First Pediatrician Appointment

From May 12th...

We took Emily to her Pediatrician today. Dr. Tull (Emily's Pediatrician) said she is a beautiful, healthy little girl. She said we can take her off the Reglan, because the Tardive Dyskinesia is a legitimate concern. Dr. Tull stated that a lot of hospitals like to prescribe it, but pediatricians don't really like to use it because it is so controversial and that we definitely don't want to trade a temporary problem (reflux) for a permanent problem (tardive dyskinesia). She said if the reflux is so severe while we're off of Reglan we can always go back on it for a little while and see what happens. But because we have had so little interaction with her because she spent the entire first 2 weeks in the hospital, we don't know how bad the reflux is off of the Reglan. I tend to think the hospital was just being uber-cautious to avoid a lawsuit, and that it's really not that bad. She's spit up on me quite a bit, and it never made me think "WOW, this is insane!!!" Babies reflux and spit-up... some worse than others. But that's why we have the take-home monitor. Her next follow-up appointment is May 24th.

Her apnea monitor went off for the first time yesterday. Gair was holding her and it beeped 3 times. By the 3rd beep, Gair had already re-positioned her and Emily started breathing again. It is set to alarm if she stops breathing for more than 20 seconds (it is common for babies to routinely stop breathing for as much as 20 seconds because their breathing is so irregular).

A final note: Emily was born 8 lbs, 2 oz. She went down to 7 lbs, 12 oz shortly after she was born (all babies lose weight initially). She was 8 lbs, 10 oz on Saturday night when the hospital weighed her for the last time. The Pediatrician's office weighed her today, and she was 8 lbs, 13 oz. So she's gained 11 oz from her birth weight in just 2.5 weeks. And a total of 1 lb 1 oz since her initial weight loss. So apparently eating will not be a problem... this girl can put down some food!