Rory Vs. Eczema: Our Battle Begins

Well with the beginning of solid foods for Rory, the dreaded eczema has made an appearance. Elijah had suffered through some issues on his bottom which was an issue this summer but continued when he went diaper free in August and we were just never able to get it under control. I tried homemade ointments, prescriptions ointments, dietary changes, toiletry changes…everything. Well at the twins’ one year doctor’s appointment just before their first birthday, I had Dr. Debroeck take a look at Elijah’s bottom and it was confirmed to be eczema. We were given a few more non-prescription suggestions but after trying those for two weeks I found myself calling the good doctor requesting a prescription to finally get rid of this painful rash that his been torturing my poor first born for SIX MONTHS. Well around the time of the original doctor’s appointment, Rory had the beginnings of a rash. Now Elijah never had diaper rash his first year. I believe this is because he was in cloth diapers. Once I was pregnant and going through hyper stimulation in my early twin pregnancy, started wearing disposables and as much as I would have loved to cloth the twins (and will totally cloth any future singletons) it was just not something that was a priority with trying to take care of three two and under when the twins came along. So they have had a moderate share of diaper rash.

When Dr. Debroeck saw Rory’s bottom and a rough patch on his upper thigh, it was diagnosed also as eczema. A couple weeks later, Rory began solids and shortly after that, his eczema slowly began to spread. Its not red or inflamed…you would not even notice it if you didn’t feel it but it is there. Just scaly yucky feeling and you know it has to feel dry and itchy. My poor baby. Because we delayed solids for one whole year, I was not as slow to introduce foods as I was with Elijah. But it does seem that the severity of Rory’s eczema is linked to eating solid foods.

So…..we are right now tying to get this skin disorder under control. We have scaled back solids and basicially offer a Gluten Free version of the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) and increased nursing sessions so he is pretty much back to EBF with a little solids to fill his tummy while we wait for the rash to go away. Then slowly we will start to reintroduce solids and pay close attention to his skin. I also want to add probiotic and fermented foods to his diet as I know eczema is often a gut issue. I wish I had all my kids on probiotics every day but that is just not something that is in our family budget right now. I am hoping that I can make appealing fermented foods that can do the trick.

I would love to hear from anyone that his dealt with this and suggestions or holistic recipes that you can share!

Post Partum Check In: 4 1/2 Months

Well it has been a little over a month since I checked in on my post partum progress in getting back in shape and more endurance. They say slow and steady wins the race and if that is the case, I am not doing too bad! Pounds seem to be dropping off verrrry slowly at about 3/4 of a pound per week. My clothes are fitting WAY better. That seemed to happen overnight. The shorts I wore in my pictures last month were staples in my summer wardrobe in years past and I had just SQUEEEEZED into them for the pictures. I wore them again in this months photos and they fit perfect. I still have the appearance of  a “muffin top” in the photos but in real life they fit comfortably on my hips and I am feeling pretty good in them.

I had my midwife check my diastis recti at a gathering at her house a few weeks ago and I still stuck at a one so not much progress there but the abdominal work I am doing is definitely starting to show as far as strength and muscle. I am going to ask her to check  me again in a few weeks and see if I need to maybe add another exercise to help that split muscle close back up.

I started training for a 5K! I am in week five of training. I have not chosen which one I will run but I am excited because as I work up to 3.2 miles in 30 minutes I feel like that is a good and doable workout with three littles two and under. I can leave Chip four times a week for 30 minutes and get a decent workout. When Elijah was a baby, we walked for an hour at least five times  week and although I tried doing this with the three of them, it doesn’t wasn’t practical. I enjoy taking them on occasional walks but I cannot rely on that for my workout this time around. Right now I am up to 11 minutes of running and by the end of next week I will be up to 15!

As of this morning I am at 134 lbs which is two away from my prepregnancy weight and four away from goal! I hope to be at my prepreg weight by mid July and if I get that two extra pounds off, that is just gravy.

I had intended to add sets of squats and crunches but really, 3 sets of 150 throughout the day seems to be what is doable with my schedule so I am sticking with that for now and with my 5K training that I do 3-4 times a week.

