Nearly 6 months later and a day off....

It is nearly 6 months after I have given birth to a beautiful baby girl. I finally have a day off of work and have been inspired to blog. I am not sure why- as I am sure after this blizzard clears and I am back to work, the time to write a blog will be nearly non-existent.

My daughter is perfect in my eyes! She's beautiful, smiley, happy, playful, starting to sleep more and healthy! The journey to get to this perfect baby has taken nearly 6 months! It started shortly after coming home from the hospital...Irritable...diarriah...irritable...arching her back...irritable...hiccups...irritable...not sleeping...irritable...girggly tummy...not always wanting to eat...irritable...acid reflux ...irritable...urinary track infection...irritable...constipated...irritable.

We had been to the doctor several times, even the ER once. The ER doctor says "Oh she has colic" and hands me a brochure on how to soothe a colicky baby. I was thinking "RIGHT... she has been screaming, having diarrhea, eating like she had never eaten in her life, and slept under an hour today- because she has colic!" I'm glad your decade of school taught you nothing about babies! Come to find out (at the doctor the next day) she had an intestinal virus that would clear up on its own.

So my mom and I researched her symptoms online and spoke to other parents. After awhile we realize that it seems a lot like silent reflux (acid reflux without the spitting up.) I call the doctor and tell them "she has all of the symptoms of silent reflux. She gets irritable, arches her back, doesn't eat well at times, and gets the hiccups!" He hands my husband and I a prescription for prev acid and $140 dollars later we are on our way to a happy baby, so we thought!
The first few days of being on the medicine proved to be helpful. She was less irritable and much more content. However after those three days it was like we had a fussy baby back on our hands. This time is was random irritability. She started spitting up more and could not be soothed easily. Back to the doctor we went for her 4 month check up. After some tests, we found out that she had a UTI. She started an antibiotic and a day or two later seemed much better! But now she was constipated! Between the Prev acid, Tylenol, and antibiotic she just couldn't go and was still uncomfortable!!! So now we added in milk of magnesia, because she would NOT drink prune juice! Two days later... explosion in the diaper! For three nights in a row she slept 7 to 8 solid hours! Now that was amazing! I hadn't gotten sleep like that for months! After those 3 nights it was back to being up 2-3x's a night. :(
The next week we are at the hospital doing some tests to find out why she got the UTI. Ultrasound, catheter, and a VCUG. We find out that she does have a reflux and this is what can cause her infection. When we go back to the doctor for a check up nothing more is prescribed, but she is a perfect baby!

She had a few great weeks- super happy, couldn't ask for anything more(besides sleep). Then two weeks ago she starts getting irritable again, spitting up more, but no fever. She didn't have a fever with her first UTI either so I was convinced that is probably what it was. After a week of not getting better, we took her in, and got her tested. This was a Thursday and the results wouldn't be back until MONDAY! Luckily the doctor started her on an antibiotic in the mean time. Sure enough, the call from the doctor confirms it is a UTI. Now she has prescribed a prophylactic for when she is done with the antibiotic to keep it from reoccurring. In the mean time she is still waking twice a night! But is a happy baby once again!