Mamma's Know Best

So I'm thinking there is something to the whole ' Mamma always knows'. Mom's have instincts about their kids for a reason.

I have been feeling like something has not been right for the last couple of weeks with Preston. But being a new mom I was wanting to believe it was because I have no frame of reference; therefore, everything we have been experiencing has all been 'new mom/baby' stuff--or at least I was thinking.

As you know we have had some feeding and sleeping struggles--sleeping struggles for both me and Preston. He just won't sleep and seems uncomfortable while sleeping. There are a host of other things that also made me feel something just wasn't as it should be. Not that I was thinking there was something serious going on, but I knew something was amiss, however slight.

I have been struggling with whether or not to make an appointment with the pediatrician to discuss my concerns. We have his one month appointment already scheduled for a week and a half from now, so I had been trying to make it until then.

But last night finished me off. It was another horrible day and night. At 10am I called Kevin at work telling him I was losing my mind. I had been up all day and all night with Preston. He has gotten into a habit of not eating well, not sleeping between meals, and being fussy during and after eating. Actually, just fussy all of the time. Kevin offered to leave work to relieve me. He came home and held a fed, but still upset Preston for two hours so I could finally get some sleep before needing to feed him again.

After one too many days/nights like last night, I couldn't wait another week and a half to see the doc--especially if there is something wrong with Preston. I hate, hate seeing him cry so much and not appear happy and restful when he should be. I know he must be exhausted too.

I made an appointment with his doc for today at 3:30p for a Q/A. I had my list of concerns ready...

Firs things first, they weighed him and he is still gaining weight. Actually he has gained a great amount of weight since his last weigh in. He weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces today. This is up 10 ounces in 6 days. This is excellent weight gain. Overall since birth he is gaining an average of 1 ounce per day--perfect. This made me feel soo amazing considering how difficult he is to feed. This means that I am giving him enough and he is getting what he needs from me. Whoo hoo! Today he is 3 weeks and 3 days.

We had a good, long talk with the pediatrician today and in the end he suspects GERD given all the things I described to him. I had actually suspected this to be the case. So we will start giving him antacid meds today and reassess him in two weeks to see if there is any improvement. The really great sign is that so far, whether he actually has GERD or something else going on, it hasn't affected his weight gain. I'm really thankful for this! This is great news. But he does have a lot of other symptoms that relate to a baby struggling with acid reflux. So we're going to give the meds and an elevated sleeping platform a try and go from there.

The doc also balked at the fact that we have been trying to put him on a schedule like I have been encouraged to do by others.  He said he is too young and there are just some babies that won't go on a regulated schedule--especially at this stage. This seems to be the case with Preston, at least until his GERD is under control.   He recommended for me to keep an on-demand feeding schedule, deal with the lack of sleep, and just wait it out until he hits the 8 week mark when things get better with newborns. We will do what we have to do to make sure we do the best by Mr. Preston. I see why people say the first couple of months are a blur filled with exhaustion.

Feeling good that we may have gotten some answers today and some relief for Preston. I haaate seeing him look in pain and not get any rest. Hoping for relief!