Empower Your Child's Future with Cord Blood Registry

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Dad Central for the Cord Blood Registry. I received promotional item to thank me for my participation.”

When we were preparing for Brynlee, we had a lot of choices to make. One of those choices included Cord Blood Banking. Did we want to do it, or skip? What do we even know about it? Is it beneficial? Is it worth it? Luckily, we had all the information at our fingertips.

Cord Blood stem cells are used to treat many life-threatening diseases. Leukemia, anemia, and other types of cancers for example. They also have the potential to help heal serious conditions like brain damage. 

As you can see, the benefits are extremely powerful. But the downside is that it is quite expensive. However, no price tag can outweigh the health benefits that they can provide, now or in the future. 

CORD BLOOD REGISTRY is giving my readers a $200 discount when you visit cordbankingbasics.com and complete an information request. Do NOT miss this FREE opportunity!

Even with all of this life-saving information, we were unable to have her cord blood banked. We just simply would not be able to afford it.  (They do have payment plan options, though)

They are currently trying to put into legislation a Family Cord Blood Banking Act, which would allow the services to be recognized as a qualified medical expense allowing families to apply tax-advantaged health funds for the collection, processing, and storage of these life-saving cells. This would, without a doubt, empower many more families to be able to use these services, potentially saving lives in the future. 

Cord blood is easy to collect. The doctor will do it for you, they just save some from the umbilical cord, after it is cut. It is put into a special container that is supplied, and you send it off. There is no harm to the baby to collect it, and is recognized by just about every doctor out there. Hopefully, insurance will realize how important this precious blood is, and help parents collect it without breaking their wallets.

Maybe by the time we have another child, the Act will be recognized, and we can save our next child's cord blood. My wife, nor I, would ever hesitate to do it.

You can find more information on Cord Blood Banking at www.cordblood.com.

Two Months Old Photos

Well, Bryn is a little over two months old now. If you haven't noticed, the blog hasn't been update for a while. That goes to show you how much work it is to have an infant. She is a lot of fun, though! Here's some pictures from around two months. 

Her favorite burping position - 

Mommy's new "mommy-mobile" - 

And of course, her two-month picture - 

B's First Babysitter

8:21am

My stepsister gave birth to twins on Friday! So we decided to go visit them yesterday(Saturday) at the hospital. 

Like most hospitals that we have encountered, no small children are allowed in the maternity suites. Except for the babies, obviously. So Brynlee couldn't go. 

My wife is very attached to our daughter, which I assume is pretty normal for a mom and her infant. But at some point you have to let other people watch her. This was the perfect opportunity. A small amount of time, to get our feet wet with being away from her. She is going to have to do it when she goes back to work, anyways. 

So we dropped her off at my wife's sister's house. They have two dogs, which sometimes makes us nervous, but these two are so protective of Brynlee. It's actually kind of funny. I almost feel like we could leave her with just the two dogs! (Kidding)

After my wife explained where everything was in the diaper bag, and basic care instructions, we were on our way. We made it about ten minutes down the street when she said "ok, I miss her already".  She hasn't been without her since she was born. Not even for five minutes. 

When we got to the hospital, our thoughts were occupied by the new twins. They are so small compared to Brynlee. The boy is much smaller than the girl, which isn't surprising, since women seem to take men for everything they've got. They are adorable and I'm very excited for their family. 

After a couple of hours, it was time to get back to our little one. There was a missed phone call to my wife from her sister, so natural instinct made her worry. But nothing was wrong, just a simple feeding question. 

When we got there, she had just christened the couch, and her aunt with spit-up. She seems to do that a lot. We are pretty sure that she over-eats. But everyone has told us that if she is hungry, let her eat. She can down about 6-7 ounces each feeding, though some of it usually comes back up. 

All-in-all, I think she did fine being away from her mom and dad. I'm sure we will have a few people watch her here and there to get used to it. Plus, it's good to socialize her so that she isn't shy and too attached to us. 

Just another milestone in her book. 

Day 31 - Wait? What's That? It's Looking Like Another Cold Dinner Night...

10:10pm

I want you to think hard about your favorite meal. What is it? Picture it in front of you right now.

It looks delicious, right? Smells good, your mouth is watering, anticipating eating a wonderful dinner.

Sit down, grab your eating utensils, and reach for that first bite.

Wait? What's that?

Your newborn's diaper has leaked? Your baby's legs are dripping grainy, yellowish poop?

