Chipley Chatter: Update 2/19

There's been so much going on that I've wanted to write about and document so that in the future I can look back on this and remember all of the sweet and perhaps not-so-sweet happenings in our life recently! Forgive my lack of prize-winning literary writing these days...I am unbelievably exhausted...which justifies any incomplete sentences or incorrect grammar...hey, at least I'm posting.

We've really had a challenging time feeding Hunter for the last several weeks. I feel so, so badly for him and as his mom, I just want to make everything all better for him! Much of our time has been spent talking to the Pedi or in his office. Regardless if he's eating breast milk or formula, Hunter is having a hard time with reflux and colic. His feeding times can be so complex and are very time consuming, that I really haven't had time for anything else besides taking care of him, Madison and things around the house. (Forgive me for not returning phone calls yet or emails...I WILL get back to you, I promise...it's just really difficult to fit in anything else these days.) Right now, Hunter is on two different medicines to treat the reflux and an extremely sensitive formula with rice cereal added. On Monday at the Pedi's office, he weighed about 10 1/2 lbs, so he IS gaining weight, which is great! But, I must monitor how much he eats, which is another positive reason for using the bottle now, where we can measure how much he eats. The doctor said that reflux peaks between 4-6 weeks old, but most kids outgrow it by a year old. Colic usually doesn't last past 3 months. Unfortunately, Hunter's reflux has gotten worse and we haven't quite found a good medicine or formula combination for him yet. He is vomiting about 3-4 times a day, causing many clothes changes and lots and lots of laundry these days! He is in obvious pain often times after he eats. Sometimes he'll eat 4 oz, other times he'll eat 2 oz at shorter intervals, which is usual for a child with reflux. Sometimes he'll eat very quickly, other times he'll take an hour and a half to eat, depending on the pain. He usually does really well sleeping at night, sleeping 6 hours, feeding, then sleeping 3 more hours!! But I don't get that amount of sleep, of course. I get up often to check on him. Also, he sometimes chokes on his reflux and has a hard time catching his breath again, so that requires you to pick him up and hit him on the back. No matter any inconvenience, what matters most is the pain that our little baby is in! It tears at our hearts when he is in pain. So, we're trying to work with his doctor to find an answer to ease his pain.

We were at the hospital at 7 am this morning, per the doctor's stat order for an upper GI xray to determine if there are any obstructions. Hunter wasn't able to eat for 5 hours prior to this procedure. So last night, I set my alarm to feed Hunter every 3 hrs to ensure a full belly before we needed to stop his feedings all together. It was pretty rough, as he would take over an hour to eat, then I'd get about an hour of sleep before doing it all over again. At the last feeding, he threw up everywhere...all over blankets, myself, my hair, clothes, etc. I just felt SO bad for him. But I was so proud of him this morning as he did SO well for the technicians!! He hardly fussed at all. I did my best to make sure he was comforted, but was still concerned that he'd be screaming because he would be starving. He was such a good little boy. I love my little man so much! They took xrays of him, then had him drink Barium, took more xrays, then had him drink water and took more xrays. So far, we were told there was no obstruction found. We'll get final results by the end of the day, hopefully.

Also, on Monday afternoon, we visited a Pediatric surgeon who needed to assess Hunter for something that is not major, but will require surgery after he is 6 months old. Long story short, the doctor did something that caused Hunter to bleed. I was not expecting this and soon enough, I was flat on the floor. Oh man, it was awful. I felt so nauseaus, couldn't feel my hands, and everything got black... I've had hundreds of shots, watch medical shows on TV and have no problem with the sight of blood...until then. I was out. A nurse had to take care of me and one had to take care of my son. How embarassing. An hour later, we were finally out of the office.

Madison is doing well and enjoys school each day. They are "studying" their alphabet letters now and are currently studying the letter G. It is so cute. She continues to be a big help with Hunter and likes to stroll her babydoll around wherever we go. She is very keen on testing her Daddy and I lately. Her teacher says she is the most curious child in the class and refers to Madison as Curious George. She gets into everything, to say the least. And we hope to put her in gymnastics soon as well. She is a busy girl!

Trying out our new Bumbleride double stroller...we love it! Phew, we finally found the right stroller that works well for us!