Friday, December 31, 2010

EC-Update

This post is mostly for me, so I can remember for my next baby. 

Luke is telling me that he has to poop now, before he goes.  He did it for the first time when we went to my parents for Christmas.  He told me very clearly 'poop'.  There was another time before that, right before we left, he pooped a little in his pants and then told me poop and went the rest in the toilet.

He's been on and off either telling me right when he's going, or right before.  I think that's pretty awesome and a huge step. Now, if he'd just tell me right before he peed....

Monday, December 13, 2010

Midwife appointment #2

I LOVE my midwife.  We just recently moved but she still does births in the new town I live in.  AND she CAME to MY HOUSE for the check up.  Now I don't have to drive 40 minutes every time I have an appointment.  It's pretty convenient too because she lives closer to me than to her office so on Fridays she makes home visits.
She did a heartbeat check.  Everything seemed to be going fine.  She also checked for twins.  I had had a dream I was having twins one night and also have been feeling the baby move around earlier than last time.  So I have been worried that I've been having twins.  (worried might be the wrong word, but it would be quite a job to take care of two newborns)  Anyway, I'm not, she said that it felt like one baby in there.  Whew. 

She took some blood last time and this time recommended me to take some extra iron and calcium.  I can already tell the difference with the iron. I am feeling much more energetic than I have been.  I just feel almost normal now!  Wow, what a difference.

Anyway, I just love her.  She just makes me feel so confident about the homebirth.  I just know that this is the right choice for me because it feels right.  I am so excited to labor at home, I know that this is the type of birth I want. 
I will have an ultra sound sometime in the next couple of weeks, hopefully before Christmas, to have everything else checked and to see if we can find out if it's a boy or girl.  I'm guessing boy and I hope it's a boy, though, we wouldn't be disappointed with a girl either.

As far as nursing goes, I'm still making milk.  I'm not sure how much... but it still squirts out pretty good.  And sometimes Luke eats a lot of regular food and sometimes he doesn't so I really can't tell if my supply is down yet.  But it's enough right now and I'm happy about that.  Especially since Luke has a cold this week.

That's pretty much it for now.  We moved into our new house this last weekend and I'm loving it so far.  Can't wait to get even more settled!

Monday, December 6, 2010

EC update

I just realized today that it has been a long time since I've updated about Luke's EC journey.  

He is now 18 months.  We almost always have him cloth training pants... which are pretty much like underwear with an extra absorbent pad in the center.  The pee still leaks out a little down the legs and since they are cloth, they wet the pants too (if he's wearing pants- we don't wear them all the time at home).   So when we go out, I bring an extra pair of pants and underwear.


I have to say that he hardly has accidents.  It seems more like the accidents are more when he is trying to tell me that he has to go, but I am not paying attention.  Or when we drive along ways, he gets fussy and I realize when I take him out that he was mad because he had to pee. 

Lately he has been wetting one diaper at night.  He is teething and therefore nursing more hence the wet diaper.  It usually happens when he wakes up and squirms a little bit and then nurses.  I usually check his diaper if he's been a little restless and if it's wet we change it right away.  I hate the thought of him sitting in a wet cloth diaper all night.
Before the teething, he would usually not wet all night.  I think his bladder is getting bigger now, finally.




As far as poop goes, we either catch them while he's peeing or we can see that he has to go and we take him.  I am so proud that he's now able to sit on the little potty until he's done pooping.  He used to want us to hold him over the potty.  And I can ask him, 'are you done?', and he'll either shake his head and say 'no' because he still has to go.  Or he'll stand up and say 'done'.  It's nice to not have to break my back holding him over the potty. 

Moving forward, I still would like him to tell me that he has to go.  He has done so on occasion, but I think it's when he really has to go.  Usually we just ask him if he has to go and his answer is almost always 'no' even if he does.  So I guess I should see if he could take the initiative more.  I'd also like to see if he would be more excited if he could stand on a stool by the potty and pee, but that's more of a job for dad :)

Even if he doesn't graduate or 'potty train' for a while, I have to say that EC is definitely worth it.  There's lots of misses in the beginning and there's different phases and potty strikes but I love it.  I can't wait to do it with my next child.  It has been such a great communication tool and a learning experience for both of us. 
I'm going to be bold and say, babies are so smart and they don't deserve to be left in poopy or wet diapers.  I truly believe that all babies signal potty signs to their parents, we just sometimes forget the way they communicate... at least I forget sometimes.