It's been a while!

Hello there, I can't believe it's been 3 months! Where should I even begin?

February- We lost a dear friend in my crunchy mommy community. It's still very hard to believe she is gone. I saw her a few days before at a cloth diaper playdate, before she had the stroke. Her sons name is also Andrew. We miss you Susan! :(

March- Andrew's pins came out, he did good. He was on hands and knees just a few days after the surgery... my crazy little boy. We went back for his post op and things were looking good. Our next appointment is in a year. Hoping everything keeps developing correctly.

April- My mom was here for a couple of weeks. She was able to spend Easter with us. It went by too fast. We also had lots of 1st birthday parties to attend, it was fun! I have met lots of moms and babies through playdates and mom groups. Andrew finally got his 2 top teeth at around 16 or 17 months. He also knows how to sit up by himself.

We got offered free Kindermusik classes. I really like them, more than Gymboree. The instructor Holly is amazing. Andrew has such a good time there, it is so good for him too. We got offered the scholarship again for the summer semester. I'm excited, can't wait to start again :)

May- Andrew turned 18 months (1.5 years). He also recently started crawling a bit. I'm so proud of him! His preferred method of transportation is still rolling though...lazy kid! He still receives physical and speech therapy. He likes pulling up on things, so far only into kneeling position. But at least he puts weight when in standing position now. Slow progress, but we are getting there.

We still have feeding issues. He doesn't eat much solids and won't eat real food yet. He weighs around 17 lbs right now. According to a blood allergy test he is allergic to walnuts, peanuts, wheat, eggs and dog dander. I still think he has a dairy sensitivity. Ever since I limited dairy to only that in the Pediasmart, he isn't as itchy. He gets a bit of hemp milk and coconut milk yogurt, both diary free.

We are finally starting occupational therapy this week, we'll see how that goes. We also went to see an urologist yesterday. The bad news is that he will need yet another surgery. His testicles never descended and at this point, they aren't coming down on their own. I just need to schedule it :(

It seems like things have been hard again. Andrew has been extra cranky lately. I did notice that one of his molars is starting to break through, so maybe that explains the crankiness? I just want a vacation. I feel like I'm tired all the time. His sleeping is random, some good nights (still waking up to eat) and some bad nights.

Anyway, I think that's basically whats been going on around here. Mike's latest hobby is playing with his new synthesizer and learning about music. Lily lost her winter coat and has fleas. And I've actually been reading again, crafting here and there. I'll try not to disappear for so long! Find me on Instagram, we android users finally have it :)

Top Ten

Here are 10 of my favorite baby products. I don't like clutter and "stuff", and even if I did, we don't have room for it. We tried to get away with as little as possible. We never bought a baby swing because they take out so much space. We also never had an infant car seat, just a convertible.

In the first months, we did without a pack and play, baby monitor and stroller. Because of his hip dysplasia, we eventually bought both. My dad also bought me a monitor when he came to visit. The pack and play is now stored again. I also now have a stroller I LOVE. Anyway, here are my top ten, in no specific order.

                      

1. Smartphone: I can not imagine surviving the long nights and breastfeeding without one. Also, having an easy way to take a picture and share it online right away. Now that I track how much Andrew eats, poops, meds, etc. Baby ESP is a great app. 2. SwaddleMe: Andrew liked being swaddled, he slept better. These worked out great even when he was in the spica cast and the rhino hip brace, we only swaddled his upper body then. 3. Bumgenius Cloth Diapers: My favorite type of cloth diaper so far. 4. Boppy Pillow: great for breastfeeding. He also liked sleeping in it, with a blanket over it when he was in the spica cast. 5. Baby ComfyNose: The concept may seem gross to some, but you will quickly get over it once you see how great it works. I use it a lot! So worth it. 6. Ergo Performance: I couldn't decide which carrier to choose because I'm really loving the Boba now too. It took a while for Andrew to like the Ergo, but now he is totally fine in both. Super must have!

