Ian--Thirty-three weeks

Ian's second tooth should pop through in the next few weeks. I can see it under his gums. He chews on everything and drools more, but it doesn't seem to hurt too much.

He loves all of the different kinds of baby cereals! He enjoyed his green beans this week and tried sweet potatoes mixed with corn and loved it! I give him water mixed with a little bit of juice each day, so he doesn't get constipated and he loves it! He gets so excited when he sees his cup.

He is getting closer to sitting up, but certainly not steady yet. Maybe a few more weeks??? He rolls everywhere. He has begun pushing himself up on his arms, so I know that is the first step to crawling.

He is the happiest and most content baby in the world! I am grateful for his pleasant disposition!

He is still on the same eating and napping schedule and will probably stay there until he turns one year.

Ian--Thirty, Thirty-One and Thirty-Two weeks

How did I get so far behind on my weekly updates???!!! I couldn't update while we were on vacation, and then I have had a hard time getting back on schedule since getting back home. I still need to give an update on our vacation, too! Soon!!!

Not a while lot has changed with Ian's schedule, so there isn't a lot to update anyway. This is kind of the point in "babyhood" where everything seems to run like clockwork.

Ian is now 7 months old. He smiles, giggles, squeals, cries a little, and brings joy to our entire family. He still only has one bottom tooth. We found out on the way home from vacation that he cannot have apples. Be very careful when you feed your baby fruits! Make sure you introduce one at a time and leave up to five days before trying another. Most of my kids have not been able to handle apples until after they are potty trained. I change my baby's diaper frequently, but apples completely burns Ian's bottom. It was terrible! We are big fans of Boudreax's Butt Paste (not sure about the spelling)! A and D ointment (not cream) is very good, too! Lesson learned...no apples for Ian!

Ian still doesn't like peaches, he isn't crazy about pears, and I am cautious to give him pears because I think my other kids had trouble with that, too. He ate green beans much better yesterday, and tried bananas, which he liked fairly well. Mostly, he loves squash and sweet potatoes and eats the equivalent of a small baby food jar at lunch and dinner.

He still gets four, six ounce bottles per day...7:30, 12:00, 4:30, and 7:30. He naps at 10:00 for about 1.5 hours and around 2:30 for 1.5 hours, and happily goes to bed after his bedtime bottle is gone. He doesn't always finish every bottle...he may have 1-2 ounces left. I use the extra (if there is extra) in the morning to mix with his baby cereal or baby oatmeal.

Ian rolls all over the place, puts everything in his mouth, but is still not sitting up. He is getting closer, but I think it may be another month. I don't see crawling coming anytime soon. Our pediatrician said he would progress at the latter end of normal because he is so chubby.

I adore my baby boy!!! I praise God for placing him in my life!

Decisions...

Roger and I heard a sermon 3-4 years ago that convicted us, and really changed our hearts. We came to believe that we should trust God with the size of our family rather than telling Him how many children we would have. We knew that God would close the womb one way or another, but we did not know how, or when, or how many children we would be blessed to have.

God may be closing my womb, and I have to admit that I am really struggling with this. We knew after having Miles (our big 9 pound, 11 ounce boy!) that some damage had been done to my body. We were not told not to have anymore children, but that someday I would need to have surgery to fix things.

After having Ian we knew a little more damage was probably done, but we didn't know how much because I was seeing a new doctor. She also said that I would definitely need surgery in the future, but it wouldn't be wise to have surgery until I was done having children.

Recently I have felt things getting worse. I saw my doctor today and she confirmed that things are much worse than they were six months ago. She said I could have more children if I wanted to, but it would cause more damage, and that she will need to do a partial hysterectomy when I am done having children. Wow! That was not what I expected to hear at 35 years of age. She was, by no means, telling me that we should not have more children...for the record.

So...now Roger and I have a HUGE decision to make. Do we have one more? Is this the end of pregnancies for us? God...what do YOU want us to do??? I really thought I would have one more, so the thought of never giving birth to a precious baby is very sad for me.

I really am not looking for advice, so please do not tell me what you think I should do. This is between me and Roger and God. I don't say that to be rude, but I really don't want anyone to influence us as we try to pray and listen for God's will. I would be really grateful if you would pray for us, though. I wish we didn't have to make this decision, but we do, and I feel so much turmoil and emotion.

Whether we have another baby through our own birth, or not...God is not done growing our family. We hope to adopt in the future, so we know our family isn't done growing yet! It may be that God has given us an answer, by way of our doctor, and paving the way for the future to adopt. He didn't give us a passion and desire to adopt for no reason! Take a look at www.reecesrainbow.com and see the many reasons we hope to adopt!

Thank you for praying for us and with us!

Miles through the years...

Happy Birthday to Miles!!!

Miles came into my arms three years ago. He was HUGE!!! He weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces! He had a triple chin, chubby thighs, and blonde, wavy hair. I was induced 12 days late, but had only gained 17 pounds, so we had no idea he would be so big!

