Saturday, November 7, 2009

Pediatrician and Goodbye Work

Thursday turned out to be quite the eventful day. It started off with Joe's triumphant return to the house and babies. He finished his antibiotic course and his cough had improved, so he came home bright and early Thursday morning to help me take the babies to the pediatrician. The appointment went well. Both babies were thoroughly examined by their doctor and pronounced excellent. Charlie weighed in at 9 lbs and Lily at 8 lbs 4 oz. Then it was time for their shots. Both babies got four total shots and took them like champs. We return next month for their second Synagis shot and in two months for more vaccines and another checkup.

When we got home, I received some unexpected news. A large round of layoffs at my company had left me without a job - I was officially laid off. I was pretty surprised, as I had just set my return-to-work date for December 8th and had intended to be going back three days a week. But my position had been eliminated with the layoffs and there would be nothing for me to return to. This news was bittersweet. It is sad because I truly loved my job. I worked for a wonderful company with some really incredible people. The work was interesting, I had fantastic bosses and I liked all my co-workers. I know I will never find another job that I enjoy as much as that one. The good news in all of this is that now I am able to stay home longer with the babies. While I know I would have enjoyed going back to work, I was very, very nervous about leaving Charlie and Lily and I know in my heart that I just wasn't ready to be apart from them yet. Between severance pay and unemployment I should be able to stay home with the babies for a while longer, which I think is best for everyone. So I've officially joined the ranks of stay-at-home moms, at least for the foreseeable future.

In other news, the babies are so fussy!! We are blaming Thursday's shots, as they have never been like this. They refuse to sleep, which is making them extremely irritable and disagreeable to just about everything and anything. It's made for two very tiring and stressful days, but we're hoping that they snap out of it soon. Joe has been incredible though. Last night, Charlie refused to settle down after his 11:30 pm bottle. I could barely keep my eyes open and finally started sobbing, "I just can't stay awake anymore!" Joe immediately ran over, took Charlie from me and sent me off to bed. He got Charlie settled and napped on the couch with him until the next round of bottles. Then in the morning, after I had conquered the 3:00 am feeding, Joe got up early with the babies and sat on the couch with them for hours, keeping them comfy as they napped, while I slept until 9:15 am. It was wonderful, and at 4 hours it was the longest stretch of consecutive sleep I've gotten in over a month. We're really hoping that there aren't too many more instances like that in our future.

Perhaps it was sleep deprivation that contributed to my first major screw up as a parent. The evening after their shots, Charlie and Lily were both extremely fussy. I decided to give them each a dose of infant's Tylenol as the pediatrician had suggested. I gave Charlie his dose (and he loved the cherry flavor) then gave Lily hers. After I shot the liquid into Lily's mouth, I turned to Joe and said "That didn't look like as much as I gave Charlie." Joe agreed and I looked closely at the dropper and realized that I had accidentally given Charlie DOUBLE the dose he should have gotten. I freaked, cried, paged the pediatrician and called poison control. Both the poison control woman and the pediatrician assured me that while I gave Charlie more Tylenol than he should have gotten, it was still within the "safe" range. Whew. I was so relieved, but still felt terrible :(

Finally, congratulations to my friend Colleen and her husband Chuck, who welcomed their beautiful baby girl, Abigail Claire, yesterday. Lily looks forward to meeting her new playmate!

In case you were wondering....


The men, hard at play.

Here is a scene that plays out again and again (and again and again) each and every day here. Binky falls out of baby's mouth. Baby screams.
Mommy or Daddy rushes to replace binky.
Life is good once again.

18 comments:

Rebecca, from CT said...

So glad Joe is home and feeling better!! And the babies are growing like weeds!! Probably cranky from all those shots!! OUCH... four at a time!! I'd be a bot cranky too. It's great that you and Joe work so well together with the babies!! And being home with the babies...such a good thing!! Enjoy your time off!!

