Life has been pretty busy here as you probably guessed. Hubby’s parents came for a visit and we stayed pretty busy with them. I did a lot of shopping with them. We spent a whole day just at the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock. I had a great time with them and Courtney didn’t mind all the attention one bit!
My sister also flew into town and got to meet Courtney for the first time! She even babysat one night. She is a great AUNT!!! I think her and Courtney will really have fun together! At Christmas Courtney will get to meet Uncle Zak, too!
We had a good Thanksgiving as well. Hubby and I prepared it here at the house and my parents and sister joined us here. We had ham and turkey, asparagus and stuffing. All turned out yummy and I was taking leftovers to work!
And yes, I returned to work, a little bit. Wag N Wash agreed to take me back for the holiday season on weekends. So, when Hubby is home on the weekends (as long as he is in town) I will work! I have worked 2 days so far. It hard to get back into it physically. I haven’t been on my feet that much since June! And I haven’t been lifting 40 pounds of dog food since last December! So, when I come home at night, I can feel it! But I am hoping this also helps me to lose that last little bit of baby weight! So far it’s been fun to be back at work!
I am also going to be filling in at SH for a week and a half. The girl who took my place is going on vacation, and I get to fill in. And they are going to allow me to bring Courtney also! Which is good because Hubby will be out of town for half of it.
The reason we don’t put her in daycare is because of all that she has going on. First, due to her increased risk of pneumonia, she can get sick easy. And everyone knows how easy it is for kids to get sick at daycare. Also, due to the job at SH being part time now, it would be my paycheck every week just paying for daycare! I wouldn’t be bringing home any money! Our pediatrician advises that we really should wait until at least April to put her in daycare and if we can wait longer, great. So, we will re-evaluate everything in April.
She just hit 11 weeks old and I think she is either transitioning or hit a growth spurt. She used to drink 2 oz every 2 hours. Now it’s more like 3-4 oz every 3 to 3 & ½ hours! This change is dictated by her, and it’s kind of causing a flare up of her reflux. She has had several choking episodes the last 2 days. She had one today that I really thought was going to prompt a 911 call, but she finally cleared it.
I just let the dogs out and it’s snowing! We put up our tree and outside Christmas lights on Thanksgiving and I LOVE the way everything looks with snow!
Well, the little one was asleep, but not anymore. I must go tend to her!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
Quick Update
I have been super busy here. And it’s late and I am tired so let me BRIEFLY update you:
Hubby’s parents were here for the last 8 days. Had fun, Christmas shopped, spent time with Courtney.
Today, I went back to work at Wag N Wash! Just weekends, probably for the holiday season, we will see how it goes.
Thanksgiving was good, Hubby and I cooked for everyone. Hope yours was great also!
Courtney’s good, being sillier everyday, loves to laugh at her fish mobile!
Off to bed, more later!
Hubby’s parents were here for the last 8 days. Had fun, Christmas shopped, spent time with Courtney.
Today, I went back to work at Wag N Wash! Just weekends, probably for the holiday season, we will see how it goes.
Thanksgiving was good, Hubby and I cooked for everyone. Hope yours was great also!
Courtney’s good, being sillier everyday, loves to laugh at her fish mobile!
Off to bed, more later!
Friday, November 17, 2006
Swallow test
This took me till the next day to post due to blogger being down:
Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged. I’ve been busy! Courtney had her 2 month old appointment with her pediatrician on Tuesday. She weighed in at a hefty 9lbs 9.5oz! She is growing like crazy! That jumped her up to the 25th percentile for her weight! She had been hovering in the 10th percentile, so it’s nice to see her go up a bit. It’s very important that she continues to gain weight with her reflux.
She got 4 shots while we were there. Ugh, that’s not fun. She screamed like I have never heard her scream! But she quieted down pretty quick after it was over. But she was so crabby the next 24 hours! Especially when we hit her fussy times! And one of her fussy times is at 4am. She was really unhappy and she let us know, a lot, between 4am and 6am.
