One is Easy

I woke up as usual this morning and got ready for work.  Then around 5:45 I heard Carly fussing and when I went in to check on her I immediately knew she had a blowout diaper.  And of course this was not just a minor blow out that a few extra wipes could clean up.  Oh no, this was an all out, need a bath to get everything clean blowout.  Fifteen minutes later she is bathed, dressed and ready to eat.  I feed her and sit her on the floor while I go get Katie up.  I think I am only a few minutes late, no big deal.  Nope, I come back out to the living room and discover that Carly threw up.  Never mind how late I am now because I am obviously not going in today.  But since Katie is all ready and very excited to go to Sharry's, off we go.  

An hour or so later Carly and I are home and have the house all to to ourselves.  It's very odd being here without the little miss.  It is unusually quiet and stays oddly clean for more than 2 minutes.  Luckily Carly is doing fine and hasn't had any other episodes since this morning.  But because of her history I can't help but worry, automatically assume the worst, and think we are going to end up back at the hospital.  Hopefully after a few more little stomach bugs, I will get past my paranoia and remember that all kids get sick every now and then. 

So today has been a very relaxing day because life with one eight month old is surprisingly easy.  I have gotten some much needed organizing done, vacuumed the whole house, and just played on the floor with my baby girl.

 

So all is well with the little one and in a few hours we will go pick up big sister.  And once again the house will be filled with the familiar little voice that I love so much.

Under the Weather

It's been a rough week for the Garner's.  It started last Thursday with Katie throwing up.  Luckily she perked up the next day and was back to her normal self, at least that's what we thought.  I went to work on Friday and took the girls to Sharry's.  She was fine all day but as soon as we got home the meltdown started and it was obvious she was extremely tired.  Early bed time for her and by Saturday morning she was fine.  Saturday was my mommy day out that I had really been looking forward to so I was hoping everyone would stay healthy.  They did and I had a wonderful afternoon of pampering.  It was fantastic and the girls were great for Jeff. 

Sunday the germ continued making it's way through our house and Carly threw up.  Of course, I started panicking thinking back to three months ago when those symptoms landed us in the hospital for a week.  Thankfully, Carly stayed strong and came through it just fine.  She was feeling better by Monday and back to her normal, happy self.  That leads us to yesterday when Jeff and I were hit with the same symptoms right about the same time.  We were both at work and felt like crap.  We both came home early, took Katie next door to grandma and grandpa's house and camped out on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.  Carly was great and entertained herself for a while and then fell asleep in my arms so all three of us could take a little nap. 

I am feeling better this morning but Jeff stayed home from work today.  Hopefully, this is the last of it and we can all stay healthy for a while. 

5 Months and Healthy Again

We went back to Children's Hospital for a follow up on Monday and all is well again!  Baby girl weighed in at 16lbs 10oz and is 25.5 in tall.  Her doctor actually wants to slow her weight gain down (we just can't win) by decreasing her formula intake.  Luckily we were given the ok to introduce solids so hopefully the addition of cereal will make her less hungry for formula.  So, Saturday we will see how Squirt does on rice cereal and if all goes well than we will start adding fruits and then veggies.  Everything I read says to start with veggies but apparently veggies have protein in them which is what Carly's tummy had trouble digesting so we will be starting her on fruits instead.  Hopefully, this will also help her sleep through the night because this tired mama would love to get 7 consecutive hours of shut eye herself. 

If all continues to go well we should be able to switch back to a milk based (and much cheaper) formula around 9 months which mommy and daddy will be thrilled about.  In the meantime we are continuing with the Nutramigen which she apparently is thriving on.  Developmentally she is doing great and is very close to being able to sit up by herself.  She also loves to roll all around the room and is starting to vocalize more.  It's also so much fun to see Katie interact with her little sister.  She loves to giggle and make funny faces at her which Carly finds hilarious.  I can't wait until they can really start playing together. 

 

 It is such a relief to have this illness and it's complications behind us.  Jeff and I were so happy driving back from Seattle because now we can stop worrying and we don't have to analyze poop anymore!  Woohoo!

Our trip to Childrens Hospital

We had our appointment with the GI specialist at Children's Hospital yesterday and it went very well.  We will know more after the blood work comes back Monday or Tuesday, but at this point the Doctor thinks that Carly developed a milk protein intolerance due to that nasty virus she got back in September.  It hadn't gotten better because we continued to give her breast milk and normal formula.  We never noticed any blood so we just assumed, based on what our pediatrician told us, that the loose stools were because her body was still healing from the virus.  Luckily, about 3 weeks ago we saw visible blood and that was when I stopped breastfeeding and started giving her the Nutramigen.  Looking back we should have done that when we first started supplementing with formula but we just didn't know.   Now her little body has to heal and it will just take time for her intestines to get back to normal.

