2 Months

The Official 2 Month Picture

Date

February 16, 2012

Weight

 He was 7 pounds 13 ounces at his 2 month appointment today.  Elliott is gaining weight, he is just gaining slowly.  He was officially diagnosed with newborn cholestasis by his liver doctor.  One of the problems that babies with cholestasis have is slow weight gain because the liver has a hard time absorbing nutrients and fat.

Less official pictures

Sleep

Elliott generally goes to bed between 9 and 10.  He wakes up 2-3 times during the night to nurse, falls right back to sleep after and then wakes up in the morning between 8 and 9.  A couple of times this month he woke up between 5 and 7 and never fell back asleep.  It was tragic for me.  He is generally taking a short nap around 11 am and a longer nap in the afternoon.  He's exclusively sleeping with/on me at night and on me or in the moby wrap or belle carrier for naps.  I kind of have permission from his doctors to do this though, because his neurologist wants us watching for seizures and his liver doctor wants his cotisol levels down and maternal contact/not being stressed by being forced to sleep alone helps with that.  Elliott falls alseep easily at night and after each time he nurses at night.  He is not so easy during the day.  There have been a few times where I've had a hell of a time getting him to sleep.

Movement

Elliott rolled over from his stomach to his back at the neurologists office on Monday the 13th.  He has done it a dozen more times at home since then.  His adjusted age the first time he did it was 3 weeks.  Pretty impressive.  He can roll from his back to his side, but can't quite get himself over to his stomach.  That is developmentally appropriate at 6 months, though, so it's OK that he can't.

Communication

Elliott is no longer grunting as much.  He grunts a little when he is trying to wake himself up.  Elliott is making great eye contact with us.

Sweet Remembrances:

1) Elliott's first trip to Tucson to meet his great grandmother.

2) Taking Elliott on an ill advised outing to his first wedding.

3) Elliott's first Valentine's Day.

4) Giving what looked like purposeful smiles a couple of times to me and Michael.

Not So Sweet Rememberances

1) Being told that Elliott might have a terrible liver disease.

2) Going to the lab over and over and over for blood draws.

3) Multiple trips to the liver doctor (even though we really like Dr. Miloh).

4) Being told by the neurologist that Elliott is still having seizures.

Food

Exclusively breastfeeding- between 9 and 11 times a day.

(This was taken on the 15th)

Mood

Elliott is fussy in the evenings.  Right when we're trying to eat dinner is his hardest time of day.  Great.  He has also proven to not be the "fall asleep in the carseat" baby we had hoped for and that our friends claim exist (in some mythical land called, Notourchildren).  His cries (screams, actually) about 50% of the time in the car.  When he's not screaming he is calm, but wide awake.

(this was taken on the 17th)

Medicine
How crappy is it that a 2 month old update includes medicine?  Elliott has been on 1.875 mL (twice a day) of phenobarbital since he was in the hospital.  In the last month he also started taking ursodiol (1 mL twice a day) to try to clear bile and conjugated bilirubin out of his system and fat soluble vitamin drops (1 mL once a day) because babies with liver disease have a hard time absorbing vitamins.  He was just started on a new seizure medication called keppra (.4 mL twice a day).  We just started weaning him off the phenobarbital.  His medications are flavored with cherry (phenobarbital and keppra), vanilla (ursodiol) and citrus (vitamin drops).  He loves them.  It's going to be horrible trying to get him to eat a vegetable after this early exposure to sweets.  His vitamin drops are the color and consistency of red, sticky paint.  It is a nightmare giving them to him and requires both parents and even then we make a huge mess of it.  They also make his poop bright orange with a large spot of red in the middle.  TOO MUCH INFORMATION.  The neurologist told us that sometimes keppra can cause mood changes.  In a baby this would show up as unstoppable screaming and crying.  Good God I hope not.

(can you see what the patch says?  Brothers Rule)

Likes/Dislikes

Elliott still likes being held by mommy and daddy.  He likes his medicine.  He likes being in the belle carrier and the moby wrap, but only if he can look out.  He doesn't want anything obstructing his view.  He SCREAMS every morning when I put him in the infant seat while I take a shower.  Only once (on Wednesday, actually) has he not cried to whole time I'm in the shower (which, by the way, my showers are averaging 3 minutes with an additional 1.5 minutes to dry off and get dressed.  I look like a train wreck every day).  He likes going for walks, but only when he can look around.  I had to take the newborn neck support off the belle carrier otherwise he throws a huge fit because he can't see.  It's OK, I just have to support his neck which leaves me not 2 hands free, but 1 hand free- enough to start laundry or empty the dishwasher. 

Some Side Notes

I told our pediatrician that I was not happy with the neurologists advice to keep a close eye on Elliott's development and come back in 2 months.  I told her I wanted to take him to an epileptologist at Barrow's Neurological Institute.  Barrow's is one of the highest rated (ie the BEST) neurological hospitals in the entire damn world and it's practically in our backyard.  We might as well take advantage of it.  She agreed.  We'll be calling on Monday to make an appointment. 

Elliott was due to get 5 shots and the rota virus oral vaccination at his 2 month check-up today.  Our pediatrician's office goes off of the CDC recommendations. We kept to the recommended vaccination schedule for Spencer and never missed any shots or deviated from the schedule.  Well he did get his first MMR shot early because of a measles outbreak in Pima County (Tucson).  Anyway, based on advice from our pediatrician we held off on the DTaP because it is contraindicated for children with undiagnosed neurological disorders.  We also held off on the rota virus because it is a live vaccination and there is no research available on what its effect might be in a baby with liver disease.  It makes me nervous that he is going without those for now, but I am so glad that we have such an awesome pediatrician that she would be so on top of things to give us those recommendations.