Miles had health problems from the beginning. His breathing was raspy, he had apnea episodes at night, he spit up a lot...and then he was five weeks, vomiting every ounce of formula I was feeding him, and not breathing well. Roger and I spent the night awake Sunday evening because he was choking, and vomiting, and not breathing well. Roger told me to "get him to the doctor tomorrow and don't leave until they tell you what is wrong with him!" I had taken him to the doctor about every week, and was always told not to worry about it. Well, I took him the next morning, a different doctor asked me what was wrong as Miles vomited all over the room, he told me to take him to the hospital NOW, he was calling for an upper GI stat, so we wouldn't have to wait, then to wait at the hospital until he could talk to the radioligist and decide what they needed to do. I was so upset and scared! I thought he had a terrible case of reflux, but instead the doctor thought he may need surgery. So, I took him to the hospital, they took us back after a few minutes, the radioligist was formerly a pediatrician (huge plus for us), they did the upper GI, the radiologist told me what was wrong and drew a picture for one very distraught mommy, told me to wait there while he called our doctor, so they could see if they needed to admit him right then, or take him to the children's hospital in Orlando because he needed surgery NOW. I could not believe all of this was happening.

I ended up going to the pediatrician's office while they waited to hear from the children's hospital and then we were told to go straight to the ER to meet with the surgeon. Roger's aunt came over to stay with the kids, while Roger followed me to the hospital. We had to stop halfway there because Miles was vomiting so bad. I cleaned him up, and we hurried as fast as we could.

Miles was very dehydrated and only five weeks old, so they blew through both arms trying to get blood and an IV in. Then they blew through one foot, so the surgeon decided he would do it himself. He was able to get it in the other foot, but not very well, so they moved it to his head during surgery the following day.

Miles had a condition called Pyloric Stenosis. There is a muscle that helps move food from your stomach to your intestines. His muscle was becoming more and more enlarged, not allowing any food to pass through, so everthing was coming back up. Thankfully, surgery can correct this problem and then the baby is cured.

As we sat in the ER with the surgeon he became very concerned. He knew something more was wrong. He told the nurses, "Get an oxygen monitor, and apnea monitor on him now...I don't want to lose this baby tonight." Yikes! He heard what we had been hearing and telling the doctor about for weeks. I wanted to go back to our pediatrician and smack him!

Miles' monitors went off numerous times while we were there. He ended up being in the hospital for four days, which is not common for this condition. They couldn't figure out why his monitors continued alarming. They decided that he had reflux, too, which they believed would be cured when he healed from the surgery and then his breathing would become normal, so they sent us home. Well, he healed from the surgery, but his breathing did not become normal, and he continued having apnea episodes. Roger and I didn't sleep well for the first six months of his life. I continued telling our pediatrician about it, but he continued blowing me off.

Miles has had many other issues, too. He is a very unhappy little boy. His smiles are wonderful, but he has always been a very difficult child. For two and a half years he was on reflux medication. Just before he turned two I realized that a lot of his issues were sensory issues, so I talked to the pediatrician again and we began occupational therapy. Miles hated having his ears, eyes, mouth, face, and diaper area touched. He couldn't handle loud noises, so he was terrified (and this is no exaggeration!) of my hair dryer, the vacuum, the blender, trains, etc. He actually became much happier at 18 months when I took him off milk because of a fever. After two weeks of being off milk his eczema cleared up almost completely, and he laughed for the first time in his life. We missed out on a lot of giggles. We had no idea how miserable he was. We have since learned that he is allergic to milk and eggs.

I learned a valuable lesson...keep pushing!!! If you feel something is wrong with your child you keep pushing until you get some answers!!! Don't just trust the judgment of a doctor when you KNOW something is wrong with your child.

Here is the other thing I learned...when there is a family in need...whether they are sick, or have a child in the hospital...do everything you can to help that family. Bring them meals, babysit their kids, do something!!! I was in the hospital for four days with Miles and only a couple of people volunteered to help. I sat at the hospital in the surgery waiting room by myself as my newborn was in surgery because no one had offered to watch our other children, and my husband didn't want to ask. No one prepared meals for my family while I was gone. Not one single person from our church called to check on our precious baby boy. They knew about it, but no one did anything. I sat in the hospital hurt, lonely, scared, and wondering if anyone cared. Sad, but true. The only people who helped were Roger's mom (we love her dearly) and one of his wonderful aunts. We are so grateful for them!

I will admit that I was bitter for a while, but then God showed me the lesson I could learn from all of this. Yes, I have five kids, but I will make a meal, or clean someone's house, or watch their children, or whatever I can to help. I don't want anyone to feel the way I felt.

What can you do to help someone today?

So, off that soapbox and back to Miles!!! He is happier now than he used to be. He was potty trained, but now he is not, so we will get back to work on that tomorrow! He LOVES music! He loves to dance, and sing, and play his guitar. He loves Elmo and the Wiggles. He weighs 29 pounds, so he is a thin little guy. He sucks his thumb and is always looking for his "nother bwankie." He is smart! He gets overwhelmed easily, so we are still looking for coping strategies to help him. He knows his ABC's, Ephesians 6:1, and loves doing school with everyone each morning. He LOVES pizza and will eat 3-4 pieces, so guess what we are having for his birthday dinner! He just started eating cereal...he used to love cereal bars. He would probably drink a carton of chocolate soy milk every day if I would let him. He loves to take baths...and get dirty. He loves to swing. He has gorgeous blonde, wavy hair and beautiful blue eyes, and a big smile.

We love our Miles Augustine Shealy!!!