3rd Month

Well, our beautiful son is 3 months old! I simply can't believe it. He is growing so fast and exhibiting quite a personality. I've attached his 3-month photo (taken by yours truly in our home studio). We have had quite a month. My arthritis has flared big time and I am taking it day by day to keep going without medication. My first goal, after this flare-up, was to make it to 3 months breastfeeding him and as of the 2nd of October, we've made it. The past couple of months have definitely been challenging. Robby has been a wonderful help at night giving Rylen to me so that i can feed him and then changing his diaper and getting him back to sleep. My hands and shoulders (not to mention knees and feet) are just so stiff at night that i am unable to do it myself. Our mornings begin rather late. Robby leaves for work around 7:00a and i feed Rylen then we both sleep again until his next feeding around 10:30a. By this time my body is beginning to loosen up and I am feeling more rested. This month will begin the weaning process to formula so that I am able to begin a detox for my arthritis. Though i do this with a heavy heart, deep down i do know that he needs his mommy to be healthy. If the detox doesn't work, then it will be back to the medication. Through all of this I am continuing to pray for God's full and miraculous healing, even without the supplements or medications, so that I can care for our son. It is definitely a daily struggle with emotional ups and downs... wondering if i am doing the right thing. I am also looking to change my diet to help as well. All prayers concerning these major changes would be greatly appreciated. They are not easy and take time for results.

As for Rylen, he is taking all of this in strides and will be oblivious to this time when he is older. He had a scary virus that sent us to the emergency room 2 weeks ago. He was running a fever of 103 that went down to 99.5, but began crying excessively after vomiting one feeding. After that feeding I could never get him caught back up with food and he got slightly dehydrated. He wasn't wanting to eat and sleeping was difficult too.




They sent us to the emergency room two Saturdays ago and he got a full work-up. IV, antibiotics, blood taken, catheter, chest x-rays and a spinal tap. They were concerned about meningitis. Of course, we were then admitted for two days in the hospital for observation until all the results came back. Imagine, a one person hospital bed with me on one end holding Rylen (with IV attached) and Robby at my feet with his feet on a chair to sleep. Wasn't the most comfortable setting, but we made it work. All of his tests came back negative and they chalked it up to a virus. It took him a couple more days out of the hospital to completely get his color back, but now he is the smiling happy baby we knew before. It was definitely heart breaking to not see his beautiful smile for 4 days!

Rylen is now holding his head up very well and wanting to sit up. He is so very alert and that is making naps a little harder. But that is to be expected. He is finally back to his sleeping through the night (5-6 hours) and we are anticipating the day he stretches it just a bit longer! He's definitely a mover and a shaker, full of high-energy and always moving his arms and legs. His development is right on track and I'm sure he will be rolling over soon. He was teetering on his side just yesterday not quite making the full roll-over.

Well, until next month, here is our beautiful miracle! We should have lots to report again!