violet update...

Because my 2 little ones have not decided to EVER sleep at the same time during the day...I have not had one moment to update the blog and SOOO much has happened! The first 4 weeks of Violets life seemed to be pretty simple...she was a very sleepy baby...I would have the hardest time keeping her awake! she was probably 2 weeks old before she had her first one hour of full awake time! Anyway when she turned 4 weeks old that's when all the drama began!!.....Because I had Violet at home, we didn't get the mandated hearing test done in the hospital like most baby's do...so within 2 weeks of her birth we had a letter from the state in our mail box saying that we needed to go get her hearing test done at the health department ASAP!!...well...she had been responding to noise just fine and because of that I honestly kept putting it off. But I knew it was something that was required in the state of Oklahoma....so when she was about a month old we finally got to the health department...only to have the speech pathologist tell us that she failed her hearing test on her right ear and that she was referring us to an audiologist...WHAT?!?! what does that even mean?...does that mean she is deaf in her right ear?...I was in total shock! Jake was blown away and we were practically silent all the way home. We trusted in Gods plan for Violets life...but it is so hard to hear that something might be wrong! Our audiologist appointment was set for 2 weeks later, and we spent the next 2 weeks praying for her ear and for her little life. Finally our appointment came...and after 3 hours of tests on my little violet...it turned out to be a complete fluke and she can hear perfect out of BOTH ears!!! Praise God!!!
Well right about that same time she also started to exhibit some concerning behaviors....she started practically refusing to latch on to eat...she would cry, scream and arch her back at about half of her feedings...really acting as though she was in pain....then at my 6 week midwife appointment they weighed her and she had not even gained a pound yet from her birth weight!! My midwives were a bit concerned...we all kinda thought it was a "producing" problem, so they gave me some crazy voodoo breastfeeding tea and prescribed an avocado a day to put fat on Violet. Well I was producing like crazy...but she was still struggling during feeding times! Then the breaking point came....one Thursday at playgroup, she was hungry, I was "full" so I went to latch her on and she screamed at the top of her lungs for 10 minutes while I tearfully just prayed for her to latch on to eat!...only for her to finally latch on for a whole 2 minutes!! Then that afternoon the same thing happened! it was 3pm and she had hardly eaten anything! no wonder she wasn't gaining much weight!! so out of desperation, I frantically pulled my pump out wash all the parts as quickly as I could (i had a crying hungry baby on my hands!!) and pumped for 5 minutes...I got 4oz and offered Violet her very first bottle...she latched on and ate not even one ounce, before coming off and crying again and out of complete exhaustion falls fast asleep. While she slept I got right on the phone with a lactation consultant...after talking though everything with her, she conclude that it wasn't a latching issue...Violet had reflux!!! Actually "Silent Reflux"...she is not one to spit up like a typical reflux baby would...so that's where the silent part comes from. I called my doctor right away...she agreed that it sounded just like reflux and called her in a script that night!!! Ever since being on this medicine she has had not one feeding issue, and just a couple of "reflux episodes" when I get a behind on her meds. We will know for sure next week at her 2 month appointment...but I think she has really started to pack on the pounds too!!! :) I hate hate hate that nursing, something that is should be a source of comfort had been such a source of pain for her first few weeks of life but ohhhh what a relief it was to figure that out!!
Violet is such a sweet baby and has been a much more "smiley" baby then I remember Piper being...she LOVES watching her sister play...and will smile so big after kisses from Piper:) She is already an amazing sleeper (although naps get interrupted by a certain loud big sister quite often)...she does very well laying in her own bed and only joins us in bed the last few hours in the early morning. She sleep propped up on her boppy in her bassinet. She has not taken a liking to her paci...although it is used and she will suck on to it if need be, she is not near as attached to it as Piper was...is;) She gets more and more beautiful everyday...and i am so madly in love with her!!!