Darcy & Aerissa

Today at the Nursery, we want to take a moment to bring awareness to the dangers of RSV to premature babies.  Their lungs aren’t mature enough to fight this off and a lot of people aren’t aware of how serious this can be.  I didn’t know much about RSV until about 8 years ago when one of my nephews was born premature.  I still didn’t fully understand what RSV was at the time, but I remember having to wash my hands before holding him.  I also remember something stuck on their fridge about it.

Even though my own daughter was full term and considered healthy, I was not going to put her at risk.  It was advised by hospital staff that people wash/sanitize their hands before touching babies anyway, so I was a stickler in the early days.  I requested everyone to wash their hands before first handling Riss and after the first washing to use hand sanitizer.  Man, we had sanitizer in practically every room of the house!
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The Trick or Treat Halloween Hop will be here 10/28 to 11/2, so be sure to come back and enter!  You can see some of the wonderful prize sponsors for the participating blogs here.  Now, please take a moment to get to know one of our sponsors:

Talking CPR Kit 

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When I was pregnant, I received mixed information between books and baby prep classes about how to take a baby’s temperature.  Some still claimed rectal temperature was the way to go, but one nurse kept telling me that method was outdated and not recommended.  I didn’t really know what to think, but thankfully baby girl has only had one short, mild fever.  I was not about to take her temp from behind.  This girl is too squirmy.  There are times I’m lucky to get her diaper fastened correctly!

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Have you heard of Vitamin Angels?  They are making an impact on the lives of children under 5 years old by connecting them with nutrients needed to develop and survive.  I only recently learned about them and I think it’s a good cause to support.  The current Whole Foods Market Podcast shares the story of Vitamin Angels.  They are working to raise awareness.

Did you know  that one third of all childhood deaths are caused by under nutrition and that an estimated 190 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency worldwide? A simple, cost-effective vitamin A capsule each six months can prevent blindness and reduce under-five mortality by 23 percent.

That is the type of assistance Vitamin Angels strives to provide.  To help raise awareness about this organization, Whole Foods Market will donate $1 for each comment in response to the Viva Vitamin Angels podcast in September.  To help donate, you just need to listen and leave a comment!  To listen to the podcast and share your thoughts, visit: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2011/08/viva-vitamin-angels-2/

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Disclosure:  I will receive a thank you gift for my time sharing this information with you.  Regardless, I think this is a fantastic organization to help raise awareness for, don’t you?

Ladies, your health is important to me.  We all deserve to have information available to us in order to make decisions regarding our bodies and any treatments that might be beneficial.  I’m reaching out to you today about a fairly sensitive topic.  (Which we know I rarely shy away from!)  Women have periods.  It’s part of life.  It’s part of the life cycle, so to speak, and we need to know what’s normal and what is not.  We also need to stop being afraid to bring it up and talk about it!

I don’t quite know why discussing our menstrual cycles became taboo, but we need to be taking care of ourselves.  Unfortunately, a lot of women do not know what a normal period is and may think theirs is normal when it is very heavy.  Others feel they just have to suffer with heavy periods, but this is not the case!
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The Portable Pediatrician: Everything You Need to Know About Your Child’s Health by William Sears MD, Martha Sears RN, Robert Sears MD, James Sears MD, and Peter Sears MD.

Here’s some information about this book:

Imagine you are up at three o’clock in the morning with a sick child. Wouldn’t it be nice to have expert advice readily at hand to help get you through the night? Encyclopedic in scope, THE PORTABLE PEDIATRICIAN features timely and practical information on every childhood illness and emergency, including when to call the doctor, what reassuring signs can help you know your child is okay, how to treat your child at home, and much more-all in a convenient A-to-Z format. Among the scores of topics covered:
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This week’s topic for Week 6 of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop is OBSTACLES. This is perfect because I’ve been meaning to write a post about this very subject…

I started breastfeeding Rissa within a few hours after she was born.  She spent a lot of time at the breast during our two day stay at the hospital.  The nurses and lactation consultants commented on what a good little nurser she was and complimented me on positioning and technique.

They said it was obvious I attended a breastfeeding class and prepared before Rissa’s arrival.  Certainly I had nothing to worry about, right? I felt like all my fears of “will she nurse ok?” were silly.  Things were going to be just fine.

We were naturals.

Like old pros.
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Rissa continues to earn A+s when she goes for her well baby checkups – thank goodness!  That puts my mind at ease, y’know.

I mean, I know it’s my job to worry about her more than anyone else ever will, but it’s great to get feedback on her growth.  If she’s growing, she’s eating and developing.  This means I’m accomplishing the basic parenting skills at the very least.

When she was born, she was 6lbs 10oz, 19.75in.  She was just a bit below average.

At her 2-3 week check up she was 6lbs 13oz, 20in.  Still just a bit below average.

At her 2 month check up she was 10lbs 8oz and 23 inches long. This put her at the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height.

We have no clue where she got the height from! It certainly isn’t from me or my side of the family.  I’m only about 5’3″-5’4″ and my dad is 5’2.5″… shorties!  What a growth spurt she had, I tell ya.  She caught up in weight and got really long almost out of nowhere.  One day she takes up my whole lap across and is kicking the arm of the glider.  
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