There are all sorts of journals and devices that can help you. Personally after giving birth to 6 babies, I can barely keep track of my keys let alone a journal and pen. After I had Myles, I tried an app. It was childish and basically seemed like a stopwatch. I needed more and wanted more. Did I mention that I didn’t want to pay for more? A baby is already expensive with diapers, medical bills and more. I wanted an app that didn’t cost me $5 to download.

When I first heard of the Similac Baby Journal, I wondered if it was for breastfeeding moms. I was pleased to know that there is a setting for breastfeeding only, formula only or both. So options for everyone! I was pleased with the look of the app. It didn’t ask me for my address or even a lot of personal information other than my name. I love that it’s not another app or journal. It puts everything in the palm of my hand. So what does the Similac Baby Journal offer?

Snapshot Mode

An overview look of your entries for feeding, sleeping and changing. It has Myles name at the top with his exact age. I like this mode because I can quickly see my latest entries and have access to my journals. It does have a learning curve.  But I can click “Next Entry” and it will take me to the timer to start timing his sleeping and feedings.

Journal Mode

You can see all the categories for your journal entries. By clicking the “sleeping” category, you can either start or stop your entry. If you need to edit an entry go to Manage All Entries. It would be nice if I could click the category and it went straight to the entries I have already inputted. I’d also love to have a medication category.  Let’s face it, we are already exhausted when the baby is sick. Having something to remind us when the last dose was would be a great help!

TRENDS

Now you can look to see when the baby is sleeping the most or eating the most. How long, how many total feedings and on which sides. The best part? They can project what your trends will be.

ADVICE

Tips and advice from feeding, sleeping, diapers, milestones and more! My favorite advice from the breastfeeding side is “If she shows signs of hunger-even if she just ate an hour ago- it’s okay to feed her again.” This is so amazing because a lot of new moms may start to fear they don’t have enough milk or they are doing something wrong. This helps reassure them that their supply is not low and to keep breastfeeding. This will help your breastfeeding relationship!

This app doesn’t stop there. It has a place to track your baby’s growth. Now you can see for yourself that your baby is growing strong and healthy. It is one app that will remain on my front screen and I will be forever grateful to have. I am not an owner of a Droid but I’m sure this would make a great app for them as well. It is available for iPhones and iTouch at iTunes.

What is your must have feature on an app like this?

I was compensated by Collective Bias for this article but the opinions are solely my own.

]]> http://themorrisbunchblog.com/2011/02/19/similac-offers-baby-journal-app-for-iphone-users-babyjournal/feed/ 1 http://themorrisbunchblog.com/2010/11/24/november-is-prematurity-awareness-month-meet-my-preemie-part-4/ http://themorrisbunchblog.com/2010/11/24/november-is-prematurity-awareness-month-meet-my-preemie-part-4/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:01:27 +0000 Gena http://themorrisbunchblog.com/?p=5769 If you are just reading this be sure to check out the rest of our story starting here: Meet My Preemie.

Even though Myles was changed from a level 2 NICU status to a level 1 status, we weren’t out of the woods. We still had a lot of challenges ahead of us. He was allowed in our room but we had to keep a bili blanket on him. Which made it tough to snuggle with my new baby boy. We had to choose certain clothes that allowed the bili blanket to be right next to him. When they checked his levels again, they determined that he needed the bili light instead. I was scared that meant we’d have to bring him back to the NICU. I just got him back and didn’t want to separate.

Thankfully I had some great nurses. I had also been given the biggest room! Which meant, we had plenty of room to put his equipment. We put the bili light in our room. I would take him off to nurse and then back under when we were done. After the first hour, he was starting to nurse every 10 minutes. The nurses kept telling me that he couldn’t be hungry. I explained that something didn’t seem right. So they checked his temperature. Sure enough, he was not holding his temperature. That’s when the warmer was brought into our room. Good thing there was a lot of room! The nurse had a bright idea to get him warmed up fast. When he started crying, I touched him and noticed how warm he was. His temp went from 97 to 102. Obviously something was off!

As soon as the warmer was adjusted, Myles was finally content in getting his light therapy. It was our routine for the next few days. In addition to light therapy, he also had to pass a few more tests. The goal was to get him to gain weight. He had slowly been losing weight. Friday he was down to 4 lbs 6 ozs. They didn’t say he had to gain a certain amount of weight, just wanted him gaining anything. I knew he would if we just gave him a little more time!

Friday was also the day he had to pass the car seat test. The car seat test is crucial for preemies so that the hospital knows they can handle the stress from being in the car. Because we live 50 miles from the hospital, we had to do 1 1/2 hours of the car seat test. In other words, Myles had to sit buckled into a car seat for 1 1/2 hours while hooked up to monitors. This meant that I would have to feed him immediately before the test so that he was fed well. Of course, 30 minutes after the test was supposed to begin, the nurse brought him back. He was too small for the car seat. Most car seats are made for babies that are at least 5 lbs. Now what to do!
I spent Friday crying on and off. I was desperate to find a car seat that was suitable. The other obstacle was finding one in the small town. The town we were in was a lot bigger than our own small town, but it didn’t have the perks of bigger towns. We had ONE Walmart. I knew that Walmart didn’t have a car seat that we needed, so that meant searching online. Thankfully I had access to Twitter. Once people knew what we were looking for, I had people helping me find one. Within a couple hours, we had the car seat in hand and even more money down the drain. This preemie business was getting expensive!

