Awake for 2 hours and it happens

Well Kaitlyn and I got up this morning at about 7 after a long night of her waking up constantly in discomfort. She hasnt been sleeping well in a few days now... which is making her and I both crabby, since I get up with her everytime through the night.

Anyway, I fed her this morning at about 7:15 and at about 9:15 or so she projectile vomitted all over her, me, her boppy pillow and the futon. It was pretty much most of her morning bottle.

I spoke to the Ped. GI's office yesterday and we have an appointment now for this coming Monday (Halloween) to see them. They told us to continue giving Kaitlyn the Zantac 1mL twice a day which I started back up last night. She spent the entire night scrunching up her tummy and grunting and screaming because she was not feeling well and obviously her tummy hurt! This is what she did every time she woke up last night too and once I did hear her get some gas out. Anyway, I gave her the Zantac this morning too and then this happens.

I wish I knew why all of a sudden Kaitlyn is 10 times worse than she was and she is seemingly continuing to get worse. I guess we'll see how things go til Monday and then we'll see what the Ped GI has to say about possibly different medications and maybe adding a motility medication to help her tummy with emptying.

Until the next thing...

Tootsie Roll

So today I decided to give Kaitlyn some tummy time since she doesnt get it really. She seems to be feeling ok so far today too.

Well she JUST rolled over from her tummy to her back on the right side!!! YAY!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!! This is probably the 3rd time she has spent any time on her belly and the first time on a flat surface!! I'm so happy for her!! After she rolled I wanted to see if she could do it again and I put her back on her belly. One of her rings was on the blanket about a foot ahead of her and she really wanted it. Well while I was writing this she decided to go get it... she scrunched up her knees under her belly and pushed her belly up and did a little "inch worm" thing a few times til she got to her ring!!!

YAY! What a big girl she is!! She only spit up a little bit so far on her blanket so no biggie.

Well I'll be sure to write if anything more happens!!

What a week...

Well the last week has been hell to say the least! Kaitlyn developed a rash on her cheeks, started puking a lot and her reflux was at an all time high. She has been miserable and screaming for about 85% of her waking hours and screaming while eating and like I said miserable.

At first I thought Kaitlyn was allergic to the peaches we gave her last week because thats when the rash and reflux upset started. We went to the Dr on Thursday and she upped her Zantac dose and gave me some Cetophil lotion to put on her cheeks. When I put the lotion on Friday Kaitlyn screamed because it hurt... I looked at the bottle and it has alcohol in it!! I can only imagine that was like lemon juice on a paper cut!! Anyway, since we gave her the higher dose of Zantac her rash got worse and ugly (*see pic - both cheeks look like that) and she was throwing up even more! Jon and I decided it might be better to NOT give her the Zantac and go see the Dr. So yesterday she got NO Zantac and has yet to have any today either and so far this morning she has spit up a few times (it was clear gooey liquid with curdled formula in it) and so far she hasnt this afternoon. Yesterday she had a few reflux episodes and screamed during them but she didnt spend the entire day screaming which was a relief for me! We just treated them with some Maalox and helped her get through them.

We went this morning to see the Dr again and she wants us to put her back on the 1mL of Zantac instead of the higher dose of 1.4mL to see if that works she also says the rash getting like that might just be coincidental and that if it was a reaction she would have a rash all over her face and body and not limited to the cheeks. I'm skeptical myself and I will talk to Jon later when he gets home to see what he thinks. If he wants to start her back on it then we will do it this evening. The Dr also wants us to go back to the Pediatric Gastroenterologist again because this is all still such a battle for Kaitlyn and she is still in pain after 4 months. She said the only thing more she can do is suggest Neocate (Prescription) Formula so she wants us to see the GI, which I'm happy about because I think I'd like to see about getting Kaitlyn on a different medicine. Maybe we could try Prevacid now that she is bigger and can eat off a spoon.

I'm waiting on the GI Dr to call me back now and to set up an appointment and I guess we'll see where things go from here.

Sometimes I wish we could just go back to the beginning and start all over again...

Baby Sitting

This morning has been quite the pukey morning so far. Kaitlyn doesnt seem to be in much pain from it so I'm ok with it. That just means we use more bibs and burp cloths today and change clothes a few times. She's already in the second outfit and she's only been up a couple hours.

She's napping right now and I'm so pleased that she has started to take naps... kind of. She still doesnt take good long naps like she needs too although she is getting better. Yesterday she took a few little cat naps here and there but she must have been really tired by late afternoon or evening because she fell asleep and I put her in her crib and she slept about 2 hours in there. Well... she wakes up about 5 times while she is sleeping because her pacifier falls out and she cries because she wants it. If I'm able to get to her fast enough she will go right back to sleep - if not she's either up or I have to get her to fall back asleep. She is getting much better than when she was a newborn... she didnt nap at all then!

