Long Nights, Grumpy Baby!

The last two nights have been very, very long. Savannah is just not feeling well and it is hard to tell what exactly is wrong. I can tell her crying has changed from her normal cry and she has pretty much stopped eating. She may eat half an ounce every once in a while, which is a far cry from the three ounces she should be eating.  Last night she was running a low fever and would start to inconsolably cry after just a couple sucks on her bottle. I was thinking that she may have an ear infection or more problems with reflux.

So off to the pediatrician's office we went. The good news is even with her feeding strike she is at 8lbs 12oz. Her doctor thought she might be having some difficulty breathing due to some congestion she has but I told her that has been fairly normal and that Savannah snores and snorts a lot. Her oxygen level was at 99 percent which was good. Her ears were also clear with no signs of infection or fluid. So... she may be recovering from a cold that dad brought home and gave to both mom and baby or she could still be having problems with reflux. So we are changing her reflux medication and keeping our fingers crossed.

Some pics from our Santa shoot. Brian makes a good Santa!

 

Gaining weight

Savannah and I visited her pediatrician's office on Friday. I was concerned about her weight gain and wanted to discuss it with her doctor. Unfortunately her doctor was out of town and I met with a physicians assistant that was less than helpful. Savannah had gained one ounce for the entire week, not the 3 to 5 ounces we were hoping for. The rice cereal was just not working for us. Savannah was eating half as much as she was before and was sleeping too much. One of the side effects of a belly full of rice cereal.

So we stopped giving Savannah rice cereal on Friday and started supplementing her milk with some powdered formula to add extra calories. She has been eating well and has been eating more than she normally does. We are hoping she keeps it up. Today we took her to Mary Birch Hospital because they have a scale in the New Beginnings gift shop. The news was good! She gained two ounces in two days. Our next appointment is on December 2nd with our nurse at the cleft clinic. I am hoping she weights over 9lbs but I will still be happy for any weight gain!

On another good note they had a cute Christmas tutu in the gift shop that I just had to have for Savannah. So hopefully this week I will get some good photos for this year's Christmas card. We also stopped by Party City to pick up a Santa suit for Brian....yes, let your imagination run. :-)

Words of wisdom

Thanks to Dr Seuss!

"...When you think things are bad,
when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad...
you should do what I do!

Just tell yourself, Duckie,
you're really quite lucky!
Some people are much more...
oh, ever so much more...
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!

...It's a troublesome world. All the people who're in it
are troubled with troubles almost every minute.
You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot,
for the places and people you're lucky you're not!"

Clinic check up

We had our check up with our cleft clinic nurse today and the news was not great. It was not horrible but not great. Savannah has only gained five ounces in three weeks, about a third of what she should have gained. So we now have to keep a log of each feeding including how much she ate and how long it took. We also have to feed her at least two and half ounces every three hours whether she wants to eat or not. The nurse also wants us to add rice cereal to her milk to add calorie content. We have another weigh in next week and hopefully we will be back on track!

Updated Picture

Here is a much better photo of her mouth. I had lots of light and she has just started to cry giving me a good pic. As you can see she has a complete gum line but the roof of her mouth is completely missing.

One month old today!

Wow, Savannah is one month old today! She is doing well and the Prilosec seems to be working. Her feedings are no longer frantic screaming matches and we are hoping it continues this way! Also things are finally starting to feel "normal".  I no longer dwell on the fact that she has a cleft and I just see her as my perfect little girl. Sure, she has to eat from a bottle but so do lots and lots of non-cleft babies. She may nurse from a slightly different bottle and she will need surgery but other than that she is no different than any other baby her age. It only took me four weeks to figure that out and I hope other cleft parents figure it out sooner, as it makes life much less stressful.

On the 1st of each month I plan to take a profile and body picture. Also this month I tried to take a picture of her cleft. I will try to get a better picture in the future.