So yet again it's been awhile since I've written for Josie. She is now 6 weeks 6 days old and is the cutest baby in the world. She's doing great with holding her head up, is wide-eyed and alert all the time, and has been sleeping through the night ::fingers crossed:: We did have a minor setback last week when she ended up in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). I've felt pretty crappy since then, since I feel like it's my fault for starving my baby! I wish I could go back in time and take away all her pain and discomfort so she could have avoided this entire situation!
I was getting concerned about Josie's growth since she still seemed to be the same size as she was when we brought her home from the hospital. She was very skinny and lost most of the fat on her body. I had been concerned about her spitting up mucus and having mucus in her stools since she was born, and both my midwife and my pediatrician suggested to cut milk out of my diet in case she had a milk protein allergy. I cut milk out almost 3 weeks ago, and noticed a change in Josie after about a week. Her stools didn't really look better, but she seemed much happier and less in pain than she had before. I took her to my midwife with me last Wednesday for my 6 week appointment, and had her weighed. She was only 7 pounds 3 ounces, down from her birth weight of 8 pound 1 ounce at 5 weeks. My heart sank when I heard the news. Barbara (my midwife) said that she normally wouldn't suggest supplementing with formula, but in this case she would since Josie was so skinny. Then she saw Josie spit up mucus and told me to take her to CHOP, and she had a serious concern in her voice.
I called George at work and told him to come home so we could head down. We waited a bit to avoid traffic, but still made it down there that evening. She was admitted after sitting in emergency having tests run for a few hours.
4 days in the hospital and many blood tests, stool tests, and an EKG yielded little information. Her blood tests kept coming back different. Her first tests revealed extremely high potassium levels (a sign of kidney failure (I was a wreck)), but repeat showed lower levels, and one of the doctors told me that the lab gave everyone high potassium levels that night, must have been some errors. She had some blood in her stools (and still does) and they were tested to make sure that she is absorbing fats, sugars, and carbs correctly. All of those tests (except the one we have yet to hear about) came back negative. I suggested that she had a milk protein intolerance and wondered if that could have been bothering her. The doctors strongly argued that she didn't and I didn't know what I was talking about (basically).
The most helpful people at CHOP were the speech pathologists and lactation consultants. Meetings with them told us that Josie has an extremely weak suck, and before and after feeding weights showed that Josie was only getting less than 30ml of milk from me, less than an ounce! I began a pumping regimen, and also decided to use a supplemental nursing system (SNS) to keep Josie on the breast. I have a weak milk supply (probably because Josie sucks at sucking). Because I couldn't stand the thought of Josie being starving, I decided that we needed to supplement with formula. I wanted to use a soy based formula to avoid milk protein issues, but the doctors argued with me for a long time about it. I finally gave in (and never should have), and began giving Josie Gerber Good Start. She did really well on it and became a whole different baby (the same baby I met after giving birth, not the crazy cranky baby of the last 6 weeks). She gained an average of 75 grams a day the first 3 days we were in the hospital, and she surprised everyone with her alertness and calmness. She had some issues with nasal mucus and throwing up that formula, so we switched her to Earth's Best, an organic formula, after we came home. Since she didn't have too many issues with the Gerber, we got a milk based Earth's Best. Since then, however, Josie has had blood in her stools, and we saw our pediatrician who wants us to use Nutramigen. We have yet to start it, since she seemed to be doing well on the Earth's best otherwise, but I will tomorrow. We go back in a week for another weight check and in 2 weeks with a stool sample, and if there's blood in her stool we will see a GI doctor (something we didn't see at CHOP).
Overall, our experience at CHOP was a waste of time other than the fact that we found out Josie has a sucking problem, and I got a free Medela breast pump. Most of the babies in the unit were much sicker than Josie, but it still sucked that we were there. I cried like a baby having to see her like this:
I was getting concerned about Josie's growth since she still seemed to be the same size as she was when we brought her home from the hospital. She was very skinny and lost most of the fat on her body. I had been concerned about her spitting up mucus and having mucus in her stools since she was born, and both my midwife and my pediatrician suggested to cut milk out of my diet in case she had a milk protein allergy. I cut milk out almost 3 weeks ago, and noticed a change in Josie after about a week. Her stools didn't really look better, but she seemed much happier and less in pain than she had before. I took her to my midwife with me last Wednesday for my 6 week appointment, and had her weighed. She was only 7 pounds 3 ounces, down from her birth weight of 8 pound 1 ounce at 5 weeks. My heart sank when I heard the news. Barbara (my midwife) said that she normally wouldn't suggest supplementing with formula, but in this case she would since Josie was so skinny. Then she saw Josie spit up mucus and told me to take her to CHOP, and she had a serious concern in her voice.
I called George at work and told him to come home so we could head down. We waited a bit to avoid traffic, but still made it down there that evening. She was admitted after sitting in emergency having tests run for a few hours.
4 days in the hospital and many blood tests, stool tests, and an EKG yielded little information. Her blood tests kept coming back different. Her first tests revealed extremely high potassium levels (a sign of kidney failure (I was a wreck)), but repeat showed lower levels, and one of the doctors told me that the lab gave everyone high potassium levels that night, must have been some errors. She had some blood in her stools (and still does) and they were tested to make sure that she is absorbing fats, sugars, and carbs correctly. All of those tests (except the one we have yet to hear about) came back negative. I suggested that she had a milk protein intolerance and wondered if that could have been bothering her. The doctors strongly argued that she didn't and I didn't know what I was talking about (basically).
The most helpful people at CHOP were the speech pathologists and lactation consultants. Meetings with them told us that Josie has an extremely weak suck, and before and after feeding weights showed that Josie was only getting less than 30ml of milk from me, less than an ounce! I began a pumping regimen, and also decided to use a supplemental nursing system (SNS) to keep Josie on the breast. I have a weak milk supply (probably because Josie sucks at sucking). Because I couldn't stand the thought of Josie being starving, I decided that we needed to supplement with formula. I wanted to use a soy based formula to avoid milk protein issues, but the doctors argued with me for a long time about it. I finally gave in (and never should have), and began giving Josie Gerber Good Start. She did really well on it and became a whole different baby (the same baby I met after giving birth, not the crazy cranky baby of the last 6 weeks). She gained an average of 75 grams a day the first 3 days we were in the hospital, and she surprised everyone with her alertness and calmness. She had some issues with nasal mucus and throwing up that formula, so we switched her to Earth's Best, an organic formula, after we came home. Since she didn't have too many issues with the Gerber, we got a milk based Earth's Best. Since then, however, Josie has had blood in her stools, and we saw our pediatrician who wants us to use Nutramigen. We have yet to start it, since she seemed to be doing well on the Earth's best otherwise, but I will tomorrow. We go back in a week for another weight check and in 2 weeks with a stool sample, and if there's blood in her stool we will see a GI doctor (something we didn't see at CHOP).
Overall, our experience at CHOP was a waste of time other than the fact that we found out Josie has a sucking problem, and I got a free Medela breast pump. Most of the babies in the unit were much sicker than Josie, but it still sucked that we were there. I cried like a baby having to see her like this:
even though she took it all in stride and was comfortably asleep most of the time we were there:
Josie also had her first bottle EVER while at CHOP, and daddy got to give it to her!
She took it really well!
Well, that's the end (I hope!) of our weight loss adventure. At our pediatrician two days ago, Josie was a whopping 8 pounds, 8 ounces (though her diaper probably added 3 or so ounces). That's still a huge gain from her 7 pounds 4 ounces less than a week before!
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