 

Twin Postpartum Body: The Plan

I have to admit, I was unprepared for the “aftermath” that is my body right now. Yes, I find my body beautiful for what it did. I carried two babies full term and managed to gain the same amount of weight (40lbs) as I did with my singleton. (There will be lots of exact number in this post. I am using this post to make myself accountable for my goals so if numbers make you uncomfortable, you might want to skip this one). So, as I was saying, yes I do love my body for what it did. I am a rare unicorn that had two kinds of birth within the same hour (vaginal and true emergency caesarean). I love that I kept my babies safe in my womb and I am not ashamed of my current body. I will say that again so that perhaps I will believe it this time. I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THS POSTPARTUM BODY! I truly loved my naked pregnant body. It was amazing to me and beautiful….the hills and valleys that made up my baby bump were truly a marvel. And there is something so sweet about bulges that have babies beneath the surface. But what happens once those bulges deflate? You are left with what appears to be, well, a deflated balloon of a belly and while that is not the ideal, that doesn’t really bother me as much as the areas that are still, well, inflated. So while I love and appreciate my body and all it has done, I would like to fit into my whole wardrobe eventually so I decided that if this is even a possibility, I need to commit! Here are my stats for the whole cyber world to see. (all about being accountable for me).

Prepreg weight: 132lbs

Current weight: 138lbs

Goal weight: 130 (ambitious, yes but I was able to lose 10 extra pounds after Elijah so I am just aiming for two this time!)

So what is the actual plan? Well here it is!

1. Modified crunches (150/day working up to 300). I have a condition called Diastasis Recti which is separation of the stomach muscles. This is common in twin pregnancy and mine is pretty moderate but something I would like to go away eventually. You have to be careful with what abdominal and core exercises you do because many make it worse. My crunches are basically me laying down with my legs stretched out flat on the floor and curling my head to my chest then back down.

2. Squats (150/day working up to 300). This exercise has replaced kegals in the natural birth community and I am glad cause I HATE kegals! This is suppose to help strengthen the pelvic floor….very helpful when dealing with incontinence…another surprise this postpartum body. I never had this problem with Elijah but for some reason I am having a really hard time with this now and it is very frustrating. It seems to be worse when I get stressed or irritated like if I have to holler at Wrigley for going after Elijah’s food, I pee myself. Not fun. I am really hoping these squats pay off eventually but the good news is the benefit is twofold because they are also great for your legs!

3. Walks. I try to get out with the kids for 45 minute walks most days. This will get harder as it gets hotter but we do our best

4. Signing up for an end of summer 5K. This give me a goal. I will run a 5K by the end of the summer. I ran one once before and actually placed 3rd for my division. This time my goal is just to run it in under 30 minutes. Then maybe I will try a 10K (something I have NEVER done!). Chip has agreed to help me train for this and maybe do it with me so I am looking forward to lots of 20 minute runs in the evenings when Chip gets home from work.

Well, there you have it. I am always open to suggestion that would help meet this goals so if you have any, please feel free to share! To close, I am going to share my photos of where I am at right now as well as a fun one of where I started.

Love my pregnant body

I’ll check back in in about a month!

Patrick’s Development

Patrick was referred to ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) by the NICU at Texas Children’s. This is a statewide program for families with children, birth to three, with disabilities and developmental delays. ECI supports families to help their children reach their potential through developmental services. Because of Patrick’s rough start, potential lack of oxygen during the birth process and treatments, he was a good candidate for evaluation and Chip and I both agreed that if there was every a delay issue that needed attention we wanted to acknowledge it and get help as soon as possible. I had been watching both children, but especially Patrick to check for milestones. I work with them the same way I did with Elijah with lots of interaction, tummy time and stimulation through songs and visual play. I could tell that Rory was (what I thought was a little) ahead. Patrick seemed not too far behind…maybe about two weeks which is close to his length of stay in the NICU. I expected the results of this evaluation to show Patrick to be right in line with his age as far as development and milestones. I was very wrong.
The two therapists came to our home for the evaluation on Tuesday. They observed Patrick and asked me several questions about our day to day lift together and his “accomplishments”. Then they tested him in several areas checking reflexes as well as abilities to interact, hold toys, follow sounds and objects. At the conclusion, we received the following results in the different areas of development:
Adaptive – This is basically self care skills which at this point is just nursing and the suck swallow rhythm. : On Level for his age
Personal-Social: I understood this to be a self awareness – 4.5 Months!
Communication: 2.5 Months
Expressive Communication: 3 Months
Gross Motor Skills: 4 Months!
Fine Motor Skills: 5 Months!
Cognitive: 3 Months
Needless to say we are THRILLED! Both our boys are on the right track and ahead of the game. I am so proud of how well the are doing and especially excited that all that Patrick has been through, including his birth process, the isolation and lack of touch and stimulation, have seemed to have minimal affect on my happy, smiling and social baby. We are so grateful and just wanted to shout from the rooftops and share these awesome results. Needless to say, he does not qualify for the program. I asked if I could have him reevaluated just to make sure he stays on track and they basically told me that if I had concerns I could call and they would check him again but that they believe he will have no needs for their services. I let them know that I am a worrier and my expectations of my children are sometimes a little high so they would likely hear from me. They just smiled and said to keep to keep doing what we are doing. Our kids are amazing!

