I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to share the latest news, and figured for the amount of detail I want to share, a blog post would be best. I was going to write a blog post anyway after Connor's 4 month check up so I could share his measurements--I just assumed they would be positive. Unfortunately, they're not so good. Connor has been dropping in percentiles since birth. He started in the 55% for his weight when he was 2 days old. He then moved to the 37% by 2 weeks. He was suppose to be back up to his birth weight (8 lbs 6 oz, or 8.37 lbs) by that age, but was only 8.16 lbs.
His doctor wasn't too concerned at that point, but had me bring him in for a weight check at one month. He was 8.6 lbs then, putting him in the 27th percentile. For his two month appointment, Connor dropped to the 16% with 10.6 lbs. I was slightly concerned, but I knew Paige had also been near the bottom of the curve. She was petite, but she followed her growth curve pretty well and stayed around the 20%. I guessed Connor would be the same way.
It was all fine until we weighed him last week at his 4 month appointment. Connor only weight 11.3 lbs. This means he didn't even gain a full pound in two months. He is now in the 0.33% for his age. Obviously, when you take the weight of all babies and make percentages, someone's going to be on the bottom. But where he started healthy and average and has dropped so significantly, there's now reason to be concerned.
To preface, I really like Connor's doctor. He's been super supportive of things I want to do and I feel like he really listens and knows what he's doing. I would recommend him to anyone. So when he kindly told me that Connor needs supplementation, I knew that was the right answer. His doctor wants me to continue nursing him as his primary source of food, but to add 8 to 10 ounces of formula a day, mostly for the sake of calories.
I'm confused as to why Connor's not gaining weight well. He nurses almost every two hours. I feed him until he's content, and he's good until he naps and then wants to eat again. He's also nowhere near sleeping through the night. He's back to wanting to eat about every two or three hours overnight as well. With all the feedings I am literally and figuratively drained. When I pump, I get two or three ounces at a time, which should be sufficient. With all this, he should be a chunky baby, but instead, he's pretty chicken boned.
We've been adding formula for a week now. He takes it just fine. It's been nice to let Stephen and even Paige help out with the feedings a bit. I still am nursing, sometimes more frequently now with a handful of sessions within a few hours. He does one 4-hour stretch between 8 and 12, but then after that, I'm feeding him as often as is reasonable. It's hard to say if it's working or not since I don't have an infant scale, but we'll take him back in at 5 months to check. One thing that has increased is the amount he spits up. If anyone wants to send more burp clothes, we always seem to be in need of one.
Other than his weight concerns, Connor is doing pretty well. He's hitting all of his developmental milestones just fine. He's chatty and playful. He loves to be looked at and tickled. He thinks Paige is hilarious, and she has fun making him laugh. He rolls from his tummy to his back, this time more purposefully, and is starting to be interested in toys. He's doing better with accepting the car seat, but still prefers to be held essentially always. There's lots of positives in his life, so if we can figure out this eating thing (and then the sleeping thing) we're good to go.
Paige has been doing really well. She's so smart. She's still obsessed with the show Daniel Tiger, and often sings the songs or quotes lines from the show in her life. She is a good helper and loves to "work together" with me. We've taken the plunge and gotten rid of her pacifiers. It's day three, so whose to say how effective it will be, but she's doing better than I worried she might. Potty training isn't doing that well, though. It takes a lot of endurance on my end, and lately, that's been lacking.
Let's have a quick recap of the past few months with some noteworthy events:
We spent a few days at Stephen's family cabin. It was really nice to spend time with extended family and let Paige explore nature and be a bit more adventurous than normal. I appreciate the time to disconnect and live a little simpler. I'm grateful to be a part of Stephen's family--they are very welcoming to me and fun to be with.
Stephen and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. He took me out on a fun date where we ate at a food truck (something that's been on my bucket list), took selfies in front of three temples, went mini golfing, and ate frozen yogurt. It was nice to have a childless date for the first time since Connor was born.
Over Labor Day weekend, we hosted Stephen's Sister and her family. It was the first time we had them at our house. Paige had a lot of fun playing with her cousin Elise, and it was cute to compare Connor with his cousin Spencer, who is only a few weeks older than him. We loved having the Page family over and enjoyed out time with them.
Stephen and I participated in our first yard sale. Our community does yard sales twice a year, so we decided to get rid of some of our stuff and sell it for cheap. We probably didn't even sell half of it, but we did make like, $40 or something close to it. The neighborhood kids were our best customers. It was a good experience, and we'll probably do it again someday.
Well, that's my recap. Keep Connor in your thoughts that things improve for him and that there are no significant complications. I really hope this is just the problem and not a symptom of a bigger problem. Things could be worse, but they also could be better. And maybe one day, I'll sleep through the night again. Maybe.
