Joaquin is sick

Today we have stayed at home and Joaquin did not go to family day care nor I to the uni. Instead I stayed with him and took him to the doctors as he is sick. He has a rash on his legs, arms, and a few dots on his ears and other parts of his body. He has not been eating well and does not want to bf at all which makes me feel slightly bad. The doctor that saw him was the same one that saw him when he was born from around the corner. She did not recognise him but did say something along the lines of "Time has gone quickly".
The doctor looked at his mouth, his ears, listened to his heart, took his temperature, looked at his dots or rash and said he was just sick because of a virus. He did not have a temperature just a bit red at the back of his throat. I think he has some small sores or ulcers on his tongue as he does not want to eat or suck his bottle or bf.
Yesterday i managed to feed him some cereal for breakfast, a few bottles of milk, a piece of cheese, a yoghurt, 2 bites from a bread stick, some chicken soup with bread croutons and some more bottles of milk plus water.
He was acting happier though and wanted to play all day, he did not cry much nor get upset when i left the room. He smiled at strangers at the doctor's and smiled a lot at me. He came up to me throughout the day during his play to hug me.
He woke up a few times last night and each time I wanted to bf he got upset, Jas was able to calm him and get him back to sleep in his cot. I think he woke up 3 or 4 times throughout the night crying, poor little thing.
He had two sleeps about an hour each sleep but did not bf. I hope he gets better. I am not feeling too crash hot as well and feel I have ulcers on my tongue too. Must be all the bad food from all the parties we have had and been going too.
I do not think it helped that I gave him hot "salty" chips last Friday and some of B's chocolate brownie.

2 month vaccinations

I took Joaquin with the baby bjorn to the Doctors today. It was drizzling with rain outside so I walked as quickly as i could around the corner and he fell asleep in the bjorn.

Once I got there of course with me stopping and not moving he woke up. He looked around the doctors surgery, there were other babies there I think for vaccinations too. Then after about 10 min he got restless, I rocked him, he was more restless and cranky and wingy and so I breastfed him and he calmed down, ate and fell asleep. By the time it was our turn (over 30 min late) he was asleep and I took him upstairs and then he woke up.

The doctor did a double take on him and said " He is a big baby, I thought he may have been here for the 4 month vaccination". I just said well he is lean really but very long. He is also strong and holds his head up and very alert all the time.

The doctor gave him 2 injections in the leg and he cried a bit. I was breastfeeding during this time and so he kept on feeding after the intitial shock of the pain and his cry. He also had a oral vaccination for gastro and he seemed to like that and gulped it down.

The immunizations that he had now at 2 months are:

• Hepatitis B (hepB)
• Diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (acellular pertussis) (DTPa)
• Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
• Polio (inactivated poliomyelitis IPV)
• Pneumococcal conjugate (7vPCV)
• Rotavirus (the oral one that is a new vaccination given now since May 2007 for free).

• This info is from the Immunization site
• Hepatitis B vaccine should be given to all infants as soon as possible after birth. The greatest benefit is if the vaccine is given within 24 hours, and it must be given within 7 days.
• A total of three doses of hepB are required following the birth dose, at either 2 months, 4 months and 6 months or at 2 months, 4 months and 12 months.
• A total of 4 doses of Hib vaccine should be given (2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 12 months) if using PRP-T Hib containing vaccines.
• Here is another link with Facts on Immunization for Australian children
  

His next injections are at 4 months of age. And then at 6 months, but we will be in Argentina then so he will get his 6 months when we are back in Early February 2008. The vaccinations are free under Medicare and I think that if your child gets all the vaccinations the parents get some money back from the Australian government.

This is Joaquin's stats:
Weight: 5.3kg (50th percentile) He is still a lean machine and this is with clothes on and without a poo.
Height: 61cm (90th percentile) I think he may even be more than 61cm as he was 59cm at 6 weeks of age.
Head circumference: ? don't know but over 40cm (75th percentile). He was 39cm at 6 weeks of age.

After the Doctor's visit I went to the chemist and bought infants panadol just in case he had a fever in reaction to the injections (this is what the doctor recommended) and I went to the local corner deli and bought an eggplant, celery, olive sourdough bread, milk and a croissant.
I guess the croissant was my treat as the doctor had told me now he will start to feed more and require more breastmilk and so i must make sure i was eating well. I mean a croissant is not a healthy option but I new that once i got home I would have to feed him and comfort him after his vaccinations and had no time to make a quick bite to eat.

So at home i heated the croissant and had it with jam and made a cup of milky tea and just breast fed him all afternoon. he was very tired and hungry and upset i think after the injections.
He cried all afternoon and then fell asleep in my arms as I paced the room and had "The Beautiful girls" on the myth tv.
Jason came home at 6 and he bathed him. I fed him some more and then Jas gave him an ebm (expressed breast milk top up of 50mls) and I started to make dinner (stuffed eggplants).
Jas put him to bed and miracously he slept from 7.30pm to 5.30am and then had a feed. I checked him all night to see if he had a fever or not but he was fine.

the doctors visit

I took him to the doctors, and for the first time ventured outside with him and only him. I put him in the Baby Bjorn and walked to Clovelly road to the Clovelly Medical Center. The Doctor weighed him and told me he had put on 700 or so grams since he was weighed last. She was happy with that and told me he was on the 50% percentile line for weight. So he is average weight. I showed her the pimples he has on his face and she said they are due to hormones as from my breastmilk he is absorbing my hormones. He looks like a pimply little boy. She checked his temperature with baby thermometer in his ears, and checked his tounge, he still has oral thrush so she made a new prescription so I could buy drops for his thrush. She checked his ears as I mentioned to her that sometimes he touches them and she said there was nothing wrong with them just hairy little ears. She also prescribed Motilium to me a drug used to increase breast milk originally recommened to me by the lactation consultant Anne Kohn last Saturday.

Took him to see el Abuelo Ruben at the War Vet Nursing home. My grandfathers face lit up when he saw us and I walked in the room where he was playing Bingo with the lady from Peru who looks after him and announced “Abuelo aca tenes a tu vis-nieto, ahora sos un vis abuelo, tuve un nenito”. He was over the moon and I did not expect much of a reaction from him. He was saying how happy he was, how beautiful Joaquin was, how special and he touched his little feet and his hands and held him while he was in his chair. My grandfather reached out fo Joaquin and told me “ I did not think I was ever going to experience happiness again”. This broke my heart. Jason took photos and a video. We stayed and watched my grandfather have dinner, as Maria fed him. He had pork and rice for dinner. My grandfather still thinks my grandmother Sara is alive and asked ‘Que dijo la abuela cuando lo vio, te dijo que le cortes el pelo”. Joaquin slept throughout the visit but I woke him up at 5pm so he could feed and then he was alert and looking at el abuelo and we took some good photos with them both. I took a photo with both their hands, different generations. It is unbelievable to think I have a son.

On the way home we stopped at a take-away shop and I ran in and got two chicken burgers called“hot mamma” as they are a fake Oporto burgers with chili sauce but they were delicious with two chicken fillets. We ate them in the car while Joaquin slept and that to us is the new definition of being new parents –Eat when and where you can--.

He was asleep when we got home and we let him sleep and then when he woke at 10.30pm I fed him, and gave him a top up of formula (60mls) and also pumped. I was able to pump 70mls and Jason was very happy. Then I woke up at 3.30am to feed him and then 7.30am (Friday morning).

To increase my milk supply I started taking tablets Motilium at 10pm and took one every 6 hours, then at 7am and 3.30pm (Friday 13^th) as suggested by lactation consultant. Lets see what happens, if my supply increases!