Fat Girl Bottles and Alarmist Pediatricians

So...I mentioned in Miller's 4 month post that she had lost a little weight at her last doctor's appointment. After an ultrasound to make sure she didn't have pyloric stenosis and blood work to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, they told us to add rice to her bottles to help with the reflux and also add formula for extra calories. We have since been referring to this combo as the Fat Girl Bottle.

Well, we tried the Fat Girl Bottle for about a week, and when we went back to the doctor, she said that she still didn't feel like Miller had gained enough weight. She said she was very concerned and that she wanted Miller to have an Upper GI. Fred and I said okay, even though we thought this was overkill and did not want to put Miller through ANOTHER traumatic hospital experience. When we found out that the Upper GI couldn't be scheduled until 2 days before Miller's next weigh-in, I called the doctor and asked if we could just wait until after the weight check and do the Upper GI then IF Miller still hadn't gained weight. Well, the doctor completely freaked out, said that she was VERY concerned about Miller and that when she had consulted another doctor in the practice he had asked why Miller hadn't already been admitted to the hospital and said that if it wasn't Christmas she would have already admitted her. She said that if Miller did not have a "miraculous" weight gain before her next check that she would want to admit her....WHAT?

Ya'll, the kid has grown in height, she is happier than she has ever been, she is meeting all of her developmental milestones, and she is eating, sleeping and pooping. I knew that there was nothing wrong with her. Now, those of y'all that know me well know that I can be a pretty big hypochondriac. If I say nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong! However, the doctor had me freaking out at that point so we agreed to do the stupid test, which was scheduled for 2 days after Christmas.

On the day of the test, Miller had to go without eating for 4 hours, which I thought would be awful. However, I think that the Fat Girl Bottle must be really filling, because she didn't seem to mind at all. When we went in for the Upper GI, we found out that the doctor also wanted her to have x-rays of her small bowel, which meant that we would have to stay at the hospital for 2 more hours. Ummm....I am still a little concerned as to why NOBODY told me this beforehand. Luckily, I came prepared with a granola bar or I could have possibly starved to death in the time that we were there which turned out to be about 3 stupid hours.

Anyway, Miller did not cry a tear throughout the whole ordeal, and she drank her barium bottle like a champ, and OF COURSE everything came back normal just like we knew it would. The x-ray tech actually said, "Y'all have seen everything from her neck to her toes, so I don't think ANYTHING could be wrong with her!"

So, this morning we went back for another weight check. We were sure that the doctor would come up with some other thing that must be wrong with her or that she would still decree "not enough" weight gain and say she had to go into the hospital. We were fully prepared to grab Miller and run out of there before we let that happen.

Well, I guess it was a Few-Days-After-Christmas Miracle, because the doctor said she had gained plenty of weight and that she must be fine. She also said that there had been a baby patient there at some point who had DIED, because he had an intestinal malrotation that was causing him to spit up a lot, and they just thought it was a virus. This was why she was acting so paranoid about Miller. Seriously, Dr. I-Won't-Say-Your-Name-On-Here-So-I-Don't-Get-Sued?!?! That would have been nice to know ahead of time!

I am secretly a little disappointed that we didn't get to get in a fight with the doctor today, because I had so many awesome comebacks prepared. Want to hear my favorite? It goes like this..."Well, Dr. So and So, babies grow at different rates and are genetically predisposed to be different sizes. OBVIOUSLY my baby would weigh less than yours, for example." Ha ha. Zing!

Bottom line: While we really enjoyed Miller's first Christmas, there was a bit of a dark cloud over it due to all of this ridiculous medical drama. Obviously, Miller is just going to be skinny like her mom. Duh. I will leave you with an image that proves Boo Boo is not wasting away. Look at those cheekies!

Christmas, Part 2

Yesterday, we went to Columbia to celebrate Christmas with Fred's family. Miller and her six cousins has a great time getting stockings from Santa, who made a special trip a few days late, and opening gifts from family. Miller did a great job considering how crazy it was and the fact that she has had a rough few days. (More on that in my next post.) Miller enjoyed getting loved on by all her cousins, especially Elizabeth, who is only about 8 months older. They are going to be best friends!

Miller and E Baby

Miller and Olivia

Miller and Claire

Miller and Grace

I guess the boy cousins weren't so interested in sitting around holding a baby. Last, but not least, here is a poor attempt at a picture of all the kids together with Memama (Fred's mom)...

Yep, that's mine screaming bloody murder.

By the way, if you have noticed that my last few posts have been rather boring, don't worry. I have also noticed, and I will try to spice it up for you in the future.