Parish Family Update–Great Patrick News!

I sent the following email update out to close friends and family a week ago….

03/17/2014I wanted to give an update on our Patrick. Please feel free to share this update with prayer groups and others that are interested, concerned and praying for our boy.

Patrick is doing great. He is now six weeks one day old and weighing in at 8 pounds as of this morning, up from his birth weight of 6 pounds 10 ounces. (Rory is now 9 pounds 5 ounces....he's a bit of a piggy when it comes to eating!). Anyway, Patrick is still on his Lovenox shots which he gets twice a day administered by Mama. The protocol for his treatment is to be tested at approximately six weeks of treatment to see if his blood clots are still there. If they are, we will continue shots for six more weeks and then stop. If they are not, we are able to stop treatment. 

There were two procedures we could choose from for checking for clots. The MRI offered the benefit of no radiation but Patrick would have to be sedated and it would require an overnight hospital stay. The CT Scan offers a much quicker procedure so potentially no sedation although there is a slight amount of radiation though I was assured it was minimal. Normally, the "crunchy" Mama in me would really opt for the no radiation option while cringing at the sedation. However Chip and I discussed it and we decided that Patrick has been through enough and the CT scan sounded the easiest for him. We chose this keeping in mind that we were assured the radiation exposure is minimal. I will nurse Patrick to sleep and they will attempt the scan on Monday. The doctor asked if we wanted an anesthesiologist on call in case Patrick did not cooperate and I told her, no, we would probably opt for MRI if sedation became necessary and therefore we would reschedule. 

So......our CT Scan is scheduled for Monday at 11:30 at Texas Children's West Campus. We are praying for a successful scan (Patrick to fall and stay asleep so they are able to get the data needed) and for there to be no signs of clots so our baby can enjoy babyhood free of needles! Your prayers are appreciated.”

Well today was the day! A sweet friend from my Time Out For Moms group….a twin Mama herself….came over with her twins that are Elijah’s age and stayed with him while Chip (who got home from his root canal in the nick of time!) and I took Rory and Patrick to Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. Rory had to come since both babies are exclusively breast fed.

We arrived to our appointment in true Junior Parish fashion, about an hour early.  We had some quiet time in the car as I fed Rory and Patrick slept. By the time we got up to radiology we were about 40 minutes early and they actually saw us almost immediately. As soon as we got to the prep area, I found out that they would need to put in an IV so they could inject something that would give them contrast when they took the pictures.  Patrick has had his blood drawn every week or two directly from his vein since we began the Lovenox (blood thinner treatment for the blood clots) and it was always a traumatic experience for both Patrick and myself (but of course my concern is Patrick!). I was not looking forward to that part but as faith would have it, the nurse we got today was able to achieve success quickly and on the first stick! Patrick nursed and fell asleep and didn’t wake up until about an hour later when we were back in hematology waiting to see our doctor. We waited for about 40 minutes there but the results never came in. Patrick’s IV had been left in because if the CT scan showed that the clots were still there and we were going to continue his shots, his medication levels would need to be taken. They took blood from the IV just in case and sent up on our way, letting us know they would be in touch.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we just got the call. The results are in. And our sweet, precious boy no longer needs Lovenox shots or follow up concerning his clots because THEY ARE NO LONGER THERE! Praise God!  I no longer have to stick my baby and watch him squirm and cry, not understanding what or why this is happening to him. We are so grateful to all those that gave their love and prayers and we are so blessed to have this boy no longer on medication. And I can tell you, this tiny boy is so brave, as I tell him every time I comfort him after a painful stick. So brave and so strong. I admire this little boy of seven weeks and a day. He never lost his trust of me, even though I had to hurt him twice a day. He never pulled away or cried because I picked him up or carried him to the changing table where, swaddled in a blanket I would inject him daily and nightly. He is an amazing little baby.

Patrick and Mama waiting to go back to the prep room

Daddy and Rory looking quite cozy

After I found out about the IV, I changed Patrick into short sleeves that I was so glad I happen to have in my diaper bag.

Sweet little hands getting warmed up to make them easier to stick. Ouch!

Meanwhile at home, Elijah was taken care of so well by sweet Haley

No more needles for this baby!!!

