Appointments

It's been a week of appointments.

Tuesday I had my 24-week appointment with my doctor. It was four weeks ago, at the end of my last appointment that we made our way down to The City to pick up our little Ben. So, the doctor and nurses were pretty excited this week to finally meet him. When we go out like this I wonder what people are thinking. Do they think that I'm just still trying to shed those extra pregnancy pounds? I'm sure those questions will only get more interesting in the coming months. It has been quite a unique experience having a newborn baby in my arms and having a baby kicking around inside at the same time. 

The other day while I was feeding Ben, I had him conveniently resting a bit on the top of my growing belly. The Little One must have felt either a little cramped or a sudden urge of affection for his big brother because in the exact spot where Ben was resting there came a push back. I can hardly wait to see how they'll be together. Good times lie ahead, really good times.

Anyway, my appointment went well. Apparently the Little One is  already positioned head down... not that he'll stay that way for the next 16 (or so) weeks, but I was amazed that she was able to tell that just by a slight feel of my belly. Speaking of belly-feeling, it has been fun to have Marc finally be able to feel the kicking... and now if you're looking at the right moment you can see the waves of his movement across my belly. 

Some good news is that I'm finally gaining weight now that the morning sickness seems to be over. My last date with the toilet was right around 20 weeks. Those were some long weeks. There are still foods that I stay away from and I still have dry heaves, but I'm glad that the vomiting has subsided. And, I'm mostly relieved that our little guy is doing well.

And then, today we went in for Ben's one month appointment.

I can hardly believe he's one month... in some ways it feels like it's been so much longer and in other ways it feels like it was just yesterday that he came to us. His weight started out at 7 pounds 2 ounces. At two weeks he was 7 pounds 12 ounces. And, today he was up to 8 pounds 14 ounces. On top of that he's 21 and a half inches long... up three quarters of an inch. Our little boy is growing so fast! 

Besides getting his scheduled vaccination, we discussed some concerns with the doctor about how Ben is doing. We've been worried about of his frequent painful cries. There is no doubt that his crying is caused by something that's seriously causing him pain. 

From the beginning we knew part of the problem was gas pain. We tried a couple of different formulas hoping we might find an easy fix. But that only caused other problems. Today the doctor confirmed another of our suspicions. He's also suffering from acid reflux. That's quite the duo. The other day we started him on a new formula that is supposed to help ease the gas pain and the doctor wants us to keep him on it for a week before trying some other solution. It all sounded reasonable and doable sitting there in the exam room.

It wasn't until returning home with Ben and having his pain escalate to the point that he wouldn't eat and couldn't be consoled that I wished I had demanded a quicker fix. While his different sources of pain torture him, his crying is torturing me. I just feel so bad that he has these moments of immobilizing pain and that as his mother I'm unable to take his pain away. And, I feel so helpless with the little ways that I am able to do to try to help him. 

He and I must have been quite a sight today... gently bouncing near the kitchen window, both of us crying. I love him so much, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him. Thankfully Marc was home and able to step in and help soothe us both. We're all hoping that we find something soon that will help his pain subside. He is such a sweet boy... we hate to see him in so much pain.

All in all, these appointments are sweet reminders of how much we have to be grateful for. We really have been blessed beyond anything we ever could have imagined.