4 month old checkup with Mommy and Daddy

Today Victoria had her 4 month check-up! Everything went well and Victoria is developing just fine. We were pretty surprised that our little porker weighed in at 17 pounds! But the real surprise is that she is 25 inches which puts her among the 95

percentile of her peers. Hopefully she will be a tall woman and with the latest statistics, it's a safe bet she will. My daughter addressed her concerns about her head always pointing to the left. She told her that she mainly uses her left side of her body..discovering her left foot, extending her left hand and waving it in a psychedelic way. The doctor reassured her that all babies choose different sides of their bodies individually and she has chosen her left. Daddy, mommy and I all let out a comforting sigh. At least now we know that she is developing at a good rate and yes..I hope that she turns out to be a lefty. We also found out that she has a birthmark behind her right ear on her head. This form of birthmarks are among 40,000 babies born each year. This birthmark is called Strawberry Hemangioma which appears shortly after birth. This type of birthmark soon disappears as the child reaches their seventh year of living. When my daughter observed it before, she was quite startled, thinking there was something growing on her child's head. “Well, Miss Priss. You, yourself have a birthmark as well. Its called Nevus Sebaceous.” She really does. As the day ended and my daughter was at work, Victoria was taking a nap in her crib. I've been wanting to set up her pack and play for so long. My bestie gave it to my daughter for Victoria. Fortunately I had time even though it kind of upset me. She is getting bigger. Growing up. She isn't that little newborn we brought home from the hospital. I let out a deep sigh and started to take apart the pack and play..or in my day (I'm really not that old) I have always called it a playpen. Isn't that what it is?

http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health-pictures/10-types-of-birthmarks.aspx#/slide-1

Victoria and her 3 month, 4 week milestones

Lately, we have been experiencing milestones with Victoria. She can now sit in her bouncer and reach for the dangling toys on the patted overhead bar. Well...a little bit. She actually grazes them with her left hand. As a grandmother, I think that is the best thing since sliced bread. Lol But what is even better is when she holds up her hands for me to pick her up. Its not a whole-hearted hands-out stretching-the-arms-out but its close. I see it. While it warms my heart so much, I wish she would hold her hands up to her mother who is always working. So. I mentioned that Victoria is going through a few milestones during her 3rd month of life. We want to believe she is teething. She shows all the signs except refusing food. (She is a member of this family; she never refuses food). Its hard to imagine all of the saliva that comes out of her mouth on a daily basis and then some. There is never a moment when she has a drop of saliva dangling from her bottom lip which, to me, signifies a baby. If we aren't careful and forget to put on a bib, you would find a big wet spot of drool on her shirt. Once we discovered a chaffed red ring around her neck from all the drool. A good friend of ours suggested baby powder but we found out that baby powder brings more bacteria to the 'fatty folds' and 'extra chins' that Victoria has gained over the 3 months of life. Mommy learned that using Desitin or some other form of diaper rash cream will do the job. She is also very fussy and bites on everything she can put in her mouth. Mommy decided to get a gallon storage bag and insert all of Victoria's teething rings 'just in case' and promptly put them in the freezer. We will never know if this is the reason of her little 'actions' but just in case, we keep this on the table. Victoria still does not like 'Tummy Time'. I've heard that most babies have a problem with this. When we place her on her stomach, she fusses. I shouldn't let this concern me. I've heard that some babies favor either side of their bodies and mostly use that side to view their surroundings. Victoria seems to favor her left side. Like I said before in the paragraph above, she uses her left hand to touch the dangling toys above her in her bouncer. I can tell when she is exhausted while playing or

watching “Baby Einstein” videos because she looks to the left. I Victoria Renee 6-30-14am assuming the left side of her neck muscles are tighter than her right. We have been helping her move her head to look straight, eventually looking right. This is a concern I hope her mother talks to the doctor about. She has her four month appointment in a few days to get her next series of her immunizations. So this means we are going to have to wait to see her roll over...maybe....because she could surprise us. She already does 'mini-scoots' and likes to see her surroundings in ways she couldn't before. As I mentioned before, her mother goes to work. I feel my daughter (and most working mother's) feel cheated because Victoria does pay attention to me more than her own mother. This is why I have to step back and let her mother care for her during the times when she is off of work allowing my daughter to bond with her mother. http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-3-month-olds-development-week-4_1477212.bc

One month old and her instructions are clearer!!!

