Not Out of the Woods Yet & Q's 9 Month Stats

You may remember a few months ago our pediatrician heard a "clicking" in Q's hips when he was giving her an exam and sent us to the children's hospital to have an ultrasound done of the hip.  A few weeks later we received a call and were notified that the ultrasound had come back negative, showing no signs of hip dysplasia.  As you can probably imagine we were very happy to hear that.  Even though it can be corrected through the wearing of a brace, every parent's biggest desire is to have their child completely healthy and strong 100% of the time.

Today was Q's 9 month well-baby visit and when Dr. B was rotating her hips he was hearing a very noticeable "clunk" (which we know is much worse than a "click").  After coming home B mentioned that he could hear the sound that the doctor was referring to as Q was on his lap during that part of the exam.  If I'm honest I must admit that while I watched Dr. B take so much time and focus so much attention on rotating her hips my heart began to sink.  To make a long story short, he heard a clunk and even though the ultrasound came back negative he wants to have her evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon to find out once and for all if there is something going on with her hips.

This evening before putting the girls to bed I called a friend of ours who attends our ward and is an orthopedic resident here at one of the locals hospitals.  I asked him if he would mind rotating Q's hips himself to see if he heard or felt anything.  He said he'd be glad to do it but did give a warning that he hasn't had a lot of experience with that sort of thing so he may not be the best source but if it was a definite "clunk" he would know, it's the slight "clicking" that he may not be the best at identifying.  That was more than acceptable to me, I'd just like to have another opinion on the matter if possible and preferably without shelling out several hundred dollars if not necessary. 

As for other stats from the appointment she weighs 17 lbs. 14 oz. (approx 38th percentile) and is 29¾ inches long (95th percentile).  For comparison's sake Y was 19 lbs. 5 oz. (approx. 55th percentile) and was 28¾ inches long (75th percentile).  Y has always been tall for her age but it's looking like Q might be even taller, but at this age things change quite often so you never know.  As far as all the health stuff is concerned she's doing great and honestly that's what matters the most.

But, with that said, we have been referred to the MISD (Macomb Intermediary School District) to have a developmental evaluation performed on her.  For a 9 month old Dr. B did not feel as if her gross motor skills were nearly where they should be.  She is sitting on her own but only the tripod seating, she's not pulling herself up or even acting interested in doing so.  I'm not completely surprised that he's sending us to have her evaluated, last week Y spent much of the week watching videos of herself when she was Q's age and even though Q was "late" doing many things she was still farther along than Q is.  So taking her in to make sure that all is well will actually be a relief.  What I later realized that I should have asked the doctor (and I may call tomorrow to ask) is if the "clicking or clunking" in her hip may have any affect on the delay of her gross motor skills?  It may be a shot in the dark or it may not be, but it seems like a good question to me!

6 Month Stats

Yesterday Q went in for her 6 month check up.  She's weighing in at 16 lbs. 9 oz. and 27½ inches long that puts her at the 67th and 97th percentiles, respectively.  For comparison's sake (keep in mind that Y had her 6 month well baby appointment a couple weeks early at 5½ weeks) Y was 16 lbs. and 26 3/4 inches long at this point. 

Healthwise, she's doing well with the exception of the fact that she is 6 months old and still not rolling over yet.  She will roll from side-to-side but not from front-to-back or vice versa.  Dr. B. told me to give her a month and if she's still not doing it to give him a call and he wants to send her in to be evaluated by a specialist.  Needless to say we're doing lots of tummy time now, which I've admittedly neglected, a few times each day for 5-10 minutes spans.  The last thing we want is to have to take her to a specialist especially unnecessarily.  We don't believe there's anything physically wrong with her we just haven't really aided her in building the proper muscles to be able to develop the gross motor skills she should have at this stage.  So we're focused on doing that and praying she'll have it mastered within the next month!

Q's Appointment

Today we went back to the pediatrician to have Q weighed just to make sure all was really going well with nursing.  She now weighs 8lbs 4oz which not only puts her 3oz above her birth weight but it also means that she has gained 7oz in the last 8 days!!!!  So it looks like fixing the latch and breast compressions to keep her interested when she falls asleep/stops sucking has worked!  I cannot tell you how overjoyed I am.  Not to mention that she has started staying awake a bit more as well nursing a bit faster.  All meaning I am getting a little more sleep at night!!

