29 March 2012

Madison Monthly: Two

The Basics
On March 24, Madison turned two months old. Her doctor visit on March 27 had her weighing in at 12 lbs. 1 oz., measuring 24 1/4 inches in length, and in general being a tall, solidly built but not chunky baby.

Eating and Sleeping
She had a rough month with eating, struggling and straining through about 50% of her feedings. While eating, her back would arch, she would shake her head side-to-side, her face would get all red, and she would cry. I was convinced she had an acid reflux problem, so on March 11, I called the doc. Turns out she has GERD - fancy acid reflux. And man oh lordy does that make a girl scream. As for how mommy is handling the screaming...well, about 50% of the time I feel bad for her and the other half of the time I feel bad for me. She's on medication now, Zantac, and that will hopefully solve the problem.

Sleeping was going well for a while; she was out for 5-6, and twice 7, hours of sleep at night with nary a whisper. Unfortunately, having GERD has messed that up a bit due to the discomfort of laying on her back. Now we are back to feeding her every three hours, even at night. And to make it even more fun, we now have to hold her in an upright position for 20-30 minutes after a feeding if we want her to go back to sleep easily.

Behavior and Development
She smiles much more often these days; although I'm not convinced she's always smiling at me or anything I may be doing at the time. More often than not, I think she's smiling for her own reasons like she's nicely full (which my mom and grandma call "fat and full") or pushing out some serious farts. She is having reactionary smiles these days though, and they are the most precious thing ever. I did manage to capture one of those reaction smiles on camera!

She's definitely my gassy baby, continuing to belch loudly and proudly before, during, and after her feedings, and of course, she still manages to fart throughout the day. I think the gassiness is related to the stomach problems which are also causing her eating difficulties and acid reflux.

She follows objects with her eyes, but only when she wants to, and that's not often. She's got her own stuff going on, and she doesn't see any reason to watch that silly rabbit travel back and forth.

She's moving her head more now, gaining control over its bobbleheadedness. She still occasionally winds up face down on the blanket during tummy time, but she can now get herself out of it by turning her head in one direction or the other. We did have some concerns that she was always laying with her head turned to the right. She sleeps that way all night long, and more often than not during the day she's laying on the right side of her head. She's developed a nice flat spot on her head, and now we are actively encouraging her to turn her head the other way. The funny thing is she doesn't seem to mind. So why in the phat was she not doing it on her own to begin with? Crazy nutter.

Social Stuff
Sleepovers at grandma's are becoming rather commonplace much to everyone's delight. Every Wednesday, the Baby Nut stays at my mom's so that I don't have to worry about her before going in to teach. I have to admit that while I absolutely love not having the responsibility of a baby, I do miss her for a few seconds now and again throughout the night. I even am having a bit of difficulty sleeping with her gone which is both odd and ironic. Odd because I am not worried about her at all. Ironic because it's my only chance to get any real sleep and I can't.

Mommy Notes
I'm still something of an emotional crybaby, getting all teary eyed at movies, books, tv shows, and even the occasional commercial. I am also a megahotbox, sweating even when it's only 65 degrees in the house. I wouldn't say I've adjusted to having a baby in the house, but I'm at least on my way.

Her Nicknames (in order of use, 1 being most often):
  1. Madinut
  2. Nutter
  3. Baby Duck 
  4. Baby Nut
  5. Nutjob
  6. Goofer
  7. Goofnut
  8. Fussbucket
I've pretty much stopped calling her Little Miss Nasty, My Crazy Baby, and The Squirm Button probably because they are too many syllables. :) Brian continues to call her The Squirm Button as it's the one he came up with, and he feels it's "nicer" than most of my nicknames. I also rarely call her Sweets anymore for an unknown reason (okay, it's the screaming. it's the constant screaming).

The Pictures
Madison and her dolly Pablo getting their sleep on

She can be flirty....

She can be sleepy...

 She can be upset...or wait is this contemplative? Distraught over the state of the world today?

She can be hardcore

But she's always cute

19 comments:

  1. I absolutely love these updates. It brings it all back to me, even 12 or 14 years later. My son had horrible gastric stuff as well. Burping him every couple ounces, keeping him upright for a half hour after feeding, etc. It went away then came back when he was 8 or 9 and seems to be fine again after meds. He is still a farting and burping machine though! And very proud of it. Things to look forward to! She really is such a cute baby. I just want to eat her up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Two months already! It feels like yesterday that you first told us you were expecting. I'm sorry to hear about her stomach problems - I hope they get better soon. Adorable pictures, especially the smile :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awww love all the pictures. They're all so cute but I love the contemplative face!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the updates also! But Pablo is kind of scary looking! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. The updates are wonderful, but I imagine that it's really hard when she has the reflux and she's screaming. Stomach troubles for a baby can weigh seriously heavy on both the parents and the baby, and I wish you luck with that. She is of course adorable, and I am loving the pictures! Such a wonderful little snuggle bunny!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AW what a cutie and fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us. I love the third last one. Its not fun at all having a sick baby but at least now you know whats wrong. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. She is so freaking cute! I especially love the first picture. My youngest sister had severe acid reflux as a baby, to the point where she had to be fed through tubes every night. My mom commented the other day that she was definitely the most difficult baby just for that reason!

    ReplyDelete
  8. No. I don't believe it. I won't believe it.

    I kind of don't want to tell you this but months two and three were probably the hardest for me. Colick didn't set in for us until about 6 weeks so here I was thinking I had the world's best baby when BAM! It's absolutely OK to be upset for YOU as well as for HER. And I'm so sorry to hear about the GERD and know how frustrating it can be. While Elle didn't have GERD, she did have a really sensitive stomach and was on Zantac for a while and maybe even Prilosec? I hope little madinut grows out of it soon for you.

    My absolute favorite is the picture of her about to cry. It seriously tugs at my heart.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh she's so cute! i'm glad she's starting to smile, it makes the screaming slightly more bearable, I think. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. OK … I love that Hardcore onesie! She is such a doll baby!! I know that babies with this GERD thing can be just miserable. I'm sure it has been hard on you and her and everyone. At least you know what the issue is now and hopefully it will resolve itself soon. I know what you mean about not being able to sleep when you actually can. I had the same problem. Love your nicknames for her. We did that too!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. In that upset/contemplative picture she looks like she's doing that finger flick thing that's the equivalent of the middle finger. What are you teaching that child???

    :-D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds like you've got it all figured out. No wait, I mean SHE does. she's adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Madison is so cute! Love the picture of her big open mouth smile! AndI'm lovin' the fashion show, too. The pink suit with black skull & crossbones is the best. I think it's awful that infants have acid reflux, poor thing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You have a serious cutie patootie on your hands, Trisha! And I remember the ironic frustration of not being able to sleep when Greyson stayed at my mom's house as a little teensy baby. I still listened for him and could hear a mouse fart in the night. It improves greatly with time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your nicknames are better than Jason's. He calls the boys "fatty" "ugly" and "stinky" (indiscriminately).

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh how sweet! Sorry about the GERD. My co-workers child had that. Hopefully she will grow out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. She is gorgeous, Trisha. Your update reminds me why I am so thankful my kids are older. Keep the nicknames flowing - believe it or not, she will think of them fondly when she is old enough to understand terms of endearment!

    ReplyDelete

Talk to me baby!