Ellie's First Week and Christmas
We're all pretty sure that Ellie is the reason that I magically went full term in my pregnancy. The girl did not want to come out. And she made sure to let me know :) But after her first couple of days on earth, she realized that there was no going back and she started to calm down. We were figuring things out. She was (finally) figuring out how to eat, she was starting to come up with a little schedule, she was much more content (although still quite impatient) and by her first doctors appointment at 4 days old, she was doing incredible! My mom would be leaving to go back to Utah that night, but I was feeling pretty confident with all we had figured out. Eric went back to work the day after we brought her home from the hospital (he LOVES his job by the way!), so it was going to be me and Ellie on our own! I was more so just sad to see her go since I hadn't seen her in months.
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| We took some simple pictures while my mom was around :) |
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| She did so good at her first appointment! |
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| 1week old!!! |
Week 2 and New Years
The day after Christmas, Ellie turned one week old! On this day, she started becoming increasingly more fussy. When she wasn't sleeping she was crying. She'd cry through feedings, and cry when she was awake. We maybe had 10 minutes or so a day where she was calm haha It just kept getting worse and by 9 days old, I pretty much broke down. I remember one point where I was just curled up in a ball in the corner of her room sobbing... oh man, I was a mess haha Then, on the night of day 9, she suddenly became really drowsy. Like, so drowsy she couldn't eat. When she missed two full feedings, I had to call and figure out what was happening with my baby.
I have had a history of depression and since I was 16, I've been taking anti-depressant medication. I didn't take it during my pregnancy, but started up again after she was born. Side effects to a nursing baby are little to none, but apparently Ellie was just a little more sensitive to it. Our pharmacist said that if she was having such a strong reaction to it (constant crying and excessive drowsiness can be possible side effects of the medication for nursing babies which can affect their eating and ultimately their weight gain) that I either needed to stop nursing, or stop the medication. I had to make the decision to stop nursing because I knew that my sanity and happiness was more important for Ellie. I was so stressed out, that my mom ended up flying back to help for another week while we both could figure things out a little bit better.
We started Ellie on a soy formula and although she was still fussy, she got much better. Then a new fun thing started happening. Projectile vomit. The first time she did it, I totally cried. It is SO scary to see your baby just throw up across the room! Our doctor told us to keep her elevated when she sleeps and burp her for 20 minutes every feeding. We also began feeding her every 2 hours instead of every 3 in hopes that would make her digest food better. But the vomit got worse, so we switched formulas. When we did this, she seemed MUCH better. She was keeping her food down better, but she still cried a lot of the time. Everyone just said she was colicky and that it would go away.
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| First bath... Not too fun for this girl haha |
Eric's brother and his little family came for new years, so we had a full house! It was really fun to have them all over, although I was pretty much stuck in our room with Ellie the whole time haha We did manage to get out and take some pictures :)
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| Ellie's cousin Kennedy is so grown up! |
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| typical meltdown haha |
With my mom's help for another week, I was able to gain some sanity. Ellie was doing a little better and my mom went back home once again. Before she left, I took her to the beach while Grandma and Grandpa Payne watched Ellie :)
Our trip to Utah and Ellie's baby blessing
Eric took a week off of work and we drove to Utah to visit my family! We had SO much fun when we were there. Everyone was so happy to meet Ellie and it was really good to see all of our friends and family. We also had Ellie's baby blessing in my home ward, along with my sister's baby Chloe. It was wonderful.
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| Stopping every hour to feed and burp for an hour made for a VERY long drive. Ellie was a trooper and we actually had a lot of fun! |
She was making super funny faces! And we caught a smile for the first time!
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| She LOVES her dad. And he's totally obsessed with her :) |
Our amazing friends meeting Ellie :)
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| Chloe and Ellie |
While we were there, Ellie's throwing up came back along with some pretty serious pain while she was eating. We called Ellie's doc and made an appointment for the day we got home.
When we went to the doc, Ellie was diagnosed with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), which is just a nasty form of reflux. Every time she eats, the food comes back up. She either throws up, or swallows it back down, which hurts really bad for her. It's like a bad case of heartburn for us. I know when I was pregnant, there were times that my heartburn was so bad I wanted to cry. So I totally don't blame her. She was started on a medication in hopes to help, but it's something she really just needs to grow out of.
After we started the medication, she was doing SO much better within a few days. She's still a fussy, feisty, impatient little girl, but she was doing so much better with her pain! We were so thrilled!! I want her to be happy, healthy and enjoy her life!
We LOVE our funny little girl. She totally has a big personality already :) Having a baby is tough, especially those nighttime feedings, but it's so worth it for this beautiful little baby. More has happened and is happening, so I'll continue to post (as often as I can) about our wonderful life!