Christmas

Miller had a great first Christmas! On Christmas Eve, she got to have lunch and open presents with my family. Then, Santa came on Christmas morning and brought a Sophie giraffe, teething beads, and a Christmas book. Miller has already been plenty spoiled, and she gets to have another Christmas tomorrow with Fred's family in Columbia. Miller is excited to see everyone in Columbia, but she is sad that she won't get to see Grandaddy and all her family in Alabama or Ryllis and Maggie! She told me that. Here are some pictures from Miller's first Christmas and her first snow, which happened to take place on the same day!

Our little family on Christmas Eve day.

Me, Miller, Mom (CC), and Grandma (Memi)

Millsie in her pj's on Christmas morning. Excuse the snot-nose and bedhead!

All bundled up in the snow.

Miller and Sophie...love at first site (bite?)

Here we are again. Mills is modeling her Christmas dress in this one.

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I will be back soon with pictures from Christmas Number 2, the Columbia edition.

4 Months Old!

I can't believe that Boo Boo is 4 months old already. Actually, she is 18 weeks today. She had her 4 month appointment on Tuesday, which didn't go exactly as planned. The doctors decided that since it had been a few weeks since they had scared the crap out of us that it was time to do it again. Apparently, Miller has lost a little weight since her last appointment. Now, if you have seen her, you know that this shouldn't be a problem. She is certainly not wasting away. But since she spits up fountains (and sometimes colors), they thought she might have pyloric stenosis. She also decided that Miller seemed dehydrated, because her mouth looked dry. I am pretty sure her mouth was dry because it was 1007 degrees in there, but nonetheless, the doctor got all freaked out and sent us to the stupid hospital for lab work and an ultrasound.

Now, we all know what happened last time that stupid hospital did lab work on my poor baby, but fortunately the lab tech that did it this time must have been a little smarter than the first one, since it came out fine. The ultrasound was normal too, but you should have seen the temper tantrum Miller threw while they were trying to do it! Mommy was so proud. I have no idea where she gets that temper from...

Anyway, since everything was normal the doctor decided that she was just stupid and Miller needed to eat some rice cereal. Well, duh. We were planning on starting that anyway, so she got her first taste last night.

She acted like she has been eating it her whole life. I knew she would like food. She is just like her mommy. I was pretty sure she was ready since she took a string cheese out of my hand and tried to eat it a few days ago.

I can't wait to feed her some real food. I want to make it myself, mostly because the Duggars do and I like to be as Duggar-like as possible. "Buy used and save the difference," is what I always say. This is the part where Fred would tell me that I should explain who the Duggars are;however, I feel that if you don't know that 1. I am kidding and 2. the Duggars are the 19 Kids and Counting Family, then you just might not be my intended audience.

I actually want to make it because I am cheap, and also because I don't really understand baby food. I would rather mash up my own bananas that came from an actual banana tree than feed her banana mush that may or may not have come from an actual banana. There I go getting all hippie-ish again. Oh, well. Can anyone (Sara) recommended a good source for how to make your own baby food and when to start what etc?

Ok, well, I am off to enjoy the rest of my "snow" day. I love that our district recognizes a cold, rainy day as a reason to stay home. I kind of agree.

Willow Smith's First Christmas

This is Willow Smith.

This is Baby Girl.

This is Baby Girl's hair.

The resemblance is uncanny. Now all we need is a tight beat and a recording contract.

Too Much Turkey

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Since Thanksgiving will be officially over in just a few hours, I am getting super excited about Christmas. I can't wait for Miller's first Christmas. I am ready to put up our tree, buy new monogrammed stockings, make cookies with Miller helping from the Baby Bjorn, and order our first official family Christmas cards! I am also excited about taking pictures for them with our awesome new camera. I think that I would like to go non-traditional and do blue and brown or green and brown cards. I just like brown. I realize that this is a little bit of a wierd color choice for Christmas cards and I thought I might have a hard time finding them, but Snapfish actually has lots of options and you can search the cards by color so it was really easy to find them. Here are some cards that I like. (Disclaimer: If you think you might be receiving a Christmas card from us this year, then you should stop reading here lest you ruin your surprise!)

This is a cute green one. I also like that is says "Merry Everything!"

How cute is this owl? I bet nobody else will send you an owl-themed Christmas card.

And this brown and blue one is pretty. I really like the brown/blue combo.

They also have lots of really cute options in normal Christmas colors that you can check out here.

Merry Christmas Card Shopping!

The Funniest Picture Ever

So, the first Duke basketball game was last Sunday. We felt the need to dress Miller in her Duke shirt and take her picture, of course. This will be very handy one day in case she decides to go to Duke....and become their first female linebacker.

