I am happy to report that Elena seems to be improving with the reflux. The Zantac and Nutramigen seem to be helping. We've even had some smiles! I am so happy, and so relieved. My 36th birthday was on Thursday, and that was the first day she smiled. She is still crying quite a bit, but it's not all the time, and not all of it is the frantic, horrible, make you want to scream along with her and pull out all your hair kind of crying. It's normal crying. Or she'll just kind of whine-cry. She also makes this very sad, pathetic frowny face sometimes. When she smiles she is so cute! It's so great to see that aspect of her finally. I could totally hug Dr. B if it wasn't completely inappropriate. :-)
We're going to continue hoping for more improvement and on Monday I'll be calling the pediatrician's office to just leave an update and let him know how she's progressing; if she doesn't improve more, he might want to add or adjust something, I don't know. I would like to see even less reflux going on (she still has it of course, and it is still painful and makes her cry, it's just better right now), and therefore less crying.
The one bad thing I've seen is that after she eats, and I put her in the carrier, she always goes to sleep. This is bad because we want her awake during the day. So we have to fix that little issue, but really, to have that baby happier and not always crying is so wonderful!
What a relief!
Hopefully soon I'll be able to upload and edit some photos for you but right now it's really hectic around here still and when I'm home I'm usually being pulled in about 4 directions, despite having only two children, ha ha!
Have a good weekend!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Update
I haven't posted much lately because this baby is making it very difficult to get any time to do anything. She cries nonstop. And when I say nonstop, I mean, if she isn't sleeping, eating, or....right. If she's not eating or sleeping she's crying. Literally. We get maybe 30 minutes a day of awake, non-crying baby. She is miserable. We went to the pediatrician yesterday for her one month checkup, and I told him how she is behaving. While we were there, she had a little hissy, crying, flailing, arching her back like she does, not taking the bottle even though she's hungry. She'll act hungry but when you put the bottle in her mouth she shakes her head like she can't find it. So Dr. B just stood and had me try to feed her and watched her. He asked some other questions, like does she eat often? Does she have a pattern to her crying? Is she spitting up a lot?
Finally, after he watched her for a few minutes, he had me put her down and he checked her out. Then he told me that he thinks she has reflux. He said it looks like she is a yo-yo spitter-upper, meaning she has reflux and swallows it back down instead of spitting it out, which means ouchy coming up, and ouchy going back down. He said these babies are completely miserable, which Elena definitely is (and as a result, so is her mother). He said she's eating so often because it feels good going down, but of course then it just makes it come up more. She's arching her back because she's hurting, crying because she's hurting (of course), and making little "urp" noises because she's swallowing it.
Dr. B is always great, and he could tell how frustrated and tired I am. He told me his youngest son was the same way and he completely understood my feelings of not liking her and being so frustrated that she's crying so much and I can't fix it, etc. He told me he wanted to send his youngest back and if he'd had enough packing peanuts he would have! It was so good to hear my doctor really understanding me.
He left for a few minutes and came back with step one. First, we changed her formula again, to Nutramigen. The second thing Dr. B did was prescribe baby Zantac. She takes it twice a day and it's supposed to work quickly. She has to be kept vertical for at least 20 minutes after she eats, which is often. He told me that they used a soft-structured carrier of a particular brand and it saved them, because baby could be kept vertical easily. I have two kinds of slings, but Elena hates them, so I went out and bought a carrier today that I'll try out tomorrow. I'm going to buy and try and return until I find one she'll tolerate, because I simply cannot carry her around vertically all day and get anything done. It takes two hands to hold her up that way, and that means I cannot do anything. A carrier would at least allow me to get some things done (not everything because you can't bend over, so laundry is hard to do, cleaning up the floor is hard, but at least I can play with Karina, do dishes, and eat my lunch.
