Two By Two

I went this morning for the results of my coposcopy.. it came back negative for cervical cancer.. WOOO HOOO. They said that I do have HPV 16 which is a strand of the virus that does lead to cervical cancer of it goes untreated so I have to come back in October for another papsmear and every 6 months there after until I have 3 clear paps and then it'll go back to a year apart. They prescribed me Premarin for some side effects that I'm having from the depo shot.. stupid shot.. I go back the end of May for the next shot.

Put a call into the pediatrician today as well.. ever since we put River on the Nutrimagen he has been spiting up after every meal.. it started out just a real little bit and now he is spitting up 2-3 times after his bottle and it's a pretty big amount each time. The secretary called back and said the doctor wants to send him to GI specialist for an Upper and Lower GI work up ASAP.. she's supposed to be calling back with the appointment time.

He really is doing much better.. the crying is almost non existant anymore.. other than normal baby crying because he's tired or wet or hungry etc.. he goes to sleep between 7:15-7:45 every night and sleeps until 7:45-8am the next morning. The last 3 nights however he wakes up screaming about 1-2 hours after he goes to bed.. is up for about 30 minutes and then goes back to sleep for the night.. no idea what that's about.

Doug started work last night.. he said it was okay.. boring.. he basically doesn't do much but sit there and make sure that the construction workers and painters etc don't steal anything when they leave for the day otherwise he reads or whatever.

UPDATE

ASAP for his GI work up apparently means June 15th at 1pm.. almost 2 months away.. what crap.. He is spitting up/throwing up at every bottle now.. I burp him every 1-2 oz and he spits up every time I burp him.. I smell like baby barf. So we ditch the crying for throwing up.. *sigh* can't I have a happy AND healthy kid?? The throwing up doesn't seem to bother him any though.. I'm just worried about him losing weight or not gaining weight because of it. *sigh* Maybe he is sick? when we went to my SIL for the weekend we were told that my neice was having problems with her sinuses but I was assured she was NOT sick.. we get home and River starts with waking up after being put to bed. His spitting up got worse and his appetite has decreased. We're going to give it another day and see how he is.. if he has a repeat performance of today and the last 2 days we're going to call the pediatrician and demand that she either see him, get him into the GI quicker or refer him to Wolfsons so it can be done quicker.. BLAH

He is going to be advanced in his development but he is going to be a PITA medically.. Has my hair turned gray yet???

So we have someone come out the house once a week with a program called Healthy Families.. she gives us ideas on ways to play with River to help him grow and learn and how to better us as well.. She came out today and did something called a Denver Development Assessment.. basically it assesses River on a few areas of growth: fine motor, gross motor, language, and social ability. She asks us questions on what he's doing an then does a few activities with him to see what he can accomplish. She gave us the results afterward.. he is on a 6 month level on gross motor skills, he is on a 6 month level on language skills, he's on a 5 month level for fine motor skills, and a 5 month level for social ability.. She said he is doing amazingly well! YAY!!!! We'll do another one in about 3 months.

I decided today that it's time I go to school for the LPN. I called Linda at the Career Institute and made an appointment to come in tomorrow to redo some paperwork and meet with the financial advisor for a preliminary assessment. It will take about 45 minutes.. then I'll go back next week when we get back from SC and meet with the financial aide advisor again with all the tax paperwork etc.. and find out exactly how much financial aide I'll actually get and how much we'll have to come out of pocket from the start etc.. Then I'll go back May/June for an interview with the dean of admissions and barring all that.. If I get a place (there are 30 places and 3 alt positions) I'll start class in July.

By then River will be 5 months old and even though I really don't want to leave him 40 hours a week.. if it means a better life for all of us.. it'll be worth it..

River had his 2 month well baby visit today... and his first round of shots..

His measurements are:

12 lbs 6 oz, 22 3/4 inches in length, and 16 1/4 inches head... it puts him in the 50th percentile across the board.. he is RIGHT where he should be for his age physically..

She did a few excersizes with him to see how strong he was.. she put him down on the table and he propped himself up with his hands and looked around and held his head perfectly straight and everything.. she was impressed at his strength and said he is doing things that a baby normally doesn't do until closer to 4 months.. GO LITTLE MAN!

