13 weeks.......

Happy 3 months to Layla! I remember loving this age with Hannah. Although things have been rougher with Layla, she is still such a sweet baby at this age.

Layla is back to breastfeeding after our formula trial last weekend. Things didn't go very well and she didn't tolerate the formula (even the super expensive one!). The Dr says we can try again in a month if we still want to, but for now we nurse on the elimination diet. I have found more things I can eat so I do get a pretty good amount of food in, but still will miss pizza. I indulged on Saturday so that helped while she was drinking the formula. She is very happy to be back to nursing and seems to be doing ok (no better or worse than before). She is still having uncomfortable episodes each day, but we know now that we will just have to live with them until she grows out of it.

Layla is getting so strong! She lifts her head all the way up now and plays on her belly really well. I am very happy with her progress since I can't put her on her belly much becasue of the reflux (she just spits and spits and spits). If I wait until prior to her next feeding, and she is not starving, she does better.

We are getting some decent sleep these days as Layla is sleeping pretty well from 9pm until 4 and sometimes 5am! She does fuss in the middle of the night sometimes, but I am trying to let her get back to sleep by herself or with a pacifier so we don't go back to more eating. When Layla eats in the night - it means hours awake for me since she is usually uncomfortable and spitty for a while and then I hold her for at least 1/2 hour after she calms down. So I'll take some straight sleep any day and accept my early wake up time. After she is calm and held, she goes in her swing and will sleep another hour or two. On the weekends I will get to sleep too! On workdays - it's in the shower and start getting everybody ready.

Being back at work has been challenging for me knowing Layla is in daycare. It is tough thinking about her being uncomfortable and spitting up a ton when no one can hold her. I'll say it is going ok though. I made it to work on time and worked pretty full days this week (only 7 hours on Tuesday). I was actually able to focus and work which is good for me. Layla had a rough day at daycare today, but her other days have been decent. She was with her Grandma yesterday and did well. With each passing week, it will get easier for both of us.

We are heading to the fair tomorrow night so that will be a treat for both girls. Hannah liked it last year, so she should really love it this year! Layla will be held so she will be fine too :)

Take care.

12 weeks

(Layla playing in her play gym - look at her chubby legs!))

Layla has been with us now for 12 weeks. We love her dearly and she is such a sweet baby. We do wish her first months on earth were not as hard as they were, but soon we will all forget this chaos. She does give us some giggles now which is sweet. Mommy is very funny :) Layla is also showing signs of teething. She has her hands in her mouth and drools much of her awake time (when she is not spitting). I do remember that this started early with Hannah also and she had 4 teeth at 6 months!

(Layla and Abbey just sitting around)

Layla and Hannah enjoyed spending the weekend with Uncle Mark, Aunt Beth and cousin Abbey here! The babies were so well behaved and although they were on different schedules, we did get some playtime together. Each baby also got to dip in the pool at Grandma's and they both enjoyed that. It should be even more fun in a few weeks when we take our first family road trip up to Chicago to see them. Two girls in the car with mommy smashed between for a few hours - fun!

(Hannah and Abbey)

Have I mentioned that I hate GERD? I hate it - I hate it as much as any other four letter word. I just can't get over how much it has changed our lives and how it wracks my tiny baby's body every day. She has her good days and her bad ones, but by now I thought we'd be all good. I have lived for weeks on a total elimination diet and months without dairy and I still can't make her better. With each bad day, I blame myself for eating a peach or a nut or maybe not eating enough something that made her previous day better.....I am driving myself crazy so we are moving Layla to a hypo-allergenic formula. Today is her first day we are mixing it in and she hates it. She barely drank any this morning and still spit it up so we shall see. The GI wants to see her on a stable diet before we make any more decisions and it is impossible to hold my diet stable. So I am giving up nursing which makes me very sad. I am grateful I was able to do it at all and give her the best start I could. If special formula will help make her better it will all be worth it. Sorry for the vent, but sometimes it helps.

Layla fell asleep twice by herself yesterday IN HER CRIB! I just swaddled her up and put her in with a paci and she fell asleep. Of course she only slept 20 minutes each time, but it is good to know that once we are past reflux, she is capable of falling asleep on her own.

I don't have a lot of pictures from this past week, but I will try to make up for it next week.

Take care.

10+ weeks.......

It has been another busy week here at the Shockley's. This week is my last week off before I head back to work. Although I am very sad, I knew this was coming and tried to prepare for it. Layla is feeling a bit better so that makes me a little more comfortable. We visited her room at the school last week and her teachers were very sweet. They have had reflux babies before and know what to expect as far as her needs. We had her last visit with the chiropractor last week. Although he is very nice and Layla loves her treatments, I don't think they are helping enough to justify the cost. We see the GI next Monday to follow up and make sure Layla gained enough weight.

Layla still has periods where she is obviously uncomfortable during the day and she still spits up quite a bit, but she is still improving and the worst is behind us. Within a month or two she should be much much better. We look forward to the day that she is comfortable all day and doesn't wake up crying in pain ever.

Layla got lots of good time with her dad this weekend. She is getting 3 bottles a day (to mimic what she will get when I am back at work) and she is doing great. She has been taking bottles from her dad and grandma this weekend so she should be over the "must eat from mom" thing. She nurses in the morning and evening still just fine. It was a lot of work getting to this point, but it was worth it since I can still provide her breastmilk for a bit longer.

