bloggewalt: 02/01/2009

Kaia is now two weeks old, and it has been a joyous yet rough two weeks.
It started at the hospital, she was small and very active, strong, with a good grip, but, she got a very nasty diaper rash (she wasn't even a day old..), and then progressed with a constant, and seemingly increasing, fussiness and lack of weight gain. She started to cry.
She was too fussy to nurse, and when she did, she would spit it up nearly as quickly as she ate. She rested during part of the day, and then would cry all night. All night.... This resulted in a severe lack of sleep for both Colleen and I. Her crying got more intense and pained.
Thank goodness we have had the help of Grandma Sharon and Joan, we might not have made it!

We were not sure what was wrong, but things were getting worse. We took her to the pediatrician. They couldn't find anything and gave us a prescriptions for for the rash. We took her to a lactation consultant, she said Kaia might be tongue tied (ankyloglossia), so we got her frenulum snipped by an ENT.

Still, Kaia cried all night. We thought maybe she was colicky, or constipated, or hungry, or sick, or in pain from the rash, or had thrust, or what every we read on line or heard about.

Nothing we did worked!

Compounding this, she wasn't gaining weight. She was born at 6lbs 3.5 ounces. Each time we weighed her, she would be somewhere between 6lbs 3 ounces and 6lbs 5 ounces. By now, she should be about 7lbs or more, as that is what newborns are supposed to do.

After two weeks of this, we then called the pediatrician one more time with our concern for her weight. A new guy asked a bunch of questions, and thought everything sounded normal. Good poop, good pee, good skin colour, what more could you ask for? Everything seemed fine to them. Since she couldn't nurse well, he suggested we see one of the office's lactation consultants. Even though the consultant is in a different office in a different town, we were desperate, so we agreed and made an appointment for that same afternoon.

Several hours later, we went to the Pleasanton office and meet with Carolyn, a New Jersey transplant. Immediately, Colleen liked her. I wasn't sure at first, she seemed a little scattered and impersonal, but I soon realized, she knew what she was doing and had a plan, and was also very aware of us, especially Colleen and Kaia. She started with trying to get Kaia to nurse, but Kaia was too frantic and couldn't latch. So Carolyn took Kaia and tried to get her to take the bottle instead, but that was an issue. Then, Carolyn called for a doctor. At this point, I worried that she didn't know what she was doing, and this visit was going to be another bust. However, once the doctor came in and Carolyn gave her her observations the two immediately, they immdiatley diagnosed Kaia with acid reflux. We then spent about 30 minutes talking about acid reflux and how it could affect the baby, and with all that information, I realized that it all made sense. The way she cried when she ate and then spit up, the frustration she showed while trying to eat. The slow weight gain. Everything. They were fantastic.
We got a perscription for Zantac, and gave it to her last night. I would like to say that every thing is perfect now, but it isn't, however, things are better.
She can now eat without screaming the whole time and she doesn't spit up as much. She has even gained about 3 ounces.
We hope we are on the road to normality.