Baby Steps

No more eczema!

No more baby zits!

Two weeks in and we’re slowly starting to make some progress around here. Caitlyn’s face has cleared up quite well after using the medication. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way. If not, at least I know a little dab of pee can clear it right up.

Caitlyn’s also all of a sudden gained an insatiable appetite. Just a few days ago, she was averaging about 30 to 50 ml of milk per feeding. Now she’s drinking around 90 to 120 ml. An amount I once thought unachievable for her. And she's having more of a regular feeding schedule to go along with it, too.

I’m not sure what’s caused this sudden feeding frenzy. Maybe she feels better now that her face isn’t all scratchy and itchy. Or maybe she’s going through a growth spurt. Whatever the reason is, I hope it holds.

The only downfall is that Jessie’s supply hasn’t been able to keep up with demand. Furiously pumping her breasts every few hours is becoming quite taxing for her. But at least there’s always formula to fall back on.

Another area where she’s made small gains is sleeping. Her night time schedule is pretty consistent now where she’ll sleep for 3-4 hours, wake up to feed, and then fall asleep for another 3-4 hours before waking up again to feed. As far as daytime napping is concerned though, we’re still working out the kinks. Maybe I can go buy a mannequin and place Caitlyn in its arms instead of mine.

Today was a huge step for her. It was the first day we took her out in the stroller. We weren’t sure how she’d take to it since she pretty much dislikes everything except our arms, but surprisingly enough, after a quick test drive around the living room, she quieted down and seemed to enjoy the passing scenery when we went out.

We were trying to get photos taken for her passport, but apparently she doesn’t like anybody but Daddy taking pictures of her because she put up quite a fuss. This in turn caused the photographer to tell us to come back another day when she was calm and not crying. But that’s alright. I’m still proud of our baby for the progress she’s making!

In Defense of Pee

Unsatisfied with the doctor’s diagnosis last time, Jessie decides she wants a second opinion regarding Caitlyn’s skin. We therefore went to another doctor yesterday.

After feeding her before leaving the house, Caitlyn falls asleep in my arms. During the taxi ride there, while waiting for our turn at an extremely noisy and busy clinic filled with kids, during the doctor’s examination, and on the ride back home, Caitlyn soundly slept through everything. When we arrived home and I put her into her bassinet (we decided to downsize to make her feel more secure), no more than 30 seconds later, she starts to cry. Go figure.

The doctor confirmed the previous doctor’s diagnosis of seborrheic eczema. However, the ointment she prescribed this time was specifically for the eczema. Last time’s doctor gave us ointment to treat Caitlyn’s pimples. But as with the other doctor, today’s also said the condition was completely normal and that there’s nothing to worry about. It should clear up in about a month.

After seeing poor Caitlyn’s face, various people have stepped in to try and give advice on how we should go about treating her skin. One of the more unusual remedies was wiping her face with one of her wet diapers. Not one, not two, but three people recommended this. I don’t know if it’s important, but all three people were black. Maybe it’s a black thing? Completely kidding, of course! Or not.

While the use of urine in this manner might be shocking to some people, I wasn’t really taken aback because I’ve had some experience with pee myself. When I was a kid, my mom told me that I should pee on mosquito bites to make them stop itching and go away faster. I remember trying it once or twice on some mosquito bites I had on my arm, but hard to say if it was actually of any help.

I also remember thinking, “Hey, if pee is helpful on mosquito bites, maybe pee is helpful to plants too!” I have no idea what made me come up with this conclusion, but I decided to go into our backyard and pee on a couple of plants to see what would happen. I thought it would act like magic fertilizer and the plants would all become more robustly green and leafy. Obviously, they all died in a matter of days, and my mom was left wondering what had happened to her beautiful plants that were healthy one minute and dead the next.

Who can also forget the scene from the Ben Stiller movie, The Heartbreak Kid, where his wife pees on him after he gets stung by a jellyfish. There was even a nature program once that documented how some African tribes used urine from their livestock to wash their faces. (So maybe it is a black thing?)

And once, after having a bit too much to drink, I mistook my trashcan for the toilet and ended up peeing in it along with the wall and the carpet and whatever else was in the way. When I woke up the next morning, I wondered why my room smelled funny, since I had no recollection of what happened the previous night. But I might be getting a bit off-track now.

So, after hearing about using pee to cure my baby’s eczema and stirring up all these old memories, I decided to see exactly what benefits and usefulness urine actually has.

While most people think that urine is nasty and dirty, it’s actually sterile. Urine does not contain bacteria. Any toxins are removed through the skin and kidney. It’s 95% water, 2.5% urea, and 2.5% is a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes. In fact, urine is so clean that some African tribes use it to wash wounds and as an eye-wash because it’s far more sterile than the available "fresh" water that they have.