We finally got her swallow test done as well. They saw that she does indeed have some issues where the food goes when she swallows. It does tend to migrate to the wind pipe. During the test it did not go past her vocal chords. Which is good, however, it would have been better to see it not go to her windpipe at all. Unfortunately it went there almost every swallow. The speech pathologist told us to feed her as upright as possible and to try to avoid feeding her while she is very tired. We have to have her tested again when she starts on baby food to see where the baby food goes to. The speech pathologist said that most babies outgrow it around 4 months old when they get better head control and start working on sitting up. So, we just have to watch her closely. This does mean that her risk of getting pneumonia is higher than a normal baby, so should she show any signs of illness, we have to get her to the doctor right away. Pneumonia at this age would really be a bad thing.
I think we are managing her reflux pretty good now. We feed her 2 oz of formula every 2 hours during the day. This small amount often makes the spit up less. Knock on wood; her choking spells have decreased recently as well. I have noticed that she tends to go in fits and spurts. We have a period of good days and then we hit a period of bad days. Reminds me of peaks and valleys, or highs and lows. I really enjoy the highs. And somehow the low times or bad days always come when Hubby is out of town and I am by myself.
Her daytime fussy time now starts around 3pm and sometimes can last until 7pm. I hope it’s just colic and I hope she grows out of it soon!!!
Hubby’s parents arrived today for Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it’s a week away! His mom was here last month and she said she sees a huge difference in Courtney. It’s funny how when you see her every day you don’t notice any changes.
Well, it’s past 10pm and Courtney is asleep. I need to take advantage of that and sleep myself!
Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged. I’ve been busy! Courtney had her 2 month old appointment with her pediatrician on Tuesday. She weighed in at a hefty 9lbs 9.5oz! She is growing like crazy! That jumped her up to the 25th percentile for her weight! She had been hovering in the 10th percentile, so it’s nice to see her go up a bit. It’s very important that she continues to gain weight with her reflux.
She got 4 shots while we were there. Ugh, that’s not fun. She screamed like I have never heard her scream! But she quieted down pretty quick after it was over. But she was so crabby the next 24 hours! Especially when we hit her fussy times! And one of her fussy times is at 4am. She was really unhappy and she let us know, a lot, between 4am and 6am.
We finally got her swallow test done as well. They saw that she does indeed have some issues where the food goes when she swallows. It does tend to migrate to the wind pipe. During the test it did not go past her vocal chords. Which is good, however, it would have been better to see it not go to her windpipe at all. Unfortunately it went there almost every swallow. The speech pathologist told us to feed her as upright as possible and to try to avoid feeding her while she is very tired. We have to have her tested again when she starts on baby food to see where the baby food goes to. The speech pathologist said that most babies outgrow it around 4 months old when they get better head control and start working on sitting up. So, we just have to watch her closely. This does mean that her risk of getting pneumonia is higher than a normal baby, so should she show any signs of illness, we have to get her to the doctor right away. Pneumonia at this age would really be a bad thing.
I think we are managing her reflux pretty good now. We feed her 2 oz of formula every 2 hours during the day. This small amount often makes the spit up less. Knock on wood; her choking spells have decreased recently as well. I have noticed that she tends to go in fits and spurts. We have a period of good days and then we hit a period of bad days. Reminds me of peaks and valleys, or highs and lows. I really enjoy the highs. And somehow the low times or bad days always come when Hubby is out of town and I am by myself.
Her daytime fussy time now starts around 3pm and sometimes can last until 7pm. I hope it’s just colic and I hope she grows out of it soon!!!
Hubby’s parents arrived today for Thanksgiving. I can’t believe it’s a week away! His mom was here last month and she said she sees a huge difference in Courtney. It’s funny how when you see her every day you don’t notice any changes.
Well, it’s past 10pm and Courtney is asleep. I need to take advantage of that and sleep myself!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Soo sleepy!
Phew, what a week! Hubby left on Sunday for his next trip. It was so long ago now; I don’t remember what Courtney and I did! Nor do I remember Monday.
