Rule #1: Don't let the small stuff get you down

Thanks everyone for being so supportive. I think it was just that everything had kind of built up and I had a mini breakdown. I know that Sylvie's issues are not big deals at all and we're doing everything we can to address what needs to be addressed. So she's small. So what?

Happy news: Sylvie has become a lean, mean (well, sweet actually) waving machine. She waves at stangers in stores and on buses. She waves at Theron and I. She waves at the cat, the dog, the Christmas tree and even the radio. She even sounds like shes saying "Hi!" in her cute Pebbles Flintstone's voice while doing it!

Can I hear you say "Awwwwww!"?

The good news and the not so good news

Sylvie had two doctor's appointments yesterday; one to see about the helmet and the other was her 9 month check-up. The good news is that Sylvie will now only has to wear her helmet for one more month and just overnight and during naps. Yay!

The not so good news is that her growth, already slow to begin with, appears to be plateauing. As of yesterday she weighs 13lbs 13oz and measures 25.5". She's wearing 3-6 month size clothes and stage 1 diapers, (although she'll probably be in stage 2 soon since they are for 14lbs+). Her pediatrician is concerned enough to want Sylvie to see a nutritionist (to teach us how to provide extra calories) and a gastroenterologist (to see if she is possibly having problems absorbing nutrients) and maybe down the road an endocronologist (who would check her gorwth hormone levels). Hearing this really upset me, even though I know that failure to thrive (such a HORRIBLE phrase) is often associated with Noonan Syndrome*. I feel like we are doing something wrong, like not feeding her enough. But she eats! A lot! She gets solids 3-4 times a day plus as much boob juice as she wants! She has yet to reject a single food we've offered her and she is VERY interested in whatever we happen to be eating. The girl loves food. But for some reason, she's just not growing like she should. On the upside, her pediatrician did note that Sylvie is very social and her babbling is indicative of normal intelligence, which lessens some of the other potential concerns associated with Noonan Syndrome.

One other thing which isn't really all that bad but it's not good either is that Sylvie is also a little behind in her gross motor skills**. I've contacted Early Intervention to set up an assessment for her and if necessary they should create a program of therapy to help get her back on track in that regard.

I keep telling myself that we are lucky that Sylvie's issues are not bad at all, a fact that is driven home to me every time I take her to one of her doctors at Children's Hospital where we see so many kids with far worse problems. She's a very happy, inquisitive, content kid. And for that I am so very, very thankful.

*We still haven't had a definite diagnosis on whether or not she has Noonan, and we may never know for sure. It's one of those things that can't always be tested for. She had some blood drawn at her last appointment with the geneticist to screen for a particular mutation that is known to cause Noonan Syndrome but the thing is that only about 50% of kids thought to have Noonan carry this mutation.

**Meaning she's not yet sitting up or trying to pull up to a standing position as is typical for babies her age. However, her fine motor skills, such as picking up a cheerio between her thumb and forefinger and putting it her mouth appear to be, well, fine.

Another reason why self-tanning baby lotion is really unneccesary (as if you needed another reason)

Yesterday, while at Sylvie's Cardiology appointment*, the doctor took one look at her and said, "She sure likes her sweet potatoes, doesn't she?"

Sadly, I've been waiting to hear a comment like that. No, it wasn't because I'd brought her to the appointment still smeared with remnants of her last meal...I may let my baby roll off of a couch, but I DO clean her up before taking her out into public.

No, the truth is that Sylvie has a condition called Carotenemia or Carotenodermia. There's no need to panic though because it just means that her skin has an orange cast because she eats alot of foods that are high in beta carotene, found in orange vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes. Baby food manufactureres seem to try to induce this condition because just about everything in those little baby food jars contains an orange vegetable. The main ingredient for chicken and rice? Carrots. For turkey and rice? Sweet potatoes. For vegetables and chicken? Carrots. And if, like us, you try to save a little money and buy bulk packs of veggies or dinners, most of the jars contain orange food items as the main ingredient. The veggie pack contains peas, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. The dinner pack contains chicken and rice, turkey and rice, turkey and sweet potatoes and macaroni beef. 8 out of those 11 different types of baby food are primarily carrots or sweet potatoes.

Frankly, I'm amazed she isn't as orange as an Oompa-Loopa by now.

*Because of Sylvie's two minor heart defects, she sees a cardiologist every 6 months. She had a brief electrocardiogram (heart monitor thingie) and an echocardiagram (ultrasound on the heart) and both showed no problems. Yay! We've been told that she will most likely require heart surgery in a few years because the defects she has can become problematic later in life, but the doctor said that with the current surgical techniques her hospital stay would be less than a week and probably only about 3 weeks till full recovery. Sounds about as bad as the appendectomy I had when I was 14!

