The cast is off!

Jack got his cast off yesterday! Thank goodness. This was the third one! The first one (green) started to slide down when the swelling went down. So we went back in and got an orange one. It was on tighter so I thought we were good.

Less than 24 hours later, Jack was in a shopping cart at the grocery store. I heard something hit the floor and saw the cast bouncing away. So back to the doctor we went. And since nothing else would stay on his leg, we had to get an above-the-knee cast.

Fortunately, Jack didn't care much. Within a few days he had figured out how to walk on it. It was with a pretty bad limp, but still. He didn't let it get him down!


And now, it's off! The x-ray showed that he had healed completely in just 3 weeks. He has relearned how to walk with two good legs and is happy to be himself again. Personally, I was the most happy that I could give him a real bath (which I did as soon as we got home). In case you noticed in the video, we buzzed his hair so it would be easier to clean when when he could only have sponge baths. It did make it easier but I miss that hair! It was getting so long!

Trip to the ER

I figured a trip to the ER was bound to happen sometime, since Jack is a curious kid who gets into everything. It was only a matter of time before he hurt himself. I just never thought the first time it would actually be my fault. I've never had to go to the ER for myself, never had a broken bone, never needed stitches. Oh, the irony.

So yesterday morning I was walking down the stairs holding Jack. I slipped and slid down 5 or 6 stairs on my butt. I didn't let go of Jack, and once I had stabilized myself Jack had started to scream. It looked to me like he had hit his head on the wall. He's hit his head lots of times, so I comforted him and waited for him to calm down. He normally stops crying and forgets all about it in a minute or two, but this time he didn't stop screaming. Jack has never cried for long, even as a newborn. After 15 or so minutes of trying to calm him down I started to get worried that something was seriously wrong. I called the pediatrician and as soon as I said he hit his head and was acting different than usual, they said to go straight to the ER. So off we went.

He cried the whole way there, which I was grateful for, because I thought he might have a concussion and I didn't want him to go to sleep. We got there and he didn't have any kind of a bump on his head, or any signs of a head injury at all. He just wouldn't stop screaming, which is really abnormal for him. The resident first said that it was probably nothing, and since there were no outward signs of a head injury, I should just go home and watch him for any changes. We had skipped breakfast (the fall happened first thing in the morning) so they thought he might just be hungry. He had a snack and then resumed screaming. Then the attending doc came in. He said that the cutoff for him is if a kid is acting abnormally, and I insisted that I didn't want to overreact, but that this was certainly not normal. So he ordered a CT scan.

After the CT, Derek came from school to help out. Jack had finally calmed down by now but he still wasn't his usual self. He wasn't trying to get off of my lap and explore everything like he usually does. I slowly started to put together all of the evidence of what had happened that morning. A few times I had tried to put him down to walk around to see if that would make him feel better (it usually does) but it only made him scream more. I remembered that while he was having his snack I had touched his leg and he had started to cry. So I told Derek to try standing him up. He of course screamed. We looked closer and saw that his left ankle was swollen and he cried if we touched it. I realized that instead of hitting his head, I must have landed on his leg. I have no idea why I jumped right to assuming he hit his head. Just then the resident came over and here's how the conversation went:

Resident: Well, the CT looks fine so you guys are good to go. How's he doing?

Me: I really hate to do this to you, but I think it's his ankle. Look at the swelling.

Resident: You're right, let's do an x-ray.

(After the x-ray)
Resident: Well, his leg is broken.

Yes, that's right folks, I broke my baby's leg. And I didn't figure it out until after a CT scan for a suspected head injury. I think Jack has now been exposed to more radiation than I've been exposed to in my entire life. The break is right above his ankle, a partial fracture of the lower tibia. I spent most the night crying about it. Fortunately, I think it's been harder on me than him. The worst part for me is thinking about how much his leg was hurting him, and I had no idea! I wasn't being at all careful with it, I probably bumped it when I put him in the carseat and changed his clothes. I feel terrible about that! I wish I had realized that it was his leg, not his head! Now that he's getting some pain medicine and his leg is in a cast, he seems rather unfazed by the whole thing.