Tuesday Courtney had a weight check at the doctor’s office. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz! She is growing like a weed!! Later that afternoon, I went and got my flu shot. They are only giving flu shots to ‘high risk’ patients. Well, due to our 2 month old, we are considered ‘high risk’ so we get to get them. Our pediatrician is the one who recommended that we get them.
That afternoon, while I was at the doctor’s office in fact, Courtney started to fuss. That was around 3pm. She didn’t stop fussing and crying until about 8:00pm that evening. It was a LONG evening for me. And it was so uncharacteristic for her that I called the after hours pediatrician clinic. They were extremely unhelpful, other than saying that I really should try to find someone else to hold her. So, I called my friend Kelly to come over. I was feeding Courtney when she arrived. Kelly took over feeding and Courtney ended up falling asleep. She didn’t cry once while Kelly was here. But it was amazing how much better I felt after having a break.
My mom was kind enough to come up the next evening and stay with me the next two nights. She didn’t have another crying fit like that again, but the help is always much appreciated and very nice!
Thursday evening for fun and excitement (and for me to get out of the house) we went and walked around the mall. We ate dinner there too. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time. She loves movement so much that as soon as you stop the stroller, she starts to cry. So, you pretty much have to keep her moving at all times.
We stopped putting rice cereal in her bottles. She was spitting up so much more on it. Since I stopped giving it to her, life is a little better. The last 2 days have been a little rougher, as she has had several choking episodes. Yesterday she had 4 or 5, and today she’s had at least 3 so far. Typically she maybe has 1 per day, maybe. So, hopefully things aren’t getting worse. All though from all the research that I have done, reflux tends to get increasingly worse until 4 months old, and then (hopefully) should get better. So, we may be on the path to peaking. We are still waiting to get our swallow test scheduled.
Hubby came home Friday night, and Courtney was happy to have her daddy back. She is smiling more and more now. The other day she was smiling and laughing at her mobile!
Today we went to Champps restaurant because there is a local group of Virginia Tech fans that hang out there together to watch the game. So, we went and joined them today for a while. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time! She is getting to the point now that she is awake more and more.
Personally, I am so exhausted! Courtney tends to go to bed about 9:30pm and on a good night she will sleep until 3am or 4am. Or on a not so good night she only makes it until 1am. Then she wakes up around 4am again. And recently she has decided she likes to get up at 6:30am. It used to be she liked to sleep until at least 7:30am.
Well, we just finished dinner and I am going to rest while she is still sleeping. I need sleep!!!
Tuesday Courtney had a weight check at the doctor’s office. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz! She is growing like a weed!! Later that afternoon, I went and got my flu shot. They are only giving flu shots to ‘high risk’ patients. Well, due to our 2 month old, we are considered ‘high risk’ so we get to get them. Our pediatrician is the one who recommended that we get them.
That afternoon, while I was at the doctor’s office in fact, Courtney started to fuss. That was around 3pm. She didn’t stop fussing and crying until about 8:00pm that evening. It was a LONG evening for me. And it was so uncharacteristic for her that I called the after hours pediatrician clinic. They were extremely unhelpful, other than saying that I really should try to find someone else to hold her. So, I called my friend Kelly to come over. I was feeding Courtney when she arrived. Kelly took over feeding and Courtney ended up falling asleep. She didn’t cry once while Kelly was here. But it was amazing how much better I felt after having a break.
My mom was kind enough to come up the next evening and stay with me the next two nights. She didn’t have another crying fit like that again, but the help is always much appreciated and very nice!
Thursday evening for fun and excitement (and for me to get out of the house) we went and walked around the mall. We ate dinner there too. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time. She loves movement so much that as soon as you stop the stroller, she starts to cry. So, you pretty much have to keep her moving at all times.
We stopped putting rice cereal in her bottles. She was spitting up so much more on it. Since I stopped giving it to her, life is a little better. The last 2 days have been a little rougher, as she has had several choking episodes. Yesterday she had 4 or 5, and today she’s had at least 3 so far. Typically she maybe has 1 per day, maybe. So, hopefully things aren’t getting worse. All though from all the research that I have done, reflux tends to get increasingly worse until 4 months old, and then (hopefully) should get better. So, we may be on the path to peaking. We are still waiting to get our swallow test scheduled.
