2 months old

Baby walker is officially 2 months old today. His cousin Nicholas was born today as well. I can't wait for these boys to grow up together. Life is wonderful. I am totally enjoying my baby, my kids, and my husband this Christmas break!

6 hours

Last night was Walker's first 6 hour stretch of sleep. At 8 weeks old. I'm thrilled. I haven't done anything to encourage it, he's completely demand fed, in fact he's demand everything. I let him dictate what he wants to do, and I hold him until he falls asleep. So it makes me think it's just how my kids are, and not any kind of babywise technique. He's an angel, I just love everything about him.

December 6th, Walker's due date

One day when I was in the NICU the nurse manager for L&D came in to talk to me. She said they were doing a big PR branding thing for our hospital, and they wanted me to give a testimonial. I told her I would be thrilled to and she told me to expect a phone call. In the phone call they explained a little bit more and said there would be a radio ad and newspaper ads that I would be in, a little embarrassing, but no big deal, right?

The marketing company came to my house to meet with me, and before I knew it, they were talking about where they would be filming, and asked if I could go up to the hospital to film as well. Turns out there is a commercial involved as well. They have 1 person from 3 different sections of the hospital for the commercial, and I just happen to be the one representing the women's center. Oh my.

They scheduled the filming for December 6th, Walker's due date. I got to bring him back to the hospital on his due date to visit L&D and the NICU. I even gowned up like I was a patient again. Here was what I wrote from that day.

I had so much fun on Walker's due date! I showed up at the hospital and signed away my life (giving them permission to do whatever they want with the video and pictures). It was so fun to walk in and tell the NICU staff (they are the ones who let you into l&d at our hospital) that I was in labor. They all squealed and came to ooh and ahh over Walker.

When I walked back to L&D I found a studio all set up in the room. Lights all over, a bunch of their crew. I gowned up, but was able to keep my clothes on underneath (phew). They got us arranged in the bed, and then we had to undress the sweet, sleeping Walker. He didn't like that. He wanted to eat then. But we gave him a bottle and took shots in between settling him down with a binky. It was really cheesy and awkward. They did all kinds of strange angles and shots, and while they took videos they also took photos. The advertising director of the hospital explained that they were making brochures with my pictures as well as newpaper ads and bus wraps. My heart stopped beating for a second when she said that. Bus wraps? I have never aspired to seeing my face on a bus! She said that as IHC (Intermountain Health care) owned the pictures they can use them to advertise for any hospital. And that a gal from our hospital has had her picture on a billboard in Salt Lake City for the last year. (PLEASE, no billboards!) Anyway, I guess I don't know where I'll see these pictures pop up. Why do I have to be 17 pounds overweight in these pictures????

Then we got to go back to the NICU. It was so good to be back there. My favorite nurse Susanne was there and she did so well! We went back into a room and hooked him back up to all his monitors. And the NICU scenes were just exactly like the real thing. She walked in, used Avagard on her hands, and smiled as she asked me how we were doing. Then she came down close to me to love on Walker for a minute and chat. It was just like my NICU life. I loved it. We stuck around for awhile afterwards and chatted with the nurses. It was hard for me to want to leave that place again, especially knowing that I won't get to go back in there again ever with Walker. But...... seeing as I skipped a feeding I was blowing up like a balloon, and needed to go home and nurse my baby. So we finally left.

Anyway, I know that's a really long story, but it was a great day. Who gets to go have a major photo and video shoot on their babies due date at the place they were born? I'm pretty sure it will never happen to me again. So I tried to soak it all in.

The next day they came to film at my house. It was pretty crazy. But I managed to farm out my kids and get it done.

The commercial turned out great. They must be professionals to take my goofy stuff and make it look good. It is the 2nd of 3- 30 second commericals on here, so you can skip about 30 seconds into it to see mine.

LRH_3 Spots from FireFly Film & Video on Vimeo.

All 5 Low boys.....

Have blue eyes
Were born early
Have swirled cowlicks on the exact same spot of their forehead the only partly goes up into their hairline
Had jaundice after birth
Have umbilical hernias
Had long, skinny fingers when they were born
Loved being swaddled
and are really cute in their own unique ways too.

Just FMI

Which means for MY information. :)

Walker is fast approaching his 2 month birthday (5 days away) and he....

Only JUST started smiling
Still poops alot!
Takes bottles or the breast flawlessly.
LOOOOOVES his binky, doesn't want to spend any waking moments without it
Really prefers being held
Just started sleeping in large enough chunks for me to consider that I slept at all in the night
Doesn't quite fit into 0-3 months yet
Weighs almost 9 pounds
Wears size 1 diapers
Has an amazing amount of gas
Has pretty long eyelashes
Still has acne
Loves baths
Is still like a sleepy newborn
His favorite place is his changing table when the sun is shining.