Pride in Accomplishment

So it's no big surprise, everyone takes some pride in their accomplishments.  Some accomplishments are bigger than others.  But for me, as a stay at home mom, I have found that most of my greatest accomplishments now surround my children.  Potty training Y was a big one, delivering Q without drugs (even if it was unintentional), nursing Y for 15 months, I could add to this list but I'm sure you get my point.

Well today I added another to that list.  I am fortunate to have a pediatrician who not only encourages me to trusts my instincts as a mother but supports me in almost all of those instincts.  So when his associate instructed me to supplement with formula after breastfeeding I decided to trust my instincts and not supplement at all.  I was pretty confident that after I explained my reasoning he would go along with it but I was slightly shocked when he didn't expect/need any explanation at all.  When seeing her weight he simply shrugged and said, "supplementing isn't necessary just yet."  He's not overly concerned about Y not being back up to birth weight, he said the norm is for a newborn to lose 10% of their birth weight, Q has only lost 7% max.  She is now at 7lbs 13oz which means she has gained 2oz since we met with the lactation consultant on Monday, that's an ounce per day and the recommended weight gain is 4-8oz per week - she's doing just fine!  We'll go back next week just to check her weight.  Normally her next visit would be at 2 months old but he didn't feel comfortable going that long without at least checking her weight, and honestly I wouldn't have been comfortable with that either!

So today I take pride in my accomplishment - sticking with my guns and foregoing the formula AND (most importantly) being able to provide the food she needs to put on more weight without help from any man made product!

18 Month Well Baby

On Monday, Y had her 18 month well baby appointment with her pediatrician. She is very healthy and doing extremely well. She is 33" tall and weighs 25½lbs. She is all down with her vaccinations until she is 4 years old, with the exception of the yearly flu shot.

12 Month Well Baby

Today we took Y to her 12 month check up! She weighed in at 20lbs 8oz and 30¾" which places her at the 50th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. Her weight gain has slowed dramatically, she only put on 1lb 3oz in the last 3 months but she grown 2 inches taller which leads me to believe she will be a lot like B - tall and lanky. After speaking with her pediatrician I think that I have started to rethink my stance on sugar. Sugar is not so bad at this point as long as she has it in moderation. I introduced her to apple juice today but made sure it was 100% juice with no ADDED sugar and she only gets about 2-3 oz a day. I will also allow her to have some small amounts of pudding and maybe a tiny piece of cake or brownie every now and again but no candy for at least another year or 2. As for everything else, all seems to be going great and she is perfectly healthy!

9 Month Well Baby

As you have probably guessed from the title of this post, Y had her 9 month well baby visit today. She is doing great and is gaining weight at a good pace, about one pound per month now. Her current stats are: 19lbs 5oz, 28¾ inches long and a head circumference of 17¼ inches. That places her just below the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and at the 90th percentile for height. Now I just did the math and it seems weird to think that there's only an 11½ inch span between the length of her body and the measurement of her head; I guess her head just really doesn't look that big to me! They also did a hemoglobin test, for a child it should be between 11 and 16, Y's was at 11½, so that is fine as well. Other than that, there's no new news as far as her health goes!


Apparently I should have begun to give her crackers and other little snacks before now; but I didn't! So today Y had her first cracker and she really liked it...once she was able to finally get it in her mouth that is. Here's a couple pictures:

As for the car, we're still awaiting the estimate from the collision shop which we should receive sometime tomorrow (Tuesday). They have said that it is fixable but it's a matter of whether or not the insurance company will declare it a total lose or not. After talking to our agent today he told us that if the repairs will cost more than 70% of the value of the car then they will just total the car and cut us a check. I'm really not sure which option I want at this point. I mean, on one hand it'd be great to have a new car but with that new car comes many years of car payments. On the other hand, I love my Focus and I really want it back but the question is even if they can fix it will we have recurring problems with it later. (The good thing about this is that the shop guarantees their work so any problem we have with it in the future, for the life of the car, they will fix - but who really wants to have the headache of taking it in over and over again). So I am really torn but it will all turn out for the best. As for now, we have returned our rental and are using one of B's parent's cars which they have so graciously loaned us. So I guess I'd better start wearing my sunglasses so no one sees me and thinks I'm Canadian because of the license plates, haha!