So far, she's had 3 doses of the Zantac and been on the Nutramigen since yesterday afternoon. So far, nothing has changed. I was hoping for some faster results, especially since he said we should see the Zantac working right away. We're going to see how things go through the weekend, and if we don't see some real improvement, we'll call and see what the next step is.
Today was terrible, she pretty much cried all day. I was at my mom's for dinner, with my aunt and brother who were there to celebrate my birthday a day early, and between Mom, Nana, and Aunt Betty, they pretty much took care of her. But I still heard her crying, and towards the end of the evening I was trying to calm her. I cried all the way home, because listening to her cry so long, knowing it's because she hurts, and on top of that the irritating part of it, is just too much sometimes. I know we'll eventually get it under control, or she'll just outgrow it, but sooner would be much, much better. For both of us.
Finally, after he watched her for a few minutes, he had me put her down and he checked her out. Then he told me that he thinks she has reflux. He said it looks like she is a yo-yo spitter-upper, meaning she has reflux and swallows it back down instead of spitting it out, which means ouchy coming up, and ouchy going back down. He said these babies are completely miserable, which Elena definitely is (and as a result, so is her mother). He said she's eating so often because it feels good going down, but of course then it just makes it come up more. She's arching her back because she's hurting, crying because she's hurting (of course), and making little "urp" noises because she's swallowing it.
Dr. B is always great, and he could tell how frustrated and tired I am. He told me his youngest son was the same way and he completely understood my feelings of not liking her and being so frustrated that she's crying so much and I can't fix it, etc. He told me he wanted to send his youngest back and if he'd had enough packing peanuts he would have! It was so good to hear my doctor really understanding me.
He left for a few minutes and came back with step one. First, we changed her formula again, to Nutramigen. The second thing Dr. B did was prescribe baby Zantac. She takes it twice a day and it's supposed to work quickly. She has to be kept vertical for at least 20 minutes after she eats, which is often. He told me that they used a soft-structured carrier of a particular brand and it saved them, because baby could be kept vertical easily. I have two kinds of slings, but Elena hates them, so I went out and bought a carrier today that I'll try out tomorrow. I'm going to buy and try and return until I find one she'll tolerate, because I simply cannot carry her around vertically all day and get anything done. It takes two hands to hold her up that way, and that means I cannot do anything. A carrier would at least allow me to get some things done (not everything because you can't bend over, so laundry is hard to do, cleaning up the floor is hard, but at least I can play with Karina, do dishes, and eat my lunch.
So far, she's had 3 doses of the Zantac and been on the Nutramigen since yesterday afternoon. So far, nothing has changed. I was hoping for some faster results, especially since he said we should see the Zantac working right away. We're going to see how things go through the weekend, and if we don't see some real improvement, we'll call and see what the next step is.
Today was terrible, she pretty much cried all day. I was at my mom's for dinner, with my aunt and brother who were there to celebrate my birthday a day early, and between Mom, Nana, and Aunt Betty, they pretty much took care of her. But I still heard her crying, and towards the end of the evening I was trying to calm her. I cried all the way home, because listening to her cry so long, knowing it's because she hurts, and on top of that the irritating part of it, is just too much sometimes. I know we'll eventually get it under control, or she'll just outgrow it, but sooner would be much, much better. For both of us.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
It's been crazy around here. We all got colds, including the baby. She is still fighting it, full of congestion and coughing like crazy. I took her to the doctor, don't worry. He said she sounds fine, her lungs are clear, and as long as she's eating and not running a fever she's all right. We go back for her one month appointment soon anyway.
We are trying to get sleep. Bill has been staying up super late with Elena so I can get some sleep, but Karina continues to call me during the night. I had to put a stop to it last night. She woke me at 130, then Bill brought Elena to me at 330 (told you he's staying up late). She was up til just after four eating and getting a diaper change. Then she woke up at 5 coughing to the point of spitting up all over herself so I had to change her. Then at 630 she was hungry and at 730 I had to get up to take Karina to preschool. How I'm functioning now, I have no idea.
