Just pictures.....as promised

Layla is four weeks old

One month already. I hate to admit, but I'm glad this month is over. I am looking forward to a hopefully much more peaceful 2nd month (God willing). Layla is actually sleeping right now and is not being held. I got to eat breakfast and get dressed and it is not even 8am! I didn't shower until late afternoon yesterday so that still counts and being clean too.

Layla is on two meds that have to be timed before meals. Prevacid 2x daily to stop the production of stomach acid and Carafate 4x daily to bond to the damaged areas and hopefully give her some relief from burning. Prevacid needs to be given 1/2 hour before she eats if we can and Carafate is 15 minutes before meals. Then the 2 meds have to be spaced at least 2 hours apart from eachother.

Night time sleep is still hard to come by. There is no real consistency, but here is how last night went:
Layla nursed at 9pm and was done spitting and sleeping by 9:45.
12:00 - Loud grunting wakes me so I get up and pump
12:10 - I return to see Layla is quiet and sleeping so I lay back down
12:15 - Loud gruning returns so I jump up, but Layla is still sleeping so I lay back down
12:21 - Lound squealing and grunting continues so I jump up, but Layla is still sleeping so I lay back down (Now at this point some are wondering, why do you get up? Why not wait until she is really up? Well with a reflux baby if you let the baby start crying it just makes things very bad. The feeding and post feeding period is always worse if you let them get upset and gulp a bunch of air. So you live on edge - not wanting to wake them before they are ready, but being ready as soon as they are. Not to mention trying to time medicine and make sure there is time for a diaper change.)
Anyway - this continues until around12:55 when she is really up and ready to eat.
12:55 - We nurse........there is no spitting...she is asleep upright on my chest so I sit for 1 hour to keep that food down before putting her down.
3:30 - Loud grunting wakes me, but I can't get my tush out of bed....I can barely open my eyes so I snooze for a few
3:42 - She's up - there is no denying it so I jump up and pump real quick. No time to even put the milk away - change her and get to feeding. There is little spitting, but she is uncomfortable and grunting. We sit until 5am and they lay down.
6:00 - Loud grunting starts......I get up - there is no more sleep today.
So in all I get a couple of hours spread apart. Better than the nights of nothing, but not exactly good sleep yet. Maybe by next month.
Well my time for being without the baby was up in the middle of this post. She is nestled in her front carrier now and seems to be back to sleep after some discomfort.
Now if only I could figure out how to get my two year-old dressed we are ready for our day.
I will put up more pictures later today. Since I don't get to put this baby down, it is hard to get pictures of her.
Take care.

Three days in the hospital.......

Layla and I got back last night from a three day stay at St. Johns to try and get her reflux under control. After a week of reall bad and a couple days of unbearable throwing up and screaming, I had enough. They admitted us on Sunday morning so Layla could get some IV fluids and meds to help. We weren't able to even keep her meds down her, so this has really helped that. We know we are in for another month of hard times before we really see her get a lot better, but at least we know we are on the right path now. So all available baby holders - come on over. Layla is a very sweet baby when she is not in pain and we can provide smocks for all the spit-up :) Really - I'm not kidding - if you live in the greater St. Louis area, please come over. My arms are killing me from holding this baby 24x7.

Layla weighed in at 9 lbs yesterday morning (at 1:30 am when they like to come in and weigh the babies) so she is gaining weight. We go back in next week for her official 1 month check-up and they would like her to be at least 9.5 lbs at that time, so the pressure is on.

Happy three weeks Layla!

Well despite our difficulties here, these three weeks have flown by. It feels like yesterday I was pregnant. Oh I miss the 2 hours of sleep blocks I got while I was pregnant. :) The best I can say today is that we are hanging in. Layla is such a lovely baby when she is not in pain (which is still rare). She will be so alert and quiet, but as soon as that reflux starts she squishes up her face and screams. Once the vomiting starts it is hard to tell when it will end as there is no rhyme or reason to it. We are trying to enjoy her as a baby, but that has been a challenge so far. We appreciate all the prayers and positive thoughts people have given our little one. We are hopeful that the worst is almost over and she starts packing on the pounds soon. As of today she is about 8 lbs so we know she is getting some nourishment.

Hannah has been so sweet with her sister. Whenever the baby is upset, Hannah tells her "You're ok" and "I got you". She is still mad at me for needing to spend so much time with Layla, but in a few weeks we should all be well adjusted.

