Ally had just finished her bottle and was sporting a lovely milk goatee!
Ally and Mommy enjoying the sun!
Nicki, Katelynn and Hannah enjoying the refreshing water of the Bay! (Can you tell that Nicki is expecting a third kiddo soon?)
Katelynn and Hannah were such good swimmers!
Matthew enjoyed hanging out with the girls... I think he loves little girls this age and can't wait until he can horse around with Ally!
Hannah and Katelynn found a nifty new use for our ottoman!
Once the gals left yesterday afternoon Ally and I were off to the doctor's office. I'd made her an appointment to discuss her feeding problems and to get her eyes checked out because we thought she'd picked up pink eye. Luckily the doctor didn't think it was pink eye but he gave us some ointment to put in her eyes just in case since they've been so gunked up lately. He also diagnosed her with acid reflux. I was really surprised by this and feel so terribly guilty for overlooking the signs for so long. She hardly ever spits up so I didn't think it could possibly be reflux but apparently it's quite common for babies to take a few ounces at the beginning of a feeding then refuse the rest of the bottle once their esophagus starts to get irritated. She also coughs a lot which I didn't associate with her eating issues but apparently that's also a symptom.
We got a prescription for some baby Zantac. Amazingly enough they didn't flavor it with some infant friendly fruity flavor and the stuff tastes horrible. Poor Ally tries to spit it all back out and it makes her gag. I've tried putting it into her bottle, but in order for that to work she has to finish the entire thing which she doesn't always do. I'm considering calling the pharmacy today to see if they can flavor it if I bring it back in. Regardless- hopefully we'll see an improvement in Ally's eating habits within the next few days.
The Doc recommended waiting for a while to start feeding her cereal but suggested putting a small amount in her bottle (which I'd previously avoided doing) to help sooth her esophagus and tummy when she's eating. We tried this last night for the first time at her final feeding. Matthew was administering it and after a few minutes he said "Wendy- she's been working on this bottle for like 10 minutes and it doesn't seem like she's making much progress." She's usually very sleepy and keeps her eyes closed during this feeding so I told him to keep working on it and that she'd finish it eventually. 20 minutes later he took the bottle from her and discovered she's only taken about a half ounce in 30 minutes! Apparently I put too much cereal into the mixture so she couldn't get anything out of the bottle! Poor baby was working so hard and couldn't get anything! Needless to say we remixed the bottle and she was able to get her requisite 5 ounces before bedtime. I am definitely not winning any mommy of the year awards this month!
Last on the list of crummy news, Matthew found out yesterday that he was going to be going on a 12 day work up with the Eisenhower and he left at 6:30am today. Nothing like getting some notice with stuff like this! We're trying to keep it in perspective though... there was another group of guys in the squadron that found out they're leaving on Sunday for 4 months so it could definitely be worse. It was hard to say goodbye to him this morning when we dropped him off at the squadron and I had a mini panic attack. I should be used to all of this by now but somehow everything is different now that Ally is here. The thought of having to do everything on my own for the next week and a half is really daunting. I know we'll manage somehow but we're sure going to miss our number one guy!
2 comments:
stop being so hard on yourself! You are all figuring it out as you go on, including Ally! I couldn't help but laugh at the part where you said "we think Ally has pink-eye, so we decided to hang out with the girls today.... " Glad it wasn't pink eye! I know some parents that FREAK OUT about that stuff!
Glad you had fun at the beach.... cute pics!
I don't know if you remember this or not, but Isaac had horrible acid reflux for the first year of his life. They gave us baby Prevacid and it came in strawberry flavor. My doctor's advice was a little different, he encouraged me to feed Isaac cereal (in a bowl), and to mix the strawberry prevacid in it. It really worked wonders for Isaac, he ate it up and never even knew it was there. Maybe you could try that, it certainly won't hurt her. Isaac's symptoms got better before too long, and once he hit 12 months he was completely fine, so don't worry too much it will all be okay.
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