12-12 today, and Iyla's official "One Month" milestone! Here's what she thinks about that:

Sad Reindeer. 

Someone is a little embarrassed by the hat mom chose...

On to her one month updates and highlights!

Feeding: Iyla continues to be a great nurser! I JUST figured out how to get her to nurse on the left side without choking- it was as simple as changing her position. Instead of doing the football hold where she is sitting upright, I have been laying her across my body in a side lying position- and *knocking on wood* she hasn't choked yet! And at her last feeding she ONLY fed on that side and totally snuffed her previously beloved right side- to which I had to do a sympathy pump session (lest it get engorged). She eats about every 3 hours 'round the clock.

Sleeping: She is still taking power naps almost constantly throughout the day- waking to feed & check out the world a bit before conking out again. She is also an extremely noisy sleeper! The sounds that come out of this little thing amaze me- grunts, cries, whimpers, and an occasional mid-sleep shriek. Yesterday was actually the first day I heard her elicit sounds (while she was awake) that were different from her typical grunts. A couple sweet lady like coos snuck out, and I look forward to more of those as she expands her baby vocabulary!

Iyla seems to have a consistent alert time in the morning after she wakes where for a couple hours she is awake, alert, & calm- with a Zen kind of look on her face and a sweet serene quiet about her. We had a bath yesterday morning during this reflective time, and you can see by her little face the sweet calm that comes over her:

Colic? What colic? My those birds are beautiful....

Mood/Temperament: When in her calm, contented state Iyla is still a very laid back, gentle spirit. Her feist is there, however, and comes out when she isn't happy about something or when the dreaded COLIC sneaks in. After my last post about the really LONG night, the following evening she had a pretty monumental scream fest. Poor BC was loving on her & trying to calm her, but it appears she just wants mama during those times. I think she wore herself out b/c she actually slept 4.5 hours after it- an amazing record for her! Both mama and baby were happy & productive yesterday as a result. Last night we were back to the 'normal' waking every 3 hours- including another fuss period around 2am. 

I had a photo shoot with Iyla yesterday to document her 1st month. She cooperated for a little while  and I managed to get a few cute shots of our little bean:

I attempted a wardrobe change into an adorable dress I keep pretending might finally fit her. We didn't make it through many shots before Iyla decided she was over.it and showed me as such by attempting to eat the dress:

And here are a few outtakes from the session, which I like to call "The Evolution of a Model Meltdown:"

Iyla and I went back to the chiropractor today. I have been feeling like I am about to throw my back out for the first time in YEARS, and was also curious if an adjustment might help with the colic. She had begun to fuss in her car seat when Dr. Ron took her. Her little eyes popped open as he gently worked reflex points on her back (he said babies actually adjust themselves- he just stimulates the necessary reflex points). As he worked, she broke out into the biggest smile! It was so adorable! Then he worked on her front around her stomach to adjust to alleviate some of the colic discomfort. Another huge smile! Then she passed out hard & peacefully in her car seat. Amazing. Even if it doesn't do anything toward the actual colic, it was worth it to see how much she enjoyed her birthday pampering!

Sad reindeer becomes peaceful reindeer after her adjustment

At one month postpartum I am now just about 9.5-10 pounds away from my pre pregnancy weight, and definitely still have a squishy muffin top. My maternity jeans are baggy on me and my regular jeans are REALLY tight, so depending on my mood on a given day I rock the baggy or tight look. I tried my trusty 'squeeze test' in the mirror today and saw an ever so slight deflection- but the overall test results point to my hips still being quite a bit wider, hence my jeans being quite a bit tighter (not to mention with the widening my thighs happily filled in the difference!)

I've been getting out and power walking with Iyla as often as I can, which feels great to my body. What doesn't feel great? Peeing myself every.time.we.walk. Seriously. What IS that? It isn't like a full bladder gush but every few blocks or so there is a mini gush that makes me suddenly go "OH!" and walk a little faster. I hope this is something that resolves itself as I tone those pelvic muscles- until then, I might need to invest in some adult diapers.

But since this post is meant to focus on Iyla-  I leave you with a few more photos of our big ONE MONTH OLD girl. We love you so much Iyla Grace!

*Love*