reflux not doing so well and well visit update

Poor Joslyn. She has been having a rough week with her reflux. She was doing pretty well after we put her back on her Zantac.... but then a few days later she began having horrible feeding issues. She would arch her back, scream, cry... latch back on for a few seconds and start the whole thing over again. So we upped her dose to .8 ml (the doc said we can give her 1 ml now.) I had been eating something different during breakfast so I stopped that yesterday. I had been having one piece of toast with apple butter on it. Today she ate better than she has been. So either the medicine is helping, she was being hurt by the apple butter, or a combination both. Reflux is not fun. It is heart breaking when you know that all she wants to do is eat... and she can not. It is not a hunger cry she is doing. It is a painful cry. It is just so sad....It is a feeling that I can not describe. I feel so helpless.. all I can do is try the maalox and try to calm her down. She arches her back so much that you can barely hold her. She gets sooo stiff that you can't even cuddle with her. It just brings me to tears.

On a happier note. Joslyn now weighs 11 lbs 15 ounces. (This was after a feeding. Before her feeding the doctor weighed her and she was only 11 lbs 10 ounces. We were upset that she only gained 10 ounces in one month.... but I fed her and weighed her again and found out that she got 5 ounces in that feeding. So we were much happier!!!)
She is almost 25 inches long and her head is 16 inches long.
This puts her in the 5-10% for weight
25-50% for height
and 25-50% for her head.

The doctor is not concerned about her weight as she is gaining. She said that Joslyn just may be a petite baby, however if her weight slows down and she drops in the % then we will have to look into that more. But so far no concern! wahoo!!!!!!! Joslyn got one shot and her RotoVirus vaccine. We will go back next month for her other 2 remaining 4 month shots. Breaking them up is working for us. She seems to not have a bad reaction at all. I had to give her 2 doses of Tylenol.... but other than that no fever, no rash, no red mark where she got her shot. She did well.

Right now Joslyn is sleeping so peacefully! I wonder what she dreams about. Sometimes she will laugh in her sleep, giggle, smile and she is talking in her sleep right now! So sweet... the sound is just so sweet.

Jacky

PS little pooky is 20 weeks old!!!!!

Back on Zantac

We have made the decision to put Joslyn back on Zantac. She has not been eating normally for about a week now. She pulls off and screams, stiffens her body,she then either will refuse to latch back on orshe will latch on and pull right off and start the whole process over again. I thought she was getting mad at the fact that my let down had slowed down. I have over active let down.... so when she begins to nurse she chokes at the amount of milk coming out. She seemed to begin screaming right when my let down slowed down. So I thought she wanted it to come out fast again and when it did not she got mad. But this had been happening for over a week.. almost 2 weeks. So Stephen and I decided to try her medicine again. We are still nervous about giving her Prevacid... so we decided to try Zantac. I started her on her Zantac yesterday morning.....The effects started yesterday afternoon. She began to nurse longer and this morning at her 10 am feeding she nursed for 7 minutes the first one and then 10 minutes the second one. But she did something she has not done for 2 weeks...... when she was done with the second one she de-latched, looked up at me and began to talk and smile! OHHHHHH HOW I HAVE MISSED THAT!!!!!!It seems she was not getting mad but she has having relfux flare ups. So it looks like we are back on medicine again................... At this moment she is playing on her own! She is not screaming.... not crying..... not calling for me! It is now 10:32 AM and she just finished eating not too long ago.... and she is HAPPY!!!!! Oh happy day!

Joslyn is 19 weeks old and she goes to her doctor tomorrow for her 4 month well visit.


Jacky

First Art Project!

Yes yes yes.... we are just silly enough to have Joslyn do an art project! Since she can hold objects I thought that maybe she could hold a marker and color! What a genius she is! Look at the beautiful job she did!!!!!!!

Mommy's attempt at a professional photo shoot

This is one of the boxes we painted for Joslyn's room. She fit perfectly inside for her daily photo shoot! Here she is 18 weeks old! Do you think her first word will be "moo"?
hehe

Jacky

Back from vacation!

We got back from a week long vacation last week. We decided to try our luck and pack up both of our babies and head to Michigan to visit family. We were nervous about how Joslyn would travel in the car for 12 hours. But man she did so well! We kept our schedule and she did amazing! We left at 3:30 in the morning and did not wake her up. We put her in the truck last and we all headed off. Mackinac was in the back with her, and he left her alone the whole time! What a great fur-baby he is!
We kept her on the apnea monitor the whole trip up and back home. We did not want to have to worry if she was having a problem as we could not see her. She woke up for her 7 am feeding... went back to sleep... woke up for her 10 am feeding... went back to sleep and so on and so on.

My one tip for traveling with a, at the time, 3 month old.... keep your schedule! Do not wake them just to put them in the car. If you keep your normal schedule.... your baby will not be thrown off at all! Joslyn did not even have a hard time that night. She slept all night just like normal.


I did learn a lesson though. I can not drink O.J. She had such horrible episodes of her silent reflux... it was so sad. She would try to nurse (3 days in a row) at her 7 pm feeding, and just scream. We were so happy we brought her Maalox, it was a life saver! So now I know that I can only stick to water. (Maybe a sprite every once in a while.) We just never thought of juice being a problem... but it does make sense... all of that acid in the juice. I felt so bad, I had caused Joslyn to have such horrible reflux pain. Once I had stopped drinking it and it was out of my system.. she was back to normal. Lesson learned.


Jacky

18 weeks old

Joslyn Olivia has turned 4 months old! She is so much more amazing every day that goes by! Just when we think she can not possibly get any cuter.... she does! She is now able to sit with little assistance, which to us is HUGE! She was giggling... but has since gone back to squealing with excitement. Which is just fine with us.... it is sooo cute!
She is really showing a lot of interest in food. She will try to grab our plates or food if they are in her reach now. Boy is she getting fast!

In the past couple of weeks, she has really noticed Mackinac. She will watch him walk by and she will even see him from across the room. Sometimes it looks like she is thinking "you are different! What are you?" Her face is so funny.

What is new? Well now we have to strap her into her bouncy seat! She has gotten close to wiggling out of it... so we would rather be safe than sorry. (No more visits to Scottish Rite please.)

I measured her the other day. She is 26 inches long!!!! That means she is in the 90-95% for her length! She is one long baby girl! But her weight is still in the 10%. If we were right she is 11.5 pounds, but we find out when we go back to the doc for her 4 month well visit next week. We are hoping for 12 pounds by then. She is not losing weight and she is gaining each month. But we still wonder if they will label her "failure to thrive." We do not think so.. as she is growing and meeting all of her milestones (some sooner than normal.) But if everyone could add a prayer for healthy weight gain, we would be greatly appreciative.

I say it every day... but sometimes I just don't think I can feel it or say it enough... I just love our little miracle sticky bean. Just looking at her is a miracle in itself. What a wonder she is! What a wonder!

Jacky