Valhalla??

We seem to have found heaven, of sorts. Coby is doing very well now on his third formula and is very much acting like a regular baby!! He can even sit in his bouncy chair and play with his toys for a nice fifteen minute stretch or so; sometimes he even cat naps there. We are so thrilled....it is so peaceful. Nate has been a little more apt to approach his little brother too, which is nice. He is very protective of Coby. When we arrive at preschool one of his classmate's little sister loves to look at the baby, and Nate stands over with one hand on the car carrier watching intently. He doesn't want little Chloe to make Coby cry! Is it his big brother instincts or survival of the fittest - he is tired of hearing the screaming!!!

Nate is doing well. Too much energy and not enough hours in the day to run it out of him. Can't wait for a few nice days to take some more walks.
So cross your fingers, Coby goes for a two month well visit and will recieve some vaccinations tomorrow. Really hope it doesn't take us back to baby crazy town, as we lovingly refer to it....

One Balmy Winter Day...

Well quickly, Coby continues to be challenging for us. He is seeming to respond to the medications and formula, but still has trouble sitting anywhere for any amount of time that is not in someone's arms. Evening and morning feeds are still quite pukey and painful for him. We are going on four days now without a marathon screaming display, not even sure I want to post that and risk jinxing a good thing. Even car rides can be pretty rough as it takes him quite a while to gently, ha ha, fall alseep. Were we spoiled by Nate? Yes and no. Yes Nate seems to have been a much more text book baby. No because, of course, Coby is the other extreme. Nate was never in any real discomfort, and Coby is constantly it seems. Generally the only times he has been at peacce were those times he is sleeping, fittfully at that. Mike and I have both noticed that our life paths do not have happy mediums of sorts, we go all in all the way or no go at all. So, on we go.

Coby has an ultrasound of his upper GI tomorrow to rule out any types of blockages he may have. He has been officially diagnosed with GERD (doesn't that sound lovely) which is gatrointestinal reflux disease. The specialist said we won't really cure the reflux, however with the change in formula we should see Coby getting better and in less pain. He said he believes he has an allergy to milk protein and this was intensified by the fact that the second month ushers in a messy gastric system anyway for babies as it is still under developed.

So that is Coby in a nutshell. On a lighter note, he has really started cooing and smiling!!!! Thank goodness, it is such a ray of sunshine to see a smile and recognition of mommy's, or daddy's, face after a few hours of screaming.

Nate is back at school and having a great time. He wrote his first word!!! JET appeared on one of his Christmas learning toys from Neena and Papa as plain as day. Will be posting a picture of this accomplishment. He is still loving his train table and upside down crash. We were able to take a big walk today too - Nate rode his "little bike" the trike, because it was easy to get at and mommy pedaled his little legs off. Coby quieted down for much of the ride too. Hopefully the artic tundra will stay away for a while and we can play outside again soon. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Gastric System Issues for Coby...

On Friday we had to see the pediatrition again because poor Coby has been just a mess. He cried for around sixteen hours on Thursday and nothing consoled him. The quick version has us seeing a pediatric gastro specialist sometime on Monday due to microscopic blood in his bowel movements along with his other symptoms. He is not digesting the Nutramigen formula as easily as he should be so he has been switched to a new formula too.

So far we know Coby has acid reflux. He is on Prevacid, gas drops and now Pepcid as well. We had been doing Mylanta too, but with the addition of Pepcid yesterday we have stopped that. He is in pain most of the time and it is heartbreaking. Hopefully Monday we will have some sort of answer and a "solution" to the problem. Please say a little prayer for Coby that the issue is relatively simple. Until then, we are on a goose chase to find a new formula too - called pregestimil. It is manufactured by Enfamil, but is not widely stocked in retail stores; so we are off to Painesville soon. It is just like the Nutramigen we were on (predigested) but contains a different type of fat, a triglyceride, that is easier to digest for some babies. Weird to be wanting to give a triglyceride, we thought those were the bad ones!! Oh well, if it helps who cares.

Nate on the other hand is doing great. He had quite a haul from Santa including the "upside down crash" race track, a firehouse, new tool box like daddy, real tools for his tool box, a TRAIN TABLE which we set up downstairs and lots more. With family gifts added, we think that we may need to seriously consider adding a toy wing to the house. Contributions to the college fund were also in abundance, and who could complain about that?? :) Thanks to everyone for a happy holiday, and we hope that the New Year rings in with the quieted tones of a sleepy, pain free baby...........

