KC's Journey 2

By and large, KC was the most contented baby I have ever known. There was major construction going on right next door to us that year. Back hoes, and excavation equipment worked every day making a veritable din of noise. It bothered him not a whit. He would sleep when he needed to and wake to feed. The only problem we had was severe vomiting after feeding and a persistant wheezing. One night when he was sleeping (on his back, swaddled) he vomited and couldn't clear his face and airway. We got there in time; he slept in the same room with us. But we were petrified, shaking, feeling that we came so close to losing him. That night he moved from his Amby bed to our bed and never moved out! He slept on Kirsty or my chest a lot and we would waken and make sure he was still breathing. I also read about that time that this would help preemies to regulate their breathing--that their little bodies could "forget" how to breathe. If Kirsty or I were ill, that person moved to a different bed. We never slept with him when we were on medication stronger than Advil. We also pressured our doctor to let us try a soy based formula for him and he agreed. Within 3 days there was a huge difference and he was no longer wheezing or having the gastric problems. We since determined that he has a dairy allergy (not lactose intolerance, a true dairy allergy)

I carried KC every minute that I could. Kirsty was a bit annoyed I think, but I found that i am no good with hearing a baby cry. And that when I carried him, he didn't cry. I learned about rebozos on the internet and wore one carrying him when I did chores around the house, when we were at church, pretty much everywhere.

I wondered if his birth mom worried for him. I wrote letters to the adoption agency to be held for her in case she ever asked how he was doing. I sent extra pictures with every required update and cards at Christmas.

Eventually, our maternity leave was over and Kirsty had to return to her job. We found a day care provider at the apartment complex where we work. I knew that Maria would care well for KC and that he would physically be very close to us. But leaving him there was sooooo hard!

As his time in day care evolved we noticed that he did have a tendency to pick up lots of colds and illnesses from the children there. We were spending most of our sick days and vacation days on taking care of him from these. We began to wonder if this was the best option for our family.