The good news is that she is gaining weight like crazy!  She was 15lbs 2oz at the hospital yesterday which put her in the 75th percentile.  That was the most reassuring part of the visit yesterday, because it means her body is absorbing nutrients.  The doctor wasn't that concerned about her loose stools because he said that could take months to go away and as long as she is happy and gaining weight than we are on the right track.  We will go back in three weeks for a follow up visit and we won't be starting solids until she is 6 months old.  Luckily she should outgrow this milk protein allergy but he said it could take a year or maybe two.  We will just have to wait and see.

So, overall it was good news and as long as the blood work doesn't show anything different we are on the road to recovery.  As you can imagine we were both very relieved even though we just have to be patient and wait.

We finished off our trip to Seattle by stopping at Chipotle for lunch.  I love that place and I really wish they would open up one here in Bellingham. 

I also got around to finally taking Carly's 4 month old pictures today even though it is a week late. She is getting so chunky, smiles all of the time, and has discovered her hands which is fine except she ends up gagging herself and spitting up even more than normal.  I will be so glad when she outgrows that!  

 

Lastly, daddy was in charge or breakfast this morning while I took a shower.  This was the scene at our kitchen table.  

Carly looks so mad but I think she was really just yawning. :)

Happy Weekend!

4 Month Check Up

Carly had her 4 month check up yesterday and all is well except for her tummy issues.  She gained 6 ounces since her appointment last week so the new formula seems to be agreeing with her.  That means  she is now 14 lbs.6 oz. which puts her in the 60th percentile and is 25.25 inches tall which puts her in the 75th percentile for height.  Developmentally she is right on track which was also good to hear.  Her reflux makes it hard for us to do a lot of tummy time so I was a little worried about that, but Dr. Ann said she is doing great and has very good neck control and core stability. 

 

We are very anxious for our appointment on November 5th at Children's Hospital.  The hope is that we will get confirmation that it is a milk protein allergy and that it will just take time for her system to normalize. We will probably be making at least two trips down there because this first one is to just meet with the doctor and talk about the problem.  Then we will develop a plan and find out what other procedures need to be done to rule out any other problems.  Katie will be spending the day at Sharry's and luckily Jeff can get off work so we can both take Squirt down there. 

In other happenings, Katie is very excited for Halloween.  She doesn't get the whole trick or treating thing but she has really been into the decorations and pumpkins and costumes.  She is going to be a lady bug and Carly is going to be a pumpkin.  We actually had to hide her costume because once we put it on her to see how it fit, she didn't want to take it off.  We don't have any big plans for that night except for going around our neighborhood.  And how many houses we go to....well that will depend on Katie's reaction. 

We made Grandma Katie's banana bread this past Sunday to celebrate her birthday.  It was a lot of fun and something I am going to make a yearly tradition with my girls. 

Searching for Answers

Yesterday we took Carly back to her pediatrician and found out that she still has blood in her stool and that we need to go to Childrens Hospital down in Seattle.  Luckily she has gained a little weight (she's 14 lbs) since we were there a month ago, but she isn't doing as well on this new formula as would be expected if it were just a milk protein intolerance.  Our doctor pointed out that doesn't mean it's not an allergy for sure, but rather we just need to rule out anything else and get a specialist involved.  Also, since she will developmentally be ready for solids in a few months we want to get her tummy issues resolved now. 

It was an emotional appointment and I was holding back tears trying to be the strong mommy, but it is just scary when your little one is sick and medical professionals can't figure out what is wrong with her. I am really hoping we will get some answers down at Children's. 

  

Happy Baby!  And Katie thought Carly needed to wear her hat even though we were inside

Just Waiting

I know I am behind on posting but things have been busy and I have been a little stressed. We are still trying to figure out what is wrong with Carly and tomorrow we go back to our pediatrician. If she doesn't have any definitive news we will probably look into seeing a specialist. Last Thursday we got the results back from Carly's stool samples and they were positive for blood. Our doctor said the number one reason for that is from a milk protein allergy which means we had to switch formula. We are now giving her a hypoallergenic formula that is supposed to be easy on her system. It smells nasty and Carly refused it at first, but after a couple days of mixing old with new we were able to make the switch. Sunday was her first day of being on the new formula completely and we were hoping to see improvements right away. However, we are on day four and are still not seeing normal poopy diapers. Luckily we haven't seen any blood since Tuesday morning but I am still worried. Her diapers are very runny which is how they were when she had to go into the hospital. Hopefully, our pediatrician will tell us that it just takes time for the milk to get out of her system. So, we wait and hope that this is just an allergy and not something else.