Stalking the Wild Cheerio

We've started giving Sylvie a couple of Cheerios with each meal and as a result, I've discovered new and fascinating things about what I thought was merely another breakfast cereal. I never thought I'd say this but they seem to posess some sort of basic animal instinct for survival. Watching Sylvie trying to eat them somewhat reminds me of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: Sylvie stalks her prey slowly; she leans forward in her highchair and bats at the rings like a cat with a mouse until finally, her chubby fist pounces! For good measure she whacks her closed fist with the Cheerio trapped inside on the tray, stunning the crunchy oat ring sensless before bringing it to her gaping, toothless maw. Oh, but the Cheerio is a cunning creature, clinging tenaciously to the palm and temporarily thwarting Sylvie's attempt to gum it to death. She'll bite down on her thumb, then look confused--oh wait, that's not it--pull her hand back and open her fist to make sure the Cheerio is still there, then bring it back into her mouth and try to fit her whole fist inside so the Cheerio cannot escape. But the Cheerio remains safely encapsulated inside of her own hand! Oh you wily, sneaky Cheerio! When she does finally achieve her goal the Cheerio still has a trick or two up it's sleeve (or it would if it had sleeves) and will slip out on a stream of drool, seeking refuge on Sylvie's chin. She knows it's there but can't quite see it, even when she tucks her chin into her chest. At last however the O, weakened by the prolonged mauling, succumbs to a swipe of her sticky tongue and disappears into the abyss. 

Funky Helmet, Helmet's got the Funk!

Sylvie is 8 months old today! She's getting so big now; still on the lean side but long. Just this morning she demonstrated a new trick; one-handed clapping! Er, sort of. To explain---often while nursing Sylvie will smack her free open hand against my chest repeatedly. I started to put my hand in between hers and my chest, moving it counter to hers so that we were in effect clapping. When I first began to do this she seemed irritated and would grab at my fingers and pull my hand down as if to get it out of the way of hers. But this morning, she appeared to catch on to what I was doing and stopped nursing to focus on our clapping. Theron was watching and after we'd clapped a few times, she'd look up at him and smile really big as if to say, "See how well I've got mommy trained?"

She goes back to the doctor's office today for an assessment of her noggin. Please keep all relevant body appendages crossed that she will soon be free of her helmet. It really hasn't bothered her much to wear the helmet, but despite swabbings with alcohol and antibacterial stuff and coatings of cornstarch to absorb wetness, it kinda stinks like an old shoe. What can I say, my kid has a sweaty head.

This evening, Theron and I are interviewing a daycare provider who is based back in Watertown. We've heard great things about this place and while it's not overly convenient to our new digs, it's close to the design studio where Theron often does contract work. In fact, he's been offered a full time contract job until the end of January. We keep hoping that it'll become permanent, so keep those relevant appendages crossed for that to happen too.

October update

October has been a great month for our girl...she's pretty much figured out the whole cause and effect thing (drop toy, mom or dad picks up toy, rinse, repeat), is very close to being able to sit up on her own and is making a few almost crawling movements. Her vocalizations are increasing in variety with cute experiments in tempo, pitch and musicality. In fact, Theron swears she sang the first few bars of the Beach Boy's "Barbra Ann" recently. Another neat thing she's started doing is showing/sharing with us her toys. For example, she'll intently examine one of the dangly bits on her whozit, such as the fuzzy orange heart or the green polkadotted ring, and then hold it out to us. Is it silly that I take this as a sign that she's a clever kid? This month we also had a visit with Gr'Aunt J, Gr'Uncle T, first-cousin-once-removed B, his wife L and their daughter T who is Sylvie's 2nd cousin. (I think I've got the familial relationships correct!) 

We also visited Salem with Sylvie decked out in her official Space Baby uniform, and she later made a a brief appearance at her first Halloween party. G'ma J was kind enough to babysit so that Space Ghost('s evil twin) and the "Milky Way" were able to stay out and par-TAY at A and S's 4th Annual Halloween Spookstravaganza.

Fenugreek is my galactagogue...AGAIN

I've always thought that people who breast fed their kids for 2+ years were a bit crazy. When a kid can walk over to you and yank up your shirt and nurse while standing, or can ask, "muhmah, might I have a nip o' the nip?" then they are WAY too old to be hanging off your tit in my opinion.

I still believe this, but to each her own I suppose.

