Three Months Old and a Sensitivity

Kaelyn is three months old.  She smiles most of the time, though I have yet to get a picture of it.  I get happy pictures, but not her real, big grin, which is so cute.  She giggles when she thinks something or someone is funny and she is very ticklish.

All of this is a welcomed change with my little girl.  I don't know that I have mentioned it before on my blog, but Kaelyn has been a very fussy baby from about two weeks on. 

 It started out slow with just fussing at night for a little while. Then, it turned into fussing and crying for five to six hours straight every night. Then, it turned into fussing anytime that she was awake...to the point that I couldn't wait for her to just go to sleep! Then, it turned into her fussing/crying/and screaming, along with some back arching. Then, her bowel movements became extremely foul smelling.  She is a 100% breastfed baby, yet her poops did not smell like it and they were not the right consistency (very runny/watery).

 I googled.  I talked to friends.  I googled some more.  I had even mentioned her fussiness to her pediatrician at her one-month check-up, but it was more or less excused as a fussy/colicky baby.  I have not talked to her pediatrician about her symptoms getting worse.  I googled some more. 

Everywhere I looked, I got the same answer.  I struggled with the results for a while, hoping it wasn't the case, because it would mean a diet change for me.  But the symptoms were getting worse and I knew it was time for a change.  What were my findings?  Kaelyn is sensitive to dairy.  This is a fairly common problem for babies.  It doesn't mean they are allergic to milk, but that they are sensitive to the proteins in cow's milk...this is different than being lactose intolerant.  Kae's doctor and I had discussed this at her one-month check-up, but because she was not spitting up and she was gaining weight, it was dismissed as "probably not the case". 

So, I have given up almost all dairy.  I am keeping butter in my diet for now, but not eating any other dairy or any other foods containing dairy.  The lactation consultant that I spoke with told me that the proteins can stay in my milk for up to two weeks.  She told me to go ahead and keep the butter for now, but if her symptoms don't go away, I may have to give that up too. 

I have been off dairy for eight days now (Any suggestions for dairy free meals?????).  By day two, we had a different child.  She was happy and content while awake!  What a blessing!  Since then, there have been good days and rough days as her body adjusts, but overall, things are going much, much better.  I have always loved my baby dearly, but I am able to enjoy her now :)

Since I have removed dairy, Kae is happier and she now does tummy time for longer periods of time without fussing :)

Other developments:
- gets excited to see people
- gets upset if she is ignored
- she's a drooly baby, but not to the point of soaking her clothes - she usually just has some spit bubbles around her mouth

- plays with rattles and other small toys
- stands in her jumpy activity center (not sure what they are called)
- LOVES being outside
- Is still adored by her sisters :)


Things I LOVE:

Sweet baby hands


and feet

and this sweet little swirl

My favorite time of the day is in the morning.  Ella wakes first, followed by Arin, followed by Kaelyn.  The big girls climb into my bed, so excited to see their baby sister.  They talk to her, sing to her, and hug & kiss her.  Such special, sweet moments :)

Photo shoots are tiring :) 

Two Months

Our sweet Kaelyn is two months old already!  This month she has started smiling, though I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet.  She is still an excellent sleeper, but is starting to have more periods of awake time.  Evenings continue to be her toughest time of the day, but she is fussy for shorter periods of time now.  Once she gets to sleep at night, she consistently stays asleep for 4-5 hours at a time (wakes just once in the night and once in the early morning between 6:30-7:00am).  My sister is letting us borrow her swing that rocks from side-to-side.  Kaelyn loves it and sleeps in it for several hours during the day.  During tummy time a few days ago, Kae almost turned over, but her arm got in the way. 

This morning, I took Kaelyn to her pediatrician for her two-month check-up.  She is off the charts for both height and weight for her age.  She is 24.5" long and weighs 14lbs!  She is right on track with her sisters.  They were both big in the beginning too, but their growth slowed by six months.  Arin is average now and Ella is on the small size for her age.

Thumbsucker

We have our first official thumbsucker of the family.  Kaelyn has been chewing and sucking on her fist for the past several days.  Tonight, after she fell asleep on her daddy, we realized that she was sucking on her thumb, not just her fist.

Seven Weeks

One Month

I can't believe Kaelyn is one month old already!  The time has been flying by since she was born.  It's been a fun month.  She is such a sweet baby, but has some issues in the evening with being fussy and having a hard time staying asleep.  That hasn't been so much fun. 