Our Brave Boy Patrick & His 12 Day NICU Stay

Life for my sweet babies did not begin as I had hoped, prayed and planned. Especially the first almost two weeks for my sweet little Patrick. I am slowing working on processing the birth experience and getting it down in writing but in the meantime, I want to make sure to document our brave boy’s NICU stay in order to share what he has been through and how far he has come.
Patrick’s birth was very traumatic for him. Rory was born pretty easily but Patrick (our Baby B) had trouble descending and his heart rate kept dropping. Attempts were made to pull him out via vacuum when it became clear he needed help and a cesarean seemed immanent. His heart rate had dropped several times during the 45 minute attempt to push him and finally he was taken from me via c-section with the intention of preventing further trauma or damage. Our Patrick was born without breath or heartbeat and I was not even able to see him before he was whisked away with me urging my husband, torn between me and Rory and Patrick, to stay with our sick baby. Patrick’s hear beat started pretty quickly after birth but it was not until he arrived at the NICU that he was able to breathe on his own, a blessing in and of itself. Due to the trauma of his birth and the unknown time he went without oxygen, it was decided that a semi new preventative treatment would be beneficial to Patrick. Patrick was born at 7:12pm on February 2. By 8:30 pm Patrick, still having never been held by either of his parents, was settled into the NICU wrapped in a cooling blanket that would keep his body temperature at 93 degrees for the next 72 hours.

Patrick on his cooling blanket.

Seeing and kissing my baby for the first time the morning after he was born.

I was not able to get down to the NICU until the next morning but Chip stayed with Patrick until he was settled. He was put on morphine for the duration of his treatment and given nutrition through IV fluids. He was then slowly warmed over 12 hours once his treatment was complete and only then was I able to hold my baby and feed him.

In the eight days that followed, several things happened. The first was an MRI to check for brain damage and signs of seizure. None was found, praise God, but there were some suspicious spots that were found and needed further inspection. A later CT scan showed clotting on the brain. The cause which could be anything from birth trauma, to prenatal or even could have resulted from his earlier cold treatment. The clots would need to be addressed and treated so family history was taken, a protocol was decided upon and medication levels were determined through trial and error. Patrick will be on a blood thinner called Lovenox, administered now by me twice a day via a shot for 6 to 12 weeks.  He has his levels checked once a week and medication adjusted accordingly and will have a CT scan to make sure the treatment is effective.

While in the NICU, Patrick also had to learn how to eat. Because he went for four days without the opportunity nurture this instinct, I was surprised when he latched on at my first attempt to nurse him at 8 days old. However I also knew the NICU wanted to monitor his intake and that it was not practical with another baby, for me to be able to nurse him for every feed and so the bottle was introduced. Patrick struggled to eat the “minimum” for the first several days and even my attempts at nursing during those days were feeble at best. But after a lot of prayer from friends and family and determination from myself, Chip, my mom, Aunt Linda and other family members and nurses, Patrick’s eating picked up and everything came together at once on February 14….Valentine’s Day…My due date. Patrick had eaten the minimum for 24 hours, his level came back where they needed to be and it was decided that Patrick would go home that night.

I cannot put into words how sad it makes me that my baby went without affection and feeling physical contact (except some limited touches and kisses), being held for four days and after that only intermittent contact until his release. My parenting philosophy is basically to not put my babies down, to feed on demand and shower them with affection. I will forever mourn the fact that the first almost two weeks of Patrick’s life, I was not able to give him what I see as such an important and immediate primal need to be loved. I will always wonder if and how it affected him permanently and I will always be amazed how beautifully and quickly he seemed to overcome this hard beginning. Thanks to prayers, thanks to a merciful God, thanks to some amazing doctors and nurses and thanks to an inner strength that is found in my baby.

I see Patrick thriving and growing and although I believe those days of isolation affected him, he is overcoming it day by day. Through both our hard work, Patrick is now off the bottle completely as of 2/21! He is alert and quickly catching up to his twin brother in strength and already caught up in awareness. We are so grateful for the outpouring of prayers and love that we have received for both of our babies and are just so grateful to have everyone home together. Those 12 days were hard on Patrick but also on our whole family. I wonder about Patrick and Rory, who had spent 9 months together in the womb, missing one another. Chip, Elijah and I spent so much time apart instead of transitioning together as a family of five and Elijah most of all, who missed being with me, his mommy who he was used to being with 24/7. I had worked so hard at building that attachment with my first born and it was so hard to be away from him. I am just so grateful to have my family back together….healthy….happy…..and whole.

Patrick’s name tag in the NICU made by one of the nurses

Below are some sweet pictures taken by The Tiny Footprints Project, a group of photographers that donate their time and talent to NICU families to photograph their babies.

