Baby Corner

[Ban Hammer 12,901]

he still forgets sometimes when we are out and he is wearing pants and he pees himself. For longer car rides we use a diaper, its such a pain to take the carseat covers off. (I still hate the radian carseat so much). yay for Allie going diaperless! It's so nice to finally get to this point! I hope she's not using the toybox as a potty anymore though! Ben gets really stubborn sometimes when I ask him to go potty, he likes to decline. Bribery was my friend (stickers and his adventcalendars, hehe) and he totally changed his mind for a little treat.

I like the Nautilus. I think its one of Graco's best carseats because it's padded nicely and the cupholder is a huge bonus. Doesn't it also have a booster seat function? I contemplated buying one for backup but he still fits in the Evenflo convertible.

yes,it also works as a booster seat - it comes apart for that. rated for up to 100 pounds.

[Eveline 9]

Yes the nautilus comes with a 5pt harness and turns into a high back booster at 60lbs and then eventually into a booster at 80 until 100lbs I believe. Adam is only in the second seatbelt slot (out of four) so we'll still have plenty of time in the harness left. I like that my kids don't try to climb out of their seats.

@Chnst: Allie's been using the potty here lately. No more bowl peeing, toybox, sippycups etc. She always wants to pee on trees though when we're out at the park or so cause she sees Adam do it and so there's me, holding her and trying to aim her stream to a tree so she has something to be proud of . We must be a freaky sight LOL.

[Anna C. 4]

We'll get the Radian soon, but I think it will be fine in our car.... Jona has 3 more pounds before he outgrows the Britax Boulevard's rearfacing limit, and the Radian's is 45lb so I can keep him that way.... Btw cupholders I was told by 2 car seat technicians are not safe, in case of an accident they can wreak havoc. They always told me to never ever use those... I never had a car seat that came with one so it was no concern to me.

Potty-training... Well he couldn't care less. He knows what we want him to do, and he doesn't want to, and won't do it for a bribe either. He'll be ready soon though, we just have to wait for the stage that he is eager to please... I don't want to push the issue, that will backfire I'm sure. I mean what do you do if your toddler cries on the potty and keeps everything in til you put a diaper on??? My nephew refuses too, he does go for some bribes, but same story overall... But I believe one day he'll be ready soon. I'm confident it will be before his 3rd birthday for sure.

[Jenn! 918]

Btw cupholders I was told by 2 car seat technicians are not safe, in case of an accident they can wreak havoc. They always told me to never ever use those... I never had a car seat that came with one so it was no concern to me.

The cupholders themselves are unsafe, or it's unsafe to actually use them to hold cups?

[Anna C. 4]

The cup holders... They said in case of an accident, they can make the seat not function properly. I didn't question it any further since mine doesn't have it.... But I can see how holding objects can be dangerous anyways, cause stuff flies around in accidents, but Jona always has his water bottle. Our new neighbors down the road were in a bad crash last year, the dad died because of the lid of the ice chest in the back of the car got loose in the accident and crashed into his head... In the end, everything is dangerous, but I cannot tell what exactly is unsafe about cupholders. Maybe stop by your local car seat safety inspection station?

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Ate waaayyy too much today at a family christmas party..blaa.

Zaid and I have been playing Memory all night and now relaxing watching Horton Hears A Who. Daddy quit smoking 4 days ago and isnt feeling good so has been in bed all day. Annoying but Id rather him quit smoking so whatever....

Back to the OB Wednesday since my BP was temporarily high last week. Hopefully its normal so I dont have to go back til 35.5 weeks when Ill get my GBS test have an US to determine babys size. After that I should know whether or not we will be talking induction. Cant believe the end is in sight!

[Eveline 9]

I don't see where the cupholder makes the seat not work properly. I can see where stuff in the cupholder would be dangerous in case of an accident but all seats that are out there have been tested the same way and I'm pretty sure that when the Nautilus is out there and so hightly recommended, it will do it's job properly in case of an accident. What people have flying around in their car is a whole other story.