Hubby came home Friday night, and Courtney was happy to have her daddy back. She is smiling more and more now. The other day she was smiling and laughing at her mobile!
Today we went to Champps restaurant because there is a local group of Virginia Tech fans that hang out there together to watch the game. So, we went and joined them today for a while. Courtney stayed awake almost the whole time! She is getting to the point now that she is awake more and more.
Personally, I am so exhausted! Courtney tends to go to bed about 9:30pm and on a good night she will sleep until 3am or 4am. Or on a not so good night she only makes it until 1am. Then she wakes up around 4am again. And recently she has decided she likes to get up at 6:30am. It used to be she liked to sleep until at least 7:30am.
Well, we just finished dinner and I am going to rest while she is still sleeping. I need sleep!!!
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Courtney's Test
Well, we have been busy here. Wednesday Courtney had an appointment to see her GI Specialist. He felt that she needed to have an Upper GI test done in order to make sure we were not missing something. So, we scheduled that for Friday.
Thursday was an interesting day. They have a program here in town called First Visitor. It’s a branch of this state wide service, Bright Beginnings. It’s a service that actually started in Denver. It’s a volunteer service of mom’s who come and visit new mom’s. They bring you a ‘gift bag’ that has a small quilt and lots and lots of information and resources. Our local library even gives you 2 books to read to your child. There is also Mozart CD. Their big philosophy is that the more information and support you have the healthy and happier your baby is going to be. It’s a nice service. They are there to talk to if you have any questions or problems. They will also come back when your baby starts crawling and help you baby proof your house. If you know of anyone who is having or has recently had a baby, I would recommend them! It’s a wonderful free service.
Shortly after the visitor left, Courtney had her worst choking spell yet. She was making some odd noises; I had stepped around the corner. By the time I got to her, her lips were blue and she was coughing. The coughing was able to clear the stuff she was choking on. But it was pretty scary. I was so thankful she was okay! These are the types of things that can happen to a baby that has reflux, so you have to watch them carefully.
The next morning, early in the morning, she had her upper GI. They tell you not to feed them at least 2 hours ahead of time so they are hungry when they get there. So, Thursday night (Friday morning) she woke up at 1am, and ate 2 oz. of formula, then I set my alarm for 4:30am, I woke her up and fed her another 2 oz of formula. By the time she was on the table ready for the test, it was 7:30am and she was hungry. So, she eagerly drank the barium. We did see on the test that she does have reflux, we watched the barium ‘splash’ up out of her stomach, half way up her esophagus. The doctor also saw that some of the liquid started go down her wind pipe instead of the esophagus. That’s not good. But the test also showed that there is no blockage at the end of her stomach and her stomach can empty fine.
The doctor at the GI test called Courtney’s GI Specialist almost right away. We spoke with the specialist’s office later and they want her to have another test, called a swallow test. It’s supposedly very similar to the test she had Friday, but we do it with a speech pathologist, who watches how she is swallowing. We are not sure yet when that test will be. I will hopefully find out on Monday.
We spent the rest of Friday running errands and getting everything accomplished that we had been putting off for a while. I got an emissions test on my car, dropped of my breast pump, and all the other small errands we had to run, like to the bank, dog food, grocery store, etc. That night we made enough dinner for 4 people and took it over to Tony and Kelly’s house and ate it there. It’s so nice to have someone to talk to who is going through the same things as us! Their baby who is 13 day’s older than Courtney has pretty bad reflux, and possibly other issues. They are trying to figure that all out now too. They go to the same specialist’s office as us.
One of the things that the doctor’s are having us do is to add a small amount of rice cereal to her formula. The hope is that it will thicken it up enough to help with her swallowing, as well as the reflux. The rice cereal should make it just heavy enough that it should sit heavy her in her stomach and not come back up. The hard part we are dealing with now is trying to make the holes in her bottle nipples a tad bit bigger so it will flow through. We are just now starting to find the right opening and tricks to get the food flowing.