Ok. Ok. By now you know how excited I am about this little bundle of joy. What you don't know is all the things she has had to deal with through this whole month. If you can remember, she had to deal with constipation in (what is my opinion) the worst way. She was rushed to Children's Hospital in Knoxville only to get her first x-ray showing that she was engorged. After an enema and five diapers later, she was good to go home. Her mother then made an appointment with her doctor and had been instructed to use oatmeal cereal (1 tsp per 1 ounce) and that should help with the constipation. It did help...until the following week when we had the next problem...gas! Newborns come home to parents that wish these babies came with instructions. Sometimes even the grandparents are at a loss to what the newborn is actually crying about. Just like everyone else in the free world, we have all the information we will ever need at our fingertips. Google, Bing, Yahoo....the list does go on. Poor baby had been dealing with acid reflux! I did notice when she refusing her pacifier after a certain amount of time. It probably had acid from her tummy on it. Again, her mother made an appointment to her pediatrician to rectify this problem. She was given liquid Zantac. Zantac! For a baby? I've never heard of anything like that but I do hear that it does work and has been prescribed to a lot of babies dealing with this problem. I didn't have this problem when my daughter was an infant so again, this was all new to me. Now that we are at the 'month' mark of her little life so far, she seems so much healthier and happier. She does sleep a lot (especially throughout the night) with one feeding at 5 A.M. Maybe her 'instructions' are a bit easier for us to read. After all, every baby is different and a new individual. But then again, I heard newborns can get cranky if they need more sleep. I suppose she isn't ready to stay awake most of the day. This is the main reason we acquired a swing.

I've heard that swings can help with tired babies to rock them. And a little fact that I, myself have learned about Victoria. She likes music. Yes..she is put in her swing and rocks back and forth. She should be good, right? No. She calms down once the music is playing. After eating, I sit her in her lounger (I call it her throne) to help keep extra acid down and help her digest the last bottle she has been given. I do this for about 20-30 minutes. Then I put her in her swing and she listens to her music and eventually falls asleep. It sounds crazy but Victoria actually enjoys her music playing. (It must be from listening to the Beatles and Baroque music while she was in her mommy's stomach.) I agree that it is.

A Survivor's Story During the Season

On a winter's day in 2005, she gave birth to a beautiful daughter Lily Rose. Three month later, she was diagnosed with a life-altering disease called Pleural Mesothelioma. Knowing this is the beginning of a long and tiresome journey, her husband and my friend searched to find the best treatment care for Mesothelioma available. The three finally crossed paths with a renowned mesothelioma surgeon named Dr. David Sugarbaker based in Boston at the Brigham and Women's hospital. As a seven-year mesothelioma cancer survivor, she has made it her mission to help other victims of mesothelioma around the world. Raising awareness for other's that are going through this, she is sharing her personal story in hopes that one day no one will have to go through this terrible and life-altering cancer. Here is her story. See more at: http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/#.UrB-wGRDvPw

So you are RH-negative, huh?

As a young mother in the early nineties, I just gave birth to my beautiful baby girl. Along with many things that I didn't know about taking care of a baby, I didn't realize that I had to learn how to take care of my own health as well. I can remember the day of my baby's birth, a gruff but nice nurse came into the room where I was sharing with another woman. She came next to my bed and said, “Honey, do you realize that you are RH negative?” I looked at her with a deer-in-headlights look having no idea what she meant or the implications that it had. She just gave me a shot in the arm and told me that I could've spread it to my baby. Fast-forward into 2013. My daughter had her 12 week check-up today and I had a deja vu feeling again from the prenatal doctor who explained that my daughter is RH negative. Good news....the mother and baby are healthy! :)

 Having an RH-positive status means that your blood will more in likely match with your baby's blood. It has been said that about 85% of Caucasians, 90-95% of African Americans and 98-99% of Asian Americans are RH-positive. Unfortunately for the females of my family, we are RH-negative. This means that if you are RH-negative, you are going to have to take certain precautions during your pregnancy. Don't worry, if you are RH-incompatible with your baby, it probably won't harm you or your first child during gestation. If at some chance you and your baby's blood mixes into each other, your immune system will produce antibodies against the positive RH blood. In the event of this happening, you will become RH-sensitized. This can attack the blood of your future child if you don't get the vaccine. This vaccine can stop any cross-contamination by an injection called RH immune globulin. This is given to first-time pregnant women if there is a chance that it will be exposed to the second infant's blood.

 But lets just say that you have become sensitized. You will have the antibodies for the rest of your life. The production of the antibodies will live on in your blood increasing the risk of RH disease with every subsequent pregnancy. But good news is on the horizon. Doctors are seeking new ways to save children born with the RH disease. Keeping tabs on the baby's condition throughout gestation by either a Doppler ultrasound or an amniocentesis will help your doctor monitor the situation. About 5,000 babies a year still develop RH disease although doctors and nurses are trying to screen and treat as many women as possible.

 So I guess that gruff but nice nurse was right....

 http://www.babycenter.com/0_blood-test-for-rh-status-and-antibody-screen_1480.bc?page=1