GI Appointment

I took Natalie to see a GI Specialist at Nemours Children's Hospital today. After she got weighed and measured (she's two feet tall - how fun!), I met with the doctor. He was really, really great. He poked around on Natalie's stomach a bit and checked her rear end to make sure there wasn't any blood in her rectum. She was NOT a fan of the bum-check and immediately started crying. I can't blame her though - I know I wouldn't like it if someone messed with my bum.

I described what we've seen from Natalie and he was extremely sympathetic, nodding in all the right places. He said that there are three main reasons (the 'three Ps') to do GI tests on kids. The first is pounds. Natalie's not losing weight, so that reason doesn't apply to her (she's a slow weight gainer, but at least she's not losing weight). I think the second reason is pneumonia (contracted from spitting up so much). Thankfully we can cross that off the list, too. The third 'P' is pain. Ding, ding ding! We have a winner!

The doctor wants us to take Natalie to get some blood work done. That'll rule out anything such as anemia. Then he wants Natalie to get an upper GI done. This won't check for any evidence of severe reflux, but it will check to make sure that everything is working properly when she swallows. It checks for any leaks, kinks, or anything else abnormal. If that's clear, then he'll recommend that she get an upper endoscopy to check for signs of severe reflux. The major downside to that is that she'll have to be sedated. The thought our munchkin being sedated is tough.

So here's my thought: We'll get Natalie's blood work done and it'll take up to a week to get the result. Once we have the result, I should get a call from the hospital within a week after that to schedule her upper GI. I imagine it'll be a week (if not more) before she can be seen for the upper GI. It'll take a few days to a week to get those results. Then we'll schedule her upper endoscopy, which will probably be a week or two out.

So by the time she finally gets her endoscopy done, she'll probably be five months old, at which time she would have grown out of her reflux anyway. Hmph.

How about this idea? She gets blood work done tomorrow, an upper GI on Wednesday, and an upper endoscopy on Thursday?

I'm kidding, of course - that'd be a rough three days for a baby. But I hope there's some happy medium between having these procedures spread out over three days or three months.

GI Specialist

I took Natalie to see her pediatrician on Friday to give her an update on how Natalie has been doing. Update: she still seems to be in pain though she's spitting up less, it's like she's forgotten how to sleep more than 4 hours at a time at night, and she'll go from happy and cute to hysterical and rigid in the matter of a nanosecond.

(Bright side: she weighs 11.5 lbs! She's still only in the 40th percentile for weight [80th for height!], but she's been gaining a good amount of weight each day)

Her pediatrician recommended that we see a gastrointestinal specialist. She doesn't think that there's anything physically wrong with Natalie, but wants her to see the specialist just to rule out anything. She said that it could take up to two weeks to get an appointment - which sounds like an eternity to parents who are at their absolute wits end. But thankfully, a receptionist at the GI office called me that same afternoon and said they had an opening for Monday at 9am. Thank you, God!

I feel like a terrible mom for writing this, but I'm going to do it anyway. A teeny, tiny part of me wants the GI to find something wrong with Natalie. Not that I want her to be sick or anything, but I want there to be a reason why she's so fussy and seems like she's in pain. A fixable reason, of course, but a reason nevertheless.

I have a hard time accepting a diagnosis of "reflux and colic". It's not that I don't believe that reflux and colic aren't valid diagnoses, but they just haven't seemed like fixable diagnoses up till now. I'm very right-brained. I need a definite diagnosis and a definite remedy. Unfortunately, that's not possible. Poo.

And what we're trying isn't doing much. We've tried the 5 Ss from The Happiest Baby on the Block, we've tried a warm bath, we've tried taking long car trips, we've tried changing my diet, we've tried burping her differently, we've tried holding her differently.

That's not to say that the things I just listed haven't ever worked. Usually one of them helps with her colickiness (word? not a word?). But for the reflux, it's hard to find something that works. Soothing techniques don't necessarily work on an irritated stomach. It's kind of like if she had a broken leg and I'm trying to make it feel better by shushing in her ear. The shushing might be calming but it certainly doesn't reset her broken bones. So with her reflux, the shushing (or swaddling or whatever) is probably calming, but it doesn't make her stomach pain go away. And THAT sucks. A lot.

