Ok, so I said I was going to update on Sunday, but the Primetime Emmy's were calling my name...very funny this year! Anywho, on to the recap!
Meet with the Pediatrician:
Wednesday afternoon Chip and I met with our soon to be pediatrician Mrs. Dr. Wiley with the Pediatric Diagnostic Center with CHKD. We found this group through our recommended list from the hospital. Their office is very close to our house, only about 2 miles actually, on Concert Dr. in front of the Va Beach Amphitheater. The building is brand new right behind Landstown High School. Since it's on Concert Drive, the entire building is decorated with music notes and lots of other musical decor.
We came prepared with a list of questions for Dr. Wiley and she was happy to sooth our new parent concerns. We were happy to see that they had separate sick & well child waiting areas. Also their office has same day sick appointments & Saturday sick appointments as well. We learned all about Kane's vaccination schedule, goodness there are so many, I had no clue. I also informed her that I was planning on breast feeding. They provide a Lactation consultant on staff to help out first time moms get through the tough times which was great to hear. All in all we really liked Dr. Wiley's personality, she didn't speak down to us, and also stressed the importance that we felt comfortable with her.
Final Birthing Class:
It was sad to say goodbye to our instructor Laurie, but Thursday night was our last birthing class, six weeks sure flew by! We covered what happens once baby is born: Vitamin K shot (stimulates blood clotting), apgar score at 1 minute and 5 minutes of life (a 1-10 score based on heart rate, how quickly baby "pinks up", breathing, reflex, & muscle tone) hearing screening, Hepatitis B shot, &.......CIRCUMCISION!!!
OHHH the circumcision topic.....Chip was cringing since they went into detail as to what the procedure entailed. Here's how it went, please envision Chip's face becoming increasingly scrunched up by the moment. Laurie explained, "So the pediatrician on call will take the baby boys born the previous day back to the nursery together. They will give them pacifiers dipped in what is like a sugar water to keep him content. Then they will tightly swaddle their upper bodies so their arms don't flail about. They then strap his little legs down to the board, he's snug as a bug! The Dr. will then inject his little pee pee with a local anesthetic, and SWOOP they will slice away the foreskin!" All of the dad's jaws were to the floor! She quickly added "Oh and dad's you'll be happy to know that your little boy's penis will be numb, but this is a practice that has only started to take place in the last 5 years, you all weren't as lucky!" Birthing class, $65. 9 months of pregnancy, tough work. Seeing 11 soon-to-be-dads faces when the instructor said "SWOOP they will slice away the foreskin!" PRICELESS.
Breast Feeding Class:
Saturday morning I picked up my cousin Dana and we went together to the free breast feeding (or BFing) class offered at Obici out in Suffolk (looks like a Hotel inside, not a hospital). We got some great information on common misconceptions of BFing, and typical stumbling blocks that most women face, and how to overcome them. Here's a little fun fact: Did you know that a baby's stomach at 1 day old is only the size of a small marble, and at 10 days the size of a ping pong ball. We were able to practice doing the proper holds for baby while BFing. Unfortunately we had to use these HUGE cabbage-patch babies whose heads were triple the size of a normal baby! Over all I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what to do, and what not to do. I really hope the BFing works out, and I'm able to do it as long as possible. I feel like with the benefits to myself, Kane & my pocketbook that BFing offers that I'd be crazy not to! Fun Fact: Did you know that the average family will save upwards of $1,500 BFing rather than formula feeding in the 1st year. ::Cha Ching::
Deep Creek Baby Shower:
Sunday morning before the shower I was meeting my mom for breakfast at her favorite, Frank's Truck Stop. Much to my surprise our close friends Julie, Elizabeth, & Kathryn from Roanoke had come to surprise me! It was so great to see them. We all had breakfast together and got to catch up on girl talk.
Around 1:30 we all headed up to our church where Ms. Susie & Ms. Rhonda were setting up my Micky Mouse themed shower! Everyone began to trickle in around 2. Family, friends, church family, everyone was there! We all sat in a circle where I opened gifts. Everyone snacked on the food, ate the yummy cake that my aunt Susan brought (Chip and I are still eating it!!) and visited with one another. I was great to finally meet my new little cousins Kelsey (3mos.) & Robbie (5mos.) they're already getting sooo big!! Thanks to everyone who loves us so much, we got great gifts and little Kane will be the most styling newborn ever with his new outfits...especially the Halloween costumes! :) Last night and today Chip and I have been going through everything, snipping TINY plastic tags, unwrapping & removing tape, doing loads upon loads of baby clothes, sheets & blankets, then finding a place for everything in the nursery! Chip has taken on the true Daddy task of putting everything together. I thought the Pack N' Play was going to get the best of him, but NO, he finally got it set up and did sort of a "victory end zone dance"! We are OFFICIALLY READY FOR KANE!!!
