Sweet Pea is one month old today!

And what a month it has been for this sweet baby girl.

Sweet Pea has dealt with so much already in just her first month of life:

rH factor, triple phototherapy, blood transfusion, methadone withdrawals, spinal tap, urine test, too many pricks to count, IV antibiotics, tummy troubles due to drug exposure in the womb.

When we finally brought her home from the hospital for the 2nd time on August 23rd, out of Sweet Pea’s 21 days since her birth, 13 of those days had been spent in a hospital. We thank God that Sweet Pea’s issues have all been treatable and not life threatening (if treated!).

And now for the normal baby updates!

Eating: Since being home from the NICU, Sweet Pea has been on a 2.5 to 3 hour feeding schedule. She typically goes the 3 hours between feeds, unless she is having a growth spurt. During her 2 week growth spurt, she drank many bottles 2 hours apart.

Sweet Pea left the NICU at 9 days old eating about 2 ounces of formula per feed. She didn’t take long to increase that amount to 2.5 ounces. In her third week she went from 3 ounces to 3.5 ounces per feed. At one month old she eats 3.5 – 4 ounces of formula. The 4 ounce bottles are typically at 11pm and 3am(ish).

Sleeping: If Sweet Pea was not bothered by her tummy, she slept good this month. For her first two to three weeks, she basically ate and then slept until the next feed. We would feed her, hold her upright for half an hour and then lay her down (at an incline to sleep). She looked like this a lot:

Wake Time: During week 3, I really started to work on Sweet Pea having some awake time before going back to sleep after a feed. She would stay awake anywhere from 30 minutes to just under an hour. We would talk to her, sing to her, let her lay in her crib under the mobile or sit in her bouncy seat. There is something special about a baby seeing the world for the first time. When I see her yawn, she gets wrapped up in her Miracle Blanket and we settle for a nap. Naps this month were often interrupted from tummy pain.

Bath: Sweet Pea’s belly button fell off on August 26th at 24 days old. I'd been waiting for this to happen so that I could give Sweet Pea a real bath! She didn’t like her first bath where she could not be submerged in the water. Her first real bath was on the 26th and she relaxed and enjoyed it for the most part.

Weight:

At her first Pedi appointment on August 12th (10 days old), Sweet Pea weighed 6lbs. 3oz! (Birth weight was 6lbs. 5oz.)

At a doctor’s appointment on August 25th (23 days old), Sweet Pea weighed 7lbs. 7oz!

On September 1st, she weighed in at 8lbs. 1oz!

No problems in the weight gain department!!

Diapers: Sweet Pea wore newborn size diapers until her 3rd week. At 24 days old she had a blow out diaper. I had noticed the newborn size diapers getting snug around her waist. So, at 3 weeks old, Sweet Pea moved to Size 1 diapers.

Clothes: Sweet Pea wears Miracle Blanket size newborn clothes. Seriously, I don’t know why I bother to even own a bin of newborn clothes. At this age, my babies literally LIVE in their Miracle Blankets! Since both of my girls are summer babies, I keep them in just a diaper so they don’t get hot while wrapped in the Miracle Blanket.

“Reflux”/tummy troubles: Since birth, Sweet Pea has had a “sensitive stomach”. She is on Similac Allimentum (since coming home from the NICU) but after practically every feed during her first month, she would experience great discomfort after eating. She would be very gassy, hard to burp, restless, uncomfortable and need to be held upright. We went to the doctor on the 25th to talk about “reflux”, but after describing to the Pedi Sweet Pea’s symptoms, she said it sounded like her problems are more gastrointestinal and/or a food allergy. Dr M put Sweet Pea on probiotics for a week. After a follow up appointment yesterday, Sweet Pea is now on a prescription formula (Neocate). We are praying this brings Sweet Pea some relief.

rH factor: Sweet Pea’s blood levels have continued to be monitored by her pediatrician. Her levels are fine now and will be rechecked again in two weeks.

Meds: Sweet Pea is on Probiotics, Mylicon drops (gas drops), Gripe Water and Cocyntal. We have noticed all of these help bring comfort to Sweet Pea at one time or another throughout this first month. She gets probiotics twice a day, gripe water 6 times a day (we save that for mostly the after 5pm bottles), Mylicon with every feed and the Cocyntal with every feed.

Schedule (weeks 0-4):

8am eat

11am eat

2pm eat

5pm eat

8pm eat

11pm eat

**After the 11pm feed we let her wake on her own to eat. She woke anywhere from the 2-4am hours and the 5-8am hours during the first month. In the last week or so, she has been waking around 3:30am and then at her wake up time (8am) or within an hour of 8am. During month one, Sweet Pea has had 8 feedings per day.

**Naps this month were typically 1.5 to 2.5 hours long, depending on her comfort level and how much wake time she had. Naps were often disrupted by tummy pains. We would pick her up and try to burp her and then hold her until the cramps went away. Then we would lay her back down to finish out the nap.

**Wake time after the 8pm feed was optional. Sometimes she went on to sleep after that feed and sometimes she wanted some awake time.

Big Sister: Little Bug continues to be totally into Sweet Pea. Yesterday I laid Sweet Pea on the floor to change her diaper and Little Bug informed me she was going to change her diaper! I let her (as much as possible!). She actually did a quite impressive job to be only just over 2 years old! She opened the diaper and got the wipe and started cleaning Sweet Pea. I had to take over when Sweet Pea peed everywhere but after I got her all cleaned up, Little Bug got the diaper and she fastened it with a little help from me.

Overall, this month has been very difficult being in and out of the hospital and then trying to figure out what will help Sweet Pea’s tummy. I have told myself many times this month, “This too shall pass.” It is hard seeing your baby in pain and not being able to immediately fix it. When she is hungry, that is easily fixable! Just feed her! But when she is having a “spell”, sometimes there is nothing I can do to stop her pain. I hate that more than anything because, as her mommy, I want to fix everything for her.

I haven’t been able to make life much easier for Sweet Pea this month but my Mama has certainly made my life a lot easier by taking care of Little Bug and by coming to stay with us for 2 weeks as we settled into life with a 2 year old and a newborn! I am forever grateful that God blessed me with an incredible mother who was able and willing to be such a HUGE help to us this past month.

Happy One Month, Sweet Pea!

- Elaine