So this past week has been really crazy. Everything started on Sunday (July 12
th) with Andrew being really fussy. All of a sudden on Sunday he got really fussy, was pulling up his legs to his stomach all the time, and he was never awake and happy - if he was awake he would be screaming. Sunday night was awful with me only getting maybe 2 hours of sleep because as soon as we would get him to sleep and lay him down he would start screaming 5 minutes later for the whole night. So Monday morning I took his temperature because I didn't know what else to do - it was 100.5 rectal which is borderline. I called the doctor on Monday around lunch because I didn't know what else to do - it was such a change from how he normally is.
The pediatrician wanted me to bring him in mostly just because of the dramatic change in his disposition. When we got there he was 9 lb 5 oz, so he was still gaining weight. The doctor was GREAT and she examined him head to toe to try to find a cause for him being so fussy - she stained his eyes and looked at them with a
fluorescent light to look for scratches, she checked out his ears, mouth, nose to look for infection, she felt his tummy, checked all his bones, even put in a catheter and took a urine sample (b/c of
Caleigh's history of urinary reflux and kidney infections) which didn't look pleasant... but she couldn't find any cause for his fussiness. One thing she did check also was to see if there was blood in his stool and there was - she checked it twice and both times it came back positive for blood. So she said that by far, the most common cause of blood in the stool is a
milk protein allergy. So for me to continue nursing I am having to stop eating all dairy - all milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, sour cream, etc. Cheese is my favorite food (pizza!) so I have been having a hard time accepting it but I am committed for now. It can take 10 days for the milk proteins to get totally out of
breastmilk so this entire last week I have been feeding him formula (and not the regular formula - we are having to use
Nutramigen in which the proteins are broken down so small that his body doesn't recognize them - it is super expensive which is another reason I am going to keep nursing). So for the entire week last week I was having to pump and dump and then give him a bottle. I was pumping 8-9 times a day and giving him a bottle that many times which was very time consuming and difficult to do while taking care of him and
Caleigh.
On top of that he started waking up every 2.5 hours at night - so by the time I would wake up, pump, get him a bottle (Adam helped with that part), and then get him back to sleep I would only get 1 or 1.5 hours of sleep at a time. I was totally exhausted and on top of that I was really wrestling spiritually - feeling like everything I enjoy was being taken away - my happy content baby, our finances, all the food that I like to eat. I really felt the Lord speaking to me in that though - especially through Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. I realized that God is removing or allowing everything to be removed that I am delighting in besides Him. So it has been a hard week.
One exciting thing happened at the end of the week (definitely a gift from God in the midst of this hard time) -
Andrew smiled for the first time on Saturday (July 18
th - the day before he turned 5 weeks old). It was a real smile too - not the ones they do when they are falling asleep and dreaming (which I love). We tried to get some pictures of it but this was the best we could do.
Andrew's one month stats -Weight: 9 lb 6 oz (39th%) - he was previously in the 69th% so his weight has taken a pretty big hit with all of this allergy stuff, Height: 21 and 1/4 inches (40th%) , Head circumference: 14 and 1/4 inches (14th%). I started nursing him again once on Friday and full time on Saturday and so far he has done pretty well with it. So the plan is for now I am avoiding all dairy until he is at least 6 months old and hopefully he will do well with that so that I can continue nursing. At 6 months I can start to add tiny amounts back and see how he reacts. Most kids outgrow milk protein allergies by the time they are 9-12 months old so we are praying that he outgrows his. We would love your prayers for him and for us as we try to love him well in this midst of this chaotic time.
Henry wishing he could eat Maggie's cupcake -
Sam -
And our sweet Caleigh Grace -
We found out on June 26th (also our 5 year anniversary) that Adam got accepted to Wake Forest's MBA program. He will start the last week in August and will attend classes 2 nights a week from 6-9:30. He will be going to class at the Charlotte campus of the MBA program so he won't have to travel very much at all! His classes will run for 2 years and he will finish in the summer of 2011.
By the mid to end of the week his rash had cleared up and I actually got some good pictures of sweet little A's smile.
So content...
Also this past week Andrew has started waking up only once at night. Yay! (but why do I still feel so tired?!?) I will feed him at 10 pm and then it usually takes him until 11 to fall asleep - he will lay in his crib and grunt or coo until then. He then wakes up around 4 to eat and again takes usually until 4:45 or 5 to fall asleep after he eats. Then I will wake him to start our day at 7. He really is such a sweet and adorable and strong little guy. His neck is so strong - he can already push his head all the way off the ground to look straight ahead and turn his head side to side while doing that - he seems so much stronger then I remember Caleigh being at this age. Despite the hard weeks with our sweet little A, we love him SO much, feel totally bonded to him, and love being a (busy) family of 4.