The girls adore Kaelyn and Ella told me yesterday that she wants me to get another baby in my tummy.  Arin has already requested a boy next.  Silly little girls!

I weighed Kae yesterday.  My chunky monkey is already 12 pounds! 

Kaelyn loves to be held and she loves bath time.  If she's in the right mood, she likes floortime and time in her swing.  She sleeps in bed with me at night, but naps during the day in her crib.

Did I mention what a sweet baby she is and how much we love her?  :)

Adjusting as a Family of Five

I wanted to thank everyone that has been checking on us.  We are doing great!  Kaelyn is such a great, sweet natured, content baby.  I told Andy that we needed to have at least a half dozen more :)  We are all enjoying our time together.  Andrew goes back to work tomorrow, after being home with us for eleven days.  It is bittersweet.  Financially, we need him to go back to work since his time off has been unpaid, but we will miss him.  We've really had a wonderful time together. I feel like so much has happened over the last week and a half.  Here's a glance of how life has been around here.

~ We brought Kaelyn home last Sunday, a few hours after birth.  Both girls were thrilled to see their new sister.



Arin's first look at her new sister

 ~ The next day, Arin came down with the stomach bug.  Eeek!  Not what you want with a brand new baby.  I sent my sister home, so neither her nor her seven month old son would catch the sickness.  Smart move because that evening, Ella came down with the stomach bug.  Then, Arin relapsed on Tuesday.  Thursday it was both mine and Andrew's turn to get it.  Not a fun first week home.

~ Tuesday, I took Kaelyn back to the birthing center for her PKU test.  I found out that they had weighed Kaelyn with receiving blankets at birth and hadn't subtracted anything for their weight.  Weird, huh?  So we weighed two receiving blankets and changed Kaelyn's weight on her birth certificate to 8lbs 13oz.  I didn't know at the time to change her height too.  That wasn't done right either (should have been 21"). 

~ Tuesday we also took Kaelyn to her first pediatrician appointment.  Her weight was down to 8 lbs 5 oz and her skin was showing signs of jaundice.  They wanted to do a blood test for jaundice but agreed to let me "work on it".  We went back Friday for another weight and jaundice check.  Her weight was up to 8lbs and 11oz and her skin coloring looked good, but just to be sure we set another appointment for today (Tuesday).  Today, she was up to 9lbs and 1oz and her skin color was great.  So we never had to do a blood test. So happy that I have found a pediatrician that listens to me and doesn't try to pressure me into anything.

~  On Saturday, the rest of Kaelyn's cord fell off.  Arin is super excited about this because now she is allowed to change the wet diapers.  I love that that is exciting to her and I hope it doesn't wear off too soon :)

~  The older girls have had a lot of good bonding time with their daddy.  They have gone to lunch with him and run errands with him.  He has taken them fishing, to the park, swimming, and has had them help with projects around the house.  They love this time with him.

~  I have had to end my 30+ year love affair with chocolate.  I have eaten it twice since giving birth and within a few hours, my normally sweet, content baby turns very cranky, has a hard time settling down, and acts as if she's in pain.  So I've broken up with chocolate...for now.

~  In the weeks prior to birthing Kaelyn, and especially while birthing her, my back was killing me.  The pain improved drastically after giving birth.  That was until this week.  Now it is back to hurting A LOT.  So I started going to the chiropractor.  I have had two appointments so far and am planning on ten more over the next few weeks.  We took an x-ray and my hips are very uneven and my neck curves to the right.

~  Kaelyn is our least photographed child.  I have to remind myself to take the camera out and take pictures of her.  Why?  Because I am so busy holding her and staring at her, I forget to take pictures of her.  She is so sweet and I just love to look at her and hold her.  I know that I had those feelings with all of our kids, but I can't remember loving to hold them like I love to hold Kaelyn.  I think this is because life has been so relaxed (thanks to Andy taking over almost all of my duties) and I have had the time to just sit and enjoy the kids.

~  Andrew's work sent us a congratulations gift of a rose, balloons, and a stuffed animal.  The girls thought they were sent to them.  Arin claimed the rose and Ella claimed the other things.  It's good for them to feel special too :)

~  Some of the people from our playgroup have started bringing us meals.  I think this is the best gift ever for a new mom! 

I am sure there are things I am leaving out, but I have been writing this post on and off for the past four hours!  Yes, tasks take a lot longer with a new baby to adore :)