There are also a large number of followers that believe in urine therapy. That is, the drinking of urine for health benefits. In fact, according to the Xinhua news agency in China, over 3 million Chinese people practice drinking their own urine, claiming it strengthens their immune system. (So maybe it’s a black and yellow thing!)

Other uses of urine include: tanning hides, color dying, bleaching, curing tobacco, restoring color to coral, cheese making, tattooing, removing ink stains, hair shampoo, face and body wash, clearing up acne, and washing dishes and utensils to name a few.

With an impressive list like that, what’s not to like about urine? I’m ready to jump aboard the bandwagon! Even my mom is all for rubbing the baby’s face with pee after I told her about it. That doesn’t surprise me, since this is coming from a person who also said that dog saliva can help with itchy mosquito bites. Is there anything that won’t help with mosquito bites?!

Jessie, on the other hand, might be a little harder to convince. She doesn’t seem to be much of a pee aficionado, but I'm working on it.

I can't tell...

is it getting any better?

Baby Blues

As you can tell from the pictures, Caitlyn’s skin condition has gotten a lot worse. It really is as bad as it looks. And it’s not helping that she keeps scratching or rubbing at it with her hands if she’s not swaddled.

Yesterday, we took her to the doctor to get it checked out, and she said that it was seborrheic eczema. Characteristics of this skin disorder include scaly, flaky, itchy, red skin. We were prescribed some ointment, but there has been no marked improvement yet. I’m just hoping that it’ll improve soon, because it’s quite difficult seeing her like this.

My mom and dad have recommended a home remedy of tea water and salt to bathe her in. They claim when my sister and I were smaller, we had the same skin condition that Caitlyn has now, and by washing us with the salty tea water, our skin improved. I’m not really one to believe in old wives’ tales, but I suppose I have nothing to lose.

To make myself feel better about Caitlyn’s fussy behavior, I tell myself that she behaves this way because of the eczema. If she didn’t have it, then we would have a perfectly content, happy baby. This may or may not be true, but I can cling on to that hope, or at least until her skin clears up and she’s still as fussy as ever. Then I’ll really be at my wits end over what to do.

Along with her skin condition, Caitlyn’s sleeping pattern hasn’t gotten much better either. A baby her age should average roughly 15-16 hours of sleep a day. Caitlyn gets about 11.5 hours. To help combat this, I finally broke down and started using a pacifier. I really didn’t want to, because I fear that the baby and I may begin depending on it too much and that it’ll become a crutch later on.

But I can see why everybody loves pacifiers. It really does make the baby stop crying and fussing! Stick it in their mouth and the baby is immediately calmed down. Magic! Just like my 5 S’s. I’m in love with this thing.

Instead of waiting for Caitlyn to fall asleep in our arms and then putting her into her crib, we can now put her in her crib while awake, give her a pacifier, and watch her go to sleep by herself.

But like with anything that’s too good to be true, the pacifier usually falls out of her mouth as she begins to doze off. She starts crying, and we’re sent running the room to put it back in. Doing this 10-15 times in a row is just about as fun as rocking and holding the baby for an hour in my arms. If there were only some way to strap it in, then I think we’d have the perfect baby calming product.

I’ve also started using the baby carrier to carry Caitlyn around in. A few minutes of walking back and forth doing my usual chores, and the rocking motions usually put her to sleep. I’m OK with having her sleep in it while I carry her around for 30-60 minutes, but when you’re trying to get a baby to take a 3 hour nap, it just isn’t really ideal.

I quickly realized that the baby carrier wasn’t the best thing to use if the end goal is to try to get the baby back into her crib. All the straps and buckles make it difficult to remove her and I usually ended up compromising by putting her on the bed with the carrier still on.

All of these various problems that we’ve been struggling with have gotten Jessie worried about handling the baby on her own when I go back to work in a week. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to take care of Caitlyn by herself.

I’m going to have to agree with her on this. Our fussy baby really does require two pairs of hands. Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. She’s already started talking about giving Caitlyn over to a nanny. I don’t tell her “no,” but at the same time, I tell her not to give up so quickly.

If our moms could raise 6 children between the both of them with little to no help, then surely we can manage one! But of course, that’s easy for me to say because I’ll be happily at work while she’s the one stuck at home with Chili Pepper.

Flying Solo

After a 30 day honeymoon period, Jessie and I finally left the postpartum center on Friday with Caitlyn in tow. Now the real work begins. Now we get to see if we’ve got what it takes to be parents.

As a coming home present, one of the first things Caitlyn did was to have a major case of explosive, liquid poop. I never knew a baby could churn out so much waste. And as an added bonus, while we were changing her diaper, she let another one rip and made a mess. What a way to welcome us into parenthood.

