He-man-gi-----wha?

Hemangioma.

A word I barely knew two weeks ago but now can recite all the types, growth patterns, and treatments.
Here is what I have learned:
*They are a type of birthmark that is not usually present at birth
*They occur in 10% of infants
and up to 25% of preemies.
*They are usually not present at birth but appear a few weeks after
*The most common type are the red raised type or "strawberry patches"
*There are also "deep" and "cavernous" hemangiomas
*Typically they grow rapidly for the first 3+ months and then shrink at a much slower rate, and usually disappear by age 3 or 4.
*When they are on the nose they are even more of a problem because they are not friendly to cartilage.

WHY do I know all this? The little "bruise" on Rece's nose that appeared at 6 weeks is still there and after looking back at some pictures over the last 8 weeks, it has also gotten a little bigger and also a little darker. A lot of people don't notice it but we do since we see it everyday. The last time we were at the Peds they said to keep an eye on it and to let them know if it didn't go away. So we watched it and it didn't go anywhere, and since it is a "deep" hemangioma (one below the skin) and they don't see as many of this type and because of its location, they referred us to a pediatric dermatologist 2 hours away at a larger specialized hospital. We went today.

The Dr. was great he said it always breaks his heart when he sees "Nasal Tip Hemangioma" as the cause of the visit, but he said he was happy to see that Rece has a "good one" - relatively speaking of course. He said his is super small and that it is basically done growing. He thought we may see a tiny bit of further growth but then it would begin shrinking and would shrink the most between year 1 and year 2 leaving no visible signs by the time he is preschool age. He also said that he is very aggressive in treatment when they are on the nose because when they grow large they leave a floppy sack of skin when they are gone which then would require plastic surgery. However, he didn't' recommend any treatment for Rece's as it was a "good" one. So that made me feel a lot better. I also left feeling so very very thankful, after he told us that he sees them 50 to 60 times bigger than what Rece has and has to prescribe "unfriendly" treatments like steroids and laser treatments. Thank God it looks like we won't have to go through that. I can't imagine seeing him go through that....crossing my fingers that the specialist is right and we won't have to.

Supa fast!

I had to also add this one Carly took. I am not exaggerating when I say Rece is in constant motion. Carly captured a "Supa Fast" moment.

Kicking off the long weekend

I am sure we will be taking lots and lots of pictures this weekend as are planning all sorts of fun. Here are some from our Friday and Saturday...Obviously he likes to look at the camera when he is on his tummy :-)

3 Months Old

When Rece was 6 weeks old this nurse practitioner at the Peds office told me that I would just have to deal with the colic,told me puttting him on formula wouldn't help anything and wrote me a perscription for a new reflux med that she told me she didn't think would work any better, but gave it to me anyway, probably because I was having a break down in her office. She also said that if we could just get to 3 months he would be a differnent baby. Thanks a lot lady... That was 7 weeks ago but it seems like it was 7 months. So much has changed in that time! I followed my instincts and started formula, didn't fill that perscription and I do indeed have a happier baby, I saw a difference within days of giving up the breastfeeding. I have also felt 100% better, once I stopped b-feeding my hormones returned to normal within a couple of weeks and I have felt like a normal person again.

Mr. Rece at 3 months:
~12lbs 14oz
~Rolls over from his tummy to back more and more all the time
~Has slept through the night for 5 nights in a row- Knock on wood! When he isn't sleeping all the way through the night he wakes up for one bottle in the early am.
~He will hold on to toys/rattles but he doesn't recognize that he is the one making the noise so sometimes he freaks himself out.
~He can hold his head up well when he is on his tummy but not yet when propped up.
~He watches cartoons on Noggin in the morning when we are getting ready for work :-)
~He smiles and laughs a lot, especially at his daddy. He laughs the most when he is getting his diaper changed randomly...
~He is in constant motion, his arms and legs are always going
~The gas monster only comes to visit every once and a while, for some reason we are avereraging one random day a week for gas and crankiness.

First Mother's Day...

We had a great weekend! We are all feeling better and Rece had a great weekend overall. First and foremost he slept through the night two nights in row and was really good and not crabapottomus all weekend. Secondly, he started to laugh this weekend. Jeremy got him going a few times on Saturday, and I got a couple of chuckles today as well. He has the cutest little giggle :-) Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. The ones of him in his bouncy chair are of him watching cartoons and baby Einstein videos, he loves them!





