I thought we had gone through a lot from months 1 to 2, but I was sure wrong. From the moment Charlie turned two months, it's been a whole lot of chaos! In the middle of the night shortly after he turned two months, Charlie started spitting up even more and was back to screaming. Right at that moment I sent a message to our pediatrician laying out all of the details that were taking place. The next afternoon I got a phone call from our pediatrician saying he wanted to test Charlie for Pyloric Stenosis. The test requires an ultrasound and we headed to the dr office right away. After the test we met with Dr. Fahler to review the results. He said that the test was inconclusive and that we would need to do a follow up test in a few days. We went in for the follow up test and I got a call shortly after saying that he did in fact have Pyloric Stenosis (PS) and we would be receiving a call from Riley Children's Hospital concerning his surgery he would be having that day. Within a few hours my friend Kelley had come to watch Mellany & Johnny and John and I were headed to Indianapolis for Charlie's surgery.
Upon arriving at the hospital, things moved painfully slow! Charlie hadn't been able to eat and he was getting pretty irritated! Eventually we were told that they didn't like the ultrasound images from the morning so they wanted to do a third ultrasound just to be sure he did in fact have PS. We are so glad they decided to do this because it turned out that he didn't have PS! But this also means that we have no idea why he is spitting up so much and screaming so often. We spent the next two days in the hospital running different tests (Upper GI Barium test, blood tests) and speaking with different professionals (GI specialist, Speech pathologist) to learn that he has really bad reflux and that really the only thing that will help with it is thickening his formula with Oatmeal.
We came home Wednesday night (night before Thanksgiving) completely exhausted (Charlie is a belly sleeper and hospitals don't allow babies to sleep on their bellies. They also don't like for them to sleep on your chest....so it was a long two nights) but SOOOOO very thankful that nothing major was wrong. We also couldn't be more thankful for the church family we have here! One text to a friend and we had several families praying for us, lots of meals, and more than enough mamas to watch Mellany & Johnny so they didn't have to spend their days in the hospital. Needless to say, we spent thanksgiving at home all day, in our sweats, resting and eating!
We had a weight check the following Wednesday (1 week after being discharged) and Charlie had gained 8oz and grew .5"!! He is also not in as much pain and not spitting up the volumes and frequencies he was. He is still spitting up a lot and often (more than the average baby) but there isn't the pain that goes along with it. He still has moments of what I call "reflux episodes" where he spits up pretty clear mucus and he's in pain and you can smell the acid, but they aren't near as often.
Here's to hoping we are nearing the end of this phase. A lot of people have told me that 3 months is the magic month where babies start getting more comfortable and I am hoping that is the case here!
Through it all, Charlie has been a champ! He has cooperated with everything that has been thrown his way and still smiles for us any time we talk to him....makes our hearts melt!
Upon arriving at the hospital, things moved painfully slow! Charlie hadn't been able to eat and he was getting pretty irritated! Eventually we were told that they didn't like the ultrasound images from the morning so they wanted to do a third ultrasound just to be sure he did in fact have PS. We are so glad they decided to do this because it turned out that he didn't have PS! But this also means that we have no idea why he is spitting up so much and screaming so often. We spent the next two days in the hospital running different tests (Upper GI Barium test, blood tests) and speaking with different professionals (GI specialist, Speech pathologist) to learn that he has really bad reflux and that really the only thing that will help with it is thickening his formula with Oatmeal.
We came home Wednesday night (night before Thanksgiving) completely exhausted (Charlie is a belly sleeper and hospitals don't allow babies to sleep on their bellies. They also don't like for them to sleep on your chest....so it was a long two nights) but SOOOOO very thankful that nothing major was wrong. We also couldn't be more thankful for the church family we have here! One text to a friend and we had several families praying for us, lots of meals, and more than enough mamas to watch Mellany & Johnny so they didn't have to spend their days in the hospital. Needless to say, we spent thanksgiving at home all day, in our sweats, resting and eating!
We had a weight check the following Wednesday (1 week after being discharged) and Charlie had gained 8oz and grew .5"!! He is also not in as much pain and not spitting up the volumes and frequencies he was. He is still spitting up a lot and often (more than the average baby) but there isn't the pain that goes along with it. He still has moments of what I call "reflux episodes" where he spits up pretty clear mucus and he's in pain and you can smell the acid, but they aren't near as often.