7. Marpac White Noise Generator: I wish we would have gotten this sooner. At first we were using a cell phone app, but I noticed the sound loop, which was super annoying. While the Marpac is not visually pretty,  it works very well. Combine with #2 and bam! Hopefully these 2 little gadgets will help your baby sleep better. 8. Fisher Price Rocker: I thought this was a good alternative to a baby swing. This is another thing Andrew slept in when he had his surgeries. It's lightweight, so it can be easily moved from one room to another. We keep this in the kitchen. I put him in this when I need to take a shower, I just bring it to where I can see him. 9. Activity Gym: This is the only "big" toy we had, it was a gift. He really enjoyed it. I recently packed it away. He fell asleep while playing in it many times. 10. Bumbo: Because of Andrew's special needs, this was the only thing I could use to get him in a sitting position (when he wasn't in the cast or brace). We keep this in our car now, to use when we eat out, since he can't really sit in their high chairs. 

Others items that I also like and didn't make it to the top ten are: Boon Grass Drying rack, waterproof crib pads, baby monitor and night lights. I hope this is useful to someone :)

Let's Catch up!

We had a quiet Christmas just the three of us, grandma was sick. Here's a cute picture since I haven't update my blog since then. It felt like Andrew's first Christmas to us :)

Andrew is sitting for longer periods of time now, but he still doesn't catch himself when he falls. We are working on it. The helmet is off! He outgrew it. I don't really see a big difference, which is disappointing. He is just developing very slowly, so he didn't progress much.

We had a few months of bad spitting up and vomiting. His GI put him on Zantac for now and it has really helped. No more vomiting. He's having an upper gi done next week, so we can see if there is anything going on. We also went to a really nice ENT. I'm trying a nasal spray for the congestion he always has. He also has fluid in his ears, we might look into getting tubes.

His surgery for the pin removal from his hip is scheduled for March 9th. I'm nervous and anxious. I hope the recovery is easy and that he isn't in too much pain. I'm mostly afraid of the news they might give us on how his hips are doing. I'm praying for good news.

His first tooth finally broke through this week! At almost 15 months old. Also, thanks to GetPumped, I have enough breastmilk to give Andrew for a few weeks. He also eats a bit of oatmeal in the mornings with pureed fruits and veggies. I also started giving him PediaSmart. He is still not interested in real food.

Mike moved to a cool new office. They have a whole building to themselves. They also grill almost everyday for lunch, so lucky! The bad thing about the new office is having just one car. I drop him off in the morning if I need the car that day. He is also very much into video games lately...oh and politics :S

I finally have more mommy friends and regular playdates, which makes me very happy! I've been having a few Etsy sales lately. I want to introduce prints of my paintings soon. I've also been making flower felt hair clips, but haven't had time to add them to my shop. I recently cut my hair the shortest I've ever had it. I had to buy an iron, because I don't like the way my curls are behaving. 

I will try to update more often so my posts aren't super long. I also need to take more pictures with my "big" camera. Speaking of photos, there are A LOT of mommy photographers around. I would like to take photos of events or parties. I took some of our babywearing anniversary playdate and everyone loved them. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do it more often, maybe for a small fee? 

(Almost) One Year

I honestly can not say this last year has been the happiest year of my life. It sucks, yes, but that's just how it is. I'm learning to throw all my expectations, along with baby milestones out the window. I'm in a better place right now than what I was even just a few months ago. I'm glad I started going to therapy because that is what is helping me discover all this.

I still get stressed out and angry, but it's different now. I feel like I handle it better. I'm finally feeling happy again and my sweet baby boy seems better too. I still stress about his weight and throwing up, but overall we are all in such a better and happier place in our lives right now, and that gives me hope. 

Last year he has been through a pavlik harness, rhino brace, 2 spica casts, physical therapy, speech therapy, starband helmet and the rhino brace at night. He has also seen an orthopedic, geneticist, dermatologist, ophthalmologist, neurosurgeon, cardiologist, gastrointestinal and his regular pediatrician of course. What's next? I'm not sure.

I know that with his condition, we might run into more hospital stays or medical interventions. But right now, today, I feel hopeful, that everything will eventually get better. I'm learning to accept that this is our "normal". So even though it hasn't been the happiest year of my life, he really does make me happy, he is an awesome, tough, sweet little guy. We will just take it day by day and enjoy even the smallest of achievements. 

Thank you Gina for sharing this quote with me.

The Bad

It seems like after the spica cast came off, things got hard again. My mom had to leave a few weeks earlier than planned because my step dad had surgery. At least my mom was still here when the cast came off and a few days after. Andrew's eczema got really bad again. He's skin didn't actually look so bad, but he would not stop scratching ALL DAY LONG.

