Just Like Mommy

Caroline has now become attached to her "blankie." Actually, it is just a really thin burp cloth with a ladybug embroidered on it, but to her it's her security blanket. Now when she goes to sleep, she takes her blankie and rubs or covers her face with it. It's too cute! The funny thing is, I used to have a blanket myself that I was VERY attached to. My mom says Caroline reminds her of me and how I used to hold the blanket over my nose and face when I slept or was tired. Like mother, like daughter!

Doing Better

Caroline's tummy seems to be doing better. After continuing to worsen at the end of last week we, along with Dr. Prose, decided to stop the steroid for the weekend to see if this helped improve her tummy troubles. It did, but unfortunately the hemangioma started to grow again. She had to restart the steroid on Monday, and this was just confirmation that it's not time to wean her off quite yet. Even with restarting the steroid however, her stomach issues are still much improved. I'm hoping that the little break allowed her tummy to heal some and allowed the carafate (medicine to coat her tummy) to do it's job. So for now, it looks like we won't have to put her through any testing, thank goodness! Please pray that this continues because she's a much more comfortable little baby, which makes all of us a lot happier for sure!

3 months old!

Caroline is three months old! Happy 3 month birthday, sweet girl!

Back to Duke

Caroline's stomach pain continued to worsen over the last few days despite being prescribed a new medication to "coat" her tummy. Yesterday she was in a lot of pain and crying with nearly every bottle and even in between feedings. Her pediatrician and Dr. Prose felt it necessary for her to be seen today by the pediatric gastroenterologist at Duke to get another opinion about what might be going on. Dr. Ulshen (peds GI) is not convinced that her problems are necessarily due to the steroids. They very well might be, but in his years of experience treating kids with steroids he has not had a child develop stomach issues as serious as Caroline's (Dr. Prose has said the same thing). It could be that she has something else going on that would have developed anyway and just coincidentally occurred the same time the steroids were started. The only way to know for sure is to perform some tests- an endoscopy and upper GI x-ray. The endoscopy would require her to receive anesthesia and be put to sleep while Dr. Ulshen looked down her throat and into her stomach. However, because the new medication may take a few days to really take full affect, we're going to wait to see if she improves over the next day or so before putting her through any testing. Dr. Prose is also willing to stop the steroid for a while and just monitor her hemangioma for growth to see if this improves her tummy troubles. If so, we would know that they were due to the steroids. So, for the next couple of days, we will just see how she does. If she doesn't improve, she will probably have the testing done sometime next week. Please keep Caroline in your prayers that her stomach would heal on it's own, the new medication would begin to work, and the testing won't be necessary.

Will you be my friend?

Caroline wants to know who her blogging friends are! Let her know that you are watching her grow by clicking on the "Follow this blog" icon on the right of the page.

Update on tummy issues and new pics....

Unfortunately, the meds have not had the effect on the tummy problems that we were hoping for. In fact, over the last few days, Caroline has just seemed to get worse. I took her back to the pediatrician's office this morning to get some advice for next steps, and they will be consulting with Dr. Prose at Duke today and call me when they decide what to do. Adding a medication that would "coat" her stomach is one option. We saw Dr. Prose this past Friday, and the steroid dose has been reduced by a bit. The plan would be to keep an eye on any growth/change in the hemangioma while trying to gradually taper the steroid over the next six weeks or so. We were hopeful that the decrease in the steroid may help the tummy problems too, but that just isn't the case. Hopefully the doctors can work together to find a plan to bring her some relief. Taking a bottle is supposed to be pleasurable for a baby, not a pain-filled experience! One thing the reflux isn't affecting is her weight. Today she weighed 10 pounds! She's gained 12 ounces in 9 days- whoa!! You can see a little bit of a double chin in the picture above (smile). I told Caroline to wear that double chin with pride- it's the only time in her life when that will be considered "cute!" Now for some good "normal" baby news and milestones... Caroline literally seems to change and develop everyday. She is now holding toys and rattles well and is really proud of this new skill. She has discovered her hands and how to use them- including pulling mommy's hair and any type of jewelry she is wearing! She is continuing to smile, and now coo, babble and squeal/scream (she really likes to hear herself make this noise!). She is really strong and loves to sit up with some assistance- we've tried her in her "bumbo" chair a few times and she seems to like it. She's very interested in our faces and reaches up to touch our nose, mouth, etc. She's at a really fun age right now! Here are some recent pictures: I love my leapfrog bouncy chair! My blankie and my paci are my two best friends! This is my friend, "bug." She plays music and lights up and has really fun "crinkle" wings. She's my favorite toy right now. Here I am in my "bumbo" seat. I think I like it.....maybe... So Sweet!!

Tummy Troubles

It seems we have traded one problem for another.... Caroline's hemangioma continues to respond to the steroids and I think it looks a little better each week. It continues to stay stable and has not grown. The trade off- the steroids are tearing up her little tummy. She has horrible reflux which is interfering with her ability to take her bottle at times. Sometimes she turns her head away from the bottle, then cries because she's hungry but too uncomfortable to eat. She is also spitting up more. Three nights ago she was in so much pain with her 6pm bottle.... turning her head, crying out, scrunching her little legs to her tummy in as tight of a ball as she could get- she wasn't the only one in tears! This prompted me to call Dr. Prose that evening on his cell phone. Yes, Dr. Prose gave me his personal cell phone to use if necessary- unbelievable! How many doctors care that much about their patients that they make themselves that available? He was so very kind, and after some research on his part we now have her on two antacid medications and have increased the doses on both, and have separated out the dose of the steroid into three even doses spread throughout the day. She seems to be somewhat better and I'm hoping that as the new meds get into her system she will continue to improve. I am taking her back to see Dr. Prose at Duke tomorrow morning. Also because of her tummy sensitivity she has not been able to tolerate anything but breast milk. This is fine except that she is beginning to need more than I can keep up with, so this has been a struggle. The poor girl empties her entire stomach anytime formula is tried. For now I am pumping around the clock day and night to keep up with her so I don't have to supplement with any formula. I'm pretty emotionally and physically exhausted for many reasons. Please keep Caroline in your prayers, especially tomorrow as we return to Duke that the right decisions will be made regarding continuing/decreasing the steroid, and that her tummy troubles will continue to improve. Despite being uncomfortable at times, she is still the happy, easy-going smiley baby she's always been. She is truly so very sweet and is just a joy! She is certainly the sunshine in my life right now!! I'll post some new pictures later and give an update on all her new "tricks." She just keeps growing and growing!!