Babies! Babies! Babies!

      I love reading about babies and how they form in a woman's body! It has got to be the most beautiful thing to be able to create a living, breathing, completely unique human inside your own body! The experience from a mothers point of view is one that could never be matched! During both my pregnancies I loved reading about what was going on with my baby. In between my two pregnancies I worked as a phlebotomist at Overlake hospital and often times worked in labor and delivery. I would do newborn screenings on babies as well as various other blood tests. This is the test that tests for phenylketonuria. Parents would often complain about their newborn needing to have a blood test done so early. To be fair it does usually take a few minutes. To do a newborn screening test you first warm the babies foot with a foot warmer. Then you use a lancet to make a very small cut in the heal to one side or the other of the heel. Its bigger than a finger prick but not big enough to cause any serious pain. Then you must squeeze blood from the heel onto blotter paper (looks and feels a lot like thick coffee filters). There are six dime sized circles on the paper and they all must be filled. It can take some time, and some babies just don't like it. Anyhow, some parents would refuse the test. I was always astonished by this! This test detects many different conditions (I believe somewhere in the region of 50 different conditions were tested for, but don't quote me on that one) and most were manageable through diet or simple medication. But without early knowledge of the condition it could often lead to serious lifelong conditions.Why refuse a test that could greatly increase your child's quality of life if they did have one of these conditions?

     I particularly liked the section on low birth weight babies. I hope to work in the NICU once I become an RN and have some time under my belt. These are exactly the type of babies I would be caring for. In this section the book talks about low birth weight babies needing stimulation. The types of stimulation listed were recordings of soothing music or of their mothers voice and massages several times a day and visual stimulation through mobiles placed above their crib. I was surprised that the book didnt mention "skin to skin" in this section. If you have a child you know exactly what Im talking about but if not, skin to skin is where the baby is placed on the mothers bare chest in only a diaper. The skin to skin contact does wonders to regulate heart rate and temperature as well as many other body functions. When my son was in the NICU (he was born three months early) we did skin to skin cuddle sessions as much as we could! Some days he could be out of his plastic womb (his uncubator) more than others but any chance we got we would throw the shirts off and cuddle wrapped in a heated blanket. Durring those times his breathing was steady and he would have less apnea (a period where he would stop breathing) his heart rate would even out and he would be calm and content. I later read an article that in many third world countries where women do not have access to reliable medical treatment, when a baby was born early the mother was told to wrap the baby onto their bare chest. They would not take the baby out for anything but changing, and they would only need to reposition to feed the baby. There were a surprising number of babies born very premature that would survive using only skin to skin! More proof that the woman's body, no matter the size, shape, or color is truly the most beautiful thing to ever walk the earth!

    After reading this section I would like to do more research on the other more homeopathic type remedies for babies with low birth weight or born prematurely. This article reminded me of why I am where I am today, going to school to touch the lives of others and make a difference. There are babies born in many cultures around the world who don't have access to the same medical advances we are so blessed with. And yet those same cultures are continuing on, creating new generations to take the place of the older generations. I want to know what they do to survive! I imagine the best of both worlds. There are many things that can be cured or remedied with pure ol' mother nature as well as many things that I will fully admit to needing modern science and medicine. Combine the two and the benefits are endless. 

 

Her is my Carter Bug just a few short hours after being born

He was 3.2 pounds and a fighter from day 1!

I thank god every day for the medical advances we have as a society...

Because without them I may have missed out on all this!

Chapter One: So thats what my kids are doing!

         In reading chapter one I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I could relate the concepts to my own life! I have two wonderful children. My son Carter is almost six and my daughter Ava is almost two, both their birthdays are in August. It’s been amazing to watch them grow into vibrant, very different individuals. To read about all the different ways a person develops and "learns to be who they are" was gratifying because the concepts were things I have wondered about many times in watching my kids explore the world. In particular I found Erickson's theory to be extremely accurate compared to where I feel my children are at in their development. My son is five years old, he falls in the Initiative VS. Guilt stage. The challenge for this stage in psychosocial development is to develop the ability to try new things and to handle failure. Carter has always been a soft spoken child who watched others try something first before he jumped in. I have been really encouraging him to try new things and to get out of his bubble! "If you never try then you may be missing out on something really fun Carter bug" To which he always replies with a smile and a look that says "I know mom! You tell me this all the time!" We are going to Disneyland this weekend. Carter and I have spent many evenings looking at rides on YouTube to gear him up for all the new things to try and explore in Disneyland! My hope is that he will branch out and have fun without being so worried about the consequences. I was relieved to read that this is a common thing for kids his age! As well as is dealing with failure. This is one concept that is a little more complicated to teach to a child I feel. When an action that my son does needs to be corrected (IE- I scold or correct him) he gets very emotional. I have made it a point to be very gentle and loving, but firm when I talk to him about something that needs to be fixed but it still causes him a great deal of sadness. After reading that this too is a part of his stage of development I think I will do some research and see if possibly Erickson proposed healthy ways to help a child through each stage. And then there is my headstrong, giggling little spitfire of a daughter, Ava. She is the complete opposite of her brother in that she is not afraid to try new things or meet new people. She is loud and always smiling or giggling. She is in the Autonomy VS. Shame and doubt stage. The challenge for this stage is to realize that one is an independent person who can made decisions. Just yesterday we were at a family barbeque. Ava was drawing with chalk outside and decided she wanted to draw on a brick ledge. My cousin walked with her to the ledge and knelt down to hold her around the waist as she drew. She was standing stable and the ledge wasn't large. It also dropped to a level of grass so no real threat was posed with her standing there alone but none the less my cousin stood with her. After about thirty seconds Ava reached down and removed my cousin’s hand from her waist and continued to draw. It was very purposeful and without fanfare. She just simply wanted to do this on her own. I see her blossom as an independent toddler more and more with each day. In writing this blog I wonder if I had encouraged independence in my son when he was younger. Possibly I had been a little to protective of him. I feel like this may have played a part in bringing him to his reluctance to try new things in his current stage. I will for sure be doing some more reading on Erickson's theory, for it to accurately place both my children in the age stage and challenge they are currently facing brings me to believe there is some validity to the concept. I would like to see if there are tips on how to help children through each stage and what the common hiccups are for each stage, with obvious special attention on the stages my two children are in now.

I am looking forward to the rest of this class, I feel that there is so much I can apply to my own life and more importantly to the care and upbringing of my children!