Friday night, they brought Myles to the NICU to get his car seat test again. I was so pleased to know that he passed! But even better news was that he gained an ounce! He was officially 4 lbs 7 ozs. My baby boy was coming home! Saturday morning, we were signing papers as we walked out the door. We were that anxious to get out of there!

Myles has continued to do well with a few bumps along the way. We were prepared for the worst and have been given blessing after blessing. When he first came home, he had to still have light therapy. He had to have regular blood work and weight checks. By 2 weeks, he was put on a normal schedule! At 8 months old, he is now 15 lbs and continues to grow strong. He is slightly behind compared to his sisters development. But since he was a boy and a preemie, we kind of expect it. For now, I will enjoy cuddling him before he is too big for that.

As soon as the doctor placed that tiny little boy in my arms, I was in love! I was incredibly blessed to have the staff that I had. He was immediately placed on my chest for that first moment of bonding. Our premature baby boy had apgars of 9 and 9! He weighed in at 4 lbs 15 ozs and 18 inches long. I couldn’t believe how long he was.

Shortly after delivery, they moved him to the warmer for the pediatrician to look over. The pediatrician chose to move him to the NICU for oxygen and flow. An hour later I was given methergen to prevent hemorrhaging since my platelets were low and I have hemorrhaged before. I was very weak and drained. I tried to get energy to go to NICU. At 6 PM, I went to the NICU and got to hold him for an hour! It was the best feeling ever. We were told that he was doing remarkably well. They wanted to wean him off the oxygen slowly. They were also waiting to feed him until he was off oxygen. They respected my wishes of no artificial nipples. The pediatrician said our goal was to have him rooming in and at breast in 2 hours! Until then, blood sugars would be monitored.

9PM Myles was moved to 1/2 liter of flow and room air! Off to pump so we can start feeding him with syringes. No breast until his respirations are more stabilized. Pumping was scary. I had never pumped in the hospital and without my baby. So I took a shower, used a heating pad and pumped away! At this time, Stoney left to stay with his brother. It was the first time I was alone and it was lonely but lovely.

First feeding at 10:30PM! It was so exciting to feed my little boy his first taste of liquid gold. He waited nearly 8 hours for this! I was incredibly grateful for such a pro breastfeeding staff. After 30 minutes of feeding and cuddling, I was off to bed so I could be ready for our next feeding. The nurse said we’d also do his first bath then too.

2 hours later I was back up and pumping. This time, I was lucky to get 2 syringes. Good thing that I had filled nearly 10 before! We still had breastmilk in the fridge. He ate rather well. He enjoyed the bath. I enjoyed just holding him. Watching him sleep was the ultimate high. Of course I knew I had to get my rest as well.  At least he was oxygen free! My heart was aching for him to be with me always. His respirations were still too high. He was very sensitive to a lot of activity. Just being held wore him out.

A quarter after 4, the nurse asked if I wanted to try breastfeeding! I was extremely excited and nervous. We had talked to the pediatrician about it before. He knows how important it is to me to breastfeed. But we knew that the longer he went without latching on meant our odds of a successful breastfeeding relationship were decreasing. After 45 minutes of persistently trying, Myles was successfully breastfeeding! 5 hours later, we hit our next milestone. He was rooming in! He did require the bili blanket because his biliruben levels were high. But his status officially was changed from Level 2 NICU to Level 1!

Part 4 of our Meet My Preemie Series will continue tomorrow. Be sure to check it out to see the challenges that we faced while in the hospital and bringing our baby boy home!

A few days before I turned 35 weeks, I was told that I would be able to go home IF I made it to 36 weeks and everything was looking good. So I was feeling slightly more positive. Then the morning I was officially 35 weeks, I woke up and realized my water broke. I quietly woke Stoney up to tell him it was time. I wasn’t feeling contractions, but we all know that didn’t mean anything. They decided to wait a little while to let fluids pool to make sure it was indeed my waters. I was feeling fairly well even as the contractions started to come.

An hour after I arrived, the tests showed that it was indeed my amniotic fluid. I also discovered that I was positive for Group B Strep. The first after having 5 babies!  We chose to start pitocin and get things going instead of delaying labor. I was dilated to a 2. In addition to pitocin, I’d also be getting antibiotics. Both were started at 7:30AM and the pediatrician was also called. I was relieved to hear that the main pediatrician would be coming in on his day off to attend the birth! I knew Myles would be in safe hands.

9:30AM I was told that I could have an epidural anytime I was ready. Opted for a heating pad instead. I was lucky enough to have Stoney and my sister there to keep my spirits up. It was relaxing and fun.

11AM I finally asked for the epidural. My bloodwork had come in and my platelets were at 100,000. Borderline but my doctor said he would let me have the epidural. Dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. Room is being prepped.

11:40AM Epidural in and feeling heavenly!

12:20PM Dilated to 3 plus.

1:15PM Dilated to 4 80% effaced. Uterine catheter inserted to find out what is going on. Myles is posterior so time to roll back and forth.

1:45PM Dilated to 6 and thinner.

2:05PM Myles heartrate dropped. I’m started on oxygen. Dilated to 7

2:20PM Dilated to 8. Still working on getting him in a good position. Nearly rolled on belly.

2:38 PM Fully Effaced and dilated. Doctor called in. But he was already on his way!

2:42PM Myles Clyde was Born

Stay tuned tomorrow for the next part of our Meet My Preemie Series to find out how well our 35 week old did.

Meet My Preemie Part 3

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