Kaitlyn is becoming a regular little sitter! No matter where she is now she tries to sit and loves to sit. I think she is sick of laying around. She can sit supported almost perfectly now... no problems at all. She can even sit unsupported for a few seconds before she tips to the side. She is getting there though and I think thats one reason her reflux is acting up. She is trying so hard to sit and using her tummy muscles that it's causing her to throw up. Once she gets it mastered and she doesnt even know she is using her tummy muscles to sit she might not puke as much. Well, a mom can hope right?

Anyway, I know she loves new things and loves doing them when she realizes she can! Just like with her Exersaucer, the first day we put her in it she wasnt quite sure of it and then the next day she played with the toys a bit and now, she's a mad woman in there banging on things, spinning things, standing up, turning herself (the seat) around and loving every minute of it. Right now she can play for about 15 or 20 mins alone in there and be happy. Although it might be longer if she werent puking all over herself while doing it. She still has fun though! Mommy has it all set up to cover her clothes and the seat cover so she doesnt get puke on them and so far it works pretty well.

Kaitlyn tried Peaches for the first time yesterday and so did I... they're actually very strong tasting and she made a funny face too when she ate them. She didnt like them at first, she was gagging on them and stuff but after a few bites or so she started to get used to the taste. She will be getting some Peaches this morning too soon so we'll see how that goes!

For now we just try to enjoy the rest of this chilly windy day and try not to puke so much anymore!!

I Have Holes in my Lobes

Well we took Kaitlyn to get her ears pierced today and they look wonderful!! She did such a good job too getting them done. She cried for about a minute and then started people watching like she does. She was great!!

Now she is teething something fierce tonight!! She had a red bump on her gum and I think there is a tooth in her nearer future! Poor thing is very uncomfortable!! Well back to soothing her!

4 Months... My Big Girl.

Well today is October 13th and Kaitlyn is now 4 months old. She's getting so big and so much more independant!!! She had her Dr appointment today and she weighed 13lbs 9oz and was 24" long (2 whole feet tall!) She only gained 1 pound in a month which is low but she is staying at her own little growth curve and thats a good thing. So we're not so worried about all that anymore. I'm really tired of worrying and fighting with her about eating. She wins! I will feed her only what she will eat... it's all I can do. On a good note she is eating more! Actually an amazing amount! First of all for her size, age and weight and all that she should be eating about 33 ounces a day to gain weight like she needs to. She was eating 12-15 ounces for a very long time and about month ago she started eating 16 ounces steadily. Then more recently she has wanted to eat more and more so she was getting 18 ounces a day and sometimes 20. Although sometimes she was still acting hungry and since yesterday she has started eating just about 24 ounces a day! We're doing four 6 ounce bottles a day and so far she is doing great. We did realize that keeping the cereal to formula ratio the same in the larger bottle made her puke. So I lessened the cereal in her formula and she seems to be doing a lot better with the 6 oz bottles at each feeding. She also started eating some solids about a week or so ago off and on... on the days her reflux is bad we tend to stick to bottles to make it easier on her tummy. Soon she will be eating more of them too but she sure does love Apples!! :)

Her reflux is still hard but we have learned and realized that it is simply part of life now and that no matter what she is going to puke and we are going to clean it up, she is going to be in pain sometimes and we just deal with it. She is still on her Zantac and seems to be doing well right now. I have a GERDling and she will be, we cant sit around waiting for it to go away and hoping that it does and then keep gettin stressed out and upset when it doesnt. Life is too short to be stressed out about puke all the time! :)

She has been teething for awhile but lately it has gotten worse... or at least it seems to be bothering her more. She chews on everything and she screams and growls at things. Although I encourage it so it's no big deal!! I love to hear her talk so much and make all the noise she is making. Her vocabulary is really coming along great! Hehehehe

Her favorite things right now are Mommy singing the ABC's song to her, Mommy doing Itsy Bitsy Spider with her, Daddy doing his own Cheeky, Nose, Chin game with her and her Baby Einstein DVD's. She just cracks up and laughs and smiles at all of them. SHe also has recently started actually playing with her toys. She bangs them around and grabs them now and pulls on them and chews on them. It seems like these things just happen one day... there is no gradual thing about it... one day she isnt touching them at all, the next day she punches them and chews on them and loves them!!! It's amazing! She also just started going in her Exersaucer and so far she likes it but she still needs some encouraging to play with the toys.

Well I think that about covers all of the news with the baby... She's getting so big so fast now it seems... soon she will be crawling and sitting and then walking and talking!!

Puke, Puke and More Puke

Well the last three days have been pretty rough for all of us. Kaitlyn has been puking and spitting up all day for three days and she has had a low fever for the past three days too. I think the fever is due to her teething which seems to have become worse. She sounds like she might have a cold or something because her nose is stuffy and she sounds congested. It's just so hard to tell since sometimes she just sounds like that from the reflux. Anyway, I just hope she is feeling better soon, I hate when my baby is sick or not feeling well. The good thing is that most of the time when she pukes she isnt in pain lately. The Zantac mustbe doing it's job for the most part which makes me happy!