Other than that, all's well. I went to a youth group meeting on Sunday and it was so great to be out of the house, just me, and talk to grown ups and see those kids again. I have missed them! And the best part was they all seemed happy to see me back again. What a great feeling. We started planning for Celebration of Life. I can't believe that's almost here again! (For those who may be new or don't remember, that's the huge meal the youth group prepares for the retired/senior folks in my congregation to thank them for their fantastic support all year. It's a huge production with food and entertainment). I'm not sure how Kelly and I will do the shopping this year with 3 or 4 kids in tow! I think last time we only had her youngest and Karina, and we went to BJ's so they could both fit in one cart. The year before, it was the same kids and I put Karina in a sling and she put her little one in the cart. If her oldest is in school when we go, that'll be great. I think if I put Elena in a sling it should work out. Otherwise...how many carts does it take to shop with four kids? (6 years old, two 3 year olds, and an infant in a carseat...yeah)
Check out the tiny toe!
We are trying to get sleep. Bill has been staying up super late with Elena so I can get some sleep, but Karina continues to call me during the night. I had to put a stop to it last night. She woke me at 130, then Bill brought Elena to me at 330 (told you he's staying up late). She was up til just after four eating and getting a diaper change. Then she woke up at 5 coughing to the point of spitting up all over herself so I had to change her. Then at 630 she was hungry and at 730 I had to get up to take Karina to preschool. How I'm functioning now, I have no idea.
Other than that, all's well. I went to a youth group meeting on Sunday and it was so great to be out of the house, just me, and talk to grown ups and see those kids again. I have missed them! And the best part was they all seemed happy to see me back again. What a great feeling. We started planning for Celebration of Life. I can't believe that's almost here again! (For those who may be new or don't remember, that's the huge meal the youth group prepares for the retired/senior folks in my congregation to thank them for their fantastic support all year. It's a huge production with food and entertainment). I'm not sure how Kelly and I will do the shopping this year with 3 or 4 kids in tow! I think last time we only had her youngest and Karina, and we went to BJ's so they could both fit in one cart. The year before, it was the same kids and I put Karina in a sling and she put her little one in the cart. If her oldest is in school when we go, that'll be great. I think if I put Elena in a sling it should work out. Otherwise...how many carts does it take to shop with four kids? (6 years old, two 3 year olds, and an infant in a carseat...yeah)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
A funny thing and then I start rambling
The other day, Karina was asking me to do something, I forgot what. She asked me to do it, and said, "If you would be so kind".
How funny is that girl?
Wish I could say Elena has calmed down with the hysterics, but not yet. In fact, she's starting earlier in the evenings now so I can enjoy it, too! Before, it was mostly Bill who got to listen to her. I just keep remembering all the advice I've gotten, and I know this too shall pass. I did take her to Target with me today while Karina was at preschool, and that went well, except for the pouring down rain when we were leaving.
One big bummer is that my fabulous, awesome, Britax carseat I won ages ago for her is so big and heavy (safe, too) I am having a hard time maneuvering it in and out of the car and carrying it. I am seriously thinking of switching back to my Graco from when Karina was a baby (it's not too old). It's lighter and smaller, and it would mean easier for me to use, carry, and move, plus I could put her behind my seat in the car where I wanted her anyway, and put Karina behind the passenger seat, where I wanted her. Right now, they are opposite because Elena's carseat won't fit behind my seat. I just have a Corolla. No minivan for me (but I have been eyeing some of the crossovers, not that we're getting a new car; we aren't). Ramble ramble, anyway, I'm debating. Part of me wants to go back to the Graco for the reasons I mentioned, but the other part is thinking, as sure as I do that, I'll be in an accident and something terrible will happen to Elena because she won't be in the safer carseat and I'll never forgive myself. So I probably won't switch. Plus, Bill doesn't want to switch them because it means reinstalling the carseats again, and he doesn't want to do that!