I should have known this was a sign of things to come. According to my baby log where I record when the baby eats, sleeps, and has diaper changes, Caitlyn slept for a total of 9 hours and 3 minutes and drank milk for a total of 2 hours and 6 minutes during the 24-hour span of Saturday.

What about the other 12 hours and 51 minutes, you ask? They were spent trying to calm an extremely fussy baby. We didn’t fare so well Sunday either. And I suppose you might as well throw in Monday and the rest of the week for good measure too.

Since leaving the postpartum center, Caitlyn has been sleeping less and eating less. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the change of environment and she’s not used to it yet. Or maybe we just need to admit that we have no idea what we’re doing and run back to the nurses.

Speaking for myself, I don’t think things are going as badly as they could be. The reason I say this is because Caitlyn is actually pretty easy to calm down. We used to live next to a family that had a baby that would cry non-stop all day and night. I was afraid our baby would turn out like this.

However, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get her to stop crying thanks to the 5 S’s. And if that doesn’t work, a quick feeding and diaper change usually does the trick.

But while it’s easy to get her to stop crying, it’s not easy for us to put her back in her crib without her crying again. Therefore, most of our time is spent rocking the baby, passing her from person to person, and waiting for her to fall into a deep enough sleep in order to put her back in her crib. And even if we’re able to put her down, she’ll immediately sense she’s not being held anymore, and start to cry some more.

After our first restless night, we decided we needed to try some different approaches to help Caitlyn and us get some rest. One of those strategies was having the baby fall asleep while breastfeeding on the bed with Jessie during the daytime. In doing so, Jessie, in theory could make a quiet escape without the baby knowing, though more often than not, she fell asleep right along with Caitlyn.

I’m not a huge fan of this because I know later down the road, this could become a bad habit for the baby. But if what I’ve read about how babies can’t be spoiled during their first three months is true, then we should be OK.

Another thing that’s helped is the baby’s vibrating rocker. If Caitlyn’s in a calm and relaxed enough mood and we’re lucky, we can easily put her into the rocker and she’ll happily fall asleep there. Once again, that’s not the ideal solution, but until our three months is up, I’ll take it.

I’ve also read that carrying the baby around in a baby carrier during the day is an acceptable way to help your baby sleep too. This way, she’s next to my body, yet my hands are free to do other things. I’m eager to try this one because while I am getting a good forearm and bicep workout from holding the baby, I really don’t need 24-inch pythons.

One thing we have been somewhat successful at is giving Caitlyn her bath. I have fully embraced my role as designated washer, and Jessie has fully embraced her role as designated backseat washer. No one likes an annoying backseat washer! You hear me? No one!

In order to help Caitlyn get over her fear of being naked, I’ve started putting her in the tub with her shirt on. After she’s become acclimated to the water, I’ll slowly take it off. This seems to be working, as the last time I tried this, we made it through bath time with fewer cries.

Finally, if you ask me what has played the most important role in getting through these past few days, I’d say, “patience.”

Me: I don’t think Caitlyn’s going to finish these last 20 ml of her milk.
Jessie: Let me do it. You just need patience. Let me show you.
(10 seconds pass by)
Jessie: Ok, she’s not going to finish it.
Me: Well, that was a great show of patience. Never knew you had it in you!

Sleeping in her seldom-used crib.

All nice and clean after bath time.

Posing with a new friend.

Fast asleep in her rocker.

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

No, you can't eat the butterfly!

Bath time

Tomorrow, Jessie and Caitlyn finally get to go home after a month of staying at the postpartum center. Therefore, it was time to finally teach us how to properly take care of our baby by ourselves, starting with bath time.

Yesterday was the first time I bathed Caitlyn. The day before that, the nurse had shown Jessie and I how to do it. Before we had even gotten started, she warned us that our baby has a tendency to cry extremely loud when taking a bath and to prepare ourselves. Well, so much for giving us a confidence booster before class.

I had recorded the demonstration so that I could review over it before I tried it out myself. As with anything a professional does, the nurse made it look overly simple and easy. So, after going over the video a few times that same night, I figured I had things down pat. There was no need to watch it again.

However, as the time drew nearer for me to try, I actually began to feel a bit nervous, even though I tried to play it off. When we stepped into the room where we were to wash Caitlyn, the nurse was waiting.

“OK, let’s see you wash the baby,” she said.

Wait, what?! No help?! No tips?! My mind drew a blank as to what I was supposed to do. Do I take off the baby’s clothes first? Do I put soap in the tub? Which body part do I start with? Ahhh! I had to keep mentally telling myself, ”KICF!”( Keep it cool, fool. Keep it cool.)

