The adventures of Naked Baby continue 😁
"Did you miss me?" says Arabella.
Personally, I miss coming here to blog every night like I used to. And do you know what else I miss? Getting more than 4 hours of sleep!
Belle thinks that's funny.
Since Kiera and I decided to both sleep through the night (and avoid the shift-work) we have been absolutely exhausted. This last week has been especially rough. But it comes with the territory, right?
"Dad, what did you expect? You have a baby on your hands!"
I know, I know...I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm missing the shift-work a little bit. Although the sleep wasn't the greatest after 6am, at least it was uninterrupted. It also gave Kiera a chance to be at 100% the following day. But hey, it was unrealistic going forward. We just can't keep it up forever...
So now we're perpetually tired, and there's nothing we can do about it. Either Arabella wakes us up, or we're up for one of her night time feeds. And around and around we go.
But it's all worth it. As grumpy as I am in the morning, I'll never complain for more than a minute (Kiera might say otherwise, though) 😄
This little girl is worth everything!
"Let's go Arabella! It's time to go outside!"
You might hear me complain about the lack of sleep, but I certainly can't complain about the weather. It has been great walking weather, and we've taken full advantage 😊
I don't remember the last time Kiera and I have walked so much!
Arabella's been fascinated with her tongue lately...
She's exploring her tongue, her hands, her face...she's doing it all...
She'll touch and feel her ear, she'll poke herself in the eye, she'll put her finger up her nose, and she'll even shove her entire hand in her mouth sometimes...all in the name of 'exploration'!
She's getting good at tugging on her cannula and feeding tube, too. Kiera and I have to keep replacing or adding tape more frequently to hold everything in place.
Do you remember all of the hair she used to have on her forehead (from the sugar drugs)? Well, in the last few weeks the hair has completely disappeared!
We won't need to wax her forehead after all!
Just kidding Belle, that was never an option - and you know it! 😄
As tired as we are these days, we'll never stop having fun...
And whenever Arabella is cranky, all we have to do is sing a song and she immediately calms down. It works every single time! She just loves a good tune!
This week we ran out of songs to sing, so we randomly started singing the Canadian and American national anthems, and they worked like a charm!
So if it's getting late and you hear "Oh Canada!" coming from inside our home, you'll know that we have a cranky Arabella on our hands!
We still haven't had any success with the bottle. Sadly, there has been no progress...
It's a bummer, but we're still attempting to give her the bottle during the day. At least we try. Unfortunately, Arabella rarely lets us get the nipple inside her mouth.
Lately we're exclusively feeding her breast milk to see if it gets us anywhere. We've eliminated the formula in hopes that she digests everything faster. So far we've noticed that Belle is less uncomfortable (and less gassy), so maybe over time she'll feel a lot better and we'll start to see some changes.
We're not holding our breath, though...
We took a trip to the feeding clinic this week and the dietitian and OT were just as stumped as we are.
They got to witness it first-hand. Belle kept her lips firmly sealed.
There's no question that Arabella loves her soother. She can suck without any problems. But when it comes to the bottle she doesn't want any part of it.
Belle was listening attentively to the dietitian's advice (and ignoring all of it, I'm sure!)
Everything they suggested at the clinic, though, we've already tried or are already trying. We didn't really leave with any new insights or information...
It just reinforced our belief that parents know best. Parents see it all, don't they? We're already on top of things, we're doing our research, and we're doing our own trials and experiments. Even the professionals don't know Arabella's situation like we know it. With every new appointment we have to retell the same old story, too. And everyone seems to be merely speculating. Maybe it's time we stop going to these feeding clinic appointments altogether? I don't know.
At least hockey season is back in full swing 😃
I know I come here to rant sometimes, but really, I have nothing to complain about anymore. I almost feel bad complaining these days because Arabella is doing so great overall. Sure, we have our little issues and hurdles, but they're so insignificant compared to before.
Everyday I look at Arabella and I thank God that she's here with us. I kiss her constantly to the point that I annoy her sometimes. Dadda can't stop kissing her. I love her so very much. Can you imagine that we were so close to losing her? And now she's here, smiling back at us.
I'm really happy where we are right now. I wouldn't change it for the world 😊
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