I guess that fresh, hot dinner is going to have to wait. You have bigger problems to solve.

Strip the baby's clothes off. Carefully, so that you don't make more of a mess than you are already dealing with.

Try to rinse the majority of the baby mustard(as I like to call it) off in the sink, before a real bath is ready.

Twenty minutes later, baby is all clean. But we still have to get her dressed.

Put on a fresh diaper, get her in some clean pajamas. About 45 minutes have passed since the first sentence.

Now she's hungry. She cries and cries until she is fed.

Prepare a bottle, feed her for ten minutes, until she is content. Can't feed without burping.

Pat her back for five minutes, or so, until a burp or two is released. Let's set her down.

Get her comfortable in her sleeper. Pacifier in. Blanket tucked around her little body. She's finally asleep.

Might as well eat dinner on a plate made of ice. It's cold, and ruined. It cannot be repaired. It's the norm these days.

Take a few bites, it's just OK. At least it's food. And edible.



Wait? What's that?

She's pooping again....

Dinner is going to have to wait. Again.


Welcome to my world.

Day 22 - Toddler Held Hostage At Oklahoma Walmart

8:51pm



I came across a disturbing video earlier today. Apparently a man (obviously not in the right state of mind), picks a small girl out of a shopping cart, while her mother is turned away, puts a knife to her stomach, and walks over the mother, demanding that she uses his cell phone to call a Dallas, TX police officer that he grew up with. Frantic, the mother tries to dial and cooperate with the demanding man. Meanwhile, bystanders call police and they show up rather quickly. While trying to negotiate with the man, they take the mother away, to the front of the store. After a few minutes, and opportuinty arises for an office to take action. His only option is to shoot the man at point blank range, freeing the child safely.




Take a look for yourself....

I'm not too sure when this happened, I believe a couple of months ago. It shows how important it is to keep an eye on your children! How quickly this happened is unreal. No reason whatsoever for him to single out that certain child, other than the wrong place at the wrong time. And that is something that nobody can predict. This isn't a race thing either. It can happen to anyone, by anyone, and anywhere. So just please, keep your children close, and tell them you love them every day. This woman is lucky to have her daughter still, and lucky for such well responding law enforcement.

Just something to remember!

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*FTC Disclosure - This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are 100% my own.

Day 3 - Pump And Save

10:39pm



Today was my first day back to work since Brynlee was born. I would have rather stayed home, but you have to do what you have to do. I am off tomorrow which is nice, because we have a lot to get done around home. Clothes are still packed from the hospital, laundry to be done, dishes to be done, house cleaning, and all of that fun stuff. Not really looking forward to it. My wife took care of some of the chores while she was home today, but she is limited on what she can do. Plus, she has a newborn to take care of as well!

Little B has her first Pediatric appointment tomorrow afternoon. Just a quick check-up to make sure she is getting enough food, and that she is doing well in general. Breast-fed babies need to be seen within 1-2 days after being released from the hospital. So we'll see how that goes. This girl has been eating like crazy.

My wife pumped breastmilk for the first time today. She was able to get about 8oz. Her breasts were hurting and the baby wasn't eating fast enough. They were leaking so she decided to pump because, face it, breast milk is like gold. Pump and save. Pump and save. Sell it on Ebay. (Just Kidding)

The lactation consultant said it's important for my wife to feed her only from her breasts, because that is how a mother and child bond. Obviously, there are other ways as well, but that's a big one. As far as dads, we bond with our children more by ways of playing, and changing, and things like that.


I changed my first official diaper tonight. A nice, poopy one. It was great. I loved it. Can't wait to do it again. Do you like my sarcasm?

We have this Medela Pump In Style breast pump

Week 39 Day 6 - Pre-Labor 3 c.m. Dilated

10:10pm



My wife was up about every hour last night. She was having pretty painful period-like cramps. I heard her a few times, but I managed to still get a decent night's sleep.

I went to work and my wife had to drop off her 24-hour urine collection at her doctor's office this morning. When she got there he wanted to do a quick exam to see if her blood pressure was now at a better level. All was normal, and her swelling had gone down, so he was very pleased with the results. While talking to her, she explained that she had been up all night with cramping, so he did an internal exam as well. He discovered that she had dilated another 1.5cm (within the last 2 days), to a total of 3cm! He said she is in "pre-labor".

image from iahealth.net

Since last night she has noticed she has been excreting a lot of discharge/mucus which she thinks is the "plug" starting to come out.  When she came home from her doctors and used the restroom, she noticed a faint streak of pink in this mucus.  Some hour or so later after more cramping she used the restroom again and noticed a lot more blood when she wiped.  She was so excited hoping this was the start of "the show" and that she'll hopefully be going into active labor within the next 24-48 hours.

