2 months

Dear Parker Lou,
Yep. 2 months! Crazy. It's been somewhat of a wild ride even though in the grand scheme of your life it will seem like nothing. But living it right now, it's kind of a big deal. You started off perfectly fine. About 6 weeks into your life you grew very unhappy. Your cry was hoarse and you spit up many of your feedings. After pediatric visit after pediatric visit, ultrasounds of your tiny tummy and advice from specialists, we finally have a diagnosis. You have a severe case of acid reflux that I hope you are already outgrowing. It was a rough 2 weeks, but we got it under control, you are starting to gain weight again and most importantly you are not in pain anymore. The spitting up has even subsided. The best part is: we have our sweet, laid back, easy going, Parker Lou back.


What I've learned about you in the past month is that you are very sensitive. You scream when we take you out of your bath. We've concluded it's because you're cold and you HATE it. So despite the fact that we run a steam shower several minutes before we put you in, turn the heat up to 80 and try our best to dress you quickly, you still cry. You are also sensitive to loud noises (if you are awake) and sometimes they make you cry too. You turn your bottom lip up and tears begin to fill your eyes. You also get upset with quick movements or if we jossle you around too much. You're a gentle little thing and prefer to be handled that way.


You really only cry when you are hungry or tired (or at any of the above mentioned.) Daddy and I have your cries down. He will say, "this is her tired cry, time for bed." Of course, I know when you are hungry. You still prefer to eat every 2 hours during the day. Sometimes I can stretch you to 2 1/2 or 3, but since you sleep long stretches at night, I know you need the frequent feedings. You easily sleep most nights from 8am-5 pm.


Your big brother is really into holding you this month.




And during this photo shoot I asked for his help to make you smile. He thought jumping out from behind the chair and yelling ROOOAARRR! would do the trick.




Ummm....not so much.


But see this smile:

It's one you only reserve for Daddy.

And honey, I promise, your hair will grow and you won't look like such an old man. :-) I definitely cursed both of my babies. I laughed uncontrollably at pictures of your Uncle Ryan when he was a baby. His hair grew in the from the back to the front. It was very funny, but now that both my kids were born with funny hairlines, I'm not the one laughing anymore. ;-) Ok, well maybe I am still laughing...
Before you know it, you will have beautiful flowing blond locks or maybe brown curls? Whatever it is, it won't be so old manish. Hang it there!

You seem to have lots of dark hair on the sides and back of your head and it appears that you have none on top...but you do! It's peach fuzz and it's white blond so it's hard to see.

Well baby girl, we survived 2 months! I never thought I could love so big until you came along.

Love,
Momma

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Parker UPDATE

We went to the Dr. last night and Parker has gained weight!! She also grew an inch so we are thankful for that as well. The Dr. said if there is any problems they will immediately stop growing in length and she hasn't. I was told, due to my reservations of giving so many doses of drugs to my tiny 7 week old, that she NEEDS to be on them. That in fact, if she wasn't on them, the long term effects would be MUCH worse. Like a permanent hoarse voice worse, damaged vocal cords worse and lots of other things. So I will continue to give her those doses for hopefully a short time longer.

We discussed the dairy issue and Dr. Butcher seems to think since she got better in a few days time, that it was the doses of Zantac that helped and not the cutting out of dairy. So I can start easing dairy back into my diet. YAY for cheese, chocolate and milk! I will still watch my intake though.

She is still happy and content and sleeping like a baby. Well, not really like a baby because most of the time babies don't sleep. She is sleeping like an adult :-) She takes great naps during the day. Something I could never get Lane to do at a young age and she puts in 6-8 hour stretches at night.

Things have been really crazy around here. It's always something! I haven't pulled my camera out in nearly a week. I plan to do that in the next few days and I will post pictures soon. Thanks for all your sweet comments and prayers!

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If I'm really being honest...

The past 2 weeks have NOT been easy. My sweet, calm, laid-back baby girl has changed. I knew it wasn't her...her demeanor went from one way to the complete opposite and while we occasionally saw glimpses of the "way she used to be," they didn't last long. My mommy instinct (with the help and support of my mom and sister) told me that something was not right with her. So after being at some form of medical facility, whether it be the pedi's office or pediatric radiology the last 11 out of 14 days, after performing an ultrasound on her to rule out pyloric stenosis, we finally have answers. They aren't the greatest and in all honesty they are forcing some really hard situations.

Parker has GER. Not just your average baby reflux. A pretty severe case. A case so severe it requires her to take 2 different medicines 5 different times throughout the day. A case so severe that she vomits entire feedings. A case so severe that she is not only NOT gaining weight...but losing it. A case so severe I have to cut out all and any dairy in my diet. A case so severe that if she doesn't gain weight at her next weight check on 11/9, then I have to pump and dump until the dairy has left my body and she has to be put on a special type of formula. A case so severe that we were told to never lay her flat on her back ever (or at least until she grows out of this). She's in pain. It's awful. I feel terrible for her.

It really started about 2 weeks ago (but in hindsight has been going on all along-the crying out while she was sleeping, but never opening her eyes, the spitting up massive amounts, the gagging, all the signs have been there) and peeked just about the time we had a stream of visitors here. I was beside myself. I didn't know what to do. I was having glimpses of my terribly colicky first born. Matt and I were holding our breath. But I knew. I knew this was not a colicky cry. She is not a colicky baby. (Trust me I know what one of those are)This was different. My baby was hurting. She would wake up from a completely calm, dead sleep screeching and crying in pain.  And the vomiting-that wasn't normal.

After being on one of the meds for a week now, I am seeing a little improvement. We were told it can take up to 2 weeks for it to start working completely. She's done really great these past 36 hours. No major spitting up and no pain. She slept from 8 last night until 5 this morning. She's been cooing and smiley during her awake time all morning and she is sleeping comfortably now. I just want her to get better. I just want her to be pain-free. I just want a piece of cheese...:-) kidding....sort of! I would give up all dairy for the rest of my life it it meant for her to get better. Prayers welcome!

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