He started hating bath time again and diaper changes were once again a challenge (he was probably still hurting a bit and just wanted to scratch!) I think I even started to get depressed. I was so frustrated and every little thing made me very angry. I hated myself for feeling that way, especially because it wasn't Andrew's fault. I took him to the pediatrician, and until the second time I went back for the same issue, I finally got the referral to the dermatologist.

Dermatologist said I had to give him a bath every single day. I stressed out immediately since it was just so hard to give him a bath. She also gave me samples of Cetaphil Restoraderm body wash and lotion and a prescription for an ointment. I also bought him a hazel wood necklace that's supposed to help with eczema and constipation. It was worth a try.

His itching improved so much after just the daily baths and the Cetaphil products. The first few times were hard as usual. He is finally calming down, but I still need Mike's help. Even though his skin had improved without the medicated ointment, when the pharmacy finally had it for me, I went ahead and started using it. Now I stopped using it again, see how he does without it. So far he seems fine :)

Around that time when his itching was out of control, I was feeling desperate for help and made an appointment to start counseling. Even though I feel more relaxed now, I'm still going. I know it will help me. I feel like I'm still grieving the loss of having a "normal" healthy baby. I thought I would be over it by now. Sometimes I can't sleep thinking about him and get so sad and angry, I just don't understand why :(

He had his geneticist appointment this week. I usually look forward to it since she's the only one that asks us lot's of questions and knows more about his condition. She thinks he is doing great except for his physical developments. So, we left overwhelmed and with lot's of prescriptions for more specialists. She thinks he needs occupational therapy for his hand use and speech therapy to help with feeding.

He also needs a hearing and vision test, along with an xray of his wrists, a renal ultrasound and an echo cardiogram. I'm terrified, scared of finding out something bad after he gets these things done. I feel like I just can't handle more issues. It probably sounds extremely selfish of me but, I feel so jealous of other moms that don't have to worry about all these things.

We couldn't decide what to do about the helmet situation since the insurance still doesn't want to pay for it. His pediatrician thinks his head will eventually fix itself, especially once he starts rolling and moving more, which he still can't really do because of the brace. The geneticist feels like he really needs it and now is the time to do it. So, we go back this Monday to finally have it made, it's going to suck :(

(All cell phone pics this time)

Change of plans...

Andrew's cast came off this past Tuesday. He had some sort of gauze/patch over his incision. I noticed on Sunday it was getting red and swollen all around that area. He was also starting to get a fever. I called a nurse but she recommended I call his orthopedic.

I was able to talk to him and he said to take out the gauze and come to his office Tuesday morning. We gave Andrew pain medication before attempting to take it off. After about half an hour of trying, I took it out, it looked really bad under there. The piece of gauze was disgusting, it looked like it was covered in pus. I have no idea what was going on under there.

As soon as they took us in Tuesday morning, they started taking the cast off. My poor baby cried/screamed so much when it finally came off, it was horrible, I wasn't expecting it at all :( I had his rhino brace with me, so I put it on right away so he wouldn't be in so much pain. He also had pain medicine, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

When we finally got home, he took a nice long nap. He is doing better today, but I'm still giving him pain medication. He had a bath yesterday and did good. We have to be extra careful during diaper changes to not hurt him. His scar is about 2 inches long.

I'm glad the cast is off and we are now on the road to getting our life back to "normal". We go back to his orthopedic in 2 weeks. He still doesn't move the leg he had surgery on, so we will see how he is doing then. I can not wait to see my little baby happy and pain free again.

Ps: Flowers where sent to Andrew from baby Emery :)

Counting down the days...

I guess I will start where I left off last time. My dad came to visit and it went by too quickly, I still can't believe he was actually here. We were able to go to Disney World. We went to Epcot for most of the day, and then to Magic Kingdom for a couple of rides and the light parade. Andrew did so good! He was looking at everything. The only thing that sucked was that I was feeling sick that day and it was really hot. My parents had a good time too :)

 On June 3rd, Andrew had his surgery. This time, our morning went by smoothly. I found out I could feed him 4 hrs before the surgery if it was breast milk. I'm still mad that no one mentioned this last time, he cried so much from going so many hours without eating! They didn't take blood from him this time either, so that was good. When it was time for them to take him, he was awake and happy at least.