3 Months Old!

I am waaaay behind on this post, because Miller turned 3 months old on November 12th. I seriously need to look into quitting my job so I can have time for important stuff, like blogging. But I can't really do that or I won't have money for important stuff, like eating. Too bad. Anyway, here is Miller's 3 month update:

Miller is finally starting to think about not hating her life, so that is good. She smiles a lot and hardly ever screams in our faces anymore. She goes to bed at 7:00 every night, and she has slept through the night for six nights in a row now. (Hallelujah, praise Jesus!) She can roll over from her stomach to her back, and she can raise up her whole head and chest when lying on her stomach. Her motor skills are very advanced, obviously. She is finally ok with taking a bottle. She loves her playmat, her mobile, seeing how much of her hand she can get into her mouth, and (I don't know where she got this from) looking at herself in the mirror. She also enjoys spitting up on people and then smiling about it. She is very cute, as you can see.

Firsts

Miller has had a lot of "firsts" lately, including mommy's first weeks back at school, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. This whole going to work thing has really been cutting into my days! So, here is a quick recap of some firsts...

Miller's first tailgate (we didn't actually go into the game) was at Wofford homecoming a few weeks back. As you can see, she really enjoyed herself.

The next day was her first Halloween. Miller had fun helping us hand out candy until she fell asleep in my arms promptly at 7:01. (Her bedtime is 7:00.)

The next weekend, Fred and I got to go to our first football game of the season. Um...we may have chosen poorly since we lost. Badly. Here is how we pack for Columbia these days.

We have taken football cookies lots of times.

However, this is the first time we have taken a cooler full of beer and breast milk.

Sleep

The good news is that Miller slept from 7:00 last night until 7:40 this morning only waking up once to eat at 2:30! I hope that is going to become a pattern. Thank you, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for not being a bunch of malarky like another sleep book whose name I won't mention, but it begins with Baby and ends with Wise. I told ya'll I was going to have this kid sleeping before I went back to work!

The bad news is right now, she is supposed to be taking a nap, and she has been sleeping for five minutes, crying for a few seconds, sleeping for a few minutes, crying for a few minutes etc for about 45 minutes! And I think she just quacked, but she does that sometimes. What in the world? Every time I start to go get her she falls asleep again. What is that about?

Also, for those of you who are keeping track of just how advanced Miller is, you should know that she rolled over from her stomach to her back on Monday. Yep, she can do tricks now!

Here is some unrelated cuteness, just because my baby is cuter than yours.

Happy baby.

I don't know what this face is about.

I think she is trying to tell me that she thinks tummy time is stupid.

Today

Here is a list of all of the things I have done today, in order.

1. Feed baby

2. Get baby back to sleep (me twice, Fred once)

3. Pump (so that we can continue failed attempts to make baby take a bottle)

4. Run on treadmill

5. Make bed

6. Eat breakfast

7. Straighten downstairs

8. Unload and reload dishwasher

9. Shower

10. Get dressed (while skillfully avoiding the 95% of my wardrobe that causes cleavage, muffin top, or nursing issues)

11. Start 2 loads of laundry

It is 8:45.

Here is what I still need to do:

1. Most importantly, keep baby alive, fed, dressed, clean, happy etc.

2. Walk around house with baby while bouncing and sssshhhh-ing for several hours, maybe less if I am lucky

3. Vacuum

4. Finish laundry

5. Attempt intelligent conversation with husband when he comes home for lunch, possibly while one of us is walking and/or bouncing

6. Attempt to eat lunch, possibly while walking and/or bouncing

7. Mop floors with vinegar and water, even though I mopped yesterday, in an attempt to rid them of yucky build-up which had accumulated due to excessive mopping which is due to dirty dogs/OCD dog mom

8. Read blogs, check Facebook, check discount websites etc. (OK, I don't NEED to do those things, but I am going to)

9. Play game with baby where I talk and she moves her mouth around (her favorite)

10. Pump some more in an attempt to store milk for return to work, which won't actually be necessary since baby won't take bottle

11. Figure out how to make baby take bottle

12. Attempt to eat dinner, probably while shushing and/or bouncing (I don't have to cook dinner, because Fred is going to)

13. Put baby to bed (usually 2-3 times before it takes)

14. Watch DVR'd reality television

15. I forgot, I also need to wash the back doormat and the dog bed cover and vacuum the couches (dog hair-are you noticing a pattern?)

