Ceci is 8 weeks old today! We have had an eventful past 2 months. Many things have happened that I never would have expected-even with the amount of child-care experience I have had in the past. Here is the long and short of what has happened:
When Ceci was about 2 weeks old, we noticed that she cried ALL the time. She would eat, but not very much and she would sleep for 6-7 hours at a time when she could actually achieve sleep. Shortly before she was 3 weeks old, she came down with a case of diarrhea that lasted for 7 days. We took her to the doctor 3 times during that time. On one particular Saturday, she went through more than 20 diapers, just in that one day. We knew that something more was wrong. On the following Monday, we took her back to the doctor for a 4th time. It was then that they weighed her and found that she had lost back down to 5 lbs 7 ozs. She was extremely dehydrated and malnurished. I thought that since she was nursing for long periods of time (sometimes 1.5 hours or more) that she was getting everything she needed. Apparently not! Dr. Latona saw her and immediately told us to go straight to Children's Hospital and that Ceci was being admitted. I cried. I was devistated that she would have to be admitted and that she was now being considered as "failure to thrive". While at Children's Hospital, a 3 day stay, Ceci was started on Hypoallergenic Formula. We also did a little experiment to see how much milk I was producing-it wasn't much...I was drying up so to speak. Also of note, we found out that she was allergic to milk proteins and could not take breastmilk without having diarrhea and colic-like symptoms. It was amazing when they gave us that first bottle of formula. She sucked it down like she hadn't eaten in days! It was obvious that she was more comfortable within about 2 hours. Within the next 24 hours-the screaming and the diarrhea both stopped completely. After the short stay at the hospital, Ceci had gained back to her birth weight of 6 lbs 1 oz. They sent us home with a Home Health Care Nurse and told us that they would be monitoring her progress weekly. We were told to set alarms and to feed her every 2-3 hours, whether she was hungry or not. We followed this regimen to the letter and by the first week, she was finally gaining weight. At her next doctor's appointment, we were told to go ahead and start her on solid foods (rice cereal, oatmeal, mixed grain cereal ,fruits and veggies). Since then, she has consistently been gaining weight! Last week she weighed 8 lbs!!!!! Today, she went to see Dr. Latona for her 8 week checkup and she weighed 8 lbs 9ozs! She was 21 inches long today. Last week was the first week she was on the growth chart for her age. She was in the 5th percentile! I know that this is long, but we have been so preoccupied with trying to help her "thrive" that there has been very little time for blogging. Today, they told us that we no longer have to have the Home Health Nurse! Last week, Ceci finally grew out of the Preemie diapers. She is out of the preemie clothes and is now finally wearing Newborn sized clothes (0-3 month sizes are still a little too big). Since she has come home from the hospital and has been started on solid foods, she has also started to sleep much better (a blessing for us b/c she had only been sleeping for 45 minutes at a time-and no, I am not exaggerating). Now, she only wakes 1 time each night. She is up for about 1-2 hours and then goes back to bed. We are truly thankful that she is finally starting to "thrive". She is holding her head up and is starting to smile! She is absolutely precious!
Ok, so this was long, but it was a rare moment that I had to myself, while Jesse is holding her and she is asleep. Hopefully, as she starts to become more consistent with some kind of schedule, I can update more regularly.
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