My point, however, is that I can understand the desire to prolong the closeness that only comes with breast feeding. My experience with it, aside from a slight difficulty in getting Sylvie to stay latched on in the beginning, has been mostly easy and painless. I love how her little hand waves around like a piece of seaweed in a current, sometimes reaching to touch my face or wrapping around my finger while she nurses.

But despite the fact that I've not reduced the number of daily feedings or pumpings, my supply is once again dwindling. I've heard that some babies self-wean, but Sylvie is as eager for the boob juice as ever she was...I know this because when I pick her up out of her crib each morning or after I get home from work she immediately plants her face against my chest/shoulder/arm and begins hoovering away; our little space baby in search of the milky way.

I'm taking fenugreek again but so far it is not having the desired effect. Is my body ready to wean Sylvie even if I am not?

Stupid body.

Well, I suppose some breast milk is better than none. Luckily, she tolerates an occasional bottle of supplemental formula and she certainly loves her solid food!

September update

In the past 7 months she's grown a great deal; not so much in size as in personality. Although still a very laid back baby, she does occasionally get frustrated and isn't afraid to let everyone know it. She's not yet sitting unsupported or crawling but she is a lean, mean rolling machine and if something is out of reach by hand, she'll use her little monkey feet to grab it. She's very ticklish when she's in the mood to be and giggles, squeals and squawks when Theron or I pretend to gnaw on her ribs or chew on her chubby thighs, (which are so very, very chewy.) She would dearly love to make friends with Izzy, but the beagle is a little reluctant to do so. Smudge is more accomodating and allows Sylvie to grab and yank handfuls of fur without so much as a twitch. (BTW I do admonish Sylvie to "be gentle with the kitty", but so far she hasn't quite grasped what that means.) She's proving to be a rather sharp kid, having figured out that there's a latch on my nursing tank tops which she tries to undo when in the mood for boob juice and last night she was very intently examining one of the toy attachments on her whozit, rolling it this way and that in her hands to make it rattle. As for our girl's weight, she is now up to 12lbs 13oz. What's funny is that because of her leaness and thatch of hair, to me she has the look of a toddler despite her overall small size. Sylvie's dietary experience has continued to broaden with the additions of applesauce, green beans, mangos, bananas and as of last night, meat! She gobbled down pureed beef with carrots like a true gourmand. No doubt about it, this kid can eat. I guess that it's just mostly going to support her hair growth!

Wee Wallis indeed

 At Sylvie's 6 month checkup on 9/2, she weighed in at a not-so-whopping 12lbs 1 oz. This puts her below the 5th percentile meaning that over 95% of babies her age are larger than she is. This alone would not be alarming except that at her 4 month appointment she was in the 10th percentile and at her 2 month appointment she was in the 25th percentile. So although she is growing, the rate at which she is growing appears to have slowed. Her pediatrician, Dr. Gonzalez decided to go ahead and perform blood work (usually done at the 9 month check-up, which tests for lead and such) to check her thyroid function.

Another possible cause behind her slow growth could be related to the fact that Sylvie was born with a few of birth defects; an ectopic kidney, and two congenital heart defects; an small atrial septal defect or ASD, and a cleft mitral valve which may or may not require surgery down the road. Slow growth nonwithstanding, so far these defects have had no obvious affect on our girl's health. But the fact that she is rather small and has these defects led us, on the advice of our pediatrician, to consult with a genetics specialist who advanced the possibilty that  Sylvie has Noonan's syndrome.

If indeed this is what Sylvie has, then she appears to be only mildy affected. She is reaching all of her age appropriate milestones and Dr. Gonzalez noted that she is quite strong and active. As I said earlier, the cardiac defects and renal anomolies have not been problematic and, God willing, never will be. Sylvie sees a cardiologist and a urologist every six months or so in order to monitor her condition. 

To put all the scary medical stuff in perspective, my mother is of "short stature" and also has a mild heart defect (for which she's never required surgery) and it obviously hasn't held her back any!

August update

This has been a big month for Sylvie. She's discovered the delightful chewiness of her feet, tasted her first solid food (rice cereal, sweet potatoes, apple and pear), is rolling over with great regularity and has decided that she prefers to sleep on her stomach. I'm beginning to think that our wee one has/is going to have quite a wicked sense of humor from the sly little grins that appear on her face. She still doesn't respond much to zerberts, but she makes some fantastic squawking noises whenever Theron tickles her belly with his beard stubble!

The Shape of Things part II

We took Sylvie to see the specialist again yesterday to further discuss her oddly shaped noggin. We have continued to try positional therapy at home and though the doctor did notice some slight improvement, her head is still wider than it is long and he recommended we go forward with the helmet. We were given a prescription and directed to the "Brace Shop", (sound familiar dad?), to get the exact dimensions of Sylvie's head so that a helmet could be custom made for her.

