2 months old

I already wrote a significant amount of updates on Callum's growth yesterday - but today is his actual 2 month birfday, so why not add a few more to the list? :) I'll keep this short because HEY! We have Toy Story 3 to go see in a little bit!

I'm starting to see Callum set a sleep schedule. Slowly but surely. He's taking between 1-2 morning naps and 1-2 afternoon naps. Similar to Logan, he seems to like going to sleep for the night somewhere between 8-9pm. He actually starts getting really tired around 7:30pm but he really takes awhile to go down these days. I think it has to do with this other development of his - awareness and staying awake for longer periods of time - because all he wants to do is be in the middle of all the action, with everyone in the family! :)

Once I'm able to finally get him to sleep (which, let me tell you, is a feat when I'm also trying to get Logan ready for bed at the same time, and Jon is usually still at work or driving home), he'll sleep for about 3-4 hours at a time. It's not bad, I'm definitely getting more sleep than I was with Logan, but I'm now looking forward to longer periods of sleep. ;-) Last night was one of those times, as he finally fell asleep about 9:30pm and didn't wake up again until a little after 3am. I, of course, didn't get to bed until about midnight (oy!) but still. I'm glad he's starting to sleep for longer stints! (it could have also been because of his rough day after his shots yesterday)


He's also got the grabbing reflex down pat - snatching a fistful of my hair and holding on tight. He can't grab things purposefully of course, he doesn't have that kind of control, but when anything brushes up against his little fingers, he clings on for dear life. He has also started smiling more and more - it's so fun to see! He particularly lights up whenever I'm on the phone - I'm not sure why, perhaps my voice sounds different to him when I'm talking into the phone vs. to him? But he seems to like it. Now that he's getting more comfortable smiling at me, I've noticed him doing it with others too, like Jon, Logan, and my mom and dad. It's fun to see him begin recognizing the family!


The other day my mom was over visiting for my Stella & Dot Party and stayed a bit afterward. Callum was having one of his rough episodes where he was clearly exhausted, but just couldn't fall asleep on his own. She took a turn at trying to soothe him but it just wasn't working. When she finally gave up and handed him back to me, he just rolled over, turning his head into my shoulder with the most relaxed and calm look on his face like he was finally home (so says my mother). I could tell he immediately relaxed once he nestled into my chest too though, and it was awful sweet. I do worry he's getting so used to me that he's going to have a hard time being with, or falling asleep with, anyone else. But I guess we still have time to get him accustomed to others. ;-)


In other news, I'm doing well myself. Within this last month, I had my 6 week post partum checkup with my OB and all is well. The meds she prescribed for me to beef up my milk supply have helped a little, but not near enough that they should. So, after my last prescription ran out, I didn't bother renewing (my insurance doesn't cover the meds at all, so it's an expensive "drug experiment" that isn't giving us much reward). She wanted to try one more time, bumping up the dosage on the meds a bit higher to see if that would give me the extra kick I needed. It did increase my supply a tiny bit more, but again, not enough (especially since Callum's appetite has also increased!). I'd say I produce about a third of his intake, which really isn't all that much unfortunately. :( So again, I ran the course of the prescription but have opted not to renew. I'm continuing to nurse however, and will do so until my milk supply runs out all together.

A few days after Callum was born, I had a really rough time sleeping at night. It wasn't because of Callum, but rather, my body going through emotional and hormonal ups and downs. But I also noticed that when lying on my back at night, and sometimes sitting up, I would get these piercing pains in the middle of my back and around a bit to my chest. It was favored on the left side, and as I lay quietly on my back, I noticed the pain would increase with the beat of my heart. It was a little worrisome, since I didn't have anything like this with Logan and seemed to be linked to my heart....

So I went in for a couple visits to see my OB - both times, she checked me out and said nope, your heart is fine. You probably just sprained a muscle or perhaps bruised your ribs (which apparently can happen after a strenuous labor). She didn't think I had broken my ribs (which has also been known to happen in labor), since she thought I'd be in more pain than I was. But regardless, there's not much you can do for broken ribs anyway but wait it out, so it didn't really matter. I was told to just take it easy and try not to not lay on my back (which I had stopped doing) since that seemed to aggravate it more.

After about 5-6 weeks post partum, my lower back pains were also returning. Not as painful as before, but I could feel it. I decided to go see my back doctor and ask him to send me back to physical therapy. I just visited both of them a week or so ago, and mentioned the strange mid-back pinching I've also been experiencing since Callum's birth.

Long story short ;-) it turns out I have about three discs in my mid back that are rotated out of place. When lying on my back, there's extra pressure from my ribs and rotated discs to irritate some nerves, and cause my muscles around there to contract, trying to protect the area.

Luckily, it's not a heart issue. Unfortunately, it's another back issue! They think that the injury most certainly happened during labor, but leaving it to fester the following 6 or so weeks didn't help. And, hey guess what, hunching over to pump or nurse ALSO doesn't mesh well with a bad back. *sigh*

Thankfully, my PT is able to work wonders and she's already improved the area about 50%. So, I'm back to seeing her between 1-2 times a week to work on my trouble areas. I'm continuing to go out on walks with Callum and Grover or, if Callum lets me, do a more active workout at home. All of this combined SHOULD get me back into tip top shape! We can only hope. ;-)