wow

you can shut my music off to hear the music on this video

to elaborate

Typing is tough when you are holding a screaming infant that needs to be constantly in motion. :)
Not to mention that I have one ear to the radio listening to all the flood info. I feel so bad that I can not be out there helping sandbag. All the info is very worrisome.
So Jonah was started on Alimentum on Tuesday which is a hypoallergenic formula. The milk proteins are totally broken down. But I do believe that it has full lactose. The formula that we have been on since he came home from the hospital is "gentlease". It has partially broken down milk proteins and also 1/5 the lactose that normal formula has.
He has been pretty fussy since we switched, except about a 2 hour time block yesterday morning in which he was really smiley and happy to play with his toys.
I called the pediatrician's office and they suggested trying to stick it out on this formula and that perhaps he is doing something like "detoxing" from the milk proteins. Evidently you have to stick with a formula for at least 2 weeks to see the difference. So, I went to target to stock up on this super spendy stuff (thank goodness for all the gift cards that we got for shower gifts). Also, I picked up 2 different kinds of bottles. They told me it most likely wouldn't make much of a difference, but hey, it's worth a shot right? And of course it could just be plain old colic. But, I feel like we owe it to Jonah to try what we can, so that we can say we explored all options before we call it just plain colic.
So thanks to all the thoughts and prayers...it has been tough, but this too shall pass.

ailmentum update

not sure this is the ticket...jonah is crankier than before...grr!

MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance)

well...today I took Jonah to the doctor for a recheck after starting prilosec for his reflux.

To back up a little, from what I have learned about 80% of babies have reflux. And there are 3 types of "spitters" according to our doctor. The 1st type is a happy spitter that is gaining weight, the 2nd is an unhappy spitter that is gaining weight. The last type is an unhappy spitter that is not gaining (or is losing weight). First he put Jonah in the 1st category, but as time has gone on, and he has developed more cranky times during the day/evening, and started having some more congestion and wheezing he got moved to the 2nd category. They started him on zantac. We tried it for over a week and it didn't seem to do much. So I called back because he was getting to the point where he was super fussy for hours at a time some days. (the odd thing, this is somewhat inconsistent...it doesn't happen every day, etc). But anyways, they suggested that we try soy formula and started him on Albuterol nebulizers. Well, after much discussion and a couple more days of screaming we decided to try the soy. After the 1st bottle he screamed for 2 hours straight. After the 2nd he was fine, then after the 3rd, he screamed for another hour straight. I called the clinic and they said he was reacting to the protein in the soy. GRRR! So they said to stop the zantac, start prilosec and go back to the gentlease formula (or try hypoallergenic).

Since hypoallergenic is far more expensive, we hoped that the priolsec would take care of it. Also, we tried gas drops & gripe water over the weekend. We also tried to keep his routine as consistent as possible even though we were traveling. He had a pretty good weekend, crying was within reason. But last night, he was super fussy from 5:30-8:30. This would be a good argument for colic, except it doesn't always happen in the evening, sometimes it is in the morning or afternoon.

Back to this morning...I ran through all the issues that he has been having, from inconsolable crying, to the arching his back, shaking his head when he is eating, spraying me with formula out of frustration, more "stinky" bm's, more gassy, etc.
He wanted us to try a hypoallergenic formula for a month or 2 to help with what he suspects as a milk protein intolerance. He said 10% of all kids with a milk protein intolerance will also be soy intolerant, and suspected that this could be what we are dealing with. He was not 100% sure of what is the root cause of all this, or maybe a combination of, reflux, protein intolerance, reactive airways, or colic. At any rate, we are covered for the 1st 3 of those (we started him on pulmicort neb treatments 1x per day to help maintain his lungs now that they are starting to sound better.) And if colic is what this all is about, well...I guess he will just grow out of it.

I am just tired of trying to figure all this out, I hope that this works, so at least we have an answer. I just want Jonah to be as happy as he can be, and not be in pain because he isn't digesting the food he is trusting us to provide him with.

digestive troubles :)

1 Peter 3:8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here's what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you're worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listening and responding well to what he's asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.

I read this passage this morning, and I am having a tough time digesting it. It is really hard for me to have a humble heart in turning the other cheek. Maybe it is because of certain situations that are presenting themselves to me, but living out turning the other cheek is hard for me right now. I want to be like Jesus, and show love & kindness and humility even when it isn't always shown to me. Just hashing out what that looks like, and swallowing my pride is the tough part. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that we have an easy road marked out for us.

a beauiful day

Yesterday was so beautiful that we decided to take our first family walk with the dogs & Jonah. It was way too wet/muddy to take the stroller, so we bundled Jonah up and put him in the baby Bjorn. He kept his eyes shut most of the time because of the sun, but I think he seemed to like the fresh air. We certainly enjoyed the day! Now we are totally ready for spring.

the crud strikes again!!!

Well...Jonah is making sure that we get good use out of our health insurance premiums. We went into the clinic today because he is still very congested and wheezy sounding. His regular doc was not in today so we saw the doc that took care of him when he was in the hospital last month. He agreed with me that he sounded crummy and got an xray. This one looked ok, so that was a blessing, but he still was concerned with the way he sounded and gave us a prescription for some steroids to help with any swelling in his airways from whatever lovely bug is creating these noises. So hopefully that will help us to get through the weekend!

I got some bad news about my schedule at work yesterday. Before I left for maternity leave I basically worked 3 12 hour shifts per week...so Dean and I sat down and decided that we could afford to have me cut back to 5 12 hour shifts per pay period without making too many major sacrifices in our budget. So, I went to the hospital last week & told them. Yesterday, when I looked at my schedule it was filled with 8 hour shifts, so I was actually working 4 or 5 days a week. Evidendly I was told about the fact that my schedule was changing (something that I just don't remember). So now out of a 12 week cycle, I now have 4 weeks of 8 hour shifts. This may not seem like too big of a deal to most people, but it really threw me for a loop as it was TOTALLY not what I was expecting. And now it not only affects me, but Dean, Jonah, and my mom (who is watching Jonah for us when I go back to work). As it turns out, it will work out ok, especially with the cut in hours means less days away from Jonah, but it was a "stretching" day for me yesterday.

blogstalker

yes, I blogstalk...i ripped off the entire playlist of music from someone else's blog...but all the songs really spoke to me, so does that make it ok? I guess it has to right? :)

jonah & bella

Jonah got his 2 month shots today, sad for him, even sadder for me!
:(
he is up to 11 lbs, 4 oz and 21 and 7/8ths inches tall/long :)
he is getting close to the 50%th percentile for everything!!! Yeah Jonah! The doc started him on Zantac for the reflux and hopefully that will help some of the other things that have been going on. If it doesn't, then he said the next step would be to start him on Nutramagin (a hypoalergenic formula that costs about double the price, but might help). Crossing fingers that zantac helps!!!

I tried to upload a video of Jonah and Bella, but it doesn't want to work so I will try again today :) For now, here is a picture of their "play date" Jonah kept looking for her, and she didn't get too close. It was really cute!

sick...again!

just chillin with dad on the couch


I like my new hat!


huh?


playin with my puppy bella!

Grrr....Jonah is sick again...fussy, red eyes, stuffy nose, yellow drainage, needing suckin' out before eating. grrr! we have a "well" child visit on tuesday for 2 month shots etc. so we'll see what Dr. H. says. I am not quite as worried this time around because the little pork-chop has gained some weight and isn't as frail. But, still tough to see the little guy sick. Gave him a "vapor" bath tonight...seemed to help. Also baby vicks...my kid smells like a medicine cabinet. :)