Corn Allergy...next up Dairy

We discovered that Corn is not Emma's friend. Bleh, Corn is in everything. Tomorrow, I will be trying some cheese and we will see how Miss Emma does with that. Hoping that she will tolerate dairy, as I am bored with the TED.

Mooooooo

Emma is feeling much better. She actually got in some good sleep today (unlike her mommy). But, she went to bed at 9 and gave her daddy a 2 hour reprive. He is learning and she is getting used to his style. She was such a cutie today with all her gummy open mouth smiles....so cute!!!!

I fed her at 8 and then pumped at 12:30AM and pumped 8 oz. I was floored. I didn't expect that much. We'll see what I get at 3:30. I usually try to pump every 3 hours while I am at work. By the time I make it home she has already eaten so I try to pump before I leave work.

I think that Emma had a reaction to Coconut, but I'm not sure. That's off my list of things to eat - not that I was a huge coconut fan anyway.

Almonds

I think we have found our main allergent. Since starting this new diet, Emma has started pooping more. Because her little bottom was starting to get irritated from all of the extra diaper activity - I started using Burt's Bee Diaper Ointment. Okay, so after 2 days I noticed it was getting worse. In fact, I put a wipe on her little bootie and went to go get the ointment and came back to find a little speck of blood from her skin around her anus. Ugh, poor baby! I looked at the tube and read the ingredients....Main ingredient: Almond Oil. Well dang! I guess all those pecans, walnuts and almonds I was eating until I went on the diet were the main culprit for her rash.

Of course, we found out this week that Michael was allergic to everything as a baby and he had asthma which predisposes Emma to have tree nut allergies. Maybe, she isn't allergic to dairy after all. Not going to risk it at this time - will try dairy products further down the road.

In the meantime, we are trying to heal our little baby's butt!

Daddy not sleeping

Tonight is the 3rd night that Michael has been caring for Emma alone while I am at work. I did a tapered return to work so that he could get used to it before being slammed with 36 hours in a row. Last Sunday wasn't so bad. Last night - she slept maybe 2 hours. Tonight, he has already given her 8 oz. and called twice saying she wouldn't sleep. I told him to swaddle her, finish feeding her and then put her down (because I knew she would fall asleep in her arms).

He called back to tell me it worked. I'm praying it does work, because I feel bad for both of them. Is she experiencing separation anxiety at 2 months old? I don't know but I'm hoping they both get some quality sleep now.

Day 3 of TED, 2 Month checkup and shots funny

Today, was Day 3 of the diet. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Turkey Bacon for breakfast. Turkey Burgers and Rice for lunch. Apple Pear for a snack. Chicken Wings and Sweet Potato for dinner. Yummy!

Also, we had Emma's 2 month checkup today. She weighed 12lbs. 2oz., 22.5 inches long. Her umbilical hernia is minor and should heal up on its own. And the hemangioma shouldn't be a problem. However, when I arrived I told the nurse that we would not be doing vaccines (I did this so that she wouldn't prepare them) We decided to do a delayed immunization schedule (I just haven't decided how delayed yet). So, the pediatrician asked me what we were doing about vaccines and I said we weren't doing them today, especially with her having allergy issues. He told me that vaccines wouldn't really interfere or cause any other allergy issues...huh?

Then, after the long song and dance about how good they are for her now, as well as later. That he would be more than happy to do them in a month so that she could resume the normal schedule at 4 months. Ha ha! Okay, is that like running an ad that says "Bring your baby in and let us stab her in the legs multiple times and then she will be irritable for days". Umm, no thanks. Don't get me wrong, I have my reasons for not vaccinating now. We aren't doing daycare. The whole family is vaccinated and she is not around anyone who is not vaccinated. We will do immunizations, just not now.

All in all, a very good week. A bummer that I have to go to work tomorrows - 2 days this weekend. Boo! But, I have to do it so I might as well accept it.

Moving on to Day 4!

Day 2 of TED

Well, hmm as one who loves food I was not excited about today's menu. But first, let me recap on yesterday's menu.

Breakfast - Apple pear

Lunch - Two turkey burgers fried in a nonstick pan with steak seasoning. At the end, when they are done, I put in about 2 tbsp of olive oil to moisten up the burgers and give me something to put over the rice. I made 1 1/2 servings of rice.

Snack - Butternut squash baby food (tasted like spaghetti sauce) and a pear

Dinner - 3 turkey wings (grilled), a sweet potato with salt & pepper (would have preferred cinnamon butter) and a squash concoction (3 yellow squash, 1 zuccini (boiled) strained water, mashed, add: 1/2 cup rice milk, salt/pepper, 1 tbsp minced onion, 1 tbsp olive oil - place back on heat, stir well and serve warm.

I fed this to the whole family. It was pretty good, I used a lil too much pepper.

Dessert - baked pear

Day one success.


Day two

I would rather have anything but the above. I want dairy and lots of it, but I would settle for chocolate of any shape or form. But then I looked at my little baby person and her rash was better and her nose wasn't congested. Okay, I do this for another day.

Our power was out for most of the morning, due to the storm that rolled thru in the night.

Breakfast - Pear Juice

Snack - 6 turkey sausages (I was starving by this time.)

Lunch - 2 turkey burgers with rice.

Snack - Pear

Dinner - I think I'm gonna have some more turkey wings and maybe tonight I will make hash browns.

Moving on to day 3, the worst day of any new diet. Pray I make it thru. I will though cuz all I have to do is look at her little face.

Dieting of any kind sucks. Oh and I have had horrible, I mean really stinky horrible gas all day (and so has she).

TED starts today

Due to the possibility of a Milk Protein allergy and now a possible peanut allergy, we are doing the total elimination diet. Day 1 - Turkey, Rice, Butternut squash and Pears. 30 days of this - so excited.

First night back to work

Let's just say that it did not go the way i planned. It started at 7 am - normal day except for haul ass to finish 4th grade science project for ODD. Baby was super gassy due to a strong dislike to fenugreek. She cluster fed all thru the day and in between I worked on the science project. Finished that at 5:30 pm and started to try and get ready for work. My original plan was to work 11p - 7a and start on a Sunday because it would be slower. I went in at 9:40 cuz I got the baby down at 7.

We worked all night! Almost 9 hours, no lunch, one pumping session, no nap = dead dog butt tired. I ended up using the pump at work - this thing is a dinosaur. However, it was quicker for me to use that than set mine up and I had no time. I wasn't sure how to adjust the suction and could hear no change when turning the dial....the person that pumped before me...let's just say they had nipples of steel.

I went 6 hours between pumpings and expressed 6.5 oz. Then, I came home after being up 24+ hours and tried to feed Emma. She ate on the right and I fell asleep. She ate on the left and I pumped the right and got another 3 oz. I was so tired. I tried to take her to bed with me, both of us just panties and she fussed. 4 hours later, I asked my husband to feed her so I could conch out. I ended up swaddling her and out we both went down for a four hour nap. Got up - boobs full and worried about my first night back to work causing a decrease in milk production.