Lee and I are looking into whether we should see a pediatric chiropractor for some craniosacral therapy or maybe trying some homeopathic remedy for reflux and colic. These seem a little extreme but again, when you're at your wits end ...

But hopefully the GI specialist can shed some light on what's happening. I don't know if this appointment will be much more than an initial consultation and that we'll have to wait until the following appointment to run any tests. But who knows? Maybe they'll do something on Monday.

Happy thoughts ... happy thoughts ... happy thoughts ...

Weekly Natalie - Week 12

So, um, this week has kinda blown. I'm very glad to start a new week. And I'll be VERY glad to start a new month. And because of the blown-ness, I didn't take any pictures this week ... until this morning.

Natalie is frequently very cute when we change her diaper. It could be that she just really likes her changing table on her Pack 'n' Play ... or it could be that she looks forward to sticking her foot in her dirty diapers ... or it could be that she knows she gets lots of belly kisses when she's up there. Whatever the reason, we'll take it.

Here are some from this morning:

this is one of my favorite faces that she makes -

it's usually accompanied by a cute "gurrrrr"

how Lee and I feel when she sticks

her foot in a dirty diaper

looking up at Daddy -

he was leaning across the counter to see her

PS: Thanks for sleeping like a rockstar last night, kiddo. I put you down at 9:30pm, I fed you at 4am, then you slept until 7:15am. Pure bliss, I tell ya ...

PPS: You know, Nat ... if you wanted to sleep like a rockstar for consecutive nights (and perhaps, *multiple* consecutive nights), we wouldn't have a problem with it. Just try it - you might like it. (And you might like how much more pleasant Daddy and I can be!)

Weekly Natalie - Week 11

I bought this outfit for $2 at the Mom-2-Mom sale last week. It's the cutest $2 I've ever spent.

(Let me also say that this is the only age where I'm okay with having something decorative on her butt. Under no circumstances, will Natalie ever EVER wear pants or shorts with 'cutesy' [or, you know, trashy] sayings on them. There will be no "Hot Stuff" or "90% Angel" or "Cutie" or whatever written on the butt of any piece of clothing in the Smith house.)

And here's a cute video of Natalie playing with a ball. I made the mistake of telling Lee she was "kicking the ball" and he's teased me about it ever since. Okay, so I know that she is not consciously kicking the ball, but she is kicking her feet and the ball happens to be in the way. So there. Either way, she's still cute.

Weekly Natalie - Week 10

10 weeks old and still making funny faces - please never stop doing that, baby girl.

Apparently the rooster said something Natalie didn't like Getting tickled by GranddaddyDaddy likes Natalie to wear funny hats

to make diaper changes more fun
Even more fun ...
Proudly (?) rockin' her big floppy summer hat
Deep in thought
Mesmerized by Mommy's coolness

Fatty Fatterson!

I took Natalie to get a weight check today ... and she's gained 9 (almost 10) ounces in 9 days, for a grand total of 10lbs, 12.8oz! She had been hovering around 1/2 ounce of weight gain each day, but not any more. She's finally fattening up! We couldn't be happier or more relieved!

Natalie still has some stomach issues though. She cries after I feed her, which shouldn't be happening - babies are supposed to be happy and content after feeding. These aren't "hey Mom, I'm still hungry" cries; I've gotten pretty good at distinguishing those. These sound like "hey Mom, my stomach hurts" cries.

She's been on Prilosec for a month now, so I'm going to try the dairy-free thing again. When I did it before, she hadn't been taking the medicine for very long. And I didn't notice any difference in her with the diet change. So now that Prilosec has been her system a good while, I'm going to see if going dairy-free helps now. I'm also going to try to see if it's a wheat/gluten problem or an acid-y fruits/veggies thing. (Not all at the same time, of course!).

Dairy-free ice cream, here I come!

(by the way: dairy-free ice cream ROCKS. Seriously. It's amazing. I can hardly tell the difference between that and regular ice cream. I can't say the same thing for soy milk though ...)

Hooray!