For Mother's day Jeremy and Rece did a lot of great research and gave me the most beautiful necklace. It is a custom made setting with a color change sapphire. It is a genuine stone that is rare but naturally occurring. My birthstone is Sapphire and Rece's is Amethyst (purple), this stone changes color from blue to purple in different lights, it is amazing and beautiful. Pic attached below.

For the new Grandma's in our life, I purchased necklaces from Jane's Etsy Shop. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6907767 Each Grandma got their own "I love you necklace" with an I love you charm as well as one charm for each of their children and a charm for Rece. The charms have first and middle names on the front and birth dates on the back. They were a big hit. Some pics of these below as well. Thanks to Jane for getting them done for us with so many other orders to do as well! And for any readers out there who need a beautiful and creative Christmas or Birthday gift for a friend or relative check out her site!


On tap for this week a full week of work...it had to happen sometime...
And Mr. Rece's first picture session with a great photographer in State College. I can't wait, hopefully he is semi-cooperative!

On the mend

I am happy to report we are all on the mend. Rece (knock on wood) hasn't lost a bottle since Monday and Jeremy and I are almost 100% back to normal - if that is possible ;-)
First week back to work has gone alright- at least the few days I have actually been there. Rece continues to adjust at daycare, Wed he slept about 45 mins total all day. Today was better, he got in a couple of hours. The poor kid almost slept through a bath on Wed night. He will be 12 weeks old on Saturday. I guess after that I stop counting weeks and start counting months, eh?

Sick mommy now too...

I got it too.. this really sucks. Especially since I was supposed to be returned to work this week, that hasn't worked out too well, I worked from home yesterday to manage Rece and Jeremy and then I am home sick today. Oh well, not much I could do. Thankfully Jeremy took today off too so he was able to take care of Rece last night and take him to daycare today etc. I was in no shape to do so. He has done a really good job especially with me barking things from bed - "don't forget his swaddler, don't forget the gas drops in the bottles"...

As far as Rece goes he doesn't seem quite himself still, no fever though an he is keeping most of his formula in, still having some more/major spit ups than he has in a long long time. Because he can't communicate I am at a loss as to whether he had/has a touch of this bug, his reflux is flaring up (apparently it can peak at 3-4 months) or if the formula switch is still impacting him. It seems like I hit the perfect storm when trying a new formula either way, and I may never know if that was what made an impact. Oh well...for now we are back to the Similac Sensitive and managing the constipation with prune and Caro- so far so good.

I am just so ready for us to figure it out, to have him on A formula and A medicine and just be...rather than always having something to "deal with" I am so done with it...

Sick baby? Sicker Hubby...

Well it turns out the formula could be out the equation entirely. Rece spit up his entire bottle again at 5 am this morning (that is 3 bottles since early Friday morning) and then Jeremy woke up with a bad stomach flu. Neither are running a temperature, thank goodness. I called the on call pediatrician and he said to just keep an eye on the temp and offer pedialite a couple of times today. I will see how he is doing tomorrow and take him in if necessary. But the Dr thought it was a much better chance that it was a virus rather than the formula. Poor Jeremy has it rough... I am hoping that I don't get it or that if I do Jeremy is better so one of us is capable of taking care of the little man.

When are things going to calm down?????

A Good Start? Not So Much

Ok - so is there anything else in this world that makes you question yourself as much as being a mom? I am a fairly confident person, I have a career where I have to advise people, help them make decisions and sometimes make decisions for them so things get done for gods sake! But when it comes to being a mom I am constantly contemplating and obsessing over every decision I make! And of course the baby cannot give you feedback on whether you are making the right decision or not, he can't tell you if his tummy hurts or if his ears hurt so you have to more or less guess and then live with the uncertainty until it goes away....and you move on to worrying about the next thing.

If you read my last post you know I decided to try Good Start formula to see if it would be easier for Rece to digest and hence lessen the constipation and gas. Well, 2.5 days later - we have literally vomited 2 bottles, one in our sleep and one at day care, and we are pooping yellow, curdled slimy poo, about 4 times a day. If it isn't coming out one end it starts coming out both ends apparently. The main difference in the formula is that the Similac is Lactose Free and the Good Start is made from 100 Whey and is partially broken down. All I can assume from the very bad reaction he had to it is that he has a lactose intolerance. Because looking back he wasn't doing THAT bad on that formula comparatively speaking, and I would rather give him some prune juice then have him have an entire bottle coming back up. I am just going to put him back on the sensitive and go with it, if he gets more constipated, I will try the soy.....I have heard from several friends that Good Start works great for them, for us not so much. Of course this is literally all I thought about at work on my first day back.

Ahhhhhhhhhh,motherhood.....