Clarification

Sorry if I caused any confusion with the children's hospital pictures! Those pictures were from her scheduled appointment a few weeks ago where she underwent the Meckel's Scan to rule out a Meckel's Diverticulum in her small intestine. Sydney is doing great!

Children's Hospital Pictures

Heart Monitor

IV

Sedated

Sweet Girl

Here is a picture from Easter Sunday. Sydney isn't wearing her bow in this picture, but it was taken by my friend Sam at brunch, post church (I like to give her little head a break from the bow after she's been wearing it a while). I'll post some more pictures of her in the entire outfit!

Too Cool

Doctor Visit, Daycare, and New Clothes!

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted anything substantial; we've been busy! First of all, Sydney had her 2-month well baby appointment last Wednesday, March 31st (the day after the children's hospital appointment), and it went very well. She is developing right on track, and the doctor also told us that her Meckel's scan was negative! Woo-hoo! She also received her first round of shots at this appointment, which wasn't much fun, but she calmed down pretty quickly and fell asleep for the ride home.

In addition to doctor appointments last week, I went back to work and Sydney started "school". Although it was difficult to go back to work, it's kind of nice to settle in to what will be our normal routine. Sydney has adjusted very well to daycare, and I love picking her up at the end of the day! A few hours away from her makes me miss her so much!

First Day of "School"

After School (Tuckered Out)

Also, our little girl is getting big! A few weeks ago she really started to outgrow her newborn clothing, so I switched her 0-3 month clothing, and everything was HUGE on her, but now she fits into her bigger outfits quite well! Here are some of her new outfits.

Steve Urkel Pants

Update (pictures to follow)

Hello, everyone! Yesterday Sydney had an appointment at the children's hospital for her Meckel's scan. We arrived downtown at 8:00 a.m., they started checking her in right away, and she was sedated by 9:15 a.m. They had her strapped onto the table for the scan by 9:45 (Chet and I were able to sit in the same room while she was getting scanned) and she was finished by 10:45. (The tech who performed the scan told us what to look for on the screen, and nothing ever showed up, which is fantastic. However, the doctor has to read the scan and make the final diagnosis, so it may be a couple of days before we know the official results.) She woke up right around 11:00 a.m., drank some Pedialyte, then a bottle, and we were released! We had instructions to watch her closely and wake her up every couple of hours to feed her until 9:00 p.m. (12 hours after she received the sedative), but she did great, and didn't have any side effects that they warned us about. Good job, Sydney!

Hospital

The reason I haven't posted in a while is because we've been in the hospital! Let me clarify... Sunday we noticed, while changing Sydney's diaper, that she had some blood in her stool. I had recently read about milk allergies being fairly common in babies, and that one of the symptoms was blood in the stool. We called the hospital where she was born and they told us to bring her into the ER to get her checked out. We arrived around 6:30 p.m., and while the triage nurse was taking her temperature (rectally), she had a scary (for us), bloody bowel movement. We were in the ER for about four hours, drawing blood, taking X-rays, and mostly waiting around. The doctors pretty quickly ruled out some very scary things that could result in bloody stools, which is great, but also made it more difficult for them to immediately diagnose the problem. So they admitted her into the hospital (Chet and I were both able to stay with her) around midnight. Her blood work showed that the white blood cell count (specifically the cells that fight allergies) was elevated, indicating a possible milk allergy (or some other kind of allergy, but milk is the most common), so they immediately switched her to formula with the milk protein already broken down, and I quit eating dairy products. During our hospital stay, they continued to monitor her diapers (which were almost immediately less bloody) and draw blood. Thankfully, through all of this, Sydney's demeanor wasn't any different, so it was comforting to know she wasn't in pain. They released us yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.

All that being said, we still don't have a diagnosis, but an accurate diagnosis may take time. We have a follow-up appointment Thursday afternoon. Sydney will remain on the formula until the doctor says to switch back to breast milk, and I won't consume any more dairy products until I decide to stop breastfeeding. When I do switch back to breastfeeding, Chet and I will monitor her stools, making sure there is no blood. If there isn't, then we have our milk allergy diagnosis! If that doesn't work, we try cutting something different from my diet...

There is one more thing. We have an appointment next Tuesday at the nearby children's hospital where Sydney will have a Meckel's Scan. This scan will look at her intestines and (hopefully) rule out Meckel's Diverticulum, which is essentially a small bulge in the small intestine that was present at birth and that causes bloody stools. This disorder requires corrective surgery, but we'll cross that bridge if we even come to it. Thankfully Jacksonville has a children's hospital with a pediatric GI specialist! We'll keep you updated, and please pray for Sydney and the doctors who are caring for her!