Rough nights...

The last week has been pretty rough for little Kayla. First, she started having reflux issues about 10 days ago. I thought it was because she was at the end of her bottle of medication and it wasn't as strong as before. Then she started running a fever. Bloodwork showed an infection. They were unable to run a culture for a urinalysis (don't ask). The Dr prescribed some antibiotics, but her fevers lasted through the weekend, sometimes spiking every 3-4 hours. She started having worse reflux from the antibiotics I think and she started refusing the bottle, screaming her head off every time we tried to feed her. I would sneak in her bottles while she was sleeping and after she had some tylenol as it seemed to be the only time she would eat. Now her fevers are gone, but the reflux is much worse, she screams so loud its bone chilling and I feel every ounce of pain in her body in mine. I wish I could reach inside and calm her little tummy but all I can do is hold her and rock her and pray the pain will stop. I've started using tylenol as a pain reliever right now until the antibiotics (which we stopped early last night) are out of her system and her reflux medicine can hopefully do its job.

She has an appointment with a NEW (and hopefully better) GI specialist on Thursday. I pray that this Dr will listen to my concerns and not dismiss them like the last doctor did. The last Dr insisted that Kayla is just a "fussy baby" and didn't have reflux. I refuse to believe that when I'm the one rocking her and listening to her screams and feeling her nails claw into my skin from the pain, not the Dr. She had a great period of calmness and was doing so much better until the last week or so where it's like we have regressed back to where she was when she was in the NICU. Please pray that she gets some relief and that she starts to feel better soon.

Sick baby :(

Well it looks like Kayla has some sort of infection, not sure what though. She's been running a fever for the last couple of days and has been really fussy. I took her to the doctor and they did some bloodwork which showed she was fighting some sort of infection. They also took some urine which they will send off for culture to check for a UTI (which she had when she was in the NICU). They gave her a shot of antibiotic and gave us some more to take at home while we wait for the cultures to come back. I'm hoping its just some small infection and the antibiotics do the trick...but she's already had two fevers spike up since getting the shot this afternoon already :(. Poor baby is always the one with the problems and it breaks my heart because she is just so small still. Anyway, a few prayers would be wonderful for her!! Thank you!!

reflux again...

Well it looks like Kayla is having bad reflux problems again. For the past couple of days she's been really refluxing and screaming in pain again. It's really hard for us to handle her when she is like that and even harder for our nanny. We even had upped her dosage on Friday and that hasn't helped. I have a call into her pediatrician and she has an appointment tomorrow with the nutritionist so hopefully they will be able to help her. She expels so many calories screaming that she won't gain as much weight and she needs all the energy she can get. I pray we aren't looking at a feeding tube again. Poor baby is just really struggling and she was doing so well.

On a more positive note, the girls are really noticing each other now and they spend a lot of time looking at each other. Kamryn will give Kayla a big smile and chuckle and Kayla gives her a sweet little smile back. I can't wait till they can hug each other! :)

giggles!

Kamryn had her first real "giggles" this weekend! Oh I wish the video camera had been working right, it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! We started having the girls watching sign-language video's this weekend so that we can try to communicate with them before they can talk. It's a little early, but we were bored, so we tried it. Anyway, after the videos Kam and I went into the bathroom to play with the mirror and I started doing some of the signs we had learned. I did the sign for "milk", which looks like you are squeezing an udder and she did a little giggle. Then I did the sign for "mommy" which is like an open hand with your thumb to your chin and she giggled a little more. When I did the sign for "daddy", which is an open hand with your thumb to your forehead, she let out an all-out belly laugh! It was SO funny! Kiko was like "why is she laughing so hard at DADDY!!!" Kiko and Kayla were watching her just giggle and giggle, but Kayla would only do her sweet little smile...guess we aren't funny enough for her yet! LOL. Soon, they will both be going and that is going to be the coolest sound EVER!

just a little update...

I took the girls to the Dr today for their well-baby checkups and finally got their weights and stuff. It would appear the weight they gave me for Kayla last week was incorrect, or I misunderstood...either way, here they are! They are still 4 lbs apart...it looks like Kamryn is almost three months older than Kayla in size!!

Kayla: 9 lbs, 5 oz and 21.5" long
Kamryn: 13 lbs, 3 oz and 23" long

Hard to believe they are over 4x what they weighed at birth!

Both girls are doing great (except for some frenzied eating sessions)! Both of them are starting to suddenly lose all their hair! I hear that's normal, but it's really bizarre since they had pretty long hair to begin with. Kamryn has a pretty awesome mohawk going and Kayla's bald spots are starting to blend into her new bald spots...she has like a ring around her head of no hair with hair on top (albeit with a receding hair line now) and hair on the bottom. Needless to say, we get a few looks when people see them (not just for the weight difference now either)!

FIVE Months old!!

I can't believe that today my little girls are 5 months old!! The time has just flown by so fast already! Next thing you know, they'll be graduating college! LOL. The girls are doing fabulous and we are just having a blast with them! They both love to coo and "talk" and they are starting to smile more often and every once in a while I'll get a giggle out of them. I can't wait until they start laughing...that is my favorite sound in the world!

Kayla continues to really eat well! I have no idea where she is putting this weight gain of hers, because she's still very skinny and doesn't have that "baby fat" we all love. She is now in the double digits and is over 10 lbs!!! I don't know where it is though...her head feels heavier so maybe it's all in her brain! She's also getting longer as she's no longer fitting in her newborn onesies (lengthwise). She must be having a growth spurt because she started out-eating Kamryn last night and ate over 4 oz more than she normally does in a day! She loves to "talk" and have conversations with me...we can just sit and chat for hours when I get home from work!

Kamryn is chugging right along...she's slowed down on her eating again and can go almost six hours at night without eating now! I still think she's slowing down for her sister to catch up to her...I will find out Friday how much Kamryn weighs, but I'm hoping they have narrowed down that four lb gap! I also think she has begun teething (though it will be a long process)...she's drooling all over the place and constantly sucking on her hands...and let's just say a tad cranky in the evenings! She's also doing really well developmentally, she now rolls over from her tummy to her back and can roll back over with a little help. She's also starting to push up on her arms more and trying to get up on her knees...so I see the makings of a crawling baby coming soon!

A few more pics...