I know what you are thinking.....WOW, Rebecca, you are Supermom! And you are right. The only problem is, I am going back to work in 3 WEEKS and who the heck is going to come over to my house and do all this stuff for me then? My mom will be in charge of the keeping baby alive portion during the day until Christmas break, but I am 99.9% sure she won't be throwing in any free housekeeping services. I am in serious need of some domestic help. And a winning lottery ticket.

It Wasn't The Dairy

Because inquiring minds want to know, I thought I should fill ya'll in on the dairy ban. It was NOT the dairy causing my baby to go nuts. I went off dairy for 2 weeks, then went back on it and nothing drastic really changed. I hate to admit this, but it probably was the c-word, because it has gotten 1,000 times better in the past few weeks. They say the c-word gets better at 12 weeks, and Millsy is only 9 weeks, but she is very advanced. I also read that c-word-y babies may be more intelligent than non-c-word-y babies. They might freak out because they are so interested in what is going on around them and want to take in everything in their environment....or something like that. Well, obviously she is more intelligent that your average baby, so that is more evidence that it WAS the c-word I guess. She still won't sleep at all between 4 or 5-ish and 9-ish, but she is only mildly whiny now and very rarely screams in my face. So that's good. We definitely get to see a lot more happy Miller now. In case you aren't familiar, this is her happy face. Is it too early to start waxing her eyebrows, by the way?

(thanks for the octopus outfit, Aunt Erin!)

The battle we are currently fighting is with the bottle. She wants NOTHING to do with it, and I have to go back to work in 3 weeks. Yikes. We are in the midst of a good old fashioned stubborn-off! Miller is definitely winning, because she can scream the loudest. Also, I think that while it is totally acceptable for her to scream at us, it might be bad parenting for us to scream back. She just isn't having it. I think I might have to quit my job. Darn.

PS-If you have advice on the bottle subject, I am totally open to it. You don't have to be a doctor for this one. As long as you don't say anything about it being my fault that she won't take it, advise away!

The Apple Don't Fall Far From the Tree!

It seems that our little Miller is a bit of a face-maker.

(smush face)

(sleepy face)

(drunk face?)

(angry face)

(surprised face)

We have no idea where she gets this from. Maybe from her mom, who apparently comes from a long line of face-makers.

Maybe from her dad. They also share a love of footie pajamas, by the way.

Or maybe it is a little bit of both...

2 Months Old!

Miller's 2 month birthday was on Tuesday. Her 2 month check-up was today, and it went great. The shots made her cry, but not for very long. She is sleeping away right now....hopefully she will sleep most of the day! As you can see, she is a (ahem) healthy girl!

She weighed in at 11 lbs 12.5 oz!

Dairy Free?

Macaroni and cheese is my favorite food. Just plain cheese comes in second, followed by grilled cheese, and then maybe cheeseburgers. I also enjoy milkshakes and ice cream quite a bit. I also really like corn dogs, but that is beside the point. The point is, I love me some cheese. So, it clearly makes me the best mom in the history of momness that I am willing to give up dairy for 2 weeks for Miller. Yep, I said it.

The thing is, she seems to have a bit of the colic c-word that I refuse to say, because I don't accept it. I don't accept mystery conditions that doctors have never been able to find causes for and don't understand and don't have medicines for and can't fix. I put the c word in a category with fybromyalgia and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I apologize if you have either of those. I am not saying you don't have something wrong with you that hurts, I am just saying I don't accept doctors giving diagnoses that basically mean, "I don't know what's wrong with you and I can't give you medicine or even try to fix it."

Anyway, I digress. I just can't say, "Oh well, she has the c-word and we'll just listen to her scream all the time and eat dinner in shifts for the next 2-4 months." I think that is stupid. So, I am trying everything in the world to make it stop. According to some people on the internets who probably are not doctors and probably have no idea what they are talking about, 5-15% of babies have a milk protein sensitivity that can worsen c-word symptoms. So, I have been earing stuff like this:

I went to Whole Foods and got rice milk, rice cheese, some type of non-dairy hippie butter, and actual rice ice cream. I also happened to be wearing a yoga-themed t-shirt that day too. I felt like a huge poser at the checkout. I really wanted to confess to the check out lady that actually eat trash on the regular and sometimes I even put a piece of junk mail in the trash instead of the recycling bin and this was just an experiment. But I didn't.

Anyway, Miller has actually gotten somewhat better in the last week, but not amazingly better and I really don't think it is cheese making her cry. She has also changed a lot in other ways and had lots more happy wake-time throughout the day. I think she is just growing up (tear.) I just don't see how I could have kid with an aversion to cheese!