The reflux is bad.........

Well I headed to the hospital today with Layla to have an upper GI to make sure she didn't need surgery for her reflux. She has gained weight, but has a lot of irritation from all the puking and she still can't sleep well because of the pain. The doc and the hospital who did her GI said that her reflux is severe, but her stomach connections looked ok so hopefully no surgery. We are waiting for the ped to call us back and let us know what new medicine we are supposed to try. In the meantime, we just need to try to hold her and keep her as comfortable as possible. It is very sad :( No pictures today - it's been a little crazy. Hopefully we will have better news in a few days.

Layla is two weeks old

Here's a few shots of Layla at two weeks old. Our news for the week is that Layla has reflux. Hannah had this; it was terrible and it is no better the second time around. We started the medicine on Tuesday so we are hoping for some improvement by the weekend. In the meantime, there is no sleeping for mom. After I feed her, she is awake or sleeps for a short time before waking up again. Her poor belly just hurts too bad to get good sleep. Since she is still having the requisite # of wet and dirty diapers, we aren't rushing her to the doctor for a weight check and I imagine she is doing just fine in that department. Enjoy the pictures of our happy awake time today. It has been fun.

Oh the things you forget........

about having a newborn. I forgot how these first couple of weeks can try any person. Layla is doing great and growing so fast already - check out that double chin! She is still a great nurser, but she is also a spitter. I forgot how much a baby can spit up. It is much better than it was last week so hopefully it continues to improve. She is of course on no particular schedule either. One day she sleeps all day and the next it seems she is awake all day. Neither has proved good for a good nights sleep yet :) We usually can get a couple of hours once or twice before she is awake again.

Having two kids makes life a little more challenging also. I have only been alone with the two girls for a few hours so far, but we will get some more practice this week before Matt goes back to travelling. I'm a little nervous, but I know we will all be ok. Everyone will need to adjust to sharing mommy and I will need to adjust to the busy schedule. I should get my first practice run to the grocery store today or tomorrow.

Hannah is still infatuated with her sister and wants to touch and hold her a lot. She is also pretty taken with pacifiers (which is odd since she is a thumb sucker). She can't stop herself from picking up and sucking on Layla's binkins. We are hoping this wears off soon. Hannah is amazing us these days with her speach. She is getting much more clear and is just so smart! She can reason and negotiate already which we weren't prepared for just yet. She is also getting really good at climbing and is a very good fit thrower. She can cry on demand and is very dramatic with throwing herself on the ground to prove how upset she is. We are taking this as well as we can with the newborn in the house, but lack of sleep can make adults just as likely to throw a fit right back. Once she has it all out she announces that she is done with her fit and she is all better now. It is very cute. Here's a good picture of my little ham - she does love the camera.

Take care.

Layla is here!

Layla Therese Shockley was born on May 31st at 1:55pm. She was 1 week early and just perfect in every way. Layla weighed 6lbs 13 oz and is 18 inches long - just a peanut. That would explain why she was so easy to get out. Her Apgars were 9 and 9 and she was just alert and ready to nurse right away (which she has done like a champion ever since).

Hannah came up that evening to meet her sister and it was so sweet. She didn't care to see Matt or I, but came in and immediately declared "I hold my baby!". She then tried to pry her out of Matt's arms. Layla was smothered in hugs and kisses from her big sister. It was just so sweet.

We came home Saturday and it has been a whirlwind so far. Layla had some breathing issues when my milk came in as she was breathing in too much milk. We are working thorugh that slowly but surely by pumping before I feed her to make sure there is not too much milk. We had a couple of rough nights (as those first nights always are) but we were prepared for this and so far are handling this well. Last night (Tuesday night) I actually got 2.5 hours of sleep in a row! It was wonderful and I have felt better today.

Hannah is still loving her sister, but sometimes too much. We have to be careful not to leave her in the room with the baby because she likes to touch and try to hold her. Hannah is also very attached to her daddy right now. She is pretty mad at mommy for needing to spend so much time with Layla, but I know she will be ok. It is hard for her since she has had everyone's attention for so long, but in the end she will be so happy to have a sister.

Anyway - Welcome to the Shockley Girls' Blog! I certainly won't be here daily, but when I can I will be updating as much as possible. I hope to get better at this as time goes on. It is 2007 - my weekly e-mails were outdated!

Take care.