Just a side note: Jon and I went and traded in our car for something bigger. We figured since we have the baby and lug all of her stuff around and with us when we go to Michigan that we should get something larger. We bought a 2004 Santa Fe, it is pre-owned but it's in perfect condition. It's beautiful and has sattellite radio in it and lots of options. It's nice, we really like it and the ride is great too. It has lots of room and we will have no problems getting stuff to Michigan when we go next. It will also give us plenty of room as a family when/if we have another baby. This way we wont have to go looking for another car when that time comes.

Well Kaitlyn's 4 month appointment is on Thursday so we'll see how much she has grown in the past month... it sure feels like a lot!! :)

Hand - Eye

Well for the last two days I wake up to Kaitlyn rubbing her eyes with her little fists! It's soooooooooooooo adorable! She has tried to do it before and once in a while would get one hand somewhere near her eye but she has got it down good. She even does it when she is tired and it is amazingly cute! I just cant believe how beautiful she is and how much she can do now. I remember holding her limp little body just a few months ago. She's growing so fast now!

She's still doing very well with her Apples and we are going to go a few more days with the Apples before trying anything else. I think we might try carrots next and see if she likes that. I havent decided. She did great again today too, she was opening her mouth and chasing the spoon because she likes them so much!

She loves playing with Daddy too... they play "Cheekie, Chin, Nose" and she laughs and smiles and tries to bite his hands when he gets them. She's so much fun!! :)

Toys, Eggs and Apples

Well... I'm in awe at my own child! So much has happened in the last few days! Kaitlyn's hand-eye coordination has gotten sooooooooo much better! She's grabbing things and putting them in her mouth like a pro! Up until Friday 9/30/05 Kaitlyn really hadn't played with the toys on her little rocker seat. I hardly ever put them on there because she never attempted to get them. On Friday for some reason I got the urge to put the toy bar on and I wasn't really paying all that much attention to her and all of a sudden I heard the toys banging against each other and banging on the bar. I was shocked to see her playing with them. She was grabbing them, trying to eat them, banging them with her hands and just having a good time. She even pulled the little cows "handle" and made the music play a few times. She was there playing with them for about 10 to 15 mins! It was great to see such progress!

Then this weekend she was sitting in her carseat where she has a few toys hanging from the handle and until this weekend she had never touched or even tried to grab at them either. She plays with them almost constantly now!! I LOVE IT!

So speaking of this weekend, we went upstate to attend the Baby Harvest put on by Albany IVF Fertility Clinic. Each year they hold a "Baby Harvest" in October for all of the families that had given birth after successful fertility treatments. It was wonderful to see all of the little miracles there. Every one of them there was so special in their own way and each family there was so grateful for all of the staff at the fertility clinic. Radio Disney was there and they had door prizes and Costume contests too. Jon had decided to get me to make Kaitlyn a costume and so I did. On Saturday at the hotel I sat and made Kaitlyn's costume. We figured since we were going to a Fertility clinic get-together we would dress her up appropriately... she was dressed up as an Embryo! She kinda looked like a Potato but one of the Dr's there was able to figure her right out! hehehe It was so much fun and we ended up winning one of the door prizes from Gymboree and then Kaitlyn won Most Creative Costume and got a Build-A-Bear gift. We had a great weekend and Kaitlyn's reflux was on a low, thank God! hehehehe Oh and Kaitlyn's shoes were a HUGE hit, everyone we passed was commenting on them! The photographer there was in love with Kaitlyn too she kept taking pictures of all every chance she got. I guess we have a cute kid! hehehe

Today the reflux has been on a rampage but she has been amazing and handling it so well. She has been puking all day, not even spitting up but I mean puking and has had minimal crying as compared to other days! I'm so proud of her!!

We have also hit a HUGE milestone... since Kaitlyn is almost 4 months old we wanted to see how she would react to solids. We tried some cereal last week one day and she screamed when we put it in her mouth and made this horrible face and just cried and cried and hated it. I decided not to give up as a mommy and I just picked up one jar of Apples to see if maybe she is just sick of cereal, since she gets it in her bottles everyday. Well this evening before her bottle I got out the jar and gave her some. At first she was confused because she wasnt sure on the texture but she closed her mouth once and swallowed and there was no crying, no nothing.... she liked it! As a matter of fact, I gave her about 10 little spoonfuls and by the end of it she was opening her mouth wanting more!!! YAY!!! I'm so happy! She's eating solids!!!! She is such a big girl! Looks like it's time to get out the highchair soon!!! Wooohooooo!!! Awww my little girl is growing up already!! :)