une petite aventure: Evie: 3 Months

Y'all. I can't lie. This month has been HARD. Probably the hardest month of motherhood to date. We determined Evie has acid reflux. I am NOT a fan of acid reflux, and I know she isn't either. Our sweet girl just constantly hurts. When she passes gas, she cries; after she eats and it comes up in her throat, she cries; when it starts working it's way through her digestive system, she cries. IT. IS. AWFUL. I can't help her fix it and it completely tears me up. She wasnt eating very well and as a result, wasn't gaining weight like she should. We went to the doctor on the Monday we got back from Florida (July 18th) and he decided to put her on Zantac to see if that would help. (the Zantac doesn't prevent reflux, it just calms down all the acid she produces in her stomach so that it won't hurt as bad) She weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. at that appointment and I was given instructions to give her the meds twice a day, as well as pump twice day (with a toddler and a 2 month old), and supplement with 1 oz of formula after feeding to help her gain. My supply started increasing and the medicine almost immediately helped. After 48 hours I could tell a huge difference--she was happier, she ate much better, and she wasn't constantly hurting. Yay! The only hiccup we had was one night, she turned purple from the reflux getting stuck in her throat and we had to suction her out and whack her on the back to help her breathe again. Talk about having a heart attack! I just reacted, taking care of the situation, and then when she was fine I completely fell apart. The doctor reassured me that her turning purple was the best thing because it meant her body was functioning correctly, preventing anything from aspirating into her lungs. However, it was still scary! We went back for a weight check the next Monday and she had gained 12 oz!! Up to 9 lbs. 9 oz and he wanted us back in two weeks to re-evaluate.

Things were greatly improving that whole next week. Then we got to the second week and things went back downhill. She got a fever virus and it seemed like her reflux was acting back up. She resorted to not eating as much again. We went back to the doctor this past Monday (August 8th) for Holt's 2 year well check up and had her weighed while we were there. She was 9 lbs. 12 oz.---good in that she hadn't lost anything, but I could tell that being sick and her reflux acting back up wasn't helping her. We decided to up her medication a little bit and see if that helps. We went back today (August 15th) and she had lost 2 oz. back down to 9 lb. 10 oz. Our plan is to supplement after nursing and I'm going to pump when I can. Please pray for us as this is very stressful on top of taking care of a toddler.

Even with all of that, she still smiles and talks to us all the time. It just makes it hard because we can't put her on her back much at all, she has to either be upright or on her tummy and she only catnaps during the day since she hurts (usually 30-45 min at a time). Plus it makes it hard because I can't devote much time to Holt during the day. Mom guilt is a daily thing for me right now. I am so proud of him though! He easily entertains himself most days and when I do get to spend a few minutes with him, I try to make them count. I know it will get better as she gets older, but for now there's just not much I can do.

She still sleeps at night pretty well. She is still in our room and at this point I have no idea when I will feel comfortable enough to move her into Holt's room or what that transition will even look like. Our schedule has COMPLETELY gone out the window this month because I've just been doing whatever it takes to keep her happy and trying to feed as much as possible to help her and build my supply back up. Hopefully with the medicine we can start getting into somewhat of a routine. She has started going to sleep between 8:30-9PM, waking about 1:30AM or so to eat, and then eating again around 6:30AM. She also wakes up intermittently throughout the night hurting from gas so I have to get up and help her work that out. Being on the Zantac should help that quite a bit. Overall, I am completely exhausted and overwhelmed most days, but I have so much support from my husband and my family and my close friends. I wouldn't be able to do it without them! I also hold onto the hope that this too shall pass and it will continue to get easier as she gets older.

Weight: 9 lbs 12 oz (5th percentile)
Height: 22 inches (3rd percentile)

Milestones: *spits bubbles all day long *smiles, coos, laughs *found her hands and fingers *really studies certain patterns *holds her head up, unless she is studying something down low *sort of discovered her feet a little bit *can roll from tummy to back

Favorites: *paci *loves to talk and smile (when she's not hurting) *likes bath time *loves to be bounced on the bouncy exercise ball

Feeding: This has been a huge battle. Between low weight gain, low supply, building back up my supply, continuing to be dairy free. IT IS SO HARD!! But, I'm still trying and I hope we are over the biggest hurdles and it will get easier from here on out.

Sleep: She still sleeps in our room. No idea when we will move her. She sleeps on her tummy in the pack-n-play. It is better for reflux babies to sleep on their tummies because it moves the contents of the stomach down to the bottom (towards the intestines) preventing it from refluxing back up into the throat. She is sleeping SO much better since we switched out of the Rock-n-Play. She still wakes up about 45 minutes into a nap with gas pains. Sometimes I can get her to go back to sleep, sometimes I can't. She wakes up a few times a night with gas pains too. Can you please pray for her? And for me?

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