One Month

We had our one month appointment today. Julia is now 9 lbs 5 oz (was 7 lbs 7oz) and 21 inches (was 20.25 inches). She is growing well and is very healthy.

We've had some issues starting last week that we were excited to talk to the doctor about. The first one was her screaming. She started screaming almost every time she had to poop. Not only has she been inconsolable, but the screaming could last 2 hours! (Which seems like an eternity at 2 am) Once she finally gets the poop out, all is right in the world and immediately she stops crying. The doctor said it is most likely because she has a fissure that makes it hurt when she poops. Once that heals, we should have no more problems. He also said that since newborns (and her especially) tend to be pooping machines, it might take several weeks for it to fully heal and he gave us tips on how to help it along. We were also concerned because she went from 5 bms a day to 12 bms yesterday. He said that this is a normal change for infants her age and it should settle back down again in a week or two. I never imagined I'd be so concerned about poop or that I'd talk about it so much!

The second issue was her sleep. She has been startling awake a lot more since last week and this has gotten especially bad at night. Her startling had gotten so bad that I started calling her Frankenstein because of how long her startling episodes would last. I'll try to get a picture/video of what this looks like, but basically her arms and legs go straight outward and stiff and she rocks back and forth a little kind of like how Frankenstein walks. Anyway, we have a very hard time getting her to sleep in her pack n play, which is what we are using right now as her bed, at any time of day or night. He said that some babies, especially around her age, love to be held. So much so that they won't sleep any other way. He gave us suggestions on how to get her to sleep on her own. I've also gotten some great responses from friends on Facebook with suggestions. I am excited to start trying these because I can't sleep more than 30 minutes while holding her, which means Julia has a very sleep deprived Mama.

I'll let you know how things progress.