Reflux, Food Intake, Sleepless Nights, Gas, and the Dryer.

That is what has been going on our household for the past couple of weeks.

Poor Amelia has GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease- a condition in which the stomach contents leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus which causes irritation). So basically she cries and cries when she eats which causes her to eat less at a time because she is so upset. She is on zantac which will help her but it is taking some time to allow her time to heal. We have some good feedings and some bad ones. What worries us is the amount that she is eating. We want her to grow healthy and strong but it seems as though lately we are struggling to get her to eat enough. It is as though she is just "snacking." One ounce here, one ounce there. It definitely does take most of our attention. Every time she cries, it breaks our hearts. It also keeps us up all night trying to calm her down enough so that she eats some more. I wish I could just take her pain away. Hopefully we will see better results soon or we may have to switch to a different medication.

It also seems that she gets a little more fussy during the early evening hours until about midnight. She also seems to know exactly when Daddy is at work at night because that is when she gets really upset and truly tests her mother's patience. These are the times when I can't put her down because she gets more upset. Yesterday I told my dryer that I loved it. Why? Because I laid Amelia on top of it while she was screaming and stroked her head. She calmed down pretty fast and started to read the back of her eyelids. Makes me wish I purchased a bouncer that vibrates instead of the swing that she hates. :/

On the lighter side, our daughter farts like an 18 year old teenage boy. It can be hilarious at times especially when we are in the middle of changing her diaper while holding her legs up. She needs to be burped quite often when feeding because of the reflux and boy does she belch out some good ones. The farts get me every time and they always put a smile on my face which is needed when she is upset.

Let me add another topic here. Development. It is absolutely amazing watching Amelia develop before our eyes. We notice small things that she is doing like falling the sounds of our voices, more smiles, trying to reach out for her toys and really looking at them and not through them. It makes me never want to miss a day.