I must say I have enjoyed Walker more than any other baby. It's not anything about him, just the frame of mind I'm in. I love how small he is, I feel like the newborn stage is lasting longer.

Aside from the moments of panic when my water broke, and those sleepless nights as I worried about infection and prematurity and what each of them would bring, I don't regret his prematurity at all. He's pretty close to his milestones, I know he'll catch up in growth by the time he reaches a year old. I LOVED my NICU experience, I treasure everything about it. I got so many special benefits from it. My labor experience, although not how I imagined it at all (think hippie, that was my goal) ended up being awesome.

I just can't find anything to complain about this experience. It's wonderful. It makes me want to do it again...... but I think I'll wait a bit :)

Walker smiles

Yesterday Brooke watched my boys. I had to go deliver a box of 400 ounces of breastmilk to be donated to the milk bank. I'm excited to think about all the babies that will be better off because of my milk!

Walker gave Brooke a bunch of smiles, and I was kind of jealous. But this morning he gave me a whole series of adorable smiles. I'm so excited that he reached this milestone. He has also been cooing a little bit. He slept well last night. I just adore this little baby. He's so sweet!

2/1

Two nights of misery. Two nights of almost no sleep. Two nights of my sweet little baby tensing up in pain every few minutes and wanting to be held through it. Walker started getting an incredible amount of gas all of a sudden. He was clearly in a lot of pain from it, and he wanted to sleep but couldn't. He kept his eyes closed, and fell back to sleep fairly quickly, but the pain of air bubbles in his tiny, premature intestines just hurt too badly. I was really wondering how I would survive more nights like these.

Yesterday I tried to give him Mylecon drops a little more regularly, and the best thing ever happened. He only woke me once in the night! He slept from 11:00 to 3:00 and then I woke him at 7:00 because I was worried about him.

So the good news is, I have renewed hope that I might resume some brain functionality at some point in the future when I get some sleep again. In the mean time, I still enjoy seeing Walker a few times in the night. Just not ALL night.

Stories

Three stories today.

1. We moved G. into Henry's room. I knew that putting him in a new crib was going to make him realize he could get out. It did. Henry and him were up playing for hours every night, so we moved Henry downstairs. That helped for awhile, but I finally succumbed to my good friend the crib tent.

All the boys came running into the room while I set it up. They were so excited. G. was NOT excited. His little face drooped, then crumpled. "OH MAN!" he said. Kinda stomping his feet he said again, "OH MAN!" It was like he knew he was toast. Luckily his brothers convinced him it was super cool, and within a few minutes he was begging to go to bed in his "house." He likes it okay now, and he's sleeping MUCH more, phew!

2. A week before my water broke with Walker I went to ward temple night. I had just come from L&D getting my steroid shots and they made me super hot. I spent the majority of the session fanning myself with a tiny pink piece of paper. I really considered leaving because I couldn't survive one more minute. It was an excruciatingly hard hour for me. Part of the way through I realized that the girl next to me was pregnant too, and she was pretty hot as well. We ended up chatting a little (as much as you can in these circumstances) and I learned that she had preterm labor as well.

I just went up to the NICU to bring some thank yous and I ran into this girl. I couldn't figure out who she was, but she remembered and told me how I knew her. Her baby came at 33 weeks, and had spent 2 weeks in the NICU. He was going home, but on oxygen. She only got one shot in before he was born, so his lungs weren't strong like Walkers.

For some reason I felt like this meeting was serendipitous. I'm not sure why.

3. I title this story "The poor little rich boys"
For the last year, our family computer hasn't worked. It freezes constantly, and the kind of freeze where you have to hold the power button for 10 seconds and then turn it back on. I haven't used it at all, but the kids have. I have never heard them complain about it, even though it turns off in the middle of their games, etc. They have been so sweet about it.

I threw the computer out a few weeks ago, and I told Dave we had to replace it immediately. But we didn't. And they haven't ever complained about not having a computer. It kinda tears me up to think how sweet they have been to not have a computer and not complain. They have never asked to use mine either. And then I remember that it's pathetic of me to feel sorry for kids not having a computer. How spoiled are we? Will you all hold a telethon for us to raise money for these poor little rich boys? (That is a joke I learned from our bishop). But nonetheless, I am proud of the way they have handled it.

We talked about it last night and Isaac said, "When we get a new computer, I hope it has our family videos." I was floored that was his only request. We talked about how much computers cost and they were shocked. They understood we would have to save up for it. They were ok with that.

