Life With Leighton: Unexpected Dr. Visit and Visitors

I am going to be very honest here and admit that the passed 9 weeks have been pretty rough for us. Not only has my sweet baby been dealing with reflux but also with severe gas pains. Not to mention she had recently scratched her eye and I was in a panic that she may have done irreparable damage to it. (she didn't, of course) I finally broke down and decided it was way worth a $20 co-pay to go ahead and take her to her Dr. last Monday (17th), even though we go to our 4 month well baby check up in just a few weeks. It had gotten that bad and this momma just can't stand to see her littlest love in pain. I decided I wasn't going to leave his office until we came up with a new game plan.

The first bit of good news was that, in spite of seemingly spitting up ALL of her milk every feeding, she had still gained 2 lbs in just 6 weeks. She weighed in at 11.3 lbs! This is great for a breast milk only baby with severe reflux.

I told Dr. M about her still spitting up a TON (which she promptly demonstrated for me as if we had planned it, that's my girl) and he decided it was time to start her on a little bit of rice cereal (just 2 teaspoons a bottle) and up her Zantac dosage a tiny bit since she had grown so much. He said if that didn't work we would be switching her to Prevacid. I was happy to have something new to try. We were going to be starting her on cereal in just a couple of weeks anyway and Dr. M assured me it was ok to go ahead and begin it.

He said she looked great as far as growth, her eye was going to be fine and commented that she was a very social baby with a great smile (she had taken the opportunity to flirt with him).

So, I went to the store and got the cereal and started her on it that evening. I have to admit I got a little emotional because, for about 12.5 months my angel baby has survived solely on what I have given her. My body gave her life in utero and kept her fed and since birth my milk had done the same. Now, there would be something other than me helping her grow and develop.

Well, she LOVES the rice cereal and has been packing on weight ever since we began it, however, she is STILL spitting up like crazy. I think Prevacid is in our very near future (as in I might fill the script TODAY!) and hopefully, that will help. We shall see. We just pray God will heal her in his time and that we will be ok with however long that takes. He is in control! Prayers for our little girl (and for our sanity) are always appreciated.

Things are not all bad, though, In fact, most of the time Leighton is SUCH a happy, sweet baby! We had two unexpected visitors that Monday night, Leighton's "Honey" and my dear high school/college friend/roommate, Kelsey! Leighton was so well behaved for the both of them, talking and smiling a lot.