William 11 months old!

William 10 months old!

William's allergy testing!

We payed a visit to the allergy Doctor to have William checked out and here's how it went. They do a skin test on the back and watch. We tested for eggs, dairy, soy, wheat, tree nuts, and peanuts and at first glance he reacted to everything with big hives all over his back. Lucky for me Dr. Keiley said that I didn't have cut out everything as well. Later we went for a blood test to determine the severity of it all, baby blood draws are not fun. Turns out William is allergic to eggs, dairy, wheat, and peanuts. They think he will grow out of the egg, dairy, and wheat, but the nut allergies are probably not going anywhere. We still have to figure out why he threw up after eating avocado.

William 9 months old

Well third children get the short end of the stick. I haven't kept track of William's milestones as well as I did for Andrew and Aiden, but at least with an iPhone I get lots of pictures. Here goes my attempt to update the last three months. William's sleeping has been very inconsistent, we have tried a lot of things to improve it but nothing has made much improvement. Finally at 8 months we put him in his crib and let him cry it out. After about a week he realized sleeping at night was good and has been sleeping pretty well ever since. At 7 months I started eating dairy again and Will seems to have grown out of any problem he had with it, yay for me (and him). William seems to have a very strong gag reflex and an adversion to the texture so it has been a struggle to start eating baby food. He has tried a few fruits and veggies and some rice cereal but he doesn't care for most of it, he tried avocado pieces and seem to like it but then he spent the whole night throwing up. William has 2 teeth that popped up around 8 months which is helping him chew on chunks of food. It seems that baby mush is the main problem with his distaste for food, he like eating slices of cucmber, banana, and few other foods. Mostly recently he tried some baby cereal puffsand bread, and then proceeded to have an allergic reaction to them (throwing up and swollen eyes). After some benadryl he was fine but it looks like he will need some allergy testing to figure out what the problem food is. William's biggest achievment as of late is crawling. He started at the begining of March inch worming along and within a few weeks he has almost master the "crawling position".

William 8 months old!

William 7 months old!

William 6 months old

William is 6 months old now and more active then ever. He weighs 17lb 6 1/2oz (49%) and is 27 inches long (75%). William is so close to rolling from back to tummy and he is working on a little scooting, mostly backwards though. On Christmas day he tried a little pureed sweet potato. William was not impressed and neither was his skin, his chin broke out in a rash. He does love to try sips of water from a cup or sippy. Will still loves to be swaddled but it doesn't seem to help him sleep through the night, he did however sleep 9 hours one day this month then back to 5 hours. He is also mastering sitting up which makes him smile very wide!

Halloween

William 4 months Old

William is 14lb 10oz (26%) and 26 inches long (85%). He is so easy going and smiley. William loves to be tickled and play peekaboo, especially with his big brothers. The only time he ever cries is in the car a little. He is working on rolling over from his back to his tummy, but he isn't quite there yet. William is starting to bounce in his jumper a little and he seems to love it!

William 3 Months Old

William is 3 months old! He is doing well, he likes to be held most of the time but he's pretty content to lay in his crib and watch his mobile spin. William still loves to smile and sometimes cue, he loves eye contact and talking with people. He is still a good sleeper, lately he has been sleeping for a long stretch on his own and then spending the rest of the night in bed with me, but no more hourly wakeups. 

William 2 months old

William is growing up too fast.  He is my last little baby and I want him to stay little forever.  William had his check-up and everything looks great.  He weighs 11lb 9.5oz (35%) and is 23in long (50%).  He is sleeping pretty well at night, with one 6 hour stretch followed by hourly wake-ups.  William is full of smiles and he is starting to find his voice.  Cutting out dairy from my diet has made a big difference in Will's gas; I just hope this is something he will outgrow.

Aiden turns 3

I can't believe Aiden is 3!  He is still so skinny but growing strong, he weighs 25lb and is ??? Aiden was very resistant to turning three, he has been getting upset if  you talk about his birthday. Luckily by the time the day arrived and he realized how much fun it was to be THREE he was on board! For days he kept asking if he was "still 3". He talks so fast with his sweet little voice, especially about everything related to "Super Heroes" and "Bad Guys". For his birthday we invited a few friends and went to Chuck E Cheese. The kids had a great time playing games and eating pizza and cupcakes. We had the family over for cake and presents on the 4th.

