Well, clearly since I haven't written a new blog post since Aubrey was only a few days old you can probably tell that I have been a little busy! Those first few days she slept ALL the time so I had plenty of time to sit down and write a blog post...that is no longer the case.
Let me start off by saying that motherhood has been one of the hardest, most challenging, fun, and most rewarding things I have ever done! The last 12 weeks have been quite an adventure with our little peanut. Many of you already know most of what has happened but for those of you who don't, let me fill you in.
The first 5-6 weeks of Aubrey's life were for the most part uneventful...in a good way. We had lots going on and tons of visitors which we loved! We had B's whole family plus a couple of friends here for Thanksgiving when she was 2.5 weeks old and it was awesome. We were so thankful that everyone was able to travel to be with us since we were not able to travel. We also couldn't wait to show off our little bundle of joy to all of them. It was a really great time.
Right before Christmas (Aubrey was almost 6 weeks old) we discovered that she had a dairy allergy. Let me clarify that a dairy allergy is different than being lactose intolerant. When you have a dairy allergy it means that your body is allergic to the proteins in the milk. It is not an intolerance to the actual dairy. (Hopefully that makes sense). Everyone asks, "how did you find out she had a dairy allergy?", so I will tell you...but beware it might be TMI. One evening I discovered some blood in her diaper and it continued happening with every stool after that. So I quickly made an appointment to see the pediatrician. He confirmed that what I found in her diaper was in fact blood and he told us that she more than likely had a dairy allergy.
(Here is where we need a little background information...Aubrey was not the best breast feeder. We had a very difficult time with feeding in the first 6 weeks and we were supplementing with formula once or twice a day to make sure she was eating enough.)
Back to the dairy allergy....the pediatrician recommended that I stopped eating all dairy products (something I am not happy about-but am willing to do for my little girl!) and also that we switch to a fully synthetic formula that did not contain dairy or soy. Around this same time it seemed that each day Aubrey was becoming more fussy after feedings and needing more formula to fill her up. B and I decided that I would stop breastfeeding and would strictly pump and we would bottle feed Aubrey to monitor how much food she was getting. She was instantly a much happier baby. Since we saw such a drastic change so quickly we decided to stick with this plan. After just a few days on pumped breast milk and our new fancy formula the blood went away and we had that under control.
We went to my parents house in SD for Christmas and Aubrey did awesome on her first mini-road trip. It was great to be with my family and get out of the house for a few days!
After we got back from SD our little peanut got the flu!! UGH! Let me just say it was awful! She actually never had a fever...her only symptom was that she could not keep down any food. Every time we fed her she threw all of it back up. Since she was only about 6 weeks old I made an appointment to see the pediatrician just to make sure there wasn't something else going on. He said that we just needed to continue to try and feed her but to take it slowly and only give her small amounts of food. The biggest issue was making sure that she stayed hydrated. We did as he said but she continued to not be able to keep any food down. That night at 2AM we ended up in the emergency room after she started to projectile vomit. It was so scary! Being in the ER with a 6 week old was not fun. They did a chest/stomach x-ray to make sure that there wasn't a blockage in her intestines, a full blood work up, a catheter for a urine sample, and a nose swab to check for RSV. All of the tests that they did came back negative. We were relieved that something more major wasn't going on, but it also meant that there was nothing they could do and we just had to wait it out. The one good thing was that they were able to give her some fluids through the IV to help with the dehydration. The next 2-3 days were up and down. She would keep food down for several hours but then would start throwing up again. It was a rough couple of days. Because of this little sickness we ran into 2 other problems. First she lost about 7oz. (which is a lot for a little baby) and we started seeing blood in her diapers again. Her weight was already below average because of our breast feeding issues in the beginning so after being sick this put her in the 2nd percentile for weight. This was a little concerning for us and it was really important that she started to gain weight again. Since the blood came back our pediatrician sent us to a Pediatric GI specialist to find out what was going on. The GI said that the blood came back because she got sick...just when her little insides were healing up from the initial allergy they were re-irritated from being sick. He was not concerned and said that as she continued to get better that eventually the blood would go away again. He was right...after about 2 weeks it went away and we haven't seen it since. She also started gaining weight like crazy!! In the first week after being sick she gained 18oz (the average for a normal baby is about 7 oz a week)! She has continued to gain about 10-12 oz a week since then. Her weight is still on the lower side of average for her age...but it is no longer concerning and we are on the right path.
One thing that is not below average is her height! She has grown over 3 inches since she was born and is in about the 75th percentile for height. She is long and skinny! Although we do not expect her to be skinny for much longer. She is definitely getting chunkier and is starting to get some rolls on her little thighs!
These days everything is back to normal. Aubrey is really so much fun. She is very alert and is smiling most of the time. She is a content baby and is happy to just chill out in her swing or car seat and let me get some stuff done around the house. We are really enjoying watching her change each day.
We also had the opportunity to spend a week in Petaluma in the beginning of January. It was so great to be back "home" and see our family and friends. Brandon had some work and meetings to do up there and Aubrey and I just went along for the ride. While we were there we took the opportunity to have Aubrey dedicated at Hillside. Even though we don't attend there on a regular basis anymore we really felt like that was the church where we wanted to dedicate her. It was a really special day. My parents were able to come up as well as Aunt Megan and Uncle Stephen. Aubrey was dedicated by both of her Grandpas (who are both pastors). I think everyone enjoyed the service and the dedication. If you have any interest in hearing the dedication you can find it at this link:
http://petalumahillsidechurch.com/media.php?pageID=6
Well...I am sure that I have missed several events that happened over the last 12 weeks but I think that is enough for now. Thank you for hanging in there through such a long post! I will try to be better about posting on a more consistent basis...but with an infant, you never know!
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