First internal exam on Friday. Appointments every week from now on!
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Hi Chip and Ashley,
ReplyDeleteContrats on the new arrival!
Listen: about circumcision. I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say, you really don't want to do that!
I could give you a list of reasons why, but I think you'd much rather just look at the info for yourselves.
1. Penn and Teller's Bullshit: Circumcision
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZLna_uzLQ
(now, this is crude, and they do use adult language- but it is a VERY well-researched piece).
2. Dr. Dean Edell's "Circumcision- Just Say No"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHVvB1oHAgg
3. doctorsopposingcircumcision.org
4. jewishcircumcision.org
jewsagainstcircumcision.org
5. Any video from this channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/Bonobo3D
Hi mama!!! congrats on your baby boy!!! btw I so love your music on your blog, as I type, my boy is dancing to the song :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic that you are deciding to breastfeeding. Breastmilk is the best and the only food tailored for babies.
ahhhhh Circumcision... we didn't do it to our son. My hubby is circ'ed and he wanted his son to look like him, until we researched about it and decided against it. It's not just a 'swoop' :( The foreskin is naturally attached to the head of the penis and they RIP OFF the skin from the glans just like ripping off the nails from the fingers :-/ THEN they slice it off. It's very invasive and no sugar pacifier or anesthetic will take the pain away :( pls watch a circumcision and you'll see. There are TONS in youtube.
You see, cleaning an intact baby boy is soooo easy! Just wipes like a finger because the foreskin is attached to the glans protecting bacteria, ammonia in urine and feces to go to the urethra in diaper years, then throughout boyhood the foreskin naturally separate til puberty. Retraction of the foreskin is a sexual mechanism so ONLY the boy is able to do that. Not the parents or a doctor. And most doctors don't know this since it is written in recent pediatrics text books.
You can watch these videos:
http://www.asnatureintended.info/circumcision-videos.html
The foreskin does have a function, it is packed with 20,000 nerve endings. In an adult, the foreskin is 25 inches square size, that's a whole load of penile tissue!!!
Pls mama research circumcision and the foreskin. You can let your boy decide later in life, when he is old enough, what he wants to do with his penis. It's his penis, his choice...
((((hugs))))
DISCLAIMER: This comment is not intended to bring your parenting abilities or your choices for your child into question - I am SURE you are going to be great parents! Truly!
ReplyDeleteIf we take into account that an infant's foreskin is attached to the head of the penis with synechia... the same material that holds a fingernail to the fingernail bed...
and we also take into account that jamming things under people's fingernails is a well-documented form of torture...
...then I would say at the very least, it was irresponsible of your birthing class to not mention the fact that a probe is pushed into the opening of the foreskin to tear away the synechia before the foreskin itself is crushed and sliced off.
In any case, I do hope you will take this and also the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics, and every other medical organization in the world notes that the procedure is medically unnecessary. The organization in Australia having released the most recent statement within the last month also mentioned that they did not recommend this procedure being performed on healthy infants.
the foreskin is healthy, sensitive, functional, erogenous genital tissue - I hope you'll reconsider performing this painful(even numbing wears off) and permanent procedure on your child.
I wish I had the information you've just recieved on the value of leaving your son the way he was meant to be. The way he was born, without birth defects.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, being born without a foreskin (prepuce) is a birth defect called Aposthia - a congenital deformity. It makes no sense (to me) for a physician to inflict a wound on a healthy sex organ, literally reducing it.
My first was circ'd. I was uninformed. Later researched the value of the intact foreskin and now have two other sons. They're intact.
My son's bloody penis was a sight that will haunt me to my grave. Even when pain meds ware off, its still a wound. My son didn't get pain meds and he was crying so hard he turned purple and his entire body swelled. I was never prepared to see a bloody penis on my perfect healthy son. Not only that, a soiled diaper surrounded an open wound. I can't imagine having fecal matter on an open fresh wound.
Today he is 9yrs old. His reproductive organ is not genetically endowed like his intact brothers. He had a penis reduction surgery. His penis was buried because so much skin was taken. A circum[sizer] has to 'guess' how much skin to remove.
A man is born with what he is suppose to have. A baby boy will grow into what he is given. Reduce it and his potential will be taken. My son has Meatal Stenosis because he is circumcised and this is a common side effect effecting only circumcised boys. This is one of the many things they won't tell you on "consent forms".
There is nothing wrong with your son. He will not need a penis reduction surgery.