The first night at the hospital was rough. Mike went home to take care of our pup and my mom spent the first night with me. It seemed like Andrew cried or complained all night... poor baby was in pain, even with the pain medication. We were supposed to check out the next day, but they didn't have the special car seat ready for us. I think it worked out, because Andrew was still very delicate. So we stayed a second night at the hospital, this time my mother in law stayed with me.

He will be in the cast for a little over 6 weeks, but I think I will try to get an appointment a little earlier. He already smells really bad! I don't know if it was the anesthesia effect but, he had really runny poop for the first weeks, meaning, he got it all over the cast right away :( And speaking of poop, he is now back to being constipated. We already had switched his formula before the surgery and was doing fine, so maybe it's because of the cast, which is common.

My mom has been great help. The first few weeks were rough, it seems like this week he has been doing a lot better. He still doesn't really sleep well though. This time, the cast is a lot looser than the first one. They put 2 pins in his hip, which will come out in a few months. On the side of the good hip, the cast only goes down to his knee.

(During his therapy)

He started his physical therapy a few weeks ago too. He is doing good and hopefully once the cast comes off, he will do even better. We are having a hard time making our insurance pay for the helmet he needs. We are doing everything possible to help him, but because of the casts and harness, we are limited to how we can position him when he is on his back, which is what the stupid insurance doesn't understand I guess. I don't think they have bothered to read about the rest of his issues.

Well enough of that! I will try to come back here more often, it's just hard to get on an actual computer now that we only have one desktop at home. Thank goodness for my smart phone. Oh! I also found a group here in Orlando of baby wearing mommies. They have different carriers I can rent or try out and they seem really nice, I can't wait to meet them.

(Hat my mom made)

6 Months

Lots of things to update on, mostly on how Andrew is doing. He turned 6 months old on May 13th. We had our geneticist appointment last month and she was surprised on how well he is doing. I guess I haven't mentioned it on here but, Andrew has a chromosomal abnormality. It is rare, so we don't know exactly how it will affect him. The problems he has are most likely because of this. More specifically, he has a translocation; he is missing part of chromosome 21q and has an extra part of chromosome 10q. 

He is still a small baby and is a little developmentally delayed in his motor skills. The geneticist also noticed he had torticollis, and because of this, his head is flat on one side. She referred us to a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. The geneticist also told us about Early Steps, which is a program for kids with special needs or who are developmentally delayed. We are going to get free physical therapy through them and the best part is that they come to our house and do the therapies :)

I took Andrew to the Neurosurgeon and he does think he needs a helmet to "fix" the flatness in his head (positional plagiocephaly). Right now we're just waiting to hear back from the helmet place and see if our insurance is going to cover it. His hip surgery is scheduled for June 3rd, a week from today :( 

My mom arrived here on Tuesday, she will be staying with us to help us out while Andrew is in the spica cast. And my dad, who I haven't seen in 6 years, is coming to meet the baby! He gets here Sunday night and is staying for just a few days, I'm very happy and excited. I was thinking of going to Disney World with my parents and the baby next week, I hope it's not too much for the baby, we'll see...

In other not so medical news, my sweet baby is doing good, no more crying non stop, and until recently, he finally stopped fighting bath time, we are still dealing with his eczema though. He makes lots of cute little noises, he is very curious and looks at everything. He loves playing under his little gym. He rolls from his back to tummy and tummy to back. The only thing we still have a hard time with is tummy time, he doesn't really try to push himself up, he just lays there and then cries when he's had enough. we have tried different things and no luck. We will be working on this when his therapy starts, which should be soon.

I'm still trying to get him used to being worn on the ergo carrier, he tolerates it sometimes for short periods of time. I really want to try other carriers, like a Baby Hawk or a Pikkolo. I also started using cloth diapers part time. I bought some gDiapers for now, but I think I want another kind of cloth diapers. He can't use cloth while in the cast, but I want to start using cloth more after it comes off. Well, that's it for now. All pictures were taken on his 6 month birthday, don't you just love that crazy hair!? 

5 months

Andrew turned 5 months yesterday. I'm so happy to share with you that things are finally getting better. About 3 weeks ago Andrew just stopped crying! I've been enjoying him so much more now, things are easier when he is not crying most of the day. I'm even able to go alone with him shopping and he is happy in his stroller. I really wanted to be the "baby wearing" kind of mom, but he just doesn't like it! 