They sent him home in a splint and ace wrap with instructions to come back the next day for a cast. An orthopedic surgeon saw him and reassured me that kids heal from broken bones really well, and that the break was not near the growth plates so it won't have any lasting problems. He does have to be in a bulky cast that can't get wet for 4-6 weeks. So sponge baths only and no swimming. Now for some pictures.
This is the first day, before the real cast. It breaks my heart how sad he looks.
This is shortly after the cast. He looks much happier than yesterday.
It's all downhill from here. He is fine now except for when he tries to stand up, so we're back to crawling for now. Here's to hoping for a quick and easy recovery for Jack.

Catching Up

Terrible blogger here. It was a comment left by an old friend and reading her awesome blog that inspired me to post an update! So here's what's new with the Goodyears.

-We have survived the Erie winter. I thought I knew bad winters and that I could handle anything. Utah is known for it's snow, right? Was I in for a shock! Winter here is miserable. I go for days without leaving the house, I have to dig the car out on a regular basis, and there are no breaks from the bitter, icy cold. But it's finally ending! I did get some cute pictures out of it, though.

-Speaking of cars, we finally bought our first "real" one. I say real because it has cruise control, power windows, keyless entry, and is big enough that we don't have to scoot the passenger seat all the way forward just so the carseat will fit. It's a 2006 red Toyota Camry and we've actually had it since November. It was my Grandma's car, and she keeps her cars in immaculate condition. We're talking towels on the seats and floors so no one ever actually touches them. It's certainly not that clean anymore, but it's still the nicest thing we've ever owned (not to mention that she gave us a killer deal on it!). Derek's brother David was nice enough to drive it out here for us (he likes driving, although I think he got tired of it on that trip) so we got to have a houseguest for a couple days.

-I chopped my hair. I always go in cycles of chopping then growing it long, but always wishing it was longer. Not anymore. I'm done with long hair. It will be staying short. I get an hour back in the mornings, and I no longer have a temptation for Jack's surprisingly strong little fists hanging from my head.

-Jack is 14 months and is walking! He holds his arms out for balance and looks like a cute baby Frankenstein of sorts. He's also hit a bajillion other milestones since I last posted. He is eating most everything, including crayons and desitin when given the chance (no joke, the other day I left his room for 30 seconds, and came back to find him with the desitin tube open and white all around his mouth. Was that good, Jack?) We got him a forward facing car seat, which he loved, after a series of tantrums when being put in the old seat. A week later we turned it back around when new recommendations came out. Tough break, kiddo.


-Jack also says a few words and is just starting to grasp the concept of meaningful communication. Our awesome babysitter taught him some signs (for "eat" and "more"), and he actually says "all done" by holding out his hands and saying "ah ah." We figured out what it meant when he consistently refused to eat anymore after doing that. He says uh-oh when something falls on the floor. When I get home from work, he goes "mamamamamama." He'll also say dada with a little coaxing.

-We again know what it's like to sleep until we wake up on our own! Jack sleeps 12 hours straight now which is wonderful. This means my body wakes me up instead of a crying hungry baby! I forgot how awesome that is.

-At the beginning of February I took a quick trip home to Utah with Jack. It was only 3 days if you don't count the travel days, since that was all I could get off work, but it was wonderful. My grandma came down and we all spent some much-needed time together, and we celebrated Jack's first birthday. Poor Derek. He got to watch it all on video when we got home, though. I ate at Cafe Rio 3 times while I was there. There's just no substitute for it here in Erie.

Other than that, well, things are good. Derek is nearing the end of year 1 in medical school. I've almost got my first year of RN experience. This summer we are planning a longer vacation home to see friends and family (and the Rio of course). I really can't complain, life is good.