I haven't done Elena's announcements or even printed any photos for anyone yet. I feel so behind! I expected it, but still, it's annoying not to have things done when I'd like them to be done. At least I can pick things up off the floor again now! I'm getting better quite nicely and feeling really good. In fact, I feel mostly normal, other than still having a little tummy (but it's gradually getting smaller). I even bought a pair of pants today on sale at Target in my old size and while they're tight, they aren't uncomfortable and most importantly they went onto my body! :-) (I won't tell you that they were stretchy)
Overall things are getting closer to normal around here. Still some rough patches, but I know in time those will all work out too. I just wish I knew what was making Elena cry so much; from what I've read she's too young to have colic, but she sure acts like that's what it is. My uncle had it. Nana tells me all the time how he'd cry from 5-7pm every night for two months. Elena kind of does that, but not always at the same time. So I don't know. I'll just be glad when she outgrows whatever it is.
Now, look, can you believe this little cutie could drive anyone crazy with her hysterics at night? :-)
By the way, Britax didn't pay me or sponsor me or give me anything to say the stuff I said about their carseats and how, in my opinion, they're really safe, and neither did Graco. I just said stuff that's my own opinion. I like both my carseats, just for different reasons.
How funny is that girl?
Wish I could say Elena has calmed down with the hysterics, but not yet. In fact, she's starting earlier in the evenings now so I can enjoy it, too! Before, it was mostly Bill who got to listen to her. I just keep remembering all the advice I've gotten, and I know this too shall pass. I did take her to Target with me today while Karina was at preschool, and that went well, except for the pouring down rain when we were leaving.
One big bummer is that my fabulous, awesome, Britax carseat I won ages ago for her is so big and heavy (safe, too) I am having a hard time maneuvering it in and out of the car and carrying it. I am seriously thinking of switching back to my Graco from when Karina was a baby (it's not too old). It's lighter and smaller, and it would mean easier for me to use, carry, and move, plus I could put her behind my seat in the car where I wanted her anyway, and put Karina behind the passenger seat, where I wanted her. Right now, they are opposite because Elena's carseat won't fit behind my seat. I just have a Corolla. No minivan for me (but I have been eyeing some of the crossovers, not that we're getting a new car; we aren't). Ramble ramble, anyway, I'm debating. Part of me wants to go back to the Graco for the reasons I mentioned, but the other part is thinking, as sure as I do that, I'll be in an accident and something terrible will happen to Elena because she won't be in the safer carseat and I'll never forgive myself. So I probably won't switch. Plus, Bill doesn't want to switch them because it means reinstalling the carseats again, and he doesn't want to do that!
I haven't done Elena's announcements or even printed any photos for anyone yet. I feel so behind! I expected it, but still, it's annoying not to have things done when I'd like them to be done. At least I can pick things up off the floor again now! I'm getting better quite nicely and feeling really good. In fact, I feel mostly normal, other than still having a little tummy (but it's gradually getting smaller). I even bought a pair of pants today on sale at Target in my old size and while they're tight, they aren't uncomfortable and most importantly they went onto my body! :-) (I won't tell you that they were stretchy)
Overall things are getting closer to normal around here. Still some rough patches, but I know in time those will all work out too. I just wish I knew what was making Elena cry so much; from what I've read she's too young to have colic, but she sure acts like that's what it is. My uncle had it. Nana tells me all the time how he'd cry from 5-7pm every night for two months. Elena kind of does that, but not always at the same time. So I don't know. I'll just be glad when she outgrows whatever it is.
Now, look, can you believe this little cutie could drive anyone crazy with her hysterics at night? :-)
By the way, Britax didn't pay me or sponsor me or give me anything to say the stuff I said about their carseats and how, in my opinion, they're really safe, and neither did Graco. I just said stuff that's my own opinion. I like both my carseats, just for different reasons.
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