Update

So I wanted to type up a quick update because I know a lot of you check the blog on Sunday. Y has been responding really well to both creams that were prescribed by the dermatologist. The rash that covered her face and body seems to be clearing up slowly and as for the place on her head it seems to be healing nicely as well. We're still not totally there yet and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't reoccur as it has in the past. We're being optimistic!

As for the whole thing about the Mongolian Spots, I called her pediatrician to ask more questions and he simply laughed and said that he had never heard of such thing and assured me that many of his patients have Mongolian Spots but are all fine. I was satisfied with that answer. Not that I don't think the dermatologist knows his stuff but I was definitely comforted to know that in all his years and in all his patients he's never dealt with such a case.

Well it's late and I'm tired so I'm going to bed but I wanted to post an update for everyone. 143.

The Most Stressful Job...Ever!

I used to think I worried too much. That was before I had a baby. Now that I have one I only wish I worried as much as I used to - now it's magnified...BIG time. With that said, I'll begin my tale.

About 3-3½ weeks ago (around the time Y turned 5 months) I decided that it was time for me to allow Y the opportunity to self-sooth her way to sleep. Well for the most part it worked, the only problem is that her way of soothing herself to sleep is to turn her head from side to side over and over again. I dunno if this friction caused it, but eventually a bump showed up on her little bald spot. It was just a teeny tiny little bump at the time and after a couple days it became a couple little red bumps but I didn't think it was anything to be too alarmed about but I did decide that maybe I should rock her to sleep somewhat (as in wait until she's so drowsy she won't notice me putting her down). Well by the time Saturday night came and we were giving her a bath, B and I both expressed how well the spot looked and it seemed to be healing really well. The next morning was a different story though. During her morning feed I was rubbing her hair as I normally do and when my fingers hit her bald spot I felt something really hard and rough. After finishing the feed I checked it out to find that it was scabbed over and very crusty. I asked a couple of residents (medical) about it and all thought that it was eczema which was no surprise to us because both of us have eczema. We took her to the doctor on Monday, he thought it was infected and gave us a prescription to use. It worked...kinda. On Saturday morning I noticed that small bumps were starting to appear on her neck and around the infected area and called the pediatrician, we scheduled an appointment for Monday. Needless to say it seemed to get better by the time Monday came but the small bumps from her neck were now on her perfect little face. During her appointment her doctor wasn't 100% sure what it was and referred us to a dermatologist (by the way, Y is now 16 lbs and 26¾" long). Now between Monday and today I was pretty positive that whatever reaction she was having was due to me and the proteins from the dairy I drink transferring to Y through my breast milk. Well today the dermatologist basically told me that I would have been lucky if that had been the problem - because then it would be easily solved. It is not, however, the problem. And actually they're not completely sure what the problem is. The rash that has now spread over her entire body is secondary, meaning that it is a result of her immune system trying (probably with little luck) to fight off this bacterial infection of some sort. I say "of some sort" because that is what they don't know yet. The spot in the back of her scalp is what the immune system is fighting because it is apparently infected a bacteria. Today they took some samples from the location and will be doing some cultures in order to figure out exactly what it is and how to get rid of it which will take 3-4 weeks. Meanwhile we got a prescription for a cream for her body and another for her scalp and they said we should notice a difference in a week.

Now it'd be great if the story stopped here, but it doesn't! Y has Mongolian Spots pretty much all over her backside: upper and lower back, butt, shoulders and even a few on her legs. When she was born I thought they were bruises from the birthing process but her pediatrician pointed them out to us and explained what they are. He also wanted to note it in her file so that no one could accuse us of child abuse if they saw those spots (and believe me people have asked about them)! Well apparently studies have been done that supposedly link children with a lot of Mongolian Spots to children that have weak immune systems (says the dermatologist). The dermatologist was somewhat concerned about this especially since on 2 occasions it seemed to be getting better only to find that it actually got worse. So now, not only am I worried that they're not sure what type of bacteria this is and thus also not sure how to treat it, but I'm also worried that my child may have a difficult time getting over future illnesses. Do I really think she has a weak immune system? No! But she's only had 2 colds so there hasn't been a whole lot to test it, but I do shudder at the thought nonetheless.

I must add though that through it all, Y has been amazing. She has a cold, bumps all over her body, a very nasty infection in her scalp, and we're pretty sure she's teething...and through it all she just laughs and plays all day. I think it affects me more than her. We're lucky parents! Anyway, sorry this was so long but I'm a sucker for the details. And if no one else appreciates the details, I know one person who does...Yep, that's you Aunt J! :-D

I'll try to keep you all posted!

