Life with Jackson

The transition from two to three kids has been both easy and really hard.  

Jackson has been, hands down, our hardest baby.  We had a rocky start with his low blood sugar and extreme "breastmilk jaundice" that lasted six weeks. 

A typical scene

About a month ago, Jackson stopped pooping on his own, was incredibly gassy and just in, seemingly, constant discomfort.  We resorted to pear juice in bottles of breastmilk, suppositories every night and infant gas relief drops non-stop.  Nothing was working and we didn't like having to give our infant all that "stuff" - especially since it didn't seem to be helping!

My mom convinced me to take him to her (upper cervival) chiropractor last week.  I was skeptical but desperate.  The idea is that if the upper vertabrae are aligned properly there will be no pressure on the nerves running from the brain to the rest of the body.  When the spine is not aligned and there is pressure on those nerves, the body can get mixed signals from the brain causing problems.  Ok, makes sense.

He checked him out by hanging him upside down, by his hips, and watching how his head moved.  It only went one way.  He asked me if he had trouble nursing/favored one side.  I told him he prefers the left and has issues latching well on the right.  The chiropractor told me that one side of his neck was stuck/stiff.  He gave him an adjustment and we went on our way.  A few hours later Jackson pooped - on his own.  Two more days went by with nothing and now he is back to pooping, daily, on his own. 

He's been re-checked and adjusted once since then and we go back in a month for another alignment check.  He is, all around, a happier little guy this past week than he has been in a long time.  He actually lifts his head up during tummy time, he grunts and groans less and can latch properly on both sides while nursing.  

Maybe it's the chiropractic care or maybe it's the fact that he is also on reflux medication now.  Maybe it's a combination of both.  All I know is that he is happier and feels better :)

We still can't get him into even a loose routine of eating and sleeping.  Every day is a new adventure.  There is no "norm" with him.  The late nights are straining mine and Jason's relationship heavily.  We are stressed out, tired and we point fingers at each other constantly.  I know this will all pass.  He will eventually sleep but right now it is just hard.

I returned to work two days ago and I'm hoping that some time out of the house will benefit me.  The family can get back into the routine of hanging with dad in the morning and mom at night - during the week.  

Despite all the struggles - I get to snuggle and enjoy this little guy so it's all good!
 

Jackson's Heart

Yesterday Jackson and I headed into the Twin Cities for an appointment at Children's Hospital.  From birth he has had a heart murmur that has been pretty consistent.  It's not getting any worse but it's also not fading away so we were sent to the Children's Heart Clinic to get it checked out.

We met with our cardiologist, Dr. Sutton, and he did his best to explain heart stuff to me.  I learned that they rate murmurs on a scale of loudness, 1-6.  Jackson's murmur was rated at a 3 and was heard primarily above the heart and out over the lungs.  After an EKG we were sent for an ultrasound to take pictures of his heart to make sure nothing was missed.

The ultrasound confirmed what Dr. Sutton suspected.  Jackson has Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis.  Sounds scary, right?  It's not :)  As he grows this condition should correct itself and the murmur should be gone by his first birthday!  

Jackson seemed happy about his diagnosis...

...he was all smiles at his appointment :)  

We are very thankful for a great diagnosis and a healthy little boy!

Jackson Ardelle

Thursday, September 19, we welcomed our second son, Jackson, into the world!

We went in early Thursday morning for an induction.  I was not dilated so I was put on a pitocin drip about 7:30 a.m. and about an hour later my doctor came in and was able to break my water.  Since I had still not received an epidural I was able to move around, use the bathroom and sit on a birthing ball!

The ability to move around for the first hours of labor was very different for me.  With Amelia the pitocin drip left me in so much pain I could barely breathe, let alone walk and I eventually received an epidural, and with Joe I received an epidural prior to pitocin being given. 

By 3cm dilated I started to realize that my back was tensed up pretty bad and I worried if I didn't get an epidural I would miss out on my chance to get some rest before delivery. 

Shortly after lunch I got my epidural, Jason and I settled in to watch Star Trek: Into Darkness and by the time the movie ended I was feeling slight urges to push.  I was checked and was 8-9cm dilated and the room was being prepped for delivery.  Funny thing - as the stirrups were going up my children walked in to say hi.  It was all I could do plaster a smile on my face and continuously tell Amelia I was great but she had to leave - NOW.  The nurses had to turn around to hide their laughter from Amelia.  Looking back it really was quite humorous but in the moment?  Not so much!

Once it was time to push it took about a half hour for little Jackson to arrive!

I got in some snuggles before they took him to be weighed and measured.  Weighing in at ten pounds, one ounce he almost broke the family record but his big sister still holds it (10 lbs, 2 oz.) 

 
Once he was weighed he was given a glucose test which was initially of no concern to me because I am well aware that larger babies receive one (Amelia had one as well) and in the past everything came back just fine.  This time, however, it came back low.  A re-check was given a bit later and the numbers were even lower so he was brought straight to the nursery and given an IV to get sugars into him.

While on the IV he had to remain in the nursery for monitoring so we went to our recovery room and dropped our stuff off and left right away to go to the nursery to see our little guy.

Dad's first time holding him. 

*Jason insisted on the face mask because he felt a little sick/congested and there was another baby in the nursery he didn't want to infect :)

We finally called it a night when he was too sleepy to nurse and went to our room.  The nurses came and got me every few hours to nurse him.  He wasn't too interested in nursing but the nurses assured me it was normal for "glucose babies" to not get hungry because of all the sugars they receive from the IV.

Why the low blood sugar?  It turns out I likely had undiagnosed gestational diabetes - like I suspected.  I had incredible weight gain towards the end which freaked me out but my doctor kept assuring me it was ok and my blood pressure and everything else looked great.  I told almost everyone I know that I thought the glucose test was wrong but everyone just kept trying to assure me everything was ok.  Turns out "mother's intuition" can be spot on!  At the time of my glucose test my numbers were well below the "danger" range so I probably developed it later in the pregnancy.

Late Friday afternoon they allowed Jackson to come to our room because he was doing well and they were short-staffed to have someone in the nursery full-time.  Jason's sister, mom and grandma came to see us.

Great-Grandma

Friday night Jason took the kids home to return to normalcy.  They Amelia was struggling with me being in the hospital and constantly wanted to call to check on me because I was "dying."  Once back at home with dad she seemed to snap out of it and returned to her normal self.  *I think having my grandpa in the hospital the week before, her seeing him on Facetime in the hospital and then us telling her of his death all contributed to her anxiety over Jackson and I being in the hospital.

Saturday afternoon I was discharged but little man was not :(  His blood sugar still had not leveled out so he needed to stay on his IV.  Jason brought me a few things from home since I pack almost nothing to go have babies and my sister brought me Arby's for dinner later that night.  Other than that it was just Jackson and I!

Overnight Saturday into Sunday the nurses called our doctor and the decision was made to disconnect his IV and see what happened since his levels were maintaining well, just a little low.

  By the next morning he was brought to me, IV free!

We were discharged by lunch and on our way home!

It felt good to get home to my own bed and the rest of my family.  Jackson is a sweet little baby and we are all so happy to have him :)  I am excited for my parents to return from Indiana so they can finally meet him!