And now, so can you!
I love it when she nurses in her sleep – it’s my absolute favorite.
Tight-ass January 14, 2009
Sorry for the long-time-no-post, but it’s been a little tense and busy around the place for the last week or so…
Amelia has been struggling for weeks now with ever-escalating problems including:
green, foul-smelling, liquid, frothy and occasionally bloody poop
constipation (painfully straining for hours to poop or fart)
increasingly frequent spitting up
nasal congestion
coughing
tight tummy that’s painful to the touch
bouts of colic
With both Tom and I trying to work from home and care for her simultaneously, it’s been a real struggle to keep her comfortable and still get work done during this trial period our employers have both given us. As an example, I’ve had to interrupt the typing of this post 4 times so far to comfort her as she wakes up from unsuccessfully straining to poop/fart.
Make that five.
We saw our pediatrician, Dr. Parr, yesterday – on the bright side, she’s not brushing us off. She took some blood & an x-ray because of the stool sample we gave her last week with blood in it. She requested more stool samples to test for salmonella & rotovirus, etc. Dr. Parr’s rough diagnosis is that we’ve got a combination of reflux, colic and maybe something else. We’re using a combination of simethecone drops, gripe water and glycerin suppositories while feeding her on an incline, burping frequently, and trying to keep her vertical for 30 minutes after eating.
I’ve already cut out dairy, soy, wheat, nuts, legumes, chocolate, spice, and all gas-causing vegetables and fruits from my diet, as well as all high-acid fruits & veg. (If you’re wondering, that leaves rice, meat, oatmeal, potatoes, zucchini, apples, and Hagen Daz sorbet.) Dr. Parr now wants us to try a special colic formula for a couple of days to see if that makes any difference. But not until I collect another stool sample by laying Amelia’s butt on plastic wrap and inserting a rectal thermometer….
Upon seeing the x-ray yesterday, Dr. Parr got very worried about possible bowel irritation and rushed us to see Dr. Josephs, a pediatric surgeon up by Dell Children’s. They worked us in that same afternoon, so off to the surgeon we went, trying not to panic all the way there and while in the waiting room for an hour after being told I shouldn’t nurse her until the doctor saw her in case we had to rush her to surgery!
Dr. Josephs was not at all worried by the x-ray but confirmed Dr. Parr’s observation that Amelia has “anal stenosis,” which means her anus is unusually tight – hence the inordinate straining to poop. ( It is generally agreed that she gets this from her father.) His instructions were that we needed to “condition the muscle” by sticking an 11 mm “anal dilator” stick up her butt twice a day for 2 weeks, then return to his office for a bigger stick. This can evidently take a number of months.
The buttstick hurts her, and quite frankly, it feels like I’ve just been told to anally rape my infant daughter twice a day for 3 months. Between the drops, the suppostitories, the buttstick, the painstaking feeding, the restricted diet, and the thought that perhaps it’s just my breastmilk that’s poisoning her despite my best efforts, I’m at the end of my tether.
I really want Amelia to be well and free from pain. And I hate to admit that I really want her to be well so I can just enjoy my precious baby without having to keep all these obnoxious, exhausting balls in the air all the time.
I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself, and I really do feel sorry for her in her pain & discomfort, but it’s so hard when NOTHING I do seems to help and all the treatments we’re given only piss her off or make her more miserable!
Anyway, if you have a little extra strength to send suffering parents and baby, please do. We’re miserable and tired (and I’m hungry) and the light at the end of the tunnel seems really, really dim.
errands December 11, 2008
My sister and I ran four errands today, and it was… a little strenuous! Lessons learned: don’t run around with the baby in the late afternoon when she likes to cluster-feed.
We did Michael’s first, and I finally got the perfect fit on the Moby wrap – Amelia was high on my chest and fell asleep right away, so I didn’t have to stabilize her little bobble head. Shopping went well and she only woke up once, in order to switch the cheek she was resting on my chest.
In the diaper change between Michael’s & Lowes, I learned that the backseat diaper change is a great way tokill your back, and nursed my baby some in a 20 mph headwind.
At HEB, Amelia got sick of the Moby once and for all while the slowest deli counter guy on the planet sliced me a pound of oven-roasted turkey and muenster cheese, on a one. Luckily, Adrienne agreed to go through the checkout line for me while I took the baby back to the car to nurse some more. REALLY need to figure out hoe to go from the newborn chest wrap to a nursing wrap in that Moby.
Finally, to Gold’s Gym to get a swipe card because I lost mine, and this way Adrienne can work out while she’s here. Amelia cried for much of the drive home except while Adrienne jiggled her car seat. Yes, I know the car seat shouldn’t jiggle. I think Tom needs to check the installation of my car seat base…
Anyway, I’m slowly edging toward SuperMom, at least when my sister’s got my back. It’s very touching to see how much Adrienne loves Amelia – her tenderness and enthusiasm with the baby is so sweet! Also, Adrienne makes truly superb macaroni and cheese, which we really enjoyed for dinner tonight.
