Candy cane cutie...it was only a few years ago that our niece Lilianna was wearing this very shirt. It's one of those cherished hand-me-downs that we absolutely love.
The cold weather is now upon us, so bring on the indoors. It's time to hunker down. We only step out with Arabella for appointments these days. And as everyone around us is battling colds, we've managed to stay healthy. We've been really fortunate so far.
I decided to head back to work in December (instead of January), so the real test of health is still yet to come. Our biggest worry is that I'm going to catch something and bring it home.
What else is new? We started taking Arabella to a chiropractor 3 times a week. An alignment of certain parts of the spine have been shown to help proper digestion, so we figure we have nothing to lose. If we align her spine, we might be able to correct her nervous system, and thus help her reflux and digestive issues. We're trying everything we can at this point.
We still haven't seen an improvement with her reflux. We go through a lot of onesies and blankets on a daily basis. Belle will cough, wretch, gag, and eventually throw up (sometimes an hour or two after a feed).
I think it's safe to say we're quite used to it at this point. We don't really care, and we tell ourselves repeatedly that throwing up is a normal baby thing.
Most of the time it doesn't even phase Belle, either. She's a trooper!
What are some of the other changes we've made? We went back to her hypoallergenic formula (called Nutramigen).
The "exclusive breast milk trial" showed us no results with her bottle feeding. It didn't make a difference. The only thing we noticed was that Arabella was missing her extra calories and it slowed down her weight gain. So we're back to the smelly formula. It's actually really gross!
Currently Arabella's up to 5.45kg (12lbs) and she's almost 6 months corrected. She's still at the very bottom of the growth curve, but her length has increased over the last few weeks, at least (now at 62cm).
Overall, we're not too concerned. Belle will catch up in time...
What else? A few weeks ago we discontinued her acid blocking drugs and started using natural remedies to manage her stomach acid. We're carefully watching her for any major discomfort when she throws up - since we know that the acid-burning sensation can cause inflammation to her esophagus, throat, and even her lungs. But we're really trying to do everything we can the natural way these days...
Another thing we've changed? We stopped giving Arabella the bottle entirely. We got paired up with a great occupational therapist, who told us to give Belle a long break from the bottle. Belle wasn't taking anything from it anyway.
Kiera and I have to create more positive experiences around eating for Arabella, especially with the objects that come into (or close to) her mouth.
Feeding her anything is a real challenge. She's simply not interested in any kind of food, and she dislikes most things that come close to her mouth. Lately she doesn't even want her soother. So it's important that we don't push or force the spoon. As soon as Arabella pushes away our hand or the spoon, we have to stop and respect her boundaries. The last thing we want to do is make things worse.
That's what she thinks of food 😛
And she thinks it's funny, of course 😄
We were told to sing to Belle while we present spoons and items close to her mouth, and most of the time we shouldn't even attempt to put food on those items.
Eating isn't enjoyable for her right now, so it's all about getting back to a good place without forcing food or making eating a stressful chore.
Other than her eating issues, Arabella's doing great. She's making steady developmental strides and she's getting stronger by the week.
According to an infant development nurse, Arabella's muscle tone is roughly equivalent to a 4 month old, but we're working hard to get Arabella on track.
Kiera and I have learned not to stress over milestones. We know it's not a race, and Arabella isn't exactly a regular term baby either.
To be honest with you, I don't think there's much we stress about anymore.
We're all too tired, and too busy to stress 😁
There's too much joy in our house these days. Too many laughs! We're having lots of fun with Arabella, and we're trying to hold onto every beautiful moment as long as we can.
Life is absolutely perfect right now 💗
No comments:
Post a Comment