William 1 month

Well, we survived our first month with William.  He is doing great so far, and has been a pretty calm baby.  William is a good eater and is gaining weight quickly.  He is up to 8lb 8oz!  He also sleeps pretty well, usually 4-6 hours to start the night. Our only real struggle seems to be his gas; it started at about two weeks and he is constantly grunting and moaning with discomfort.  I have talked to a few people and I am starting to think the gas might be related to a milk protein intolerance.  The sad news for me is that this means I have to give up dairy products in order to see if that is the problem.  They say it takes up to a month to get all the dairy out of your system so we have a long wait to see if dairy is the culprit.  William also got circumcised this month -- how exciting for him (I say sarcastically)!  Andrew and Aiden are so in love with "their baby".  They are always asking to hold him and they love to talk to him and lay with him. I can't wait to watch my three boys grow up together!

First Bath

Willian cord finally fell off so he got to take his first bath!  He was pretty calm and seemed to enjoy the warm water.  He also likes to make strange faces at the camera! :)

Happy 4th of July!

William 2 weeks old

Little William had his first doctors check-up this week and has gained 11oz since being discharged from the NICU four days ago.  He is doing great at home and we are settling in nicely as a family of five.  William is the sweetest little peanut.  The only plus of Williams NICU stay seems to be his sleeping and eating schedule -- he eats every 3 hours and sleeps great in his bassinet. 

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

When William was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, better know as the NICU, I spent almost every waking hour sitting by his side. William lived in a little clear box that kept his body temperature regulated. He had a nose cannula that delivered some humidified oxygen through his nose to help keep his lungs full and help dry them out. William also had a feeding tube through his nose that he got his breastmilk from. He was hooked up to lots of monitors and for a day and a half he was under "blue lights" to treat his jaudice. The hardest part about all of this was not being able to hold him. I just sat there watching him and hoping that there would be progress. After a few days I was getting to hold him and then after a few more days his nose cannula came out and we got to try nursing. He was a natural and within the next few days we were heading home.

There was an upside to his nicu stay, Dr. Jennifer Merchant is taking care of him. I use to nanny for her family years ago and she is amazing, it is nice to see an old friend when I was so anxious about little William. The nursing staff was also great. It was a nerve racking experience to have a baby in the NICU and they do an amazing job making sure you understand what is happening and are comfortable on all levels. 

The NICU

When William was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, better known as the NICU, I spent almost every waking hour sitting by his side.  William lived in a little clear box that kept his body temperature regulated.  He had a nose cannula that delivered humidified oxygen through his nose to help keep his lungs full and help dry them out.  William had a feeding tube through his nose that supplied him with breast milk.  He was hooked up to several monitors that watched his heart rate and oxygen saturation. He also had to spend two days under the "blue lights" for jaundice.  The hardest part about all of this was not being able to hold him.  I just sat there watching him and hoping that there would be progress.  After a few days I was allowed to hold him and after a few more days his nose cannula came out and we were able to try nursing.  He was a natural with breast feeding.  His last two obstacles were passing the car seat test and gaining weight.  He barely passed the car seat test (he had a little trouble breathing towards the end), and on Thursday morning he had gained an ounce.  The doctor was happy with the way everything was going and he said we could go HOME!!!

If there was an upside to his NICU stay, it was that Dr. Jennifer Merchant was taking care of him.  I used to nanny for her family years ago and she is amazing.  It was nice to see an old friend when I was so anxious about little William.  The nursing staff was also great.  It was a nerve-racking experience to have a baby in the NICU and they do an amazing job making sure you understand what is happening and are comfortable on all levels.

Car seat test

All dressed and ready to Go!!

Last day of Preschool

Andrew had his last day of preschool today.  Luckily, I don't have time to be sad that my baby is growing up too fast.  Miss Emily was a great teacher and Andrew learned so much this year at Parkcenter Montessori.  We can't wait to see what the next year will bring for him.

Welcoming William John Coon

Welcome to world William John Coon, who was born on June 20, 2013 at 7:03 pm at St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise.  William arrived four weeks early, born at just 36 weeks, weighing 6 lb. 8 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long.  He was taken almost immediately to the NICU for some help with his breathing.  Hopefully his lungs will resolve their problem soon!

