WEEK FIVE

Caitlyn has made some developments.  She is 10 lbs 13 ounces.  The frequency of her spit up attacks has gone down dramatically.  It might be due to the increase in the zantac medicine or the way I have been feeding her.  I no longer use the Boppy (my favorite baby item of all time) and just hold her in a more vertical position.  Her spit up attacks also seem to disappear when she is given a bottle.

I might jinx myself for saying this so early on, but I think Caitlyn has a routine.  Her day consists of sleeping, pooping, eating and getting changed with some tummy/playtime mixed in..  She is also a lot more alert now.  Caitlyn has a few spans during the day when she is awake for more than an hour or so.  Sometimes she is content, other times it may be a crying fit.  The best part is at night.  I try to feed her around 8 to 9 and she goes down sound asleep at 10.  Usually, for the last week or so, she will sleep from 10 to 3:00.  This is amazing.  I can't believe a 5 week old is sleeping 5 hour stretches at night.  I do hope it lasts and the stretches get even longer.

There have also been so very upsetting maternity leave developments this week as well.  I checked my work email and noticed that EAG HR wanted me to call her.  She informed me that regardless of what my doctor wrote on the Sun Life Disability claim (not to return to work until June 9th), Sun Life will not grant C-section mothers more than 8-weeks disability.  Further explanation is required by your OB to explain why you must need more than 8 weeks to recover.  This has caused all sorts of problems.

When I first learned I was pregnant, I asked EAG HR and Wildlife HR to let me know how much vacation, sick and STD I would use and how many weeks I would get paid for.  Wildlife HR didn't help at all and refereed me to EAG HR.  EAG HR wrote me a spreadsheet explaining how many days I would use for vacation, sick, and disability. The spreadsheet had disability lasting 12 weeks and I would only be out $760 at the end of my 12 weeks off.  However, when she called me early in the week, this was completely wrong.  I can only get 8 weeks disability because I had a C-section.  It is only 6 weeks for vaginal delivery.  Exceptions are hardly ever granted for extension of disability unless hospitalized with an infection.  EAG HR should have known this since I was the fifth person (maybe sixth) to have gone through with maternity leave.  The spreadsheet was emailed back to me and I am now missing $3200 (not taxed either = about $4500).  I am extremely mad that this could have ever happened.  I wish I knew I would not get paid for 4 weeks.  I would have changed my whole maternity leave strategy. I am hoping that I will be able to warn all others at work about EAG HR.

Regardless of all the problems lately, Colby and Caitlyn's smiles keep me grounded.

WEEK FOUR

This has been a rough week.  Caitlyn has gone to the doctors twice already in one week.  She has been spitting up and/or vomiting almost after every feeding. I have been holding her upright and giving her zantac like the doctor wanted, but nothing is working.  We went to get her a chest x-ray yesterday to see if something was wrong with her GI tract.  I suspected she had more than acid-reflux and it was maybe GERD.  With the power of knowing whatever you want to know, I looked up the symptoms of GERD and was convinced she had it.  Here is what babycenter describes GERD.

The most common symptoms of reflux in kids are:

• Frequent or recurrent vomiting (YES)
• Frequent or persistent cough (NO)
• Refusing to eat or difficulty eating (choking or gagging with feeding) (YES)
• Crying with feeding (YES)
• Heartburn, gas, or abdominal pain (YES)
• 
  

Thankfully the X-ray came back negative and nothing is wrong physically.  However, it still doesn't explain why she is constantly spitting up.  The doctor says this is normal and nothing to be worried about since she is gaining weight.  She weighed in at 10 lbs 7 ounces.  Perfect weight for her age.

We did also have one night when Caitlyn slept for 6 hrs straight.  It was the best night and hasn't happened since.  I can't wait for the day she sleeps through the night.  I am counting the days.

I know this is not fair, but Bill and myself often find ourselves comparing her to Colby.  Here is what we learned so far.

Caitlyn:                                                                         
(1) Hates car rides                                                        
(2) Hates stroller rides                                                    
(3) Doesn't burp                                                              
(4) Spits up all the time (?)                                            
(5) Cluster feeds once a day                                        
(6) Lots of gas pain                                                          
(7) Hates to be swaddled                                                  

Colby:
(1) Loves car rides
(2) Loves stroller rides
(3) Self Burps
(4) Spit up all the time (nut allergy)
(5) Cluster feed once in several week
(6)  No gas pain
(7) Loves to be swaddled

Here is zombie baby:

WEEK THREE

Our routine is still the same.. change diaper, feed, burp, sleep and repeat 15x a day.  It has been like this since day one at the hospital.  Honestly, it has not been as bad as I originally thought.  Caitlyn has been a doll.

Caitlyn has been up a lot longer just checking things out.  I have started to do some tummy time as well, but hates it.  She has been the opposite of Colby in other aspects.  She hates car rides and stroller rides and cries through them all.  Maybe it will be a phase.

Over the weekend, we had Cally come to take some newborn photos.  She came to our house and stayed for over two hrs.  I can't wait to see how they come out. I have been waiting every day to get a sneak preview.  I know they will be beautiful.  Just seeing Colby and Caitlyn interact was priceless.

Here is squeaks:

WEEK TWO (OMG)

I can't believe two weeks have come and gone.  Wow.  Caitlyn had her two week appointment yesterday and did great.  She is back to her birth weight, weighing 9 lbs 4 ounces.  Looks like all the feedings, mixed with a few spit up attacks, are fattening up our little princess.  I was worried in the beginning because she would spit up and start hiccuping.  I was nervous that she, like Colby, might have an allergy to something that I was eating.  The spit up attacks came about 3 times a day in the beginning and were very little.  Most likely at night, Caitlyn looked very uncomforable and squeaked all the time with gas pains.  I would burp her and nothing would come out but her whimpers.  The doctor too didn't think much of this since she is growing and her spit up attacks were most likely due to the fast let downs I was having when I breastfed her.  My fears of acid relux and nut allergies soon went away when her spit up attacks became less and less frequent throughout the day.

In other news, her umbicial cord fell off so we were finally able to give Caitlyn a real bath today.  Here are some photos of the event.

 

Along the lines of firsts, Caitlyn also had her first stroller ride around the development. I forgot to document this with a massive amount of photos.  Today it will be nice so I will be sure to take some.  She hated the stroller.  All she did was cry for two laps.  It was a gorgous day and this rarely happens in March.

Here is squeaks: