Weekly Update

Another week in the books.

This week I had my check up with my OB and got the all clear to exercise again. I was 3 weeks out but she said I healed up and looked like I was at least 6 weeks out. I feel really good this time around compared to Colin's delivery. I haven't had the extreme moodiness or crying episodes. I keep thinking "today is the day I am going to fall apart" but it hasn't happened yet. Makes me wonder even more if I had post-partum depression last time around and maybe it wouldn't have been so miserable in the beginning if I had talked to my Dr. about it. I also haven't had a Lupus flare up, which surprises both me and my OB. I had really bad joint pain and swelling soon after delivery last time and ended up on a steroid for a little over a year.

I'm going to go this week and take my Y membership off of its "hold" status (along with every other person adding physical activity for the new year...yay...Andrew says don't buy new athletic shoes at the beginning of the year b/c it looks like you are one of the ones that said exercise is your new year's resolution. Ha!) The childcare won't take Charlie until he is 6 weeks so I won't be able to go during the day for a while. I will have to work out a schedule with Andrew to do it in the evenings on nights he isn't running. I probably won't go during the day until I feel like all the sickness is passed and Charlie will go without getting any serious viruses. I'm looking forward to being active again and can't wait until the day he can ride in the bike trailer with Colin. I miss my bike!!

Charlie met Miss Emily, Nate, & Abby this week and Colin had a ball playing outside with Nate and showing him his favorite video game. Wish I had taken some pictures.

Charlie had his first bath this week (that stump finally fell off!) and did lots of napping on his belly on the play mat during the day while I could watch him. He loves belly sleeping, so I look forward to the day his neck is really strong and he can flip on his own. He hung out in the Moby Wrap some, but I got a new baby carrier this week that I am looking forward to using. I'm waiting for the infant insert so he won't fall out, but hope he likes this one and I get a lot of use out of it. Big brother even tried out the new carrier for me. LOL

I got to get out of the house on my own for the first time and did a little shopping for the house. My table (finally) came in so I ordered my curtains for the kitchen and picked up a curtain rod. I also got a new quilt for my bed and I'm starting to pick some paint colors for the master bedroom and the media room downstairs. I don't know when the painting will actually get done, but it is nice to be actively decorating the house and making a little progress. (Little and slow...I'm too tired to do a big overhaul just yet!)

Pictures from the last week.

3 Weeks Old

Charlie will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! At his 2 weeks appointment he weighed in at 9 lbs and measured 22.75 inches. So far he has been a pretty easy baby. Even an "easy" baby is tiring and challenging. But it has been so different from Colin.

He has a fussy period in the evenings and it makes dinner a little hard but I'm getting it done. We've been eating easy meals or I wait on nights Andrew is home a little earlier and not going for a run to make something a little more involved.

Charlie sleeps in our room right now, but has gotten moved to our closet, per Emily's suggestion. =) He is quite the noise maker in his sleep. He grunts and moans and whimpers. so cute, but can make falling asleep difficult. It also made me think he was awake and ready to eat earlier than necessary. He still gets up the same amount of times in the middle of the night to eat, but my quality of sleep for those small blocks of time have greatly improved! Since our closet is at the front of the house and has a window and air vent, I justified it as being a tiny bedroom. It also got me in gear to get it all cleaned up and organized. So two birds with one stone.

I've been keeping busy with Colin by doing puzzles (he is getting really good!) and we made gingerbread houses. He has his neighbor friends over to play often and they hang out in the playroom downstairs and keep the top floor nice and quiet for me.

I'm getting good at multi-tasking. Letting Charlie sleep in my lap while I wrap gifts. Or yesterday when I let Charlie nap on his belly in my room on his play mat while I put Colin in my big bath tub and washed him up. I let him play in the bath while I showered, dried my hair, and then cleaned the bathroom. Today I'm going to try hitting up Aldi with both boys. Wish me luck!

A few pictures from the last week.

Pictures

Just a few pictures I finally got off my camera.

And here is a picture of Colin and then Charlie. They look so similar. Andrew said I could show him photos of both and he probably couldn't tell me which was which. Ha!

Ironman

We like super heroes in our house. I wasn't much into them until I had a little boy who was interested in them. Since then, I have really enjoyed all of the movies and even beat my first ever video game (I know, right...) - Lego Batman. Colin would grab a controller and even play along. We are so looking forward to the new Lego Marvel game.

We call Colin "Captain America." He is one of our favorite super heroes and every time Colin gets dressed, his skinny little body in his boxer briefs looks just like Captain America did when he was enlisting and before being beefed up.

When Charlie got here Andrew asked what we call him - Superman? I said, "Nope, Ironman. Because of his heart." Now, Ironman didn't have a heart defect. He had shrapnel or something in his heart and something made to keep it beating even with the metal in it. So it isn't like they have the same heart thing. But the glowing light on Ironman's chest makes me think of Charlie because for 3 months all I could think about what his heart and what might be going on with it.

Here's the latest on my little Ironman. We went to the cardiologist yesterday. The PDA (heart murmur) had closed, as expected. Yay! We then had an EKG and an ultrasound of his heart.

When he was in my belly, they diagnosed him with Bicuspid Aortic Stenosis. His aortic valve appeared to be narrow, which made it hard for his heart to pump blood through that valve to his aorta. They would measure velocity and that normal reading would be 90. Charlie would typically be anywhere between 160 and 240. So it was working hard to get it where it needed to go.

Along with the narrowing, I found out at 37 weeks, when I saw the cardiologist, that his valve had another small defect. Instead of opening and closing with three flaps when it pumped (like a Mercedes logo), two of the flaps were fused together (or never separated).

Since he was so big at that point, the ultrasound couldn't show as much because angles were hard to get to. So we knew we would find out more after he was born and we could do an ultrasound on his chest, outside of my body.

At yesterday's ultrasound we learned that he definitely has the bicuspid valve. But he does not have the stenosis! Praise God! He can still develop it, but I am so thankful that at this point he does not have that narrowing.

Since the blood is being pumped through that valve and the opening is uneven, it is causing dilation in that vessel. This is what might cause the stenosis at a later date. So the plan right now it to have monthly appointments to see how his heart is doing and if there are any changes. I was worried that it could change fast and I would need to watch for symptoms at home, but the Doctor assured me that monthly ultrasounds would be enough to catch any problems because it would be a slow process.

If he does develop stenosis, he would need a procedure that would open up that valve to allow blood to flow more easily. I can't remember what it is called, but they use a balloon type thing to open the space. Cardiologist said there is a 50/50 chance he will need to have this done in his first year of life. I am so thankful he didn't need this right away when he was born.

That is the update so far, and I feel so much better now that the initial appointment and final diagnosis is made.

Here are some pictures from my phone, as I'm still working on getting them off my camera. =)