Updates and Pics

So, as usual, a lot has been going on. Carl and I have been busy new parents, adjusting to scheduling, budgeting, and hanging out with our sweet little girl, who just so happens to be sleeping at the moment, giving me a few minutes to update my blog and just breathe. This has been a week of doctor's visits, smiles, and a few disappointments. I'll start with the latter of the three.

About two weeks ago, Keely started spitting up a ton. It happened after almost every feeding and sometimes in the middle of a feeding. I didn't know what to do. After she spit up four times in a 35 minute span, I decided to call the doc. Unfortunately, her pediatrician's office was on vacation, so I took her in to see the doctor that was taking her regular pediatrician's calls. He told me that it could be any number of things, including reflux, but he thought it best to just monitor her for now and for me to give him a call if something changed or it got worse. The spitting up continued, although she had days where she wouldn't spit up at all. I decided not to call because I'd scheduled an appointment with her actual doctor for Tuesday of the following week. At that appointment, I mentioned my concern again. Dr. Stripling ordered an X-Ray of her stomach, which was actually called a barrium swallow, which was carried out on Wednesday. I dreaded this appointment, because I was afraid they would have to stick her for the thousandth time. Fortunately, they didn't. As a matter of fact, it was completely painless, except I had to bring her to the appointment with an empty stomach. All they had her do was drink a concoction of barium and water, while they watched it go down on a screen, wash it down with sterile water, and see if anything started to come back up into her esophogus. She did fine, and stuff did start to come back up. I got a call from Dr. Stripling's office Thursday, saying that he wanted to start her on Zantac because she had slight reflux. She started that medication Friday, while Carl and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with my parents and Carrie watched her. I was so sad about leaving my little girl for such a long time. I wanted to see the movie, but I didn't want to leave her. I guess it's mainly because I know I will have to leave her nearly everyday once school starts up. I'm trying to maximize the amount of time I have left with her. Anyway, I managed to get through it. I did cry in the car after we picked her up. I was just happy to see her. I'll talk more about the movie later. Back to the medicine . . .

Keely does not like Zantac. I asked the pharmacy to flavor it, but they told me nothing could mask the peppermint flavor it naturally had. She makes a horrible face every time she has to swallow it. Really, I think it's kind of cute. She's been taking it twice a day since Friday. With the reflux diagnosis, came a referral to a gastrointerologist, whom she saw Monday. Prior to that appointment, the spitting up continued. I mentioned all of this to Dr. Higgins, and he determined she has a milk protein allergy, meaning she is allergic to dairy products, which she is getting through my breastmilk. He told me to stop nursing her for a week, so all of the dairy will get out of my system, and to put her on specialized formula during that time. I have to pump to keep my supply up and eliminate all dairy products from my diet in order to keep nursing her. I'm giving it a shot. I know I can do anything for Keely's sake, and I'm looking at it from that perspective. By the end of the week, I should be able to nurse again, and Keely's spitting up should be completely minimized. It's been going okay so far, but I hate pumping 7 times a day. It sort of sucks.

I had an appointment with my doctor Tuesday, so I had to leave Keely with Mam and Pete. It was not for very long, so it was fine. Those of you who know me best know that I always run 10-15 minutes behind for everything. I always say that I can plan to leave early, get completely ready without falling behind schedule, but still end up 10-15 minutes late for everything. I don't know why that is. It just is. So, I was running late for my appointment and hadn't dropped Keely off at my mom's house yet. I called Dr. Owen's office to let them know I was running behind. I hadn't left my house yet, but I told them I would only be 10 minutes late. Lie. So, I called Carrie and asked her to run out to my car and grab Keely in a very speedy manner so I could make my appointment. She did, and it was funny. Thank heaven for my sister, I made the appointment only 14 minutes late, one minute shy of the timeline they give you to arrive without being rescheduled. Yay for that! Tuesday was also my niece, Hadley's, birthday party at the pool by my parents' house. Carrie gave Keely a swimsuit that matched Ally's. It was so cute! The suit was a little big, but Keely looked adorable anyway. My brother, Allan, spent a lot of time holding her. He was so cute with her! He'll make a great dad someday. The party was fun, and Hadley got lots of good stuff. Keely got a ton of compliments, too.

This brings me to yesterday, which was Wednesday. Keely had an appointment with the endocrinologist to evaluate whether the medication she takes for hypothyroidism was working properly or if the dosage needed to be upped. This appointment was pretty rough on her. The endo didn't really tell us much that we didn't already know. He said that a lot of children with this condition that take the thyroid medication end up very bright. He even added, "It makes me wonder if I should have taken thyroid when I was young," in a joking manner. He also said that we can no longer give her a compounded form of the medication because there is no guarantee she's getting the same amount of the medication in every dose. So, we have to give her the pill form, which we crush up into teeny-tiny pieces using this cool pill crusher we bought at the pharmacy, and mix it with breastmilk. We put that concoction into a pacifier that has a medicine dispenser attached and let Keely suck it down. We tried this for the first time last night, and it was a huge success! We liked Dr. Varma just fine. He wants to see Keely every 3 months for the next while. She had to have blood drawn from her heel, which kind of offset her for the rest of the day. She wasn't very happy. I felt so sorry for her because I didn't know what she needed. It was sad.

Keely is six weeks old today, and she's having a pretty good day so far. She's sleeping on the couch, propped up on her Boppy pillow, at the moment. She looks so sweet! I am so glad we're not getting ready for a doctor's appointment right now. Unless Keely gets sick, we won't have another doctor's appointment until her 2 month on August 13. I'm taking off work for that, and it doesn't even bother me to do so. We adjusted Keely's schedule to see if we could get her down to one night feeding, instead of two. We started it Monday night, and so far she's adjust quite nicely. We get her up at 3 to feed her, and she goes back to sleep until around 6. She starts to cry then, so I give her her plug or move her into her swing. If she keeps crying, I take her to bed with me and cuddle. She does wonderfully then. We get up at 7, so she can eat again. After that, she usually goes back to sleep until close to 10. She is such a good baby! I just love being her mommy. It's the best feeling in the world.

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