Doctor's Visit & Shots

Well if you haven't guessed from the title of the post, Y had a visit with her pediatrician and received shots today. I took her to the county health department to get her immunizations because our health insurance doesn't cover them (who's ever heard of such a thing) so it ended up being way cheaper for us than had we done it at the doctor's office. Anyway, she did really well, I was honestly surprised at how well she did as was the lady who gave her the shots. She did cry but only while getting the shots. After the needle was in and out she'd quit crying. She also hasn't been very cranky or upset for the remainder of the day. She has slept quite a bit (which I've enjoyed) and while she was awake she was her usual smiling and happy self.

As for the doctor's visit, there was good and bad. The good: she's now 12lbs, 23¾ inches long with a head circumference of 15½ inches. For those of you who have asked about her color (pigmentation) there is still hope for her getting darker, Keep hope alive!!! But really she is a healthy, happy baby! The bad: apparently she has what is called torticollis, which is fancy doctor language for a head tilt. Her doctor said that it's congenital torticollis so she either developed it while still in the uterus or during the whole birthing process. The good news is that it is totally treatable. I am taking her to get xrays on Monday to make sure that there's not some type of tissue mass causing it and we also have to start taking her to physical therapy. There we will learn the techniques we need to know in order to stretch the muscle and teach her proper balance and all that stuff. From what I've read online this may take up to a year or she may even have to have surgery to correct it, but that is pretty drastic and from what I understand doesn't happen all that often, so we're remaining optimistic. If you look at the pictures to the right you can see what I mean by the way she tilts her head to her left side. This weekend B's family is going to visit so while they're here we're gonna make sure she gets a Priesthood Blessing. Also add her name to your prayers and we're sure this will pass without any problems or complications. One of the websites that I visited said that first time parents often mistake it for just the floppy neck of a newborn. And that website was completely right because that is definitely what I attributed it to being. However, now that the doctor has pointed it out I have been able to pinpoint things that I should have noticed before. Like the way she likes to hold her head when in certain positions or how she hates some when he head is in another position. But anyway, like I said before, it is totally treatable and not something that we think she will have to live with for the rest of her life. It's just sad knowing that she has a problem like this and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it and I always tend to expect the worse out of every situation. It's something I'm working on but, hey, it takes time!

If you are curious and wanna read up on it yourself, here are some of the websites that I visited: Torticollis Kids, Baby Center and Wikipedia. They're in the order that I found them most helpful!

Yippee

Sorry for the delay in posting this message but it's been a little busy for me. I know a lot of you are probably checking to find out what happened on Friday when we went to the doctor, so I'm here to keep you informed. Well I'll just say that first and foremost I just want my baby to be healthy and was willing to do almost anything to do that. I will say almost because I was not willing to give up breastfeeding completely. But as it turns out I don't have to give it up at all!!! The doctor wanted me to feed her strictly formula for two days so that he could make sure that she wasn't having a problem gaining weight. As it turns out she gained 6oz in two days AND the doctor wants me to resume breastfeeding. So we're relieved that there's nothing wrong with our baby and that I can continue to breastfeed. We do go back again on Friday to check her weight and see how she's progressing, but for now, we're on cloud nine.