We told her that the formula is helping but not alot.. she said she wants to keep him on it until he turns 3 months and if there still isn't much improvement he'll be put on something called Progesteril or something like that.. she said some babies are allergic to lactose (which would be given soy formula) some babies are allergic to the protein in milk (babies are given Nutrimagen) and then some are allergic to the fat which is that next one.

He was given 3 shots (one of which was 3 different vaccinations all together) He goes back at 4 months for his next round of shots

My Baby is 2 months old today!!!!! OMG!!!!! Where has the last 2 months gone???

So we went back to the pediatrician this morning to discuss the weekend on formula and how he did with it... told her that he seemed better Saturday and then was right back to demon mode on Sunday and she said it could take up to 6 weeks for the allergen to completely leave his system. She said she wanted to keep him on Nutrimagen until he hits 4 months and then try something else. So I told her that I had read up on it and had found that if I cut dairy out my diet I can continue to breast feed. She seemed surprised that I had done the research and said that that was true but that they usually don't tell parents about it because moms cant' usually stick tot he diet and then they feel guilty etc.. but she said that I definately seemed determined so that if I wanted to wait until I hadn't had dairy for 5 days and then reintroduce him to the boob I could.. I told her I hadn't had any dairy since Wednesday so all systems go until he shows symptoms of not being able to handle it.

I told her that I'm not making enough milk and she said that other than relaxing, feeding more often, and more fluids.. there wasn't anything that I could do to increase it.. which I KNOW isn't true but whatever. I'll nurse more often and supplement with the Nutrimagen if I have to until my supply comes back up.

She filled out a request form for WIC so that we can get the formula covered by them.. because it's specific brand that he needs and not the one normally covered, there has to be a special form. On the form she had to put his birth weight and his current weight.. she writes down 7 lbs 4 oz.. I said WHAT?? that's not right.. the hospital told us his birth weight was 7 lbs 7.4 oz..so she goes back and pulls up the hospital paper work and does the conversion from the kilos that it automatically comes in.. nope.. 7 lbs 5 oz.. the idiots at the hospital told us the wrong birth weight for my son.. GRRRRRRR yes I know 2 oz isn't a big deal but on something like your baby's birth weight.. it is.. at least to me. Then she says that he is at 11 lbs 11 oz... explained that the scales comes back like 11.8 which doesn't mean 11 lbs 8 oz it means 11 lbs and 8/10's of a pound then you have to convert it.. what a pain in the ass.. so his weight currently is 11 lbs 11 oz which means from his REAL birth weight he has gained 4 lbs 6 oz to date.. AND that he has slowed down significantly on his weight gain which is good..she admitted to us that his weight gain had been a little high for a few weeks but that she thought it was probably because he was nursing constantly because his tummy was hurting.. poor baby..

So we have to go back next Monday for his 2 month well baby visit... and his first round of immunizations.. *sigh* We're gonna go get his pictures done sometime this week I hope.

Doug called around today to a few Security Guard companies to see if anyone had any part-time jobs in Orange Park.. US Security.. which is the same company he worked for in Tennessee has a post here.. As long as his background check coems back good when we turn his application in tomorrow he'll work Thursday and Friday 11pm to 7 am and Sunday from 5:30pm until 6:30am.. it'll be 29 hours.. that should be enough money to pay bills, play some, and save money.. will be nice.. and I know he's eager to get back to work.

Ok so the kid has been on the formula for almost 48 hours now.. not sure if it's an improvement or not.. he's still fussy almost all day and barely sleeps during the day and still won't let us put him down.. but he sleeps better when he does sleep and he didn't scream for 14 hours.. but then again he usually has a 2 day on 2 day off pattern.. tomorrow is an on day.. guess we shall see..

Went shopping today for groceries.. made sure that I got things to eat that don't have milk, soy, whey, caesin, caesinate in it.. that leaves just about NOTHING.. grrrrr it's a good thing I love this child so much LOL So we are on food stamps for right now.. with Doug having been out of work for so long and me staying home we really needed the help.. we were getting 250 or so while I was pregnant.. now we are getting 399 after they added River.. GOOD GOD! WTH are we going to spend 400 dollars on for food?? Especially when I can't eat crap.. We checked out the formula that they have River on.. if he has to stay on that it's 23.49 a can (powdered) at Wal-Mart.. that will last less than a week..it's a really good thing that WIC covers it in the case he has to be on it.