We are getting pretty anxious and I hope so as I am home from work tomorrow and that would be just perfect.

We ran to Target and got some last minute necessities, for the hospital bags and to organize and store some more things in the garage... Now that baby could be making her grand debut any day we need to make sure we have as much room around here as possible.  I didn't want to run to the store at first but of course my wife spoiled me with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, it was my first of many this season, so can't complain that I was dragged along.... How horrible!

We're watching some college football and going to be finishing up some of these never ending house chores.  Getting ready for this baby's arrival and anxiously awaiting this night out! Tomorrow could possibly be the last "pregnancy" post.....






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*FTC disclosure - some links on this blog may contain affiliate links. All opinions are 100% my own.

Week 39 Day 5 - Preeclampsia Scare

8:08pm



Well, we had quite an evening last night...


What started off with an easy morning of overtime, and then a great game of golf, turned in to most of the night at the hospital!

We had a doctor's appointment at 4:40pm. My wife didn't get home from work until about 4:20pm, and she had to change and then we had to get to the office, about 10 minutes away. So she rushed to change, and we hurried to the office. We were about 10 minutes late. (Normal for us, actually).

They always take her weight and blood pressure, and then do a vaginal exam to see how dilated she is. Yesterday she was at 1.5cm. And the baby's head was low, which is good. However, her doctor was concerned with her blood pressure.

It was somewhat high, and high blood pressure could be a sign of Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a medical condition characterized by high blood pressure and significant amounts of protein in the urine of a pregnant woman. If left untreated, it can develop into eclampsia, the life-threatening occurrence of seizures during pregnancy. (Source - Wikipedia.com)

So, after a quick stop at KFC (because we need to eat!), we headed to the hospital. 

They took us into the Labor & Delivery wing, and gave us a room. About an hour went by before a nurse came in. My wife was ready to leave, because that is ridiculous. Turns out, they forgot about us, and the nurse that noticed, had just started her shift at the time that she discovered us. She was very nice and helpful, also knowledgeable. We were at the hospital from about 6pm to around 11pm.

A blood pressure monitor was hooked up to my wife's arm, a baby's heartbeat monitor to her belly, and they took a few vials of blood for testing. Oh, and urine, they took some of that, too. 

Her blood pressure fluctuated the whole time we were there. It would start to go down, but then next time the machine took a reading, it would be back up to risky levels. We thought that maybe because we had rushed to the doctor's appointment, that could cause the blood pressure to rise, and it could, along with a lot of other possibilities including diet, and stress.

Her blood results came back perfect. So her doctor decided that the hospital could release her, even though the blood pressure was still a little higher than normal. She is now required to save her urine, so that they can further test and monitor the situation. If preeclampsia becomes determined, the only real way to stop it is to deliver the baby. She would have to be induced.

She was also told that she is no longer allowed to work, and to take it easy. Bed-rest, basically. Her work already knows that she is due on Tuesday, and it's pretty surprising that she was able to work up until now. A lot of pregnant people stop in their 7th or 8th month of pregnancy. We got lucky. Plus, she makes more money than I do, so that helps!

Still no baby. She obviously stayed home from work today, and a few of her coworkers called to check on her. I thought that was nice of them. 

In other news... At 7:30am this morning, a drunken neighbor went on a rampage through the subdivision. He drove his truck into several parked cars, took down a few trees, hit some buildings, and drove through a garage. Finally ended up, in the parking spot in front of his condo, like nothing ever happened. He was arrested. I left at about 6:15am this morning, so luckily I made it out of there before it happened. My wife thinks that she heard it happen. She said there was a lot of loud noise around that time, and that she woke up. He didn't come by our place, so that's good. I just don't get how he did so much damage. He had a big Chevy truck, fairly new. I remember seeing it parked there the day before. Crazy.

Driver being arrested.

Every day is something different! Always some sort of excitement. 

Week 38 Day 2 - Passed Out Dad

1:23pm



I could probably write a whole story about the dangers of eating three hot dogs for lunch, like I just did. But I really don't care, because they were delicious. Actually, they were expired. Almost a month, expired. But I ate them anyways. Why? Because I am a MAN. And that's what we do. 