E. Merritt said...

You need to look into the
WubbaNub Infant Plush Toy Pacifier - Monkey by WubbaNub. We have one for each one of our babies. They've been a lifesaver. Even now at 9 months they are still using them and now play with the little animals as well as using them as a pacifier.

Anonymous said...

wow...i could have posted pictures exactly like that. My 6week old does the exact same thing right now!! I just ordered the wubbaNub thingie....hope it works!

Dorothy said...

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear about the layoffs! At least you can be home with Chily a little while longer. I'll keep my eyes open for you. Glad Joe has been de-quarantined!

Kim said...

yea for staying at home!

would you be interested in a product review for a fellow SAHMer? if so, please e-mail me! kimlepper@gmail.com

-Kim

Anonymous said...

Another option is the PaciMals They are so cute and made just for that purpose. They are now my go to baby shower gift.

Lisa said...

we had our 2 months shots last month, and our babies were fussy fussy fussy! So continue to blame the shots because I think they are the whole reason for the fussiness. I was told if we give them Tylenol and ice their legs they hurt less so we're trying that next time. We have the wubbanubs and three do excellent with them, but when Alexis is hungry she accidentally pulls the wubbanub out which causes her more frustrationg.

Anonymous said...

I would venture to say the shots are the reason for the fussiness.
Once they get over it - they'll be back to normal. I'm glad Joe's home and back to healthy standards so that he can enjoy the fun Daddy jobs. Hang in there. Your lay off - things happen for a reason. And that reason is Charlie and Lily and your sanity at this time... As long as it doesn't hurt your finances - you're good to go. I'd say you're lucky...
Smile - things will work out...

All My Love, Auntie :) xoxoxox

Life and Times . . . said...

congratulations on staying home a little longer. consider it a blessing in disguise. my son was 5 weeks early, and I stayed home three solid months with him. when i went back to work he was a couple of days past 3 months and his adjusted age was just shy of two months. I wasn't ready to go back to work at all. I almost had an emotional breakdown, I spent about 3 months in an emotional fog, and I wasn't very productive. thankfully, we have a wonderful friend of the family that kept him at home. she took care of him wonderfully. still i would say that most moms irregardless of whether their babies are born early or not go back to work too soon.there is a lot of pressure out there to get back to work. i'm glad you get to spend more time with your little ones at home - it will be good for all of you.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry about your job but so happy that Charlie & Lily get to stay home with their mommy!!! I'm glad to hear that are so healthy!!!

Kristine McKowen said...

great update on the babies!

sorry to hear about your job. Friday was my last day at a company I had been at for 19 3/4 years. Job elimination too. I will get a nice severance package and after working since I've been in high school (30 years) I am going to collect unemployment. I'm in no rush to go back to work either.

Enjoy your time home with the babies! Everything happens for a reason.

Anonymous said...

Brooke,

I'm so sorry to hear about your job. I know that, in time, something good will come along for you. In the meantime, Charlie and Lily can enjoy being just a bit more spoiled! It's definitely the shots that are making them cranky. After a few days, that'll be over and done with, too. Those cranky times can seem to last a long time, though! Best of luck!

Cheryl

Alisha said...

About the binkies ... story of my life when the twins were babies. lol.

JoLynn said...

We thought we would never get past the middle of the night pacifier replacement runs. But alas, we are 7 months along now and the twins would much rather have a thumb! So great because they never fall out, you can take them with you anywhere, and they don't drop on the floor and get dirty! But we'll see if I still like it when it comes to weaning them!

Joy said...

Sorry about the job.

The day Robbie learned to retrieve his own pacifier and put it in his own mouth, I swear, the skies opened up and I heard the angels sing.

Dawn BB said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your job. But no one can take care of your babies as well as you.

Colleen said...

aww, thanks for the shout-out :) i could have taken some pictures like those last ones last night - um, except for that last one of the peacefulness lol.

Michele from FTHS said...

Everything happens for a reason. Glad Joe is home and feeling better. Hope you all can get more sleep. They continue to get cuter every day.