So this past week has been really crazy. Everything started on Sunday (July 12th) with Andrew being really fussy. All of a sudden on Sunday he got really fussy, was pulling up his legs to his stomach all the time, and he was never awake and happy - if he was awake he would be screaming. Sunday night was awful with me only getting maybe 2 hours of sleep because as soon as we would get him to sleep and lay him down he would start screaming 5 minutes later for the whole night. So Monday morning I took his temperature because I didn't know what else to do - it was 100.5 rectal which is borderline. I called the doctor on Monday around lunch because I didn't know what else to do - it was such a change from how he normally is.
The pediatrician wanted me to bring him in mostly just because of the dramatic change in his disposition. When we got there he was 9 lb 5 oz, so he was still gaining weight. The doctor was GREAT and she examined him head to toe to try to find a cause for him being so fussy - she stained his eyes and looked at them with a fluorescent light to look for scratches, she checked out his ears, mouth, nose to look for infection, she felt his tummy, checked all his bones, even put in a catheter and took a urine sample (b/c of Caleigh's history of urinary reflux and kidney infections) which didn't look pleasant... but she couldn't find any cause for his fussiness. One thing she did check also was to see if there was blood in his stool and there was - she checked it twice and both times it came back positive for blood. So she said that by far, the most common cause of blood in the stool is a milk protein allergy. So for me to continue nursing I am having to stop eating all dairy - all milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, sour cream, etc. Cheese is my favorite food (pizza!) so I have been having a hard time accepting it but I am committed for now. It can take 10 days for the milk proteins to get totally out of breastmilk so this entire last week I have been feeding him formula (and not the regular formula - we are having to use Nutramigen in which the proteins are broken down so small that his body doesn't recognize them - it is super expensive which is another reason I am going to keep nursing). So for the entire week last week I was having to pump and dump and then give him a bottle. I was pumping 8-9 times a day and giving him a bottle that many times which was very time consuming and difficult to do while taking care of him and Caleigh.
On top of that he started waking up every 2.5 hours at night - so by the time I would wake up, pump, get him a bottle (Adam helped with that part), and then get him back to sleep I would only get 1 or 1.5 hours of sleep at a time. I was totally exhausted and on top of that I was really wrestling spiritually - feeling like everything I enjoy was being taken away - my happy content baby, our finances, all the food that I like to eat. I really felt the Lord speaking to me in that though - especially through Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. I realized that God is removing or allowing everything to be removed that I am delighting in besides Him. So it has been a hard week.
Andrew's one month stats -Weight: 9 lb 6 oz (39th%) - he was previously in the 69th% so his weight has taken a pretty big hit with all of this allergy stuff, Height: 21 and 1/4 inches (40th%) , Head circumference: 14 and 1/4 inches (14th%). I started nursing him again once on Friday and full time on Saturday and so far he has done pretty well with it. So the plan is for now I am avoiding all dairy until he is at least 6 months old and hopefully he will do well with that so that I can continue nursing. At 6 months I can start to add tiny amounts back and see how he reacts. Most kids outgrow milk protein allergies by the time they are 9-12 months old so we are praying that he outgrows his. We would love your prayers for him and for us as we try to love him well in this midst of this chaotic time.
We love it that Daddy participated too and wore his spots!
We were the parents with "that child" that was TERRIFIED by the cow. When we first met the cow we were standing in line to order and I was holding Caleigh and the cow was bent down with his back to us. All of a sudden he stood up and turned around (it is a tall cow - at least 6 or 7 feet tall) and Caleigh let out this shrill scream of complete terror. We couldn't help but to laugh hysterically - her irrational (probably rational to her) fear was hilarious to us. After that she cried in the line and at the table as she worried that the cow would come back. Thankfully, ice cream solves all wounds and appeases all fears...
On another note we have been going through some major behavioral issues lately (likely a combination of the age and adjusting to a new baby)... Major whinning (like all day, follow you around whining), sticking her leg through the crib slats (and getting it stuck) and then crying - and she gets it really stuck - she has a bruise from doing it, and the constant "no" with disobeying. At least in the midst of it though she is getting so much more verbal which is fun. When Caleigh was a baby I never believed anyone when they said, "it is so much easier having a baby than an older child," but now I see that it is completely true. All this little guy needs is to sleep and eat and have a clean diaper.
One thing that was funny to us was how scared of the animals she was. At one point we were standing with her near where you can feed the giraffes and as one of the giraffes leaned its head in Caleigh started saying, "no, no, no, no, no" followed by crying. She did the same thing when the elephant started walking towards us.
In a tribute to the 80s (and my childhood), Caleigh came home from my parents house on Thursday in one of the outfits I used to wear. I wish I had a comparison picture (Mom?). She was pretty cute.
(I can just see her babbling away while she points in the above photo - and of course nobody has any clue what she is saying.)
From what I hear she did a great job of throwing the food to the ducks - although there was one mishap. Once when she threw a piece of bread it didn't leave her had and the ducks (being the lovers of bread that they are) ran up and snatched it out of her hand. Apparently she was saying 'up, up' and trying to hightail it out of there (I don't blame her - those big geese are aggressive!).
The herd... (actually what is a flock of geese called? a gaggle?)
Thanks for the outing Gigi and PopPop - clearly Caleigh loved it!