...And I Thought We Were Doing So Well

It's just after 3am and I know I should be in bed, but I guess I am really just a bit down right now. I just fed Y and as I picked her up out of her bassinet and prepared to feed her, she was of course turning her head towards the breast and I had to stick a bottle in her mouth. It really sucks and is proving to be really hard. The doctor told me, "It's nothing that you're doing" and "not to feel guilty." But it's hard not to feel like it's something I'm doing wrong and it's really impossible to "not feel guilty." I guess I should tell you why I'm not breastfeeding, huh? (That may be a good idea). Well today we went to the pediatrician to check Y's weight since I felt so uneasy about it last visit. I went in thinking that she would be fine, I mean we've made so much progress. I read Babywise and Baby Whisperer, we were making progress with the E.A.S.Y routine (still working on the S so I haven't really gotten much of the Y yet), she was eating every 2.5 to 3 hours. I was so excited and so sure that everything was fine...and then the nurse walks in and weighs her and we find that she's only gained 3 oz in 2 weeks when she should gain approximately an ounce a day. At this point the doctor is not sure if it is just her or if it is a problem with my milk (not enough caloric content or she's not getting enough hindmilk). It's funny, I never really thought I'd be so bothered by not being able to breastfeed but now that I'm experiencing it I absolutely hate not being able to do it. It was my time with her, and it really ticks me off that I made it through all the snack feeds and the terribly sore nipples and all the tears that came along with all it only to reach this point. It may only be that I have to do this for 2 days (she goes back to the Dr on Friday to be reassessed) but that just seems to be so far away at this point. I've received advice from friends to either continue to supplement or to ignore the doctor completely, I'm seriously torn at this point as to what to do. I mean, she's had bottles before. The upsetting part is that I've never had to be the one to give it to her. Either B or my mom would give her the bottle, I only ever did it twice and that was when my nipples were unbearably sore. I've called my lactation consultant to ask her opinion but she's not in again until Friday, so it looks like either way I won't know anything until then...hopefully the scale was just broken! Well I'm going to bed now, but at least I got some pumping done while typing this, if I can't use it for Yanna then maybe I'll sell it. I hear the going rate is $7 an ounce! Here's some pictures, enjoy!

Daddy Time

Mommy Time

Baby Time (She is so freakin' beautiful!)

Relief

Okay, so I am ever slowly growing more confident in my ability to breastfeed. After taking Yanna to her appointment with her pediatrician and talking with a few friends who offered advice I must say that I feel much better about it. I was very worried and extremely distraught at the thought of not being able to provide the amount of food she needed. However, after going to see her doctor and talking to him about it he explained to me that she is now 9lbs 9oz which would mean that she is gaining an ounce a day which is exactly where she should be. Apparently that's a sign that she is indeed getting enough to eat. He said that as far as her always wanting to be at the breast is probably just a comfort thing and then he told me how to tell if she's eating or just treating me as her personal pacifier. Since the visit I think we've been doing fairly well with it and somehow, by no real effort on my behalf, she takes each side for about 20 minutes and then she's done. And we do this only every 2 hours now!!! I guess typically it should be every 2.5 hours, but hey, I'm happy with whatever I can get at this point. Eventually we will be able to stretch it out to 2.5 hours but for now I'm satisfied. He also asked me about how much I am able to pump at one time and I told him between an ounce and 1.5oz so he explained that she's probably definitely getting enough because she can suck out 2 or 3 times that amount. I also found that very comforting. Since I was so worried and concerned we're gonna go back in 2 weeks and weigh her again to make sure she is still progressing as she should be.

Here is a picture from last weekend which I thought was cute...of Y at least, I could have been better. haha. Tomorrow we're having her blessed so we'll post more pictures from that later.

Week One

We've officially been home from the hospital for one week and boy has it been a long one! We've had a couple of never ending nights, as well as some very cranky periods but all in all everything is going well. Y had her Dr. appointment on Wednesday and she was up to 8lbs 12oz so she only had 2 more ounces to go until she reaches her birth weight (which I'm sure she's gained by now). So everything went great at her appointment. I also has an appointment on Wednesday but mine was to have my staples taken out. I was horrified at the thought, all I could imagine was someone taking a staple remover to my flesh. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised, I didn't feel a thing! So that was the good news from the appointment. The bad news is that my blood pressure was really high. We speculate that it could have been from me being nervous about having the staples out. The doctor said that usually blood pressure drops as the swelling in the legs and feet go down and mine are still pretty huge. Until it drops though he has me on blood pressure medication. I've been monitoring my BP at home for the last several days and whereas my systolic numbers are great, my diastolic numbers have been pretty high. Hopefully they begin to drop though, I go back on Wednesday to have my BP checked again.

As for us at home, my mom arrived on Tuesday and that's been a huge relief. We've started experiencing some nipple confusion so we're going to try to meet with the lactation consultant about that as well as a couple other concerns in the coming days. She's a relatively happy baby though. My goal is to get her back to the point where she can fall asleep in her crib all on her own. She did it great while in the hospital but once we got home she kinda stopped. So if any of you moms out there have any suggestions, they'd be highly appreciated. I guess I don't wanna always nurse her to sleep or rock her to sleep, although I enjoy it, it would be nice if I didn't always have to do it. But maybe I'm just asking for too much too fast...I dunno, you tell me. I know for a fact that there are some great moms reading this blog, so by all means give me your advice!