One Month Old

On February 19th, Charlie was a month old. Today was his one month pediatrician appointment. He weighs 10 pounds 7 ounces!!! He's gained almost 2.5 pounds since he was born. Even crazier, last Thursday he weighed 9 pounds 7 ounces, so in less than a week, he's gained a pound. He likes his food.

We've been battling reflux and colic. I keep reminding myself that this isn't my first rodeo, and the difference between this time and when I had Jack is that with Jack, I didn't know that this was eventually going to pass, that it just might take a few months and alot of patience. This time I know that. It doesn't make it any easier, and as tired and frustrated as I might get, I wouldn't trade it in for anything if it meant I'd have to trade Charlie.

The spitting up started before we left the hospital, but he had the high bilirubin levels (jaundice), and so I was nursing him and then syringe feeding him colostrum I'd pumped before he was born (for that exact situation of high bilirubin levels and trying to avoid food allergies as with happened with Jack after we'd supplemented with formula when he was born) so I thought maybe he was just being overfed. Once we had been home a few days, the spitting up turned into throwing up which turned into projectile vomiting 4 times over the weekend, and him screaming alot. Because of this he ended up on zantac. Well, zantac is not meant to stop the vomiting, just to help with the burn. And the liquid form of the med for kids is downright disgusting. We finally figured out that I had to pump once every few days just to be able to give his medicine. I put about 10ml of milk to put the med into in a bottle so he would actually get the full dose instead of spitting out half of it. He gets it every 6 hours. The vomiting has continued, but for the most part, it's not projectile. Well, then he was having choking episodes-while he was on his back sleeping (with his head elevated because of the reflux), while he was being held, in his carseat...so the doctor put him on reglan to help with emptying his stomach quicker. We started this medication last Thursday. I can't say it's helped really. As a matter of fact, yesterday and today were the two worst days for the choking yet. Yesterday morning at 4:30am (3 hours after his last feed), I heard him in his bassinet in our room choking and his cough just got weaker and less effective which got my attention. I mean, usually it's a little choke with a few coughs here and there, but they're usually good, and pretty effective coughs, but this episode had me out of my bed and my heart going...and I deal with things like this for a living. I kept him sitting up for an hour after that and while I was holding him in my arms, he choked again. I sat him bolt upright for a bit after that, and again, choking. What the heck?

So after talking with the doctor today, we've decided to do a barium swallow which is a swallow study done with x-rays. They will feed him barium (which shows up white on x-ray) and shoot x-rays as he is eating to evaluate the anatomy of his esophagus and stomach. It sounds awful, but at least if they found something wrong they could fix it. I, of course, don't want anything to be wrong with my baby, BUT, I do want him to be safe and comfortable, and he is NOT now. For that reason it would almost be good that they did see something during this study. He chokes in his carseat while I'm driving which is nerve wracking, not to mention talk about a distracted driver! And he gets so uncomfortable with the colic and gas symptoms that he just cries and cries and there isn't much you can do to console him. You just have to wait it out until he's tired enough that you can get him to fall asleep. It's awful to feel so helpless. And his stomach-I'm holding him and you can feel his stomach churning. Today it felt like it was vibrating like a cell phone. Very strange. No wonder he's uncomfortable.

In other news, I'm pretty sure I got my first smile yesterday. It was after his second choking episode, and a screaming period right after I got him calmed down. He got this sweet open mouthed smile on his face and held it for like 5 seconds looking at me. Usually his eyes are half open and rolling around in his little head while he's dreaming and he does it, so that's not real, it's probably gas or something, but this time he was looking at me, AWAKE, and did it. It made me feel awesome, especially after not being able to console him sometimes and feeling completely incompetent.

Jack is doing great with Charlie. He holds him, rubs cheeks with him, kisses him, and his most favorite thing to do with Charlie is to tickle his feet. Charlie has really ticklish feet. He also has what I call piano toes. His fingers look like a normal length to me, but his toes look really long to me! It cracks me up. He is a very long boy. I'm not sure of his length as they didn't check it at his appointment today, but he fills out his 0-3 month clothes rather well.

Nursing continues to go well. He eats sometimes every hour for a few times during the day, and sometimes it's every 2-3 hours. At night he usually passes out between 8-9pm and doesn't wake up until sometime between 1-2am which is really nice. Then he's usually up again around 4:30ish, and again around 6:15. At least I have one kind of long stretch in there. Now if I could just find a way to go to bed right when he does, I'd be maximizing my sleep! That's about impossible with another one running around and things to do all the time (you know, like laundry for all the outfits, bibs and burp cloths Charlie has taken good aim on, and bottles and syringes to wash). Oh well, such is life with a newborn. This too won't last forever, and I'll be talking about how I wish he'd stayed little longer.

Sorry for the long lag between posts, but duty calls! I do religiously read my bloggy friend's blogs, and I comment when I can. Sorry for being a slacker. I'll try to post an update next week when I know the results of the study.