January so far

So we've had a very eventful month!

On January 4th we finally got the results of Stella's December blood work back and they were still "borderline", so we went in for more bloodwork and a thyroid scan. My little wonder was a trouper. Tuesday morning we went in to Sick kids to get everything done right away. She cried during the bloodwork, but we had a good phlebotomist and they got it done quick. From there we went on to nuclear medicine where she had to first have her contrast injection then her scan. The injection was pretty brutal. Now, I know the hospital is a teaching hospital, but they put the tourniquet on and checked all her poor little limbs so the student could practice and my poor baby screamed bloody murder. But of course she was a dream for the scan, even when they had to bring the scanner right down to her nose.

Her thyroid scan results show that she was an enlarged thyroid which is not producing enough T4 hormone. That, along with her bloodwork results showed we had to start synthroid, a synthetic hormone substitute. Within the first day I saw a difference, she was more alert, sleeping less. By the end of the weekend she was a mess, she could barely breastfeed without crying. But she wanted to feed all day long. And no naps at all, she would be awake for 8 hours at a time.

While we are new parents, it just didn't feel right. And we knew from our experiences with jaundice that it was best to trust our instincts. Jeff called our contact nurse Lori at the endocrine clinic and she thought we should come in to check Stella's thyroid levels again. I felt horrible about putting her through more bloodwork, potentially just to make myself feel reassured. But the next day she started sweating while she was feeding and that seemed to be just another reason to go into the hospital. We were so glad we went in, her T4 level had jumped from 12 to 41. We took a day of rest and started back on a lower dose which seems much better. She's still not a great napper, but the fussy inconsolable period seems to be limited to the 45 minutes before bedtime.

On Wednesday we went in for her 2 month check up and first round of immunizations. Yet another reason to be fussy! However, she slept from 830-730 that night. How good does 8 hours of sleep feel!

What new things have we learned this month? She's chatting a lot more and can entertain herself much longer on her mat or in her swing. She's development a huge hatred for tummy time, but Mommy pushes her so she can build up her arms.

We've gotten the bedtime routine down now which goes a little something like this...
645 - head up to the bath, hang out on change pad and pick out jammies for the night.
700 - Bath time! We spend 10 minutes chilling in the tub. Stella likes to stick her little feet out of the bath and scootch her bum down so that she's all in the water. We use the nice smelling lavender body wash so that when you lean into her crib in the middle of the night it smells soooo good!
715 - back to Stella's room, we do the rub down with moisturizer and talk about our day. Then we sing Stella's bedtime song and if she's not too fussy then we might read Good night Moon and Runaway Bunny.
730 - Daddy comes upstairs with the bottle and Mommy says good night!
Usually by 8 she's out for the count, though sometimes, it might take a couple extra trips upstairs to rock and cuddle. This weekend we made the transition to the crib. We've had a couple set backs, but I think it's good to keep at it.

Big question... what is a baby sleeping about when she laughs in her sleep?
Answer - boobies and puppies.