Although, we usually don't do this....


Last night, after I wrote yesterday's post, we continued to organize the baby's room. I had been up at 5:30am that morning, followed by an exhausting day at work. Then a family party.

Reallly, I was pretty darn tired.

Most of the following I do not remember....

My wife said that I fell asleep. On the floor. Against the baby's crib. With my iPad underneath my head, like a pillow, and my iPhone still in my hand.

Anyone that knows me, knows that this is not that hard to believe. I am glued to my phone. Then again, who isn't these days?

I wish she had a picture.

Here I was, sleeping on her new pink shaggy carpet. It looks really comfortable, so I don't really blame myself. But how did I end up on the floor in the first place? I must have been so tired that I don't even remember sitting down? Apparently, I wasn't helping organize too much.

I have a feeling that once she is here, this type of situation will happen quite a few more times. Long, late nights feeding, and comforting the baby. I know that many parents find that sleep is not as prevalent as before-baby. There are loads of stories about parents falling asleep in the nurseries, and other odd places.

I will remember last night as the FIRST of many future awkward sleeping locations.

(Also, if I don't write for a few days, assume that I am in the hospital for hotdog food poisoning.)




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*Some links on my blog may contain affiliate links. All opinions are 100% my own. 

Week 36 Day 2 - Where's The Expectant Dad's Parking Spot?

9:04pm



I got to spend some time with my dad yesterday. We went and played a quick round of golf. I'm not very good at it, but he tries to help. I guess you could say I'm getting better. Need to keep practicing.

 

After that we headed over to all the "baby" stores to take back some duplicate items, and exchange for things that we still need. We loved all the gifts, but ended up with quite a bit of stuff that wasn't even on our registry. We really need a few important items, so we exchanged some of the things that we won't really use. I parked in the "expecting mothers" parking spot, but it got me to thinking...

Why doesn't dad get a special spot? Are these people sexist? I'm expecting a baby too. But I have to walk farther? What's the deal?!

If you can't read the sign, it says "Parking for Expectant Mothers, and Parents with Newborns." Well, I am neither! I want my rights! BuyBuyBaby, I say you give us dad's some credit too! Maybe our spots don't need to be closer than the mother's spot, but maybe we can have the next few. Heck, put us in the back, we are men, we don't care. It just is exciting to be recognized. Us guys are pretty easy to please.


So if any of you get to park in the new "Dad Spot" in the future. You can thank me later.


My wife was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today, but the Dr. was doing a delivery, or something like that. So her appointment won't be until next week. Simple check-ups until the baby comes now. Exciting that she can actually be here any day now. Hopefully she will wait a few more weeks, but she should be healthy even if she does show up a little sooner. My wife is starting to get pretty uncomfortable too. Feet hurt, back hurts, lots of naps, pains, all kinds of stuff. She doesn't look huge, either. I think I am over the whole "pregnant" lifestyle. I am as ready now as I ever will be. Well, besides the fact that I don't know how to put a diaper on, still. Better get working on that!


When did you learn how to change a diaper for the first time? Was it after your first born was already here? Did you practice before?

Week 35 Day 6 - Baby Shower Eve

10:46pm

Busy, busy day. We are still at my mom's house finishing up some last minute decorations for the baby shower tomorrow. 

I am on my phone so it's hard to type. 

Here's a little preview of what we are making! 

Hopefully we will be done soon because I need to get my beauty sleep. I am going to be the only dude amongst much estrogen tomorrow. Fuuunnnnn....

See you all tomorrow!

Week 30 Day 4 - 10 Weeks to 30 Weeks Photo Timeline

11:18am


I have to work the late shift tonight.. 2pm to 10pm. Not fun. But it will be extremely easy, so that's one way to look at it. Just got off the motorcycle, had to go drop my wife's debit card off to her work, because she forgot it at home. Happens probably twice a week...... However, it gives me a good reason to get out and enjoy the weather.


So I realized that living with your pregnant wife, you don't really notice the changes of the belly. You see her everyday so you cant tell that it's growing except when you look at old pictures. I thought I would put some pictures up of the transformation from when we first found out she was pregnant, until yesterday, 30 weeks along.

10 Weeks to 30 Weeks Photo Timeline

The beginning

12 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks

18 weeks. It's A Girl!

18 weeks

19 weeks

22 weeks

22 weeks

24 weeks

24 weeks (obviously)

25 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

26 weeks

28 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks!