Urijah's 2 month Dr Appointment

I've totally been slacking in posting this, since the appointment was Monday, and it's now Thursday, but such is my brain and my life. :)

The appointment went great! Our big guy is now 10lbs, 9oz (25%) and 22 3/4" long! That is 4lbs, 4oz and 2 3/4" bigger than when born. Way to go big guy! Besides a li'l diaper rash he looks completely healthy and happy. (The diaper rash is gone already, BTW. It was gone by Tuesday night.) He got 2 vaccines: the DTaP shot, and Rotovirus by mouth. He cried just for a second, then was all better. I talked to the pediatrition about him possibly having reflux (he spits up every time after he eats, and does a "spit up face" then "chews" and swallows it back down [gross!]). She agrees that he does have it, but for now we're just going to watch it and pray he grows out of it with none of the weirdness Mika had.

Speaking of Mika, the pediatrition saw her walking down the hall, and noticed that her feet go in when she walks. I had noticed it too, and was going to bring it up at her 18 month appointment next month, so I was glad the pediatrition noticed this time and mentioned it. She wanted us to make an appointment with the orthapedic to have it looked at, which works perfectly because we needed to make an appointment for when she is about 21 months to get another check up x-ray on her hips. So we're doing the whole shabang in 3 months (April) when she's 20 months.

Baby Feet, Mommy Feet

"I'm SO bored"

Mika had a UGI test today

aka an Upper GI test. Basically she had to drink a few oz of "vanilla" flavored barium while they took a fluoroscope x-ray to see how it went through her GI system and if there were any anatomical abnormalities. Zarik got called to work yesterday, so he couldn't be there. The Dr and assistant were great though, when I told them I was 4 months pregnant. I got to stand behind a lead wall and watch though a window. They did have to turn off the x-ray and call me in to help get the last 1/2 oz in her, but besides that Mika did great!! And the best news is that everything looks great!! The Dr did see her reflux, but it's, for lack of a better word, "normal" - not caused by something bad. So she'll probably outgrow it in the next 3-15 months!! Even though this has seemed like a huge ordeal the last three months or so, I am so glad we now know what the gasping is, what causes it, and how to treat it (basically to watch her outgrow it). So here's a big "WHEW!" and a couple of recent cute pics!!

With the Meercats at the Zoo


Playing in her new splash pool

Dr. appointments galore! Mika Update...

So today we (Mika and I) had some Dr appointments.

Today was originally schedualed for a reflux/prevacid check. It turned into a sickness update/reflux check. The flu poor Mika had is turning into a resperatory thing (so a cold) and I guess it's fairly common for it to do that. The pedi thinks the coughing will culminate Sat/Sun, and there may be more vomiting associated with it because of all the draining mucus and the coughing. That should be lovely, as we'll be in Cali then for a funeral. I can start giving her half-strength formula again today. She just had 2 oz w/half a scoop and some pedialyte/white grape juice to chase it down.

As far as the reflux goes, because of the vomiting plateau (even when everything else was getting better she was vomiting) and the fact that she didn't do her gaspy thing until 4 days off the prevacid (she wasn't keeping it down, why bother giving it to her) We are pretty darn sure it's reflux. Basically, with any illness reflux is aggravated and that's probably why she plateaued. So we're on the prevacid until her 9m appt and then we'll re-evaluate her, probably take her off for a couple weeks to see how she is, and if she hasn't grown out of it we'll go to a GI dr. I'm also going to start giving her acidopholus (doing research on this now) to help heal her body/give her body a break so she has a better chance of growing out of this in a month and a couple of weeks.

The shirt says it all


Our little "almost" crawler!

Lactation Consultant

We saw a lactation consultant today. We told her what's been going on with Mika and me, and then she watched me nurse Mika. She saw how Mika gets her letdown quickly and gulps it down. After only two min on the boob she said to take her off, that her sucking had changed. She asked if we were oppossed to supplementing and then gave Mika a 2oz bottle. She sucked it down so fast! After a few min of talking to us, she was looking at Mika and said, lets try another. Mika sucked that one down too!! The LC was shocked!! So while I work on my milk supply I'm to supplement her with up to 4oz after bfing. Then I pump to help me while Mika NOW happily plays. I'm starting fenugreek, upping my calorie intake and turning some of water to juices and gatorade (she said I was probably drinking too much water!). She gave us a much more realistic solids schedual for Mika.

And, she doesn't think Mika has silent reflux, or if she does it's really mild. She said the kid is just HUNGRY!!! That's such a mixed blessing, lol. On one hand, I am soooooooo releaved there's probably not anything serious wrong with her, on the other, I FEEL INCREDABLY GUILTY! I was starving my baby! She's going to talk to our pedi and wants to hold off on all the tests we were going to get done starting next mon. I'm glad we hadn't started the previcid yet. So now I'm just waiting on a call from either her or the pedi to confirm we're delaying the tests, and starting this new plan.

Update on Us

Well, the Reglan didn't go over so well with me. Unfortunately I found out it's a depressive, which is not good for someone with a type of ADD that closely mirrors depression and anxiety. So I stopped that and it took a couple of days to get out of my system, but I am doing very well now. I am seeing a lactation consultant Wednesday morning and am starting Feungreek which is an herb that can help with milk production.

As for Mika, we have been pumping her full of solids. Unfortunately this has made her a very cranky li'l girl. She is suddenly not sleeping through the night. She also cries in between bites of food. I called the pediatrition this morning and told her about these recent developments. She is really sure now that it is Silent Reflux. That explains everything, including the gasping. We are keeping the Upper GI test appointment next Monday, and I can't remember exactly what she said, but I'm pretty sure we are also going to have to admit Mika to the hospital overnight and do another test that involves sticking a tube down her throat. I'm going to ask her more questions about that when she calls me Tuesday. She also wanted to put Mika on Prilosec, but the pharmacy didn't have the correct dosage, so they're having to call the pediatrition tomorrow to see what she wants to do. The reason she's wanting to do the medication before the test is that because of her gaspy thing, her biggest worry is that Mika may choke and apirate.

Please pray for us. I know this is not the end of the world or anything, but it's not easy to go through either.

Mika's 6 month appointment

The concerns I went in with were 1) Her weird gaspy episodes, 2)Her weight (I had mommy intuition that she had either platued or lost some) and 3)I want her on an alternative shot schedual because of some reactions after her last shots.

Now, this is a new dr for us. We were using a FD and while I think she's great, she really wasn't cutting it with Mika. She kept telling us to go to the ER for the gaspy thing and not following up.

As far as the shots went, the new pedi was totally fine with it!! She said a lot of her patients do an alternative schedual, so yeah!!!

She was so incredably great at listening to our concerns, asking good questions, and making a pro active plan. So here's the deal:

Mika has lost weight. She was 11lb13oz at 4m. She was 12lb4oz at 5 m(sick baby visit). Today she was 11lb12.5oz. *sigh* She really doesn't want to come right out and supplement with formula with out doing a month of good milk-supply-upping stuff, which I am sooooo glad for!! That's what I wanted and what she suggrested! So I am now on Reglan 3x/day, and am under orders to up the Mother's Milk Tea and drink TONS of water. (I'm already drinking 3-4 liters a day!) She also wants me to start pumping before feeding, see what I get, nurse Mika to see if she gets some hindmilk, then give her what I pumped. We are also to totally bump up her solids. We just started this week, but had only been doing like 1oz 1-2x/day. We are now to do cereal w/1 vegi or fruit (whole or at least half of the jar) after first and before last feedings of the day, 1 jar each of a fruit and vegi for "lunch", and a snack of puffs or a biscit in the afternoon.

Also, we go in a week from mon to have a chest x-ray and upper GI test to see if what is causing the gaspy thingy. She gave us two possibilites at this point: Silent Reflux (would have to be REALLY silent as Mika is NOT a fussy baby in any sense of the word) or Tracheomalacia, and I quote from the internet "a process characterized by flaccidity of the supporting tracheal cartilage, widening of the posterior membranous wall, and reduced anterior-posterior airway caliber. These factors cause tracheal collapse, especially during times of increased airflow such as coughing, crying, or feeding." We will discuss more what we will do with either of these when we figure out what it is. She said something like if it is Tracheomalacia she may just need to grow out of it. Then we will work on the feeding/weight issues completely separately.

I gotta say, although I am VERY happy we are being proactive in all this, I am so bummed we have to be. This isn't going to be easy.

Thanks if you made it this far.

PS She was 25" (25%) w/a head circ. of 42.5cm(45%!) So other than her weight, she's growing great!