I had been to see my midwife on the 18th of June for a weekly checkup and to have my group B strep test done.  Everything looked good and with a quick ultrasound we saw that baby was head down -- good news!  The next day after preschool we headed to the Connell's house for a play date.  While Andrew and Aiden played with Joey and Piper, Courtney and I talked and attempted to make cheese.  Around 2:30pm I started having a few very mild contractions which I believed were the same Braxton Hicks contractions I had been experiencing for the last few weeks.  Courtney, having gone into labor herself at 36 weeks, urged me to start timing the contractions.  I was having them 5 to ten minutes apart but they were not strong or regular.  Still, I decided to head home and call Walter and my Mom to let them know to be prepared.

Walter came home around 5pm and with a little convincing we decided to have Bonnie come over so we could go to Labor and Delivery to get checked.  We arrived at the hospital around 6:30pm and I was taken to a L&D room.  The nurse hooked up monitors to my belly and checked my cervix to which we discovered I was dilated to 2 centimeters and was 50% effaced -- I was really having contractions!  This was all very nerve racking and exciting at the same time. The doctor on-call and the nurse said that some baby's do great at 36 weeks so there was no reason to stop my labor and that they would would watch me for awhile and see how quickly I progressed.  Hours later I had only dilated to 3 centimeters and with no regular contractions they decided that going home to sleep was probably the best idea.  I was sure I would get no sleep but at midnight June 20we headed home.

Bonnie spent the night on our couch in case we had to leave suddenly during the night and we headed to bed.  I woke up around 6am having contractions every 3 minutes or so, still not strong but pretty regular, so I decided to take a shower and see if they stayed around with some movement.  I woke Walter up and he prepared himself once again to go to the hospital.  After getting ready my contractions were still coming so we headed back to St. Als.

We arrived about 8am and I was admitted to L&D.  This time I was sure it was the real thing and before long I would be holding my baby!  They checked me and hooked up all of the monitors again; I was dilated to 5 cm, which meant there was some progress overnight but not a lot.  At this point my mom was driving up from Salt Lake City, and the boys were with Granddad Clyde at the house (eventually relieved by Aunt Ann and Cousin Emma).  After a little while we decided to break my water and see if that would speed things up, but for some reason it did not seem to do much of anything except my make my contractions painful enough that I had to focus and breathe through them.

We sat around for hours, Autumn even came to visit, all the while I sat at 5 CENTIMETERS!  I think it was around 4 or 5 pm when I asked my nurse if there was anything we could do to speed things along.  She had recently given birth to her third child and had been giving me useful advice all day long, so I listened when she said that third babies are notorious for being slow to arrive and that maybe we should try some pitocin.  I have strong opinions about using drugs to intervene with labor but I felt a little desperate knowing once my water was broken the hospital only gave me so much time to have this baby.  At the advice of my midwife and nurse I finally decided to get an epidural and start pitocin.

The pitocin wasn't doing much to make my contractions more regular, but they start with a pretty low dosage and work their way up.  They checked me after about an hour (it was around 6 pm) and I was still stuck at 5 cm.  Then maybe 30 to 45 minutes later I was joking with the nurse that I felt a lot of pressure in my bottom region so she checked me again.  I was 9 centimeters dilated and the baby was right there!  This was it!

The nurse called the midwife on call (my midwife had left for the day, of course) and began setting up quickly for delivery.  I had Walt get out the camera and get ready.  It all went so fast.  I was told to try pushing and I remember pushing and thinking am I doing this right? and telling myself to focus, and the next thing I know a baby boy was on my chest!  I was a mother all over again!  He was so tiny, just a little peanut.

The NICU comes to the delivery room to check all babies born early.  They had barely arrived when one of the nurses was not thrilled about his color, so she and the respiratory therapist from NICU took him to the warming bed to assess him and give him some extra oxygen. Walter was watching him closely and I was waiting to hear that he was good to go.  They weren't saying much but I was getting more and more nervous.  Finally, they decided he needed more help breathing and he had to go to the NICU for monitoring.  It was heartbreaking to see him go but we were confident that he was in good hands and was going to be okay.