Four-Month Appointment

Well, I did go ahead and put Elsa down for her morning nap this morning despite the doctor's appointment, and just put her down slightly early so she at least got about an hour of sleep before we had to head out the door. She actually woke up on her own, but I typically would have tried to lull her back to sleep because it was clear she was still tired. This made the ride TO the doctor's office that much more fun. She already hates her carseat, but group that with tiredness, paused traffic due to a train, and stopping at every stoplight, and you have yourself one FUN car ride. We made it, though -- and just barely on time.

Elsa weighed in at 13 pounds even and is 25.25 inches long, making her 15 ounces and 0.75 inches up from her last appointment. That was the good news -- that she is actually growing. That and she apparently has a great complexion and strong back muscles. Everything else was not so positive, it seems. I brought up a few issues with Dr. Owen, as follows:

1. She has been spitting up a lot and in mass volume since last Wednesday. The doctor thinks she is still refluxing, but that it is not the same as it was before, and not as -- if at all -- painful for Elsa. Before you could hear liquid regurgitate in her throat, and she would scream because it was likely burning her. Now you can still see/hear it happen, but she doesn't cry, and it often is paired with spitting up/vomiting. Dr. Owen suggested I try giving her just a little rice cereal about three times a day just to see if getting something slightly thicker into her tummy will help keep the milk down. So I guess I am going to try that. This means very many messy food photos are likely to find there way onto this blog soon.
2. The yeasty diaper rash still has not totally cleared up, despite us using very much antifungal cream, diaper cream, washing her diapers and wipes with some vinegar, cleaning out her wipe warmer thoroughly between refills, making sure she is patted dry between diaper changes, and giving her the two types of probiotics the doctor previously prescribed. Dr. Owen is convinced that this is no longer a surface issue; if it was, the antifungal cream would have cleared it up by now. She thinks there is a yeast issue in Elsa's gut, and that we need to clear it up from the inside out. The reason we're seeing it in the diaper area is -- well -- you get the point. So we're going to continue with the probiotics, but we are also going to give her a prescription antifungal medication that is taken orally. Fun... more syringe episodes. I can't wait. Especially since I get to go through this with her four times a day.
3. At the site of her last injection (her left thigh), there is a little hardened area, almost like some scar tissue has built up. I had Dr. Owen feel it and asked her if it was normal and, of course, it is not. Why would anything be normal and easy when it comes to Elsa? Poor little Elsa Bean. Anyway, Elsa was administered two vaccinations today -- one for haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and one for pneumococcal conjugate. Dr. Owen used the smallest needle she had and poked her in her right thigh this time so we can see if the same thing occurs this go around. If so, she said we will have to reconvene and rethink what we are doing. I guess we will figure out what that means if and when we need to.

Other than that, Dr. Owen also noticed that Elsa has some eczema on her legs, which she thinks could be tied in to the first two issues listed above, or could even be signs of a food allergy of some sort (I told her that I have been off of cow's milk since last Monday... and for real this time). She gave me a recipe for a food-based lotion, which is pretty cool. Now I get to make my own lotion. I could probably benefit from it myself. Jarrett likes to make fun of me and all of my weird skin issues. We definitely know from which side Elsa is getting THAT.

Despite the tiredness and the crankiness (though Dr. Owen did get some good smiles out of the little one, as well as some near-giggles), it was a pretty good appointment. I always enjoy seeing Dr. Owen and hearing what she has to say. I really have a lot of respect for her and how she operates her practice -- I feel like I can't say that about many doctors these days. I am definitely lucky to have found her.