Natalie, you wonderful baby, you - thank you for sleeping from 10:30pm - 5:30am. I'm totally expecting this to be a fluke, but it was a fantastic fluke.

We put you in your crib for the first time last night. Maybe that had something to do with you sleeping for a long time. Or maybe being a fussy-pants for most of the day yesterday wore you out and you needed to sleep.

Daddy and I thought we'd wait until you were 3 months old before we transitioned you from the bassinet in our room to the crib in your room. But things changed. Remember how I thought the little piggy noises you'd make while you fall asleep were endearing? Yeah, not so much anymore. Now they drive me crazy (or crazIER, as your daddy would say).

And notice that I said that the noises drive ME crazy. Not Daddy. Either he falls asleep fast enough so that he doesn't hear many noises or the noises just don't bother him. You'd be in your bassinet, a veritable one-baby piggy symphony. Daddy'd be right beside me, fast asleep, a veritable one-man snoring symphony. And I'd be wide awake (though exhausted), trying not to glare at either of you.

So last night, I suggested to Daddy that we move you into your own room. He was fine with it. We turned on the monitor and listened to you grunt and snort for a while - then you fell right to sleep.

My lactation consultant suggested that to help with the transition, we should put you in the crib close to one of the ends - so that on three sides, it was sort of like you were still in the bassinet. That seemed like a good idea.

You went to sleep parallel to the side of the crib. You woke up parallel to the front of the crib. This just confirms that us NOT getting a crib bumper was a good idea. Your face was almost touching the slats of the crib, but you could breathe perfectly fine. I don't think I could have said the same if we had a crib bumper.

So ... yay for you, baby girl! Thanks for the sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~
Happy Anniversary, Auntie Karen and Uncle Mike!!

Weekly Natalie - Week 9

Even though this was such a rough week, I was able to get some pretty cute pictures. I'm so glad she's started smiling. It's a wonderful sight ...

this outfit makes me smileflying Nattie!



she obviously didn't inheirit this ability to look cute
while winking from her mother
Waiting to see what funny thing Daddy will do next
I loved the squeals that came with this smile

And just because it's funny: a picture of her mid-sneeze

Natalie's YouTube debut

Smile!

God is so very wonderful.

Natalie, the past two days have been rough. Really, really rough. Almost the kind of rough-ness that we all experienced during the first few days after we brought you home. Rough-ness that prompted our trip to Crestview and back last night in the hopes that a car trip would stop you from screaming.

I was taking medication that shouldn't have decreased my milk supply, but it did. And I didn't realize it was the medication until after it had been in my system for a week or so. I've stopped taking it, but it'll take a few days for my supply to go back to normal.

So you've been feeding like crazy - like you're going through a growth spurt. But you were acting very weird while you were eating. You seemed really agitated and fidgety. And now I know it was because you were hardly getting anything in your belly.

To add insult to injury, you spit up more the past few days than you had in a long time. So not only were you not getting enough to eat, a lot of what you did eat, ended up on Mommy's and Daddy's shirt.

To supplement or not. That was the big question.

I wanted to get my supply back up to normal but I also wanted to make sure you had enough to eat. And I knew that giving you formula would ensure you had enough to eat, but I also knew that supplementing could hurt my supply. In the end we decided not to supplement ... but I was about 5 minutes away from doing it.

Today was a new day. You seem happier and have a full-er belly. And that's all we could ask for.

But we got a bonus! Daddy and I got our first, we're-sure-it-wasn't-gas, purposeful smile out of you this morning! It was the best. Seriously the absolute best.

God is so very wonderful. He gave us just what we needed, just when we needed it.

(pictures to come tomorrow)

February 2009 - Recap

Dear Natalie,

You're two months old today! So your dad and I think it's time for you to get a job and start earning your keep around here. You've had two months to goof off - now it's time to get down to business.

(I swear one day you'll find Daddy and me enormously funny ... seriously ...)

High Points:

• Thankfully, the Prilosec seems to be working. The number of times you seem to be in pain is less, so that's definitely an answered prayer. But not being able to make you feel better when you *are* in pain is still hard.


• Giving you gentian violet to help with your thrush. Yes it stains and yes it's messy - but you look so darn CUTE with it smeared all over your face.