The Best $30 I Ever Spent

Warning: this post is about breast pumping. Should the subject make you uncomfortable, stop reading now.

Jack is almost 1 year old. For the first three months of his life I was a full time student doing 12 hour clinical rotations and for the last five months I've managed to successfully work full time as a nurse and continue to breastfeed him without needing to supplement with formula. My goal was to get to a year, and I've pretty much made it. He eats enough other foods now that I've been able to stop pumping at work, but I do still pump at home from time to time. And I still have a freezer full of milk so I think we'll get to a year just fine without formula (his birthday is February 5th).

Since I've managed to do this, I thought I'd share some tips for my friends who are currently doing the same thing or are considering it. I found a lot of tricks along the way that made it much easier.

The first and most important thing is to bite the bullet and buy a nice pump. I have the Medela Pump in Style, which goes for $280 new.
Sounds expensive, but it pays for itself quickly. I did the math once, and I can't remember the numbers exactly, but I think it pays for itself in about 3 months compared to buying formula. And if you consider that you'll use it for future children, it's definitely worthwhile. Also, I have seen it on sale at Target for $220. So if you plan ahead and watch for it to go on sale you can probably get a good deal.

I've heard the Avent Isis is a good one, too. I also think WIC provides pumps, so if you're on WIC that's an option. The important thing is, if you're going to be working full time, to get a double electric pump that will maintain your supply and make it so you can pump as quickly as possible.

For me, one of the worst parts of pumping was washing bottles. Jack wouldn't take the bottles that came with the pump. So I'd be pumping into those bottles, then transferring it to another bottle that he'd take, then putting the rest in bags to freeze.

It took me until he was 7 months or so before I figured out an easy way around this. (I so wish I had thought of this from the beginning!) I started pumping directly into the bags. Here is the setup:
So simple, that I cant believe I didn't think of it sooner. You just tape the bag onto the pump and you've saved yourself a bunch of hassle. I just pump right into the bags and then throw the bags into the freezer when I get home. No bottle washing! For even less washing, we use the bottles with the liners. All we ever wash is nipples and the actual pump parts, which are all fine to go in the dishwasher. (I also bought myself an extra set of pump parts for a few bucks on ebay so I don't have to wash those as often. That was helpful too.)

And finally the biggest lifesaver of all and the reason for the title of the post: the hands-free pumping bra. I discovered this, thankfully, right before I started my job. As a nurse there really isn't extra time on my shift for pumping, so I have to squeeze it in on my lunch break. Eating and pumping at the same time sounds really difficult, right? Nope. It's too hard to explain so here's a picture (not of me, of course).
Yep. It really works. I can sit and eat my lunch, talk on the phone, read a book or whatever while I pump. This gives me my whole lunch break to pump, which for me is sufficient and I don't have to try to get away any more than that. If you're lucky enough to have a job where you can get away more often, or you could get away with pumping at your desk, then I don't see how it could be any easier. I know it looks like it wouldn't work or that the attachments wouldn't stay in place, but they do. No leakage, no slipping, nothing. Even with the bags completely full. (It might be harder if you happen to really well endowed. I wouldn't know :)) All you need is a room with a door that locks and an electrical outlet, which I'm lucky enough to have at work (I know not every work place can provide this, so best of luck).

I only know for sure that the brand of pumping bra I have works, so I'm not going to recommend any others. It's called Simple Wishes Hands-Free Breastpump Bra.
I honestly can't understand why it doesn't just come with the pump. I can't believe I spent those first three months at clinical holding the blasted things in place! Now that I've been using it for a while I don't know how I ever did without it!

So, there you go. That's how I've managed to work and pump for most of the first year of Jack's life. It's a pain sometimes, but it was really important to me so with a combination of luck and shortcuts I found a way to make it work. And you can too. If anyone out there has any more tricks, please share them with me :)