After regaining my composure, I slowly started to remember what the nurse had showed us. I picked up Caitlyn and began washing her face. Incredibly, she didn’t mind at all. Hah! This is a piece of cake!

Next, I went on to wash her hair. Same thing. Not a single peep from her. I began thinking back to how Caitlyn was howling when the nurse washed her. Why, I’m doing this 100 times better than her! If Caitlyn gets through this whole bathing process without crying once, I might as well quit my regular job and work here full-time. I could probably teach the nurses here a thing or two.

Of course, I spoke a bit too soon. Once I began to undress her so I could wash her body, that’s when she started bawling. And that’s when things started going downhill.

Our baby apparently doesn’t like being in the nude, even though that’s the way she was born into this world. I suppose that’s a good thing. When she’s grown up, maybe she’ll have enough sense to cover her body, rather than wearing the bare minimum.

As Caitlyn’s crying became more and more pronounced, I began getting more and more nervous. I started forgetting what to do next. Sweat started forming around my armpits and forehead, and the nurse had a look on her face like she feared for my child's life.

After placing Caitlyn in the tub and washing her down with a cloth a few times, I was ready to be done with this whole thing. However, the nurse seemed to have other ideas.

“So, what body part are you going to wash next?”

What? Are you crazy?! Woman, I thought we were done! Apparently not, as she made me continue washing Caitlyn’s bottom and back, all while trying to hold on to her squirming, kicking, little body.

By this point, I’m sure Jessie was feeling pretty smug about delegating me to do the bathing, while all she did was film. In the end, I managed to finish up and get Caitlyn dried and dressed.

If I were to give myself a grade, it would be a C minus. We all made it out of this alive. No baby was dropped, and hopefully there’s no lingering trauma. That’s a good enough start for me.

I take this as a humbling experience. I went in thinking I could ace this, but barely stumbled out of there. However, it just makes me that much more determined to perfect the techniques. I’m going to keep at it until I can post a video of Caitlyn taking a bath without crying. Then, I’ll come back and give these nurses a run for their money.

 

Nurse demonstrating how it's supposed to be done.

 

Daddy demonstrating how it's not supposed to be done.

Little Hot Chili Pepper

11 days have passed since I started staying full-time with Jessie at the postpartum care center. I can see why Jessie is so eager to go home now. Staying in a confined area for an extended period of time can drive anyone crazy. There’s just not much to do besides waiting for the baby to be hungry and helping Jessie run small errands. Therefore, some of Jessie’s comments to me don’t make any sense.

Jessie: Still on your laptop? If you're not using your laptop, then you're playing games on the iPhone. I’d like to see how long you can sit there using those two things.

What else do you want me to do?! That's like asking a jailed convict why he's still sitting on his prison cot, staring at the wall. The logic just isn't there.

While Jessie is up to 90 ml of milk now, feeding Caitlyn hasn’t become any easier. A typical feeding usually takes over 1 ½ hours. It’s a test of patience for Jessie. When she’s tired of breastfeeding, she’ll hand Caitlyn off to the nurses or me to continue bottle feeding.

If Caitlyn actually concentrated on feeding, it would probably take 20-30 minutes tops. But in between, she’ll fall asleep or just stare off into space. Thankfully, ours isn’t the only baby that does this. Breastfeeding takes a lot out of a baby and they usually get tuckered out pretty quick. They take short power naps to help regain the energy to keep sucking.

Awake one second

Fast asleep the next

Tips to keep the baby awake and focused include: tickling the toes, rubbing the cheeks and ears, unswaddling the arms, or wiping the face down with a wet cloth. I don’t know about keeping the baby focused, but these techniques sure do piss the heck out of our baby. In fact, the new nickname the nurses have given Caitlyn is “Little Hot Chili Pepper” for her fiery temper.

My educated guess is that her crying is caused by insecurity. Some babies are better at self-soothing than others. Ours needs to be constantly comforted. If you notice in the picture below, Caitlyn has been pushed into the middle of the room. I call this the “timeout area,” similar to the timeout corner for naughty kids.

The babies that are pushed into the middle are usually fussier than other babies and need more attention from the nurses. Most babies might occasionally work their way to the middle, but are quickly put back once they’ve calmed down. Well, our baby has the distinguished honor of being in the middle, 99% of the time. If you’re going to do something, you might as well go all the way, right?

Now that Caitlyn’s acne is slowly starting to go away, Jessie has conveniently found something else to worry about.

Jessie: Have you noticed that one of Caitlyn’s ears is bigger than the other? I think one of them is larger. Do you think we should get this checked out?
Me: You’re kidding, right?
Jessie: What?
Me: Oh, boy. You are serious. Sigh.

For the record, there is nothing wrong with our baby’s ears.