• Sleeping for 7.5 hours the night before last! After we checked your chest to make sure you were still breathing, Daddy and I were thrilled!! We know it was probably a fluke, but that one night was really refreshing. Thankfully you regularly sleep 5-6 hours a night. I wasn't even getting that much for the last few months I was pregnant!


• We're about 95% sure that we've gotten a purposeful smile out of you. It's an instant heart melter.


• Daddy and I had our first date, sans Natalie, on Valentine's Day. Granddaddy and Lu came over and watched you while Daddy and I had a fantastic dinner at O'Brien's. Then we got ice cream at Marble Slab and took a walk around Palafox Pier. It was so nice to have some 'us' time. Not that we don't love and treasure the 'three-of-us' time, but sometimes Mommy and Daddy need a date night. You'll understand when you're older.


• Sitting through an entire church service without making a single peep. It was so nice!
  

Low Points:

• Being four days late for your 6-week growth spurt and four days early for your 8-week growth spurt. That means two growth spurts (and two marathon cluter feeding sessions) in less than a week.


• Your crabbiness that starts at 5pm and lasts till 8pm. I feel bad because it starts right around the time Daddy gets home from work. You're usually a pretty good-natured kid, but when the evening time comes, watch out! Could you perhaps not do that anymore? I know Daddy would like to see a happy baby when he walks in - not a frazzled wife and a cranky munchkin.


• Your two-month shots. YOU were fine. YOU handled it like a champ. I, on the other hand, was a mess. Hopefully I can buck up in time for your four-month shots.

It's been fun trying to figure out your daily patterns of playfulness, sleepiness, and I-just-want-to-be-left-alone-ness. I think I've got a vague idea. After your morning feeding (usually between 6am and 8am), you're wide awake and in a very good mood. We usually get on the floor and play. You seem interested and engaged for about half the time. The other half, you zone out and stare at the ceiling fan. You seem really fascinated by it ... or perhaps you're just ignoring me, pretending to zone out in the hopes that I'll leave you alone. Two months old seems a little early to engage in such teenager-esque shenanigans, but maybe you're just highly advanced.

I had no idea the swing would come in as handy as it has. You like to take your daytime naps in it. It's fun to watch you while you're swinging. You'll sleep for a bit, then wake up and just check out your surroundings (making sure to give a couple of glances to your trusty friend, Mr. Ceiling Fan), then fall back asleep. When you want to be left alone, it's a great place to put you where you can just sit and quietly watch what's going on. So when you learn to talk, be sure to thank Cam and Sara (and especially Ella) for letting you use their swing.

I don't know if there's a learning curve with a pacifier, or if you've just inheirited my poor coordination - but you have a hard time keeping one in your mouth. You look and sound just like the baby from The Simpsons. We'll put it into your mouth, you suck on it for a few seconds and it'll gradually fall out of your mouth. We don't know if your tongue is getting in the way or if it's something else - either way, it's really funny to watch. If it wasn't for the reflux, I wouldn't have kept trying to get you to take one. But I know the act of sucking helps keep the acid in your stomach and taking a pacifier usually makes you feel better when you're uncomfortable. So that's why we're sticking with it.

We just started swaddling you right after your last feeding before bedtime. We used to wait until after we had burped you before we swaddled you, but we think getting swaddled wakes you up a little bit. So we figured we'd do it immediately after feeding you to see if that makes it easier for you to fall asleep. We usually spend about 10 minutes walking laps around the house, trying to get you to burp. Then one of us (usually Daddy) rocks you for another 10 or 15 minutes. You've been pretty good about going to sleep on your own; sometimes you'll be awake (but drowsy) when we lay you down, but most of the time you do really well at falling asleep (high five for you!). Thank you, SwaddleMe blanket.

You're still hovering around the 40%-50% range for weight - but the 80% for height. You weighed 10lbs, 3oz at your last weight check a few days ago. We're hoping you'll really start packing on the ounces soon. I don't want you to still be wearing newborn clothes when you're 4.

You have made your Daddy's and my life so full. We can't get enough of you and your neverending cuteness and we thank God every day for you.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy and Daddy

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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