Sleep monitor update

The little man was 3 months old yesterday! Just so precious! He is really developing some motor skills now. He can hold his rattle or a teether briefly. He puts his little hands up like he’s trying to hold his bottle. He sits up really well in his bumbo seat and holds his head steady almost all the time. Sometimes he gets tired and it flops down haha. When he’s laying down he kicks and pulls his little legs straight up in the air. Won’t be long before he’s grabbing his feet. He definitely kicks like a crazy man – he spins himself in circles when he’s on his back. He’s very rarely lying in the same spot we put him down in in his crib by the morning. He was sitting up in my lap last night and was using his little stomach muscles to pull his body forward and try to sit up straighter. We’ve got to give him more tummy time. He’s starting to not like it because he hasn’t done it enough. He does pretty well pushing himself up if he’s not completely mad. Oh he’s just growing up so much!

Update on the snoring/gasping issue:
On Friday the pediatrician didn’t see anything wrong himself but was really concerned about the gasping so he referred us to an ear/nose/throat (ENT) doctor. (Braylon was 12 lbs 12 oz by the way.) He also ordered an x-ray of the soft tissues of the neck to see if the adenoids were hypertrophied or if there was some obstruction in the air way. He said if nothing came of that then it could be a reflux problem. Lucky for me my aunt is an x-ray tech at Children’s. We took Braylon Saturday morning and she took the x-rays. The pediatrician’s office was making the ENT appointment for us but cautioned it could take a long-time to get in. So when the ENT doctor’s office called me Monday morning and asked if I could be there in a few hours I was a little alarmed. I called the pediatrician who said the reports from the x-rays were normal. The ENT was just completely booked until September so they were working us in. Although it was last minute, I left work, picked up Braylon, and went. The ENT doc looked in his ears, nose, and throat just like the pediatrician did with his little light and tongue depressor. After my description of the snoring and gasping and answers to his questions of when and how often this occurred, he decided to put Braylon on a sleep apnea machine to monitor the quantity and quality of these episodes for 2 weeks. (He also gave us some steroid nasal spray to use every other day, but we won’t be doing that. Not comfortable with steroids for my 3 month old.) Home health from Children’s brought this sleep monitor out to the house and showed us how to hook it up. It’s not bad really. Two little electrodes that we place on his chest and a Velcro belt to keep them in place. The machine monitors his heart rate and breathing and will alarm if he stops breathing for 20 seconds. Seems like a long time to me. They also cautioned that it could alarm if it comes unstuck, if he hiccups, or it messes up in some other way. Still, if that thing goes off I’ll go flying in his room freaked out I’m sure. After 2 weeks we’ll go back to the ENT doc who’ll go over the report from the machine and take a quick look down Braylon’s nose and throat with a light scope. So far, so good. Hope it never goes off and we can be fairly assured there’s nothing seriously wrong.

Mommy is already missing the little man. I skipped out on choir practice last night just to stay home and see him more. I’m subbing Attack tonight at the gym and knew I wouldn’t have much time with him. I only have one class a week on the schedule for the month of August and I’m feeling relieved actually. This whole personal trainer thing is totally on the back burner ;) I had a feeling that slowing down my evening activities was coming. Now that I’ve been back to work for a week I’m realizing how little time I have with him before bath and bed time. And he’s changing so much so quickly now that I don’t dare want to miss anything!

Cool and shady in my sunglasses and hat!

Here's Braylon on our lake trip - too cute!

3 months and growing like a weed!

My little man will be 3 months old next week! He is just growing so fast! We took our first long-weekend trip with him last weekend. We rented a cabin and spent time at a nearby lake with friends. Wow, you have to take everything and the kitchen sink when you travel with a baby! Luckily we towed a boat with us, so we had stuff in the cab of the truck, back of the truck, and stowed in boat compartments. He sure needs a lot of stuff for such a tiny little person. The cabin was less than we expected but the lake was beautiful and we had a great time with our friends!

I went back to work this week. My mom kept Braylon this first week so it wasn’t as hard to leave him as I expected. She has him at my house so I’ve been able to go home at lunch and see him. We’ve decided to put Braylon at a new day care facility that is being built close to our house but it doesn’t open until at least the first of September. So my great aunt, who kept me when I was a baby, will be keeping him until the day care is open. I feel so much better leaving him knowing that he is with someone I know and trust. I might cry the first day I drop him off at day care, but so far I’m good :)

Braylon has another doctor appointment today. He's been snoring and waking up gasping for air. Really freaks me out since the SIDS risk is greatest between 3 and 6 months. I had mentioned the rare snoring at his 2 mo well check and the doctor said to let him know if it became more frequent. The nurse called back within 5 minutes of me leaving a message about it and said he wanted to see him ASAP. He said he may refer us to an ear/nose/throat doc if he believes it’s warranted after he checks him out today. Hopefully it's nothing.

I am back in full swing at the gym and loving it! So far teaching Pump and just subbing Attack. The hardest part about this week though has been not seeing Braylon for a full evening after work. The first night I was home about an hour before I headed off to choir practice at church. Then last night I went straight from work to the gym to launch the new release of Body Pump. I love my activities but I can see them becoming a barrier to my time with Braylon in the evenings. I’ll see how it goes but something may have to give eventually. That really limits the time I’m willing to spend with training now too. Yes, I am now certified as a personal trainer! I haven’t formally checked into to get hired on to train at the gym yet but have been told they can definitely use me for as much time as I want.

Here’s some new cute pictures of Braylon!