We had our first sleep over at his grandmas house this past weekend, it was very nice! Everything went smoothly and he even slept most of the night (but now that we are back home, he is back to his "normal" sleeping schedule, yawn!) My mother in law took over baby duty for one of the nights so I finally slept :) 

I've had a little more time to do "me" things. I started painting again for my etsy shop Sugar Village, so I'll be posting new paintings very soon. I also did 2 paintings for Andrew's room. There is a phone picture on my Sugar Village Facebook page if you want to see them. As soon as I'm done with it, I'll post pictures of his room, I just have a couple more things that I need. I also bought this Kolocraft stroller because the little cheap one I had, broke this past weekend. 

We still don't have a date for Andrew's hip surgery, but we have an appointment with his geneticist tomorrow, so we'll see when she thinks he should have it done, it will still be in the next couple of months though. Another thing for which I can't stop smiling; one of my good friends had her first baby, it was a girl. They had a home birth and everyone is doing great! I'm so proud of her :)

Well, that's about all I have for now, I just wanted to thank everyone who has been praying and thinking of us. I'm glad things are getting better, we still have some bad days, but they are rare now. I hope they don't turn bad again when he has his surgery, I better not think about that right now :( 

Hip Dysplasia Update

My brave baby boy is 4 months old now (19 weeks). Three weeks ago (3/8), the cast finally came off. They gave us bad news, only one of his hips is back in the socket, the other one is still completely dislocated. He will have hip surgery in little less than 2 months from now. You can kind of guess by now how upset I was after hearing this. It scares me that even after surgery, it will not be better and that more surgeries will come. For now, I try not to think about it, because I'm trying to deal with one little problem at a time.

(In the cast, a few days before they took it off)

After the surgery, he will be back in a spica cast for 6 weeks, which is the worst part I think. Right now, he is wearing a Rhino Cruiser brace. He is way more comfortable now (I think) and I can take it off for diaper changes and for baths. The only inconvenience is that he gets really upset for almost every single diaper change and bath. I don't know why he cries (and kicks and wants to scratch himself all at the same time). I thought maybe he was in pain, but sometimes I give him small breaks from the brace and he is fine, it's only when I'm changing his diaper or giving him a bath. 

(Rhino Cruiser brace)

The other problem we are having right now is dealing with his eczema. The pediatrician prescribed an oil (after trying lots of other creams) that needs to be applied on damp skin, that's another struggle to apply it, just like diaper change time. Some days his skin looks fine, but he still tries to scratch/rub his face all day long! It's really exhausting keeping him from rubbing, because even with his mittens, he still irritates his skin pretty quickly. 

(Sweet silly boy, trying on hats)

We think Andrew has more bad days than good. He still cries a lot for no apparent reason. Surprisingly, he is really good when other people are around, ha! joke's on us I guess. I'm still trying so very hard to not get so angry and try to be patient, but it's just so hard! Other people don't seem to get it, they tell me to stay calm because the baby senses it, etc etc. It makes me feel worse, because I can not stay calm after a few hours of non stop crying, a good mom would keep her cool right? ha 

 (Happy baby game day!)

But, he does have some good days, and those are so nice! I can actually cuddle with him, read to him and do all those fun things you are supposed to do with a baby. He also smiles more. The good thing about the brace is that he can wear pants and shoes, and I can take it off for pictures yay! :) We have an appointment with his ortho next week, so we'll see if there's any updates. Thanks for reading and letting me vent, not having other friends with babies is pretty lonely. 

Motherhood

I've been a mom for a little over 3 months now, and let me tell you, the amount of emotions I have felt in this short period of time, are sometimes overwhelming. Not all of these emotions have been good unfortunately. I have felt so angry, guilty, sad, resentful, etc... it makes me wonder if I'll ever be a good mommy. I need patience, lot's of it.

I feel like something has been going on with my little baby since he was born (NICU, the harness and now the cast) My mom came and left. She was so much help these past 5 weeks. I was able to go to bed with my husband, eat dinner with him, rest, hand the baby over when I had to pump or when I was just plain overwhelmed.

Now we are back to just the 3 of us, still trying to come up with a good routine. Right now, Mike does all the cooking and I do most of the cleaning. I go to bed at around 8pm and Mike stays up with the baby, sometimes the baby will sleep, other times he'll be up. I wake up at around 2am to pump and take over baby duty for the rest of the morning/day. This is the only way we can both get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, the baby wakes up about every hour at night.