Here's to hoping we are nearing the end of this phase. A lot of people have told me that 3 months is the magic month where babies start getting more comfortable and I am hoping that is the case here!
Through it all, Charlie has been a champ! He has cooperated with everything that has been thrown his way and still smiles for us any time we talk to him....makes our hearts melt!
Here's a little bit about Charlie this month:
- Charlie is enthralled with Mellany and Johnny. He doesn't really know what to do when they aren't around. If he's fussy and one of them comes over, he immediately stops. Mellany can get him to talk and smile at the drop of a hat. And Charlie just intently studies Johnny and whatever it is that Johnny is showing him (some kind of truck).
- He is wearing size 1 diapers (but I am thinking will move to size 2 shortly) and is wearing 3-6 month and 6 month clothes. He doesn't even come close to filling them out, he's just so long!
- He is starting to love baths, especially when Johnny "helps"
- When he wakes up, he wants to eat right away....there is no "grace period" for making the bottle. He is screaming immediately.
- He LOVES the swing! He prefers the swing over anything else right now. He does like a change of scenery and will also play in the bouncy seat, nap nanny and floor mat, but his "go to" is the swing. He also sleeps really well in the car seat.
- He is getting to the point where he wants to be entertained somehow....he's not very content just sitting anymore....he wants you to be talking to him, showing him a toy, he wants the mobile to be moving or the music and lights playing...something; he wants to "play".
- He tries so hard to talk and will coo with you for quite a while
- Because he spits up so much, we probably change his clothes 5-7 times a day. I will sometimes put bibs on him, but we quickly run out of those too.
Sleeping:
He sleeps so much more "sound" since being on the formula and even more so after starting the oatmeal. During the day, Charlie will eat then play for a total of about an hour and a half and then sleep for an hour and a half and repeat. Sometimes he will take a longer nap either in the morning or the afternoon. He is waking up through the night to eat every 3-5 hours (mostly 3 hours) and then goes right back to sleep after eating. His favorite place to sleep is still on our chest but he also does very well in the cradle on his belly (thank goodness for the angel monitor) and in the car seat.
Eating Habits/New Foods:
Charlie is still eating every 3 hours. The formula is working very well and now with the addition of the oatmeal, that is working as well. The formula smells terrible both while making it and when he spits it up (which he does often and in large volumes) as well as coming out in his diaper. BUT, it is much better than the alternative!
Initially, after starting formula and bottles, Charlie would take up to an HOUR to eat. Thankfully he is eating his bottle much quicker and he's down to about 20 minutes. This is one thing that the speech pathologist really discussed with us in the hospital; they really want us to limit his feeds to 30 minutes. They say this is because after 30 minutes he can actually start to burn calories while "eating" which slows his weight gain....it's called non-nutritive eating.
New Discoveries:
Hands! He has found his hands and will gnaw on them whenever he gets the chance. He also watches them very intently.
Accomplishments:
Moving his head to watch things: We realized this one night while I was cleaning up the toys in the living room. Charlie literally moved his head from side to side to watch me. And he did this so intently....I cleaned up for probably 10 minutes and he watched me the whole time, as content as could be.
Places:
Mellany & Johnny's preschool, Mellany's ballet, church, Meijer, Kids club at the gym, doctor's office, Riley Children's Hospital and the library!! It was Charlie's first visit to the library and he slept the whole time until it was time to leave....then he screamed the whole way home!
Special Memories:
I'm not sure wether to consider it a special moment or not but being in the hospital with Charlie for 2.5 days was definitely a memory that we will never forget. We have so much to be thankful for that he didn't end up with anything majorly wrong and being in a hospital with so many sick children definitely encourages you to count your blessings.....and we are definitely doing that this holiday season!
Another special memory is starting the celebrations of the Christmas season with Charlie added into this crazy mix! He can't do much but just having him here with us makes us feel totally complete. It's been so fun buying his ornament, stocking, Christmas gifts, etc!
2 Month, 3 Week Weight Check
Length: 24.3"
Weight: 11# 4oz
Head Circumference: 42.4cm
His next appointment is in January for his 4 month exam.
His next appointment is in January for his 4 month exam.
Charlie's stay at Riley Children's Hospital November 21-23
(Wouldn't you know that we would get the wagon that was sponsored by Pepsi...haha!!) Mellany and Johnny were sooooo excited to see Charlie and his room....and of course to watch cartoons on his TV.
3 Month Photo Shoot
3 Month Professional Images