When we take him back to the doctor on Monday I'll be talking with her about the whole taking milk protein out of my diet and then continuing to breastfeed him. I sure hope she's supportive. Not that I'll not do it if she's not.

It's the beginning of April and it hit 88 here today.. Ughhhhh I hate Florida.

So I had a minor break down earlier when it dawned on me that I might have breastfed River for the last time.. I cried a few tears and then decided it wasn't helping. I got online and did a little research before we had to go pick my mother in law up from work and I found out that just because River has a milk protein allergy *if that is infact what the issue is* it doesn't mean I have to stop breastfeeding. If I stop eating dairy products *which I don't eat alot of anyway* it will take 2 weeks or so for the milk protein to leave my body and about as long for it to leave River's completely.. then my milk shouldn't bother him.. so if the Nutrimagen helps him (it'll take 48 hours or so before we'll start to see a difference according to the doctor) then I'll continue to pump for the next two weeks until it leaves my system to keep my supply up and then start feeding him again.. or try to.. if he starts to have the same problem.. he'll go on formula again and stay on it. I just am not ready to give up with out a fight.

He is starting to outgrow the small cloth diapers we originally bought. Well not the diapers themselves but the covers we put over them.. mostly because the fitteds (the diapers) are too bulky added in with his buddha belly for the covers to fasten right.. so we'll sell the covers in the next week or two and buy mediums to replace them.. those go up to 22 lbs and he should be in those for a while. According to the scale today at the pediatricians which is the scale we USUALLY weigh him on.. he's 11 lbs 12 oz which is an 8 oz gain in almost 2 weeks.. that's MUCH better than 13 lbs 4 zo which would have been a 2 lbs gain. Either way.. my little boy is growing way too fast. Now if we could just make him happy and healthy life would be good.

He goes back on the 17th and that's when he'll start his immunizations.. we were thinking about delaying them or not getting them at all but with all the problems he has had these first 2 months.. I just don't want to take the risk

Doug got his temporary license for the security guard from the state today, which means he can get a job now. They will mail him his official license from Tallahassee when it's gets processed.. they said it could be about 3 to 4 months. He'll start looking for a job next week, calling around and find out who is hiring, where they are hiring for, and what they pay.. and then he'll put in applications next Thursday and Friday (we have appointments Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) and I think we're going to try and get him starting a job when we get back from visiting his sister the 21st throught he 24th.

Had an appointment this morning with the pediatrician to see how his ears were and to see how the Zantac is working. His ears look great. We told her about how the Zantac stopped working and how we ended up in the ER on Saturday and the increase in dosage.. she said that is WAY too much Zantac and that he should be getting no more than 2.0 ml in a 24 hour period.. so she told us to make sure we stick to that or we could overdose him. She said that if he is still having the crying fits (which he is even with the really high doses of Zantac) then she thinks that he might have the milk protein allergy after all and wants us to try him on a formula called Nutrimagen for the weekend.. absolutely NO breastmilk *sigh* and see if his behavior improves after 48 hours. We go back in on Monday. She said that there is a chance he MIGHT not have it after all but that she thinks he does.. and again if he does.. no more breast feeding.

River HATES the bottles.. it takes 25 minutes to get him to take 4 oz because he won't latch on and he'll get pissed. She said he should only be eating 4 oz at a feeding but if he's still hungry afterward to go ahead and give him another 2 oz if he'll take it.. 4- 4 1/2 seems to be working. If he does have to be on formula WIC will be able to cover the brand she says as long as she writes a note to them saying he needs it because of how expensive it is.. if this formula doesn't work, he'll be put on a prescription formula that she says she's never seen a baby reject.

I am really really trying not to get depressed over this.. it's not working but I'm trying. I wanted to breast feed him so badly. She said that 7 weeks is great and I know it is but I wanted more.. I loved the bond.. *sigh*

River's up.. I'll write more later.

*grumbles* it's 6am.. the baby is still asleep but I am awake.. Doug set the damn alarm for 5:15.. he doesn't have to leave the house until 6.. he didn't get out of bed until 5:40.. that means the alarm got to go off 3 times.. I could have gone back to sleep after the first alarm, maybe even the second.. but there is no way I can go back to sleep after the damn thing went off 3 times. Why the hell does he need it to go off 3 times before he gets up??? I really could have used the extra sleep.