The first few weeks with the cast were very difficult. I wrote that he was crying and spitting up more than usual in my last post, well, it got even worse. Then finally around week 4, he was doing much better. He even started getting more vocal and sort of smiling, here's a video of him in his little "jungle". I still don't think he smiles "on purpose". I finally figured out a way to hold him that would make him burp, and that seemed to help.

(See, told you, rubbing his face. Taken on Feb 11, 13 weeks old)

Since my mom left, it seems like he has gone back to crying a lot again. It's really hard to deal with the crying, especially when you are hungry, probably dirty, have to use the bathroom, tired and nothing seems to soothe the baby, it is such a horrible feeling, I sometimes end up crying with him. We have to keep mittens on him at all times now, because all he wants to do is rub his little face off, it's pretty frustrating. We can't really swaddle him because he gets overheated.

At this point, we have less than 2 weeks to go until they take the cast off. You have no idea how excited I'm! I want to finally bathe him, see his whole precious little body. He is starting to get stinky and he has had a few poop explosions... not good. I will be heartbroken if his hips haven't improved and he needs another cast, I really don't know how I'm going to deal with it. I think the hospital stay and recovering from the anesthesia are the worst parts...I think... the crying is pretty bad too :(

I never imagined this was going to be so hard; physically and emotionally. Mike is pretty positive that once the cast comes off, Andrew will do much better. In the mean time, we are just taking it day by day, enjoying the moments when the baby does seem happy. Thanks to everyone that has been praying and sending good thoughts, I really appreciate it, it really makes me feel a little better.

Our little secret

My baby has hip dysplasia, aka Developmental Dysplasia of the hip (DDH). When he was born, they heard a "hip click". I didn't think anything of it. When we went to our regular pediatrician, he also heard it and gave us a referral to a pediatric orthopedic. Turns out, his hips were dislocated, not really sure what caused it, but it might have been because of my low amniotic fluid during pregnancy.

We didn't want to mention it online or to some of our family members so they wouldn't worry, we were pretty positive it would all be over soon and everything would go back to normal, no need to have everyone stressed out about it.

(Dec 25, 10)

They put him in a pavlik harness for 6 long weeks when he was 2 weeks old. He had to have it on 24/7, which meant limited baths and difficult diaper changes. It was extremely stressful at times. He couldn't wear a lot of the cute clothes that were given to him. And it was hard not talking about it on facebook or twitter.

We had weekly ultrasound and orthopedic appointments to check his progress. About 3 weeks ago, the orthopedic said the hips were improving and to not come back until 2 weeks. I was so excited that for our next appointment, everything would be fine and that he would come off his harness. Well, bad news, no improvement.

The next step was getting him in a spica cast. The whole procedure is called a "closed reduction hip surgery", no actual incision is done, the doctor just manually puts the hip back in place under radiographic control, all done under anesthesia. At least he had a week without the harness or cast.

(Jan 12, bath day since his harness got super dirty I had to wash it)

I was not prepared for this. Why was this happening to us, my poor baby didn't deserve this. Life with a baby is pretty challenging as it is and now all of this? I was so upset! We couldn't keep this a secret anymore, I needed everyones support and I needed to be able to vent online.

The good news is that before we even knew he needed the cast, we had already bought my mom a ticket to come help us out (no, we are still not used to this new baby business). My mom got here this past Wednesday and the baby was scheduled for his "surgery" Friday early morning (Jan 21).

(Enjoying his harness free days by trying out his bumbo for the first time. Jan 16)

Since he had to be put to sleep, he couldn't eat anything past midnight. It was heartbreaking to see him cry and not be able to feed my poor baby. he also spent a night at the hospital for observation. My mom and I were with him. It was hard seeing my little guy with an IV, in a cast (it goes from his chest all the way to his ankles) and of course all the other cables and monitors, back to hearing beeps like when he was in the NICU.

He will be in the cast for 8 weeks. I hope it goes by fast and that this is the last step in fixing this problem. I can't wait for him to have a normal life. There might be another type of harness or brace he has to wear after the cast comes off, we are not sure yet.

Right now, he is doing ok. He has been spitting up and crying a bit more than the usual. So far, diaper changes haven't been as difficult as I thought they would be. He wears a newborn diaper that has to be tucked into the cast, then a bigger one on top of it. He has a pediatrician appointment this week, so we'll see how he's doing.

(This morning, 10 weeks old)