We have had 3 nights in a row where Layla has slept until 5am! It's wonderful even if I don't get to go back to sleep after that. As long as I get to bed by 10 - I can get almost 7 hours of sleep! Better yet - in a row! We are hoping it lasts. We moved her to her crib after the first night she did it and that seems to have gone well also. She doesn't go back down after she eats because she is usually pretty uncomfortable in the early morning for some reason. I will know she is really better when this feeding is not so rough for her.

I had to get this shot of the three of them reading books. It didn't last long, but it was cute. These three people are my whole life.

This is Hannah's last week of summer day camp and she will be moving to a full blown pre-school room next week. She is such a big girl now. We did not tackle potty training this summer as I had planned, but she will do it when she is ready. She is ahead of many kids her age in counting and letters. Her teachers are very impressed with her.

We are looking forward to a fun weekend with Uncle Mark, Aunt Beth and Abbey! The girls are so excited to meet their cousin. Take care.

2 months and big changes.....

Layla is 9 weeks old! She had her 2 month appointment this week and did great. She weighs 11 lbs 14 oz and is 22 3/4 inches long. She is right on target for her 50-75%. She screamed like a champion when she got her shots and then hiccupped for the next hour - poor baby. Her reflux issues made this whole experience worse for her since she spits more when she is upset, but we made it through with lots of cuddling and rocking.

Starting this week - Layla has been drinking out of bottles. She (like Hannah) decided that milk only comes from Mom and bottles were unacceptable. We tried one bottle a day for a week and it was excrutiating for everyone. She screamed and cried and bucked the whole time. It took over an hour sometimes to get her to drink 3oz. Since I am returning to work soon, we knew this was unacceptable so we moved to bottles. This was a rough transition for both of us, but we are getting on ok now. Layla will drink about 4 oz without much of a fuss unless she needs to burp. After some encouragement, I have continued to pump and maintain my milk so I can still nurse her at night and in the morning. I will hold out as long as I can with this schedule, but it sure is busy! The longer I can keep her in breastmilk the better though since she is finally starting to feel better. She is still uncomfortable throughout the day and spits up a ton, but she is in less pain than a week ago, so we are trending towards better. Now would be a terrible time to introduce formula to her belly.

Layla saw her chiropractor again this week. She will see him one more time and then we should be done. She will also see the GI specialist again in 2 weeks and unless she reverts or gets worse, we should be done with her also. I imagine Layla will be on the Nexuim for a few months before we can wean her off of it. She will most likely continue the Axid until she is over a year.

We are expecting a visit from aunt Shelly this weekend and lots of swimming since it will be over 100! Layla may get her first swim in even if it is short. She has a tiny suit that we just have to put on her before she can't fit it anymore. It will be snug as it is!

I didn't get very many pictures this week since we were so busy, but did attach the ones I did get.

Have a great weekend!

8 weeks and finally some sleep

I suppose since it has been a few nights now, I can say that Layla is getting one good long stretch of sleep at night (from about 9 or 10pm to 3 or 4am). It has been like heaven for me even though I had to pump those first couple of nights. My body is adjusting to the longer stretch and I should start to get 4 or 5 hours of sleep in a row. Her sleep after that is still very fussy, but we'll take it vs being up all night. Her daytime sleep is still very sporadic and sometimes non-existent, but we know once she is recovered, she will sleep.

Today is Layla's second day on Nexium. This is the last medicine they have to give her to try and heal the damage before we have to schedule the surgery. Although I don't want my baby to have surgery this young, at this point I will take it if we need to. Anything to get her feeling more comfortable. We also saw a chiropractor this week. He was very nice and gentle with Layla and she didn't fuss the whole time he was doing his "treatment". They don't crack babies, but just pull and tap them - it was rather odd but interesting. We go back next week so we'll see how she is doing then. I am mixing traditional and non-traditional treatments, but it will be worth it if it all works. She is having a good day today, but of course it could be a coincidence - we shall see.

Layla is not taking a bottle well at this point yet. She seems to really struggle through it so we will be incorporating more bottles into her daily routine so she gets lots of practice. She is still 100% breastfed and will hopefully stay that way. I am on a very strict non-dairy diet (including anything that was made with any dairy products). To me it is worth it to continue breastfeeding even though it means nothing delicious for a while. They do have dairy free fig newtons that are pretty good:) Layla's biggest improvement so far has come from my diet changing so that is very rewarding. I did try to eat some dairy last week and Layla was miserable so I am back on the wagon.

Tonight Layla will get her medicine with a spoonful of applesauce! This will be much less dramatic than trying to squirt the tiny pellets from inside the capsule into her mouth with a syringe. She is aweful young to try to get to eat something, but maybe my little chubber will enjoy it. I imagine she weighs somewhere near 12 lbs this week, but we will know for sure next week at her two month visit. She will have to get a bunch of shots so that will be rough, but maybe she will take it in stride compared to the other issues she has faced.

Take care.

Hannah

My last post got lost or cut off somehow........

Hannah is doing so well and getting so big. She found her "L"'s this week so her speach is coming along very well. She is such a cutie most of the time (when she is not whining). I had to post these pictures from Hannah's trip to the butterfly house with Aunt Shelly because she is so darn cute.

Time flies

Well Layla is seven weeks old and getting so big. She was 11 lbs this week at the doctor and gaining well. No new news on the reflux so I won't digress too much about that (too depressing).

We have seen out first real smiles this week. In the moments Layla is awake and not in pain or eating, she does smile and coo at us which is nice. She has a huge grin which is funny and she even laughs sometimes. She loves the bath and is usually quiet on her changing table (same as Hannah). She plays on the floor a couple of times a day even if she doesn't like it. She does good for a few minutes even if it is accompanied by some spit (see picture:). Our days are pretty spitty so it doesn't phase us anymore.