[chnst 6]

the cupholder in the nautilus looks like its built into the armrest. Maybe that's different as opposed to the cupholders that clip on to some carseats? I don't see where it could be dangerous, but hey there are people who believe wearing seatbelts is dangerous, so I guess there is no right or wrong...

Kelly: wow almost there. Take your elevated BP's serious, have them check it even though it may be annoying but pay attention to your body, like headaches, nausea, blurred vision, water retention etc. PIH can be very dangerous to mom and baby. Take good care of yourself, just a few more weeks for you!

I am definitely feeling the 3rd trimester aches & pains. I had to work overtime in the NICU yesterday, after 15 hours on my feet I didn't even fit in my shoes anymore, my legs are so swollen and painful! Then I got 5 hours of sleep before heading back to work this am and they were still swollen. It's like they don't even recover at all!

OMG I love everyone I work with but they all feel like they have to feed and baby the preggers girl, so I constantly get cookies and snacks I am totally overeating on the goodies. I can't go anywhere without my tums.

Anna let me know how the radian works in your car. BTW they are on clearance at BRUS for $200. I would not recommend this seat to anyone, not even the carseat tech could get it tight enough with either the latch or the belt. He recommended us sending a letter to the manufacturer.

[Eveline 9]

Yes the Nautilus cupholder is built into the armrest. It can't come off or anything, it's just there.

[Anna C. 4]

I will ask the car seat person, I gotta schedule an appointment soon to get the infant car seat in... It's for free so I might as well have them do it, my belly gets in the way.... They never said what kind of cupholder they meant... The one on the Scenera comes off for sure, maybe that kind they don't like. I'll let you know what she says!

@ Kelly: Are you monitoring at home? Since it came down during the appointment it might be white coat syndrome as well... It's good to monitor at home twice a day to get a feeling for your numbers... I'm sure they told you what signs to look for just in case.... Did they give you pee sticks home to check for protein?

@ Steffi: Argh I hurt all over too. Like an ole grandma, seriously. My back is killing me and every once in a while my lower belly really hurts, like she is playing kick that bladder really hard. Not even the pregnancy pillow gets me comfy! But it's not much time left, so I'm trying to enjoy the time with Jona now, cause I know soon enough it will be chaotic....

I will get my Radian at Amazon, it's $220, tax free, no shipping and no hassle return in case we can't get it in! Then we would get one of those new Britaxes with the higher weight limits, the only thing is the Radian has a metal frame and all other car seats have a plastic frame, and metal just sounds sturdier. SIL has the Radians installed in her Subaru and Nissan Altima, done by a technician. They used seatbelts... Anyways, if it doesn't work, Amazon doesn't ask questions when you return it, what I like a lot!!!! BRUS is in Colorado, we don't have one in town.... Welcome to pampa land!

Our neighbor's story really made me aware of stuff I never thought about, so now we are careful about cargo in the car. I used to just toss stuff in the trunk but now I secure it properly. The minivan makes that easier anyways with all the places you can stuff things!

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

My BP was fine today. 120/74. No I havent been monitoring at home bc if I had one high reading it would freak me out and after all the anxiety issues I had I dont know if I could deal with it again.

[chnst 6]

We had our appointment with the surgeon doc today. I don't know what to think of him, he was a little arrogant, didn't look at Ben much at all (except in his throat and ears)... but quickly scheduled the surgery for January 4th. Although he admitted he doesn't "do much pediatrics" he gave us the standard "all toddlers have enlarged lymph nodes blah blah, he is probably getting a cold and he is not worried unless it's bigger than 1cm. The pedi and the dermatologost measured it at 3+ cm. He didn't care and said that he is 100% certain the lymph node doesn't have anything to do with the mole.

He is happy to remove the mole but he will not biopsy the lymph node as requested by the dermatologist. Oh-kay. We felt a little stupid because this was the main reason for the skin doc to send us to this surgeon, to have the lymph node done as well. I hope he is right and it's good to hear that the skin doc and the pediatrician may have been a little overboard with their guesses.

He wants Ben to get a CBC drawn to be on "the safe side" but I don't know what a CBC would tell us if the mole is malignant. Long story short- this guy does primarily plastic facial and neck surgery on adults, which makes me a little nervous. I wish the dermatologist had just biopsied the damn thing last week if this guy will do pretty much the same thing under general anesthesia.