I have a new imac sitting in a box under my tree right now......

Dear Santa

This year for Christmas I don't want you to GIVE me anything. I simply want you to take away my fat. 15 pounds of it please. And actually you can drop it off as a gift to someone who needs it. I'm sure there are some starving people who could use it!

Aaaaaaand, while you're at it, please bring my children an iMac. The tooth fairy does that, she takes the tooth and leaves a gift. So take my fat and leave us an iMac. These kids really deserve it after using the piece of garbage computer we've had for so long. (It is indeed in the garbage). Thanks!
Erica Low
ps, I've been pretty good this year, so if I'm not on the "nice" list I would like to dispute that. :)

Live Nativity

Tonight we went to a live nativity in Nibley. It was amazing. We saw the sheep, then the donkeys, then the camels and then the people. We walked out and as a bonus they had a zebra and a zonkey. That was the highlight for the boys, truthfully. They had a hayride with horses pulling it, and they sang jingle bells as they rode. It was so fun. G. was terrified of the animals, but he claimed he liked them. We ran into 2 families that we know. One of the families with 4 girls, the other family with 4 boys. Those are our peeps! It was a fabulous family night. We came home to hot chocolate, and Walker had warm milk. :) Wish I had pictures.....

The best part of the night. As we were leaving I picked up G. and he was wiggling to get down and saying something. I thought he was saying he wanted to walk, but then I realized what he was worried about.... Where did Walker go? I told him Dad had him and then he was fine. I LOVE how these boys look out for each other. How can they love this tiny little person who doesn't really interact with them at all? Why doesn't he resent him and wish I HAD left him behind? It's amazing. These brothers have such a bond. You could almost convince me they brought it here with them.....

Happy Due Date

Today is our due date! And as I hold a probably 8 pound baby, I can't imagine that people are carrying these things around inside them. And then they deliver them! Holy cow. This baby is starting to feel pretty heavy to me. I now prop him up while he eats because he is heavy in my arms. And I can't believe his chubby cheeks!

At almost 6 weeks old and on his due date Walker.....

Weighs about 8 pounds
Eats really well, obviously
Still has never cried beyond being picked up and soothed for a second
Has developed acne :(
Loves his baths
Holds his head up well
Has the intelligent look in his eye like he wants to smile, and has given me a few almost smiles
Does NOT sleep through the night!
Does sleep one 5 hour chunk
Still has his hair, and the hair on top grew. Most people would call him bald, but we've had babies much balder than this.

And we.....

I- still have never felt bugged by him in the night. I LOVE to be with him and feed him. I feel sad that he has changed so much and grown so big even though I know it's what he is supposed to do and it means he is healthy. I have realized he has way too many newborn/preemie clothes, and I wish he could wear some of them more often. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a baby more than this, partly because of his sweet personality, but partly because I am in a different frame of mind, and was ready to devote all my energy to this baby. (When G. was born I put my energy toward the basement and I didn't enjoy him nearly as much) I have loved my time with this baby, we are so bonded, and he is so sweet.

Isaac- Calls him "this guy" Always wants to hold "this guy" and gives me a play-by-play of every single facial expression he makes. Can carry him around quite well.

Dawson- Holds him occasionally, talks and plays with him frequently. Is working on names for the next boy and prays for our next baby.....oh boy.

Henry- asks constantly to see or touch him. Just for a second. He just gazes at him for a second or touches him lovingly, just to get his fix.

G.- still says, "I wanna hold it." And an "it" is just what he sees Walker as. Jealousy hasn't been an issue at all since we've been home.

Dave- is proud of Walker and me. Lets me do most everything, but is the cutest daddy to Walker on the rare times I let him hold him.

Random

1. I got to give Walker his first bath. How cool is that? I spent that first hour with him in the delivery room and then Wendy (NICU nurse) took him to check him out. His glucose level was in the 30's and needs to be over 50, so he was admitted. Because I didn't have an epidural, I was walking and could go visit him quickly. I don't remember what time this was, but I showed up to feed him and Wendy let me give him his first bath. All the other kids were bathed right away, but Walker's circumstances made it so I could do it.

2. The first little while in the NICU they would only let me spend 30 minutes trying to get Walker to eat. They didn't want him to wear out, and they also told me that when babies are sleeping their brains grow, so I needed to let him sleep. Interesting.

3. Babies don't get to go back to the NICU. If you go back to the hospital, you are sent to the Pediatric floor as the baby is"contaminated". So you really don't want to leave the NICU until the baby is good and ready! But Walker gets to go back to the NICU..... on his due date! He will be filmed for a commercial. I'm so excited. I miss them there, it will be fun to go back.