18 Months

Happy 18 months Hayley Jane

When I had Hayley she was a great size baby weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz.  We came home, I was readmitted to the hospital with preeclampsia and by the time we got home and got her to the pediatrician Hayley had lost some weight.  We all agreed that my preeclampsia had thrown things off and we would have another weight check in a week…lost weight.  We went on to have more and more weight checks where Hayley wasn’t losing weight but just wasn’t gaining enough.  Then the crying started.  I thought she was colicky.  I swaddled her, I shh’ed her, I rocked and bopped and swayed for hours and hours on end.  She cried and I cried along with her.  Finally I decided to stop nursing her and put her on gentle formula and zantac for reflux.  It worked!!  Then after about 2 weeks, she cried and cried and started vomiting and spitting up all the time.  I got the number of a very highly recommended GI Specialist and her office told me they could give me an appointment…… in 3 months….3 MONTHS!!!!  I cried and nicely asked the woman to please squeeze us in, nothing…I told her my daughter would be dead in 3 months if we couldn’t figure out how to get her to start gaining weight and keeping food down.  The woman didn’t even flinch and I hung up….crying.  I then decided to write what I called a desperate mother’s plea.  I emailed the doctor, I told her about my beautiful little baby girl and how much I loved her.  I told her how she wasn’t gaining enough weight and I was petrified she wouldn’t thrive.  I told the doctor how scared I was.  Willing to sit in the waiting room for an entire day till she could squeeze me in and you know what the doctor said when she replied (right away) she said none of that was necessary and she would fit Hayley in for a visit in the next day or two!!!!  Dr. Verma was our hero!!  She listened, she was kind, funny and you could tell she truly cared about Hayley.  Hayley was put on Similac Alimentum, with cereal in every bottle, we switched her to Prilosec and SHE THRIVED!!!  Hayley went from the 5th percentile, to the 14th, to the 24th, to the 42nd and today on her 18 month check up Hayley Baby checked into the 62nd percentile!!!!!!