Funny thing though- Ben told the Botox-ed/nip-tucked Barbie chick at the front desk that she is cute. LOL Her eyebrows didn't even move!

Anna: wow does your doc send urine dipsticks home with you? That seems a little overkill if you're asymptomatic. These are so expensive. That's sad about your neighbor! I think if I rolled our car there would be tons of stuff flying around, just the stroller could kill someone I think. I always make fun of my mom who insists on buckling up the stroller! I really have to de-clutter the car...

[tnh9479 1]

I haven't heard of sending urine dipsticks home either, and I frequented a lot of PIH/pre-E boards during my pregnancy. My peri and my OB were having me do a lot of 24 hour urine tests. I did 5 of them over the 8 weeks I was on bedrest for bp issues. It was the changes in my blood tests that finally precipitated the birth of the duo (a consequence of pre-e). Glad I am done having babies. Pre-eclampsia runs in my family. I wouldn't want to ride that rollercoaster again. Heck, I was born more premature than my twins because my mom developed eclampsia and started having seizures. My sister also developed it in all 3 of her pregnancies.

[Anna C. 4]

I have white coat syndrome and the obgyn with Jona insisted it could be pre-E, so besides monitoring my blood pressure at home (which was fine) I got sticks to check the morning urine for protein (never even a trace).... It only was the last 3 weeks of the pregnancy...

I do have urine stick at home, my sister supplies me with those (I got a package that expired in September 2010, so her hospital cannot use them anymore, but they work fine for another year or even longer if stored correctly). I get weird UTIs so whenever I feel like an UTI might be coming on I check my leukos, nitrites and such (I never get burning sensations, just back pains!)... Neat side effect in pregnancy is that I would know if I spilled protein or glucose or might have any infection at all....

@ Steffi: Hm do you wanna double check with the derm to get the lymph node looked at? It's nice though that they scheduled the surgery so quickly. Maybe he wants the CBC to say look parents his white blood count his elevated it's just some bug blablabla, he sorta sounded like that.

Funny that you mention Botox Barbie, when I asked for a referral last year to have my moles checked (I have TONS), they sent me to a derm in town, and the office was full with Botox, Latisse and other beautification advertisements... Of course the guy looked at me for 2 minutes (not nearly enough time to look at all my moles) and said bah fine. I wanted some removed and had approval from my insurance to do so cause they bled now and then and he refused! Once Eloise is born I should find another derm to get referred to and take care of this. My sister had some malignant cells in one of her moles, but nothing else to worry, it was caught early enough. She sunbathes like crazy while I avoid though (I have this skin type that sees sun for 3 minutes and gets lobster red).

Edited December 23, 2010 by Anna C.

[chnst 6]

Anna: I don't know what to do. I tried calling the dermatologist for her opinion, but I think it's friggin impossible in America to ever get to talk to a real MD on the phone. They offered me another appointment in like 3 months.

Its driving me nuts but I just don't trust this guy. I just don't think he unerstands pediatrics or dermatology. Most of the clients in his fancy office were waiting for their christmas botox injections. He has a very impressive resume as a plastic facial surgeon for adults and he is associated with NY presbyt. (he gave us a copy of his CV) but I just don't think he does biopsies very often and especially on children. It may sound paranoid, but what if he f***'s it up, or sends the biopsy to the wrong lab, in the wrong solution etc, this is killing me. I'd rather have it done at a dermatologist office where they know what they're doing because he is not doing what the derm doc wanted anyway.

I am so frustrated that none of the surgeons the dermatologost recommended take our insurance (or any insurance)! It's so stupid having to settle with someone who may not know what the hell he is doing just because he is in our network.

rant end. I'm just so worried about Ben not being in good hands. I mean they're putting him under anesthesia in a surgery center that deals with adults only. I am totally freaking out at the thought of all the possibilities what could go wrong!

I really really wish we could get this done in Germany. I just feel this system here is just so much worse when it comes to special stuff like that.