Have a Colicky, Colicky Christmas...

Can't believe Christmas is almost here! Nate is so excited he can hardly wait. Today he said, "Mommy, it is so hard to wait for Santa!" We are counting down how many sleeps it is until Santa comes. What does Nate want? What doesn't he want? Not much. He was such a big helper putting Christmas tree up, literally branch by branch, and then he couldn't wait to add the decorations. It was so fun to see his reactions to the ornaments and all the lights. "Wow, it's beautiful!" Sigh....He is still having some trouble accepting Coby as his little brother. Hopefully as Coby gets older and starts interacting a little more he will warm up. Hopefully....

As for Coby, we hit a rough spot. He is just turning a month old and is having a lot of troubles with eating. Lots of spitting up, crying and he really seems like he is in pain. We went to see the doctor on Tuesday and he put Coby on Nutramagien formula, all elemental not milk based, to see if he is intolerant of lactose. That is the first step. If it is not this we move on to other things. Reflux or possibly an issue with esophogus itself. It is also possible that he is just going to be a super fussy little guy....

Two Weeks Old!

Just thought we would post some pics of Jacoby, can't believe he is two weeks old. He is more alert and opens his eyes more; tries to focus on mommy and daddy when they are close and tracks lights. Night time is still challenging, hopefully we will get on a more regular schedule soon. Big brother is still adjusting a bit, but warming up. He tried to give Coby his bottle today, but still not sure he wants to try to hold him. Enjoy the new pics of our sweetheart!!

Playing in the leaves

Here is Nate having a great time in the leaves today. He is working hard to become a good big brother - he has been the only one for so long so there have been some trying moments. but here, he is having lots of fun and getting some much needed outside time.

Jacoby Maxwell Dell Arrived!!!

He's here!!! We can hardly believe that he is here, healthy and we are so in love. Jacoby, or Coby for short, decided Tuesday the 13th was a good day to get the ball rolling. Contractions began around 3:30 p.m. and were about 10 minutes apart in my back. They weren't bad, so it took about four regularly spaced to convince me to really pay attention. I called my nurse and let her know, and she said I had two options: lay down and maybe they would stop (ha, ha) or go for a nice walk. So I called Mike, in tears, to let him know things were starting and then went for a big walk with my dad. By the time Mike got home contractions were regular at five minutes apart so he called the hospital and said we were coming.

Timing was perfect; we got there and got checked in. I was 4.5 dialated and the contractions were starting to pick up in intensisty. One of the doctors we had met on Mac 6 last year came in to talk to us and told us she was convincing the attending to keep us regardless of what this labor was producing. So with my dates in hand she went to get our birthday arranged, and she did! When she came back to tell us we both cried and she told us to stop because she was crying too. Then we got our first labor nurse, Leslie, who was incredible. She recognized how hard the loss of Max would be emotionally on the entire labor and delivery and did everything she could to help us through. She made sure when it was time for my epidural the best man for the job did it and promised he would do a good job - and he did. :)

Around midnight they checked me and decided to add pictocin to the mix. We were both able to rest for a while before we were checked again with little progress. So we napped for a while. I awoke with a start, a pop and a SPLASH around 2:30 a.m. My water BURST! I called my new nurse, Sarah, and she got the attending to check. Much to all of our shock, I was complete.....10 centimeters. Instead of having me push immediately, they told me we would wait until I could feel the urge to push. They sat me up and allowed me to labor down. I felt contractions and pressure, but nothing that reminded me of the intense pain from Nate or Max's delivery, so I kept waiting. Finally around 4:31 they decided it was time to push. I still did not have the intense pain from the contractions or rectal pressure, but pushed anyways. Progress was very fast and sixteen minutes later, Jacoby emerged into the world. He was plopped onto my chest, my dream since Nate's birth, and I got to see his dark, dark head ful of wavy hair, his ten perfect fingers and toes. I didn't feel any pain and I couldn't believe this was my birth story. It truly resembled something from TLC a Baby Story, and I honestly didn't belive those were possible. Jacoby weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 18 inches long.

We are now the intensely proud parents of three beautiful angels. Two of those angels reside on earth with us to continue life's journey with all of its twists and turns. One of those angels is waiting for us when we are called to continue our journey in eternity. We truly believe he is here with us, watching and knowing our love for him equals that of the love we hold for our earth angels. He is one of the reasons little Jacoby is here in our arms. We hope you will enjoy these few first pictures, and thank you all for your support along this rocky journey.