Catching Up

Since it has been a long time since my last post, we have a lot to catch up on. I'll start with Kayley's appointment last Monday with 2 therapists from the Arizona Early Intervention Program. The point of their visit was to evaluate whether Kayley has any developmental delays that need to be addressed. They meet with their whole staff this coming Wednesday but they didn't think Kayley would qualify for the program. That's good news because there are no signs that Kayley has any issues. However, Kayley would benefit from the one-on-one time she would get if she were in the program. I guess we'll wait until this Wednesday to know for sure if she'll be in their program. If she's not, that doesn't mean that she'll never be in it. If we or someone else notices an issue down the road, we could contact them for some help.

On Wednesday this past week, Megan took Kayley in for a weight check up. Without getting weighed every night, we really have no idea what to expect until after she gets on the scale. At the checkup, Kayley weighed 9 lbs 5 oz! That's pretty much right on what she should be gaining but we were still a little surprised. While Megan was there, she mentioned to the nurse that we were concerned with Kayley's feeding. It still seems to be an obstacle for her. She's eating a good amount but sometimes it's a real fight. If Kayley's awake, she often cries through the feeding like she's in pain. If Kayley is half asleep, she does much better but then it becomes a struggle to keep her awake enough to eat. Kayley has also started spitting and throwing up more. One of the therapists that saw Kayley on Monday told Megan that it sounds like Kayley has bad reflux and when she's awake, it hurts to eat. When Kayley's half asleep, she doesn't realize the pain she's in. Anyway, she strongly suggested to get Kayley on some medicine right away. The last thing we want to happen is that Kayley starts associating eating with pain. So, the nurse that Megan talked to in the doctor's office said she'd have the doctor call us right away. Luckily, the doctor was free when the nurse mentioned it to her and Megan was still in the office. The doctor came in and prescribed Axid for Kayley. It's a medicine that treats GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). Kayley has been on the Axid since last Wednesday night. It could take a couple days to a week to start working. At first we thought it was working great, but she kind of returned to her old self. Hopefully it starts working by this coming Wednesday. We really want Kayley to start eating better...mostly for her benefit but also because it gets pretty frustrating for us when we try to feed her. It's very exhausting.

Kayley has mostly been taking between 60-80 cc's every time and she's eating every 3 hours during the day. At night, we let her go 4 hours after her last feeding of the night. That makes it so she eats 7 times a day. We're discussing whether we want to change her schedule a bit to see if she handles eating better. I guess we'll wait a couple more days to see if the Axid starts working better.

With Kayley gaining so much weight, that means the newborn clothes get packed away. She's now into the 0-3 month clothes. She should be in these for a while, but who knows. To use a common phrase, "They grow up so fast."

Since coming home, we've given Kayley 2 suppositories after waiting 7 days the first time and 5 days the second time. We were pleasantly surprised this past Wednesday when Kayley presented us with a gift without us even helping to get things underway. Then to show it wasn't just a fluke, she loaded up another diaper for us yesterday. It's amazing the celebration that goes on when Kayley poops on her own. It's also amazing how fast we move to change said diaper and get it outside to the trash. Either the vitamin or the extra calories that Kayley gets turns her poopy diapers into something lethal. I've watched Megan change a couple of them and laughed at how she had to turn away periodically to get a fresh breath. Well, I got the one yesterday and holy cow. What can make such a little thing produce such an awful smell?!