Today is the last day of his traning class.. he has to take a 100 question test at the end of today and that we'll determine whether he gets his license or not.. as usual he is all worried about it.. even though he keeps saying that the only reason the class was 24 hours long is because FL State Law requires 24 hours of classroom time. He said the work they did could be put into about 3 hours.. total.. yeah hard life.

I've started taking baths with the baby in the big tub.. the tub is one of those huge sunken tub that can fit like 2 people (we don't have a regular tub so it's either the sink or this way and he is outgrowing the sink tub (doesn't keep him warm enough). So we have had his bath in there the last 2 nights.. he is such a good boy :) No matter how ticked/tired/upset/fussy he is before the bath once he's in there he is all nice and quiet and usually smiles alot.. of course he doesnt like his face being washed much (what baby does?) but he doesnt' cry about it just throws his hands up and out like 'What the Hell!?!" and then he's done :) We got some naked pictures of him.. blackmail book will be started shortly :) hehe

So week 7 of the kid's life started with a bang... he woke up at 8 am like usual and by 8:30 he was crying... by 2 he was still crying with no nap.. so we decided to go up to OP Medical because he had been crying non stop for 6 hours.. that was a waste of time.. the ER doc actually said that we shouldn't have bothered to bring him there because they don't have a peds unit.. the next time unless it's life threatening he advised us to go down to Wolfson's.. fine whatever.. he did nothing but tell us that River's ears are all better.. we get home and the kid is still screaming.. so I called the pediatricians on call and she called me back. I told her what was going on and she said take him to Wolfson's to be checked out because it sounds like his med isn't working.. we get to Wolfson's at 7:30 and because he is so young they get him right back.. they checked his eyes to see if maybe he scratched them and that's why he was crying (that was fun they had to pry his eyes open to put dye in them.. then pry them open to look at them with a special light... eyes look perfect). Next was an x-ray of his belly to see if there was something going on there.. nope looks good, lots of gas bubbles but he has always had those.. then they say they want to get blood and leave the IV in incase they need to treat him for something.. I was NOT happy about him being stuck with a damn needle when I KNEW that wasn't going to help because I knew it was his belly.. whatever.. the nurse came in.. hunted around on both hands for an IV site.. found one.. stuck him.. missed.. stuck him again.. missed.. stuck him again... missed.. gave up... the whole time he is being held down by another nurse and Doug.. I wanted to scream at them all to leave him the hell alone.. instead I cried.. so the nurse leaves to get someone else to try.. In comes the nursing supervisor of the entire hospital who was helping out in the ER.. she tried in his other hand.. twice.. couldnt get it.. so she goes to his foot.. stuck him and had to adjust the needle WHILE IT WAS IN HIM.. but got the vein.. got the blood but then couldn't get the IV to stay put so she just took it out said she'd try again if the doctor wanted an IV started.. I told her to beg him not to.

By this point it's somewhere around 11pm.. the kid is still awake and still crying on and off.. and he was 2 hours overdue for his Zantac which wasn't helping matters.. Doctor called in a dose of Zantac.. at 12 something it finally arrives.. kid is still awake.. they gave him 1.5 ml of it (he normally takes .5 ml so this was the same amount he takes in a whole day)... I swaddled him and held him close to me talking to him... 5 minutes later he was out cold.. at 2 (3? 4?) he woke up ate a little but wasn't real enthusiatstic about it and was asleep again 10 minutes later.. the doctor came in while we were feeding and says that he wants to admit River for observation for the night to try and figure out what's going on... because all labs came back fine *gee ya think??* but he hadn't been the doctor who was helping us so he didn't really care one way or another.. said the decision was ours.. we decided not to stay.. said we'd bring him back if he had another day like that.. he slept the whole way home.. I dropped him into his crib about 4:30 and he never budged.. at 10:50 this morning he woke up.. much happier baby but still fussy.. We'll be going to the pediatrician I guess to see what to do next.. for now we'll be giving him 1.5 ml 3 times a day..

They weighed and measured him too.. 13 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches long.. the boy is HUGE!.. That's almost a 6 lb gain since birth!