Reflux

It's been a long time since I last updated. It has been stressful around here!

At John's two-month appointment on 7/7, he was in a real state. Even before he got his shots, he was clearly in terrible pain. I'd be holding him upright against my chest and he'd be sleeping calmly, but when I put him down on his back for any of the procedures, he'd scream in pain. I hated to see it, but the timing was good because our regular doctor was able to see what had been going on.

Based on his presentation and my descriptions of his symptoms, he was really quite sure that John had acid reflux. He prescribed baby Zantac and a special formula. The new formula is really helping a lot. It is quite expensive though, at $9 a day. It is worth it, John's temperament has definitely improved.

I didn't know that nearly 50% of infants have reflux, due to an underdeveloped digestive system. He was also at increased risk because I had a c-section. Who knew?!? Anyway, it has been a rough two weeks as we've waited for his system to recover with the new formula and medicine. He's just now returning to his normal eating and naps. We're happy to have him back to his old self!

John has gotten so smiley lately. I posted some new smiling pics on our website (see upper right for link.) At church on Sunday, he was smiling at the ladies talking to him. Then we took him up to our priest, Father Ron, and said "John wanted to say hi." Father Ron said, "Well, hi John!" and John gave him the biggest, sweetest smile right on cue. It's really nice that he likes strangers!

I took John for his second swim today. He didn't sleep through it, but he was tired, so we stayed in there for about four minutes before he started crying. Oh well. :)

Today when John woke up from his nap, I started talking to him and he laughed! Just started chuckling at me. It was so cute and endearing. I can't believe how he's developing. It seems like he is growing up so fast!

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a very nice Independence Day. In the morning, Andy, John and I just hung around the house with Ollie. Then we went over to my mom's house for a barbecue. It was quite the full house. Besides the three of us and my parents, we had Robyn, Mike and Noah, Andy's parents, and Mike's parents.

We took John swimming before dinner. I had really been looking forward to taking him in the pool for the first time, and had waited for Fourth of July on purpose so Andy would be there. I even bought him a sun hat and SPF protective clothing! Well, it was completely anticlimactic, since he pretty much slept through the whole thing! We did take lots of pictures, and a few videos, so head over to our website (linked at right) and check them out!

We took John to the doctor today. His tummy has been acting up again. Last night I fed him at 11 and put him to bed around 11:30. Between 3 and 4 a.m. he woke up screaming four times because he had spit up and his tummy hurt. He had also started acting weird during feedings; I'd feed him 2 ounces and after I burped him, he'd start to cry when I tilted him back to feed him more. It sure seemed like his tummy was hurting him. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him, but hypothesized that it could be a formula problem, or acid reflux. So we're going to try a new formula for sensitive stomachs and see if that works. Otherwise it's on to some gastric system evaluations, which would not be fun for John!

Today at the doctor's, he weighed over 13 pounds! He has his regular 2 month appointment for vaccinations on Monday, so I'm sure that won't be a fun day for him!