Thanks to modern technology, the casting process I mentioned in my last posting on this subject is no longer necessary. Instead, a super nice doctor pulled a soft, stretchy bit of material over her head to hold down her "voluminous" hair (his words), and then I lay her face up on a machine which the doctor likend to a supermarket scanner...(I'm sure there is some great quip I could insert here about how she rang up as a 10lb bag of apples or something but nothing good is coming to me). A few seconds later, a 3-D scan of Sylvie's head appeared on the computer screen.

So with no muss and very little fuss, Sylvie was measured for her crash hemlet and has an appointment for her final fitting on 9/6. We were told that she'll most likely only have to wear it for 8-10 wks as she is entering a period of rapid growth which should cause the reshaping to go quite swiftly. This means that we'll have to incorporate the helmet into her halloween costume (astronaut? Evil Kneivel? human cannonball?) but she'll be out of it in time for the 1 billion and 1 Xmas photos that will undoubtedly be taken of her.

Don't pee on my pancakes and tell me its maple syrup

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the amount of freshly squeezed boob juice I was able to pump while at work had lessened a great deal. I understand that there are a variety of reasons why this could be happening, from the impending return of Aunt Flo from her long hiatus to the accumulated stress of house hunting/buying. As I would prefer to continue to breastfeed Sylvie for at least a year, I figured I needed to do something to get my milk production back up to quota. My OB/GYN referred me to a lactation specialist who suggested that I try taking the herbal supplement fenugreek. This herb is a known "galactogogue" which, though it sounds like some sort of fiendish overlord from a sci-fi pulp novel, just means it's an agent that promotes the secretion of milk. I bought a bottle of fenugreek at a local GNC and started popping the prescribed 3 capsules, 3 times a day.

After taking the herb for the past several days, my Maternal Order of Milk Ducts Union is no longer striking. There is an interesting side effect however, one that anyone who has ever eaten asparagus with dinner knows about from the sharp reminder of having done so when they pee the following morning. Turns out that fenugreek is one of those quirky little plants with the ability of imbuing one's sweat and urine with a noticeable odor. In the case of fenugreek, it's maple syrup, which is why I've been smelling like a waffle house lately.

So friggin' CUTE

I know I'm biased but that doesn't make it any less true!

A new taste sensation!

The Shape of Things

Despite the fact that Theron and I have tried to be diligent about giving Sylvie plenty of tummy time and positioning her head to encourage it to round out, she has been diagnosed with plagiocephaly; specifically brachycephaly. Basically, those are both big, scary medical terms that mean her head is shaped funny. Our pediatrician referred us to a specialist who, after making sure there was no internal cause for the shape, (such as premature closing of the sutures of her skull), suggested that our best course of action is to have her fitted for a helmet or band which should reshape her head over the course of few months. I've been doing lots of research online and apparently, this is not an uncommon thing since the medical establishment encourages that babies be put on their backs to sleep and of course an oddly shaped head is vastly preferable to a heightened risk of SIDS. From what I've read, Sylvie is at the ideal age for this treatment and should only have to wear the device for 3-4 months. What stinks is that she'll have to wear it 23 hrs out of every day, removing it only for bathing. I'm somewhat comforted by the case studies I've found which all indicate that the child quickly becomes accustomed to wearing the helmet/band. I'm pretty sure she will be less than thrilled with the casting part though. We're scheduled to meet with the specialist again next month to go over details. I'll keep you posted.

Jibber Jabber

Yesterday, Theron called me at work just I could hear Sylvie jabbering away over the phone. The best way to describe her current vocalization is probably as a cross beteen a tiger cub yowling and a prolonged duck quack. This is her conversational, or "I'm just talking to hear myself talk" noise. As previously mentioned, car rides seem to be her favorite time to practise the fine art of wailing. Then there is the cooing, the sighing and the involuntary grunting when she's making stinky cheese in her pants (...and boy is it stinky, like fermented Velveeta). Her giggle will bubble up out of nowhere, a wry "huh, huh," and she's started peppering her jabber with a happy screech on occasion. I guess that means that the unhappy screeches can't be to far behind.

Official Stats: 4 months

4 months old and she's still no Big Enchilada. At yesterday's pediatric appointment we found out that Sylvie is now 10lbs 12oz and 23 1/4", meaning she's gained about one pound and one inch for each month she has been alive. Can you believe that she has yet to outgrow any of her newborn clothes?