Our sweet Patrick freshly off of the cooling blanket

Patrick had IV’s placed in a different spot every time I visited him. It made me so nervous to hold him because I was scared to hurt him. I know IV’s can hurt!

I love the sweet friend that took these and that I have these early days with my captured.

Sweet moments stolen in the NICU

Chip was the first to get to hold Patrick.

This was the first time I held my baby

Aunt Linda with the littlest Parish

My dad holding his “youngest” grandson

Looking up at his Pop

As coincidence would have it, our favorite NP used to work from my dad! She took amazing care of us before we all discovered this connection!

February 14, 2014 approximately 11:00pm…Patrick is on his way home…….

Nesting, Birth Prep and a Health Discovery

I have been so excited and anxious to get Elijah’s new room set up and the twins’ nursery ready. With the holidays and business of every day life, it seems to be happening very slowly. Elijah has been in his new room for a couple of weeks. As soon as Chip hangs his wall décor, I will take photos and do a post on his room….and how much he loves it!

During his Christmas break, Chip was able to put together our crib and our dresser for the new babies. This was no small undertaking as both pieces of furniture came in…..pieces.  But my hubby, ever the handy man, was game for the task and did a fantastic job! Now as we are just a little over 5 weeks from my due date and a little over two weeks from when everything really needs to be done, I am putting it into high gear. (Well, as much as I can since I seemed to have caught ANOTHER head cold as of Saturday evening!). Today was spent washing and setting up the twins’ bedding and getting some odds and ends in order as much as I can.

Chip worked hard on that dresser! Elijah helped.

Elijah loves to help his Daddy.

Elijah is enjoying his glider in his new room (Full blog post with pictures to come soon!)

Daddy hard at work completing the crib!

The finished product complete with nice clean bedding!

I love this mobile. I fell in love with this cozy set the moment I saw it and found an awesome 15 piece deal on Amazon!

Sweet baby bed all ready for my boys.

Shelves all ready and full of blankets and supplies. The lamp on the top was my Dad’s given to me by Gran when we went to visit last winter.

There is also a lamp that matches the set that will go on the changing table with a very dim bulb.

Super soft blankets from Chip’s parents for our twins. I love the monkeys that match the bedding!

 

Today I also have been working on getting our bedroom set up and ready for our home birth. My ideal is to have the birth tub in our bedroom but we will find out at our home visit next week if that is best or if it will be downstairs. For now, I am having everything organized in our room for safe keeping. I went through our birth supplies that I ordered from In His Hands and was so excited to see all the things that would be part of bringing our babies safely into this side of the world. Every little thing that gets done brings us one step closer to ready!

This was the labor prayer that was included in the box. I just love it.

We managed to find a really good deal on a new birth tub liner through a home birth group I am in on Facebook.

Sweet keepsake birth certificates for my boys, just like they would get in a hospital.

All the ordered supplies fit nicely into my tote!

 

Another new development this week was finding out the results of my bloodwork that I had done through my midwife. First of all, I found out that I am once again low on iron. This just means I really need to be diligent about my red meat consumption and use of my iron skillet and continue to take my iron pills. (Though naturally occurring iron in food is best). I’m glad we found this out because it is important that those numbers go up before I go into labor.  The other testing that was flagged was a genetic testing that was done for MTHFR testing which  tested “POSITIVE FOR TWO COPIES OF THE C677T MUTATION.” What does this mean? Honestly, I just found out yesterday and I am still learning but basically my body has a hard time processing Folic Acid.  There are a list of issue that can be caused by this genetic mutation including cancer, dementia, autism, depression, INSOMNIA!, the list goes on and on.  This is a problem that is recognized and treated by western medicine but not widely tested for. There are prescriptions that are offered that help manage this but there are dietary changes that see far superior results. My midwife recommended I cut out all gluten and cow dairy. (Oddly this is something I strive for anyway though dairy has become part of my pregnancy diet). It is also hereditary so recommended that Elijah follow the same diet (he already does…..something about mother’s intuition!).  Like I said, I am still learning about this disorder and am looking forward to meeting with my midwife next week so we can discuss in person and I can ask the million questions I have. In the meantime, she sent me some links that offer information on this issue.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/methylwho-why-you-should-know-about-methylation

http://mthfr.net/mthfr-c677t-mutation-basic-protocol/2012/02/24/

http://www.heartfixer.com/AMRI-Nutrigenomics.htm

If anyone reading this has experience with this issue, I would love to hear from you! This is the beginning of a journey for me as far as what this means for me and for my children who could potentially be affected by it. For now, I am following the dietary guidelines and reexamining my supplements. I will keep posting more as I learn more!