So, my second son, Jake, was supposed to be the "easy baby." With my first son, Luke, we had a rough first 15 months. He was born with torticollis; he had silent reflux; screamed for 2 hours EVERY day for weeks; was on several different formulas before we found one that would help w/ his reflux; went through food texture issues in which he would vomit on anything thicker than purees; and was literally sick every week once he entered daycare; and finally, got ear tubes put in and adenoids taken out; not to mention that he didn't sleep through the night until he was a year old! Now, we have been generally blessed and things could always have been worse and thankfully, all of his issues have been resolved! However, as first years go, I'm surprised we even wanted to have another baby!
But alas, that is how mother nature works...she is able to make those memories fade just a bit so that it doesn't seem so bad at all. So, God blessed us a second time and Jacob was born. He is my sweet, adorable little baby boy and I never thought I could love another son as much as I love Luke--but of course, I do. However, although I should have been better prepared that having a baby is not all cuddles and sweetness, I was blindsided again.
It started when he was 2 weeks old with us finding blood in his stool. So, we brought countless poop samples to Jake's doc who tested it for everything. Unbelieveably, he tested positive for a staph food poisoning infection. What? How does a 2 week old get that? Well, it likely came from someone's skin or perhaps it was on his own skin and somehow ended up in the poop sample. Seriously? I'm a germaphobe to all who know me well. I wash my hands twice after coming in from the stores, public, etc. You will find hand gel at every sink I own and wet wipes in every vehicle and purse. Yet still, my newborn contracts such an infection. Luckily, no treatment is needed; it's the kind of thing that just clears up on its own.
So, two weeks and five formulas later, we are on the gold standard of formulas--Elecare, which you cannot even buy in the store--it gets delivered to your home. I won't even discuss how much it costs; thank goodness for insurance is all I can say. As that was being resolved, Jake started getting very fussy every single waking moment and THEN, the vomitting started. On the worst day, he vomitted something like 14 times after one feeding. It was horrific. Another doctor's visit and one trip to the radiologist for an Upper GI at MWH later, severe acid reflux was diagnosed. Zantac did nothing for my little guy and a week later, we saw a GI specialist at Children's in WDC, who prescribed prevacid. It took about a week, but the vomitting stopped and now he is just a normal spit-uppy baby! However, the colic still hadn't ceased. Now, most ped doctors agree that the generic term 'colic' usually means that the baby is suffereing from a milk allergy or acid reflux. We had eliminated both of those possibilities with the Elecare formula and the prevacid. It was getting really tough for me since every waking moment was filled with Jake's screaming. The only relief came when he was eating or sleeping. Poor Luke, who has been really great during this, now says, "Jake always crying." I felt horrible because I just wanted Jake to be happy and not feel miserable EVERY moment of his little life; not to mention, I was going insane with all the crying. Unlike with Luke, there was no rhyme or reason to it. Luke cried from 4 pm - 6 pm every day; at least I could expect it. Jake didn't want to be so considerate! I mean, this kid didn't like the swing (and I have 2 different kinds!), the baby bjorn, swaddling, shushing, rocking-NOTHING! The nighttime feedings were also increasing as my sleep and patience were decreasing. Finally, I decided to try Dr. Brown's bottles (at the very gentle reminder from my mom that they worked for Luke). However, I never thought I would need to do that for Jake, prior to his birth. I expected to be able to use plain ole Similac with the easy, cheaper Playtex bottles. Finally, I succumbed to the fact that this is not going to be easy and life does not guarentee you an easy baby. So, we spent the money on the bottles and I figured out a system to make the formula ahead of time (to lessen the bubbles) and hold my breath and pray.
Well, God answered. Jake is doing much better thus far with the premade hypo- allergenic formula and Dr. Brown's bottles AND prevacid. Phew! It's been a long 6 weeks, but this too shall pass, right?
Now, he is a much more smiley baby and fusses maybe only half the time he's awake! :-) I think he senses he can melt my heart with his cute smile; I'm in trouble when he gets older! ;-)
Oh and my salvations for the times that continue to be fussy (b/c he is, after all, still only 6 wks old!)---vibrating bouncy chair; warm bath; and exercise ball. That exercise ball has served me well with my children, if not my weight--it helped me go into labor with Luke and helps me quiet down Jake!
I just said to Andy the other day, "You know, Jake was supposed to be our easy baby--no acid reflux, no colic, no chasing down formulas, no specialists..." Well, there are no guarentees in life and as long as he is generally healthy and continues to grow and thrive, all is good. But, mother nature--do not think you can fool me again. Thank you very much, but we are done having children. Blessed twice is enough for us!
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