Day 4 - Adjusting to a "New" Joy

Joy seems to be gravitating toward her own schedule.  At 6am, I heard her toss around in her crib and then start to cry.  Again, we are NOT used to her crying in the morning.  I brought her downstairs and gave her a few toys.  I quickly made her formula and she gulped down 2oz in <1 min.  She felt much better but her nose was running like a faucet.  Figuring that she is still under the weather, I changed her diaper and put her back to sleep in the swing.

Fussy Joy in the AM

Selena and Jennifer Berry were texting throughout the morning about today's schedule and what to do about Joy's constipation.  Right before she went to bed, she was trying to push really hard.  Nothing came out except a few small tear drops for her effort.  Very sad indeed. Jennifer suggested that we get a liquid suppository that contains glycerin. So while Joy was asleep, I ran out to target/CVS to pick up some supplies.

While I was away, Joy woke up and appeared grumpy and fussy.  Selena spoke to Jennifer and they decided to try to feed her again since she only drank 2oz in the morning.  Joy ate 2.25oz of solids (chicken and star, sweet potato) and 1oz of formula.  Not bad for a mid-morning snack.

When I returned, Joy was covered in food so I changed her into a new set of clothes.  We decided to give her the Pedia-Lax before her next meal because she was struggling to poop earlier.  Dr. Weich (pediatrician) and Jennifer Berry both agreed to only give her 1/2 the dose since the formulation is for a 2-5 year old children.  I opted NOT to provide a picture here but let's just say immediately after, she pushed it all out.  Watching your child poop and grunt is a major milestone for me today. Selena was very proud of me.

Baby needs a new pair of clothes (not shoes)

While Joy was taking another nap, Jennifer and Heidi came by to discuss Joy's progress.  They emphasized and reinforced how far Joy has come in such a short period of time.  Selena is all about the numbers and kept pushing the goal of Joy eating at least 15oz of formula a day.  Markus, Jennifer and others have been saying all along that Joy is doing really well and that she may not need to drink that much formula anymore.  In the middle of the meeting, Joy woke up so I brought her in.  She was happy to see Jeni and Heidi and also make a few waves at them.  Not sure if it was intentional but it looked very cute.  Their recommendations were to offer more water (to avoid constipation) and relax and enjoy ourselves during the meal times.  We realized that Joy was starting to get a little fussy so we opted to go out to lunch at Pentagon Row with Heidi.  

We got all our gear and met up at a Thai restaurant. The food was ok but the experience was wonderful.  To be completely honest, I was nervous because the last time we took her out, Joy was so distracted.  I just didn't think she'd do well eating.  But on the contrary, it was amazing!  She was so curious about the world around her YET she still was focused on eating.  She ate 2oz of carrots, 0.5oz of chicken and stars, 1.5oz of formula, and extra water.  

When we got home, Joy crashed and took a nap.  But after only a 40 min nap, she woke crying.  It was strange because she was crying REALLY hard (not the fake ones when she just want some attention) and nothing seemed to console her.  We held her, gave her water, walked around, etc.  She kept crying.  So then we thought..."hey maybe she's hungry."  You have to understand that seeing our baby hungry is new to us.  We need sometime to adjust our thinking too.  The minute I put the jar of sweet potatoes on the floor, she already took out her thumb and was ready to eat.  Markus then arrived and she continued to eat the remaining carrots and a good amount of chicken and stars.  In between she took sips of elecare formula and water.  She was satisfied and started to do her happy dance (one day I'll get it on video).  

When everyone thought she was done, I thought, why not re-introduce puffs?  So I grabbed the container and gave her a bunch to play with.  I ate a few and then offered it to her.  She stuck out her tongue and kept trying to eat it. She's still learning how to move it around and often times she gets frustrated when it's too hard.  But all in all, it was a great experience and she seemed the puffs a lot especially since she gets to play with them.

Time to play with food

Eating Mum Mums

After another short nap, Joy woke up peacefully this time.  Jennifer came by to help us administer the prevacid meds.  She showed us to squirt the liquid on the side of her mouth.  I had the pharmacist flavor it with grape so Joy didn't get too upset by it.  Meanwhile, my mechanic called and informed me that my car is now fixed and ready for pick-up.  Thank you Bill Fowler for always being so reliable with my car repairs!!

For dinner, we decided to introduce blueberries.  It is a very healthy food with lots of vitamins.  She seemed interested and took a few spoons but then turned away and stopped opening.  She also ate some chicken and stars but it may have been too cold for her.  We thought she was done but she kept being fussy and crying when I took her away from the food.  I asked Selena to bring back the chicken and sweet potatoes and sure enough, she went to town and ate a lot of it.  All in all, she drank 2oz formula and 1.5oz of solids with some additional water to keep her hydrated.  This was a very valuable learning experience because she was communicating with us and saying what she wanted and what she didn't.  

Not sure about blueberries

Selena was starting to eat her dinner and I brought Joy to the table (after changing her diaper and clothes).  I started eating some grapes (courtesy of Kevin and Betty Fine) and noticed that Joy was interested.  Of course she would love grapes because so does her daddy!  Interestingly, she would suck the juice out and then try to bite the grape. She didn't appreciate the bits of grapes as she would push them out of her mouth.  Kinda cute.  She went through ~5 grapes and I stopped giving them to her because I was hungry and she kept biting my fingers with her gums.

Joy loves her grapes

In total for today, Joy drank 7oz of formula, 8oz of solids, and some water.  While Joy isn't drinking a lot of formula, she is making progress and we are happy about that.  We are hoping that she'll drink more formula before the program ends.  The feeding teams feels that Joy is doing really well and they have already broached the topic of a "discharge plan."  Selena feels that Joy needs to be able to drink more before we can leave.

The one thing we have realized is that Joy is like a new baby to us.  We are learning all the things that most parents learn in the first few weeks of life.  We are learning her signs and signals in regards to eating, hunger, and preferences.  And because she isn't eating/drinking a lot for each feeding session, she wakes up crying and hungry, which throws off her sleep schedule.  The feeding team promises that as Joy becomes more efficient with her meals, her schedule with normalize.  Let's hope so for our sake! With all the changes, it makes us feel like we have a new baby all over again.