Today we spent a lazy morning around and then went and ran more errands. Courtney needed more diapers and wipes, and other stuff. Then we went to my parent’s house for dinner to have an early celebration of my dad’s birthday.
We came home tonight and as I was getting Courtney dressed for bed; I started playing peek-a-boo with her. She started to smile and giggle. She has been smiling for about 2 weeks, but it was so cute to watch her really enjoy it! That is the first time I have seen her act that way towards me! The other night she was in her bouncy chair, it has lights and music. She was laughing and giggling at her lights. She loves lights. She is so cute! But hey, she is my child!
Thursday was an interesting day. They have a program here in town called First Visitor. It’s a branch of this state wide service, Bright Beginnings. It’s a service that actually started in Denver. It’s a volunteer service of mom’s who come and visit new mom’s. They bring you a ‘gift bag’ that has a small quilt and lots and lots of information and resources. Our local library even gives you 2 books to read to your child. There is also Mozart CD. Their big philosophy is that the more information and support you have the healthy and happier your baby is going to be. It’s a nice service. They are there to talk to if you have any questions or problems. They will also come back when your baby starts crawling and help you baby proof your house. If you know of anyone who is having or has recently had a baby, I would recommend them! It’s a wonderful free service.
Shortly after the visitor left, Courtney had her worst choking spell yet. She was making some odd noises; I had stepped around the corner. By the time I got to her, her lips were blue and she was coughing. The coughing was able to clear the stuff she was choking on. But it was pretty scary. I was so thankful she was okay! These are the types of things that can happen to a baby that has reflux, so you have to watch them carefully.
The next morning, early in the morning, she had her upper GI. They tell you not to feed them at least 2 hours ahead of time so they are hungry when they get there. So, Thursday night (Friday morning) she woke up at 1am, and ate 2 oz. of formula, then I set my alarm for 4:30am, I woke her up and fed her another 2 oz of formula. By the time she was on the table ready for the test, it was 7:30am and she was hungry. So, she eagerly drank the barium. We did see on the test that she does have reflux, we watched the barium ‘splash’ up out of her stomach, half way up her esophagus. The doctor also saw that some of the liquid started go down her wind pipe instead of the esophagus. That’s not good. But the test also showed that there is no blockage at the end of her stomach and her stomach can empty fine.
The doctor at the GI test called Courtney’s GI Specialist almost right away. We spoke with the specialist’s office later and they want her to have another test, called a swallow test. It’s supposedly very similar to the test she had Friday, but we do it with a speech pathologist, who watches how she is swallowing. We are not sure yet when that test will be. I will hopefully find out on Monday.
We spent the rest of Friday running errands and getting everything accomplished that we had been putting off for a while. I got an emissions test on my car, dropped of my breast pump, and all the other small errands we had to run, like to the bank, dog food, grocery store, etc. That night we made enough dinner for 4 people and took it over to Tony and Kelly’s house and ate it there. It’s so nice to have someone to talk to who is going through the same things as us! Their baby who is 13 day’s older than Courtney has pretty bad reflux, and possibly other issues. They are trying to figure that all out now too. They go to the same specialist’s office as us.
One of the things that the doctor’s are having us do is to add a small amount of rice cereal to her formula. The hope is that it will thicken it up enough to help with her swallowing, as well as the reflux. The rice cereal should make it just heavy enough that it should sit heavy her in her stomach and not come back up. The hard part we are dealing with now is trying to make the holes in her bottle nipples a tad bit bigger so it will flow through. We are just now starting to find the right opening and tricks to get the food flowing.
Today we spent a lazy morning around and then went and ran more errands. Courtney needed more diapers and wipes, and other stuff. Then we went to my parent’s house for dinner to have an early celebration of my dad’s birthday.
We came home tonight and as I was getting Courtney dressed for bed; I started playing peek-a-boo with her. She started to smile and giggle. She has been smiling for about 2 weeks, but it was so cute to watch her really enjoy it! That is the first time I have seen her act that way towards me! The other night she was in her bouncy chair, it has lights and music. She was laughing and giggling at her lights. She loves lights. She is so cute! But hey, she is my child!
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