So, despite the fact that the Mint Carob Chip Rice Dream "ice cream" is actually quite delicious, I plan to continue eating Alicia Silverstone non-leg-shaving-type food for the rest of this week, and this weekend, I will have a cheese-fest. If she screams bloody murder immediately following, we will blame the cheese. I realize this is an imperfect experiment, but what else am I gonna do? I'll let you know how it goes.

PS- I am sure a lot of you have opinions on this subject. Unless you are a doctor, and I mean an actual MD not someone with a PhD in philosophy or something, I don't really want your opinion. I have heard waaaaaay to many opinions regarding what I am eating and the c-word and all they do is make me feel guilty for eating at all. At one point, I had decided to live on bread and water, but then I read that Miller's crying could be a response to a wheat or gluten allergy. I can't live on just water. Sorry.

PPS- The image of mac and cheese is actually from macaroni-and-cheese.net. There seems to be a whole web site about mac n' cheese-how exciting is that?

One Month Old!

Miller had her first big birthday on Sunday-she is 1 month old! She asked if we could go to Monterrey's for lunch and to TJ Maxx to pick out an outfit, so that is what we did. Not surprisingly, she chose a very stylish Ralph Lauren sleeper. She also got a new bouncy seat, because we didn't have enough baby seat type crap around here. Obviously.

Sunday night, we celebrated with the traditional 1 month birthday cake decorated with the traditional "my-mom-forgot-to-buy-icing-so-she-used-leftover-from-God-knows-when-white-chocolate-chips." All babies have that on their 1 month birthday. Duh. As you can see in the picture below, Miller was thrilled.

Monday we went for her 1 month check-up. I will now provide you with a boring list of facts that I will try to make more interesting via my witty commentary.

1. Miller weighs 9lbs 12oz (65th percentile.) She was 7lbs 9oz at birth. As you can see, she is well on her way to becoming a baby sumo wrestler. The doctor suggested that maybe we ease up a little on the boob milk. Oops. Maybe mommy should ease up on the corn dogs and then the milk would be a little less fattening. Just a thought.

2. She has grown more 3/4 of an inch, and is up to 21 and 1/4 inches (56th percentile). Fred and are still trying to figure out how we created a normal-height baby. She will probably reach her adult height by her 7th birthday.

3. The doctor said she definitely has the reflux. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, all of you people who were saying she had colic and annoying me about what I ate that supposedly gives the baby gas, etc. She has a real disease that makes her cry, not stupid made-up, we-don't-know-why-you're-baby-keeps-crying-colic. She is supposedly taking Zantac now, but she spits it all out. I don't think it is all that effective when applied to the chin and neck. We will see.

4. If anyone is just dying to know (cause I know you are), her head measured 36 inches (27th percentile.) It appears that her head size will be more in line with that of her Uncle Blake rather than her cousin Wade.

In other news, she had her first real bath this weekend. Her cord stump was a little slow to fall off, so she had been sponge-bathing it for a while. As you can see, she totally loved it. Baby books are so full of crap. "A crying baby can be calmed with a warm, relaxing bath..." Clearly.

I think I will put this one in her senior yearbook ad.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for. No baby blog is complete without a monthly photo of said baby beside a giant stuffed animal.

As you can see, Miller was really excited about this. Is anyone noticing a pattern? She does smile sometimes. Mostly when she toots.

Cleaning Schedule

Does the fact that I am about to post this on my refrigerator make me a huge nerd?

What if I told you I really want to laminate it?

And in unrelated news, Miller just spit up a fountain. It hit me in the face. Then, she smiled and went back to sleep. I love her.

Reality Check

Before Miller was born, I had a lot of little fantasies in my head of how things were going to be. I knew things wouldn't be perfect and I knew she would cry, but I thought Fred and I were going to sail through this whole newborn thing like the champion parents we are.

For those of you who don't know, Fred is a bit of a baby whisperer. You can usually hand him a crying baby and the baby will stop crying immediately. It used to make me feel like a jerk when this happened with other people's babies, but I thought it sure would come in handy with Miller. Well, guess what? Apparently she is immune to both Fred's baby-whispering powers and my super-mommy skills and sometimes, the kid just won't stop crying!

Before she was born, I pictured Fred, me, and Miller enjoying evening strolls with Pickles and Rocky each night and her sleeping quietly in our arms while we watched educational television programming The Bachelor Pad and Jersey Shore.

Here is a list of things I wasn't prepared for....

1. the stupid NICU

2. thrush AND a cold all before 4 weeks

3. FIVE straight hours of crying

4. stroller hatred (We have now discovered we CAN walk the dogs, but only if Miller is in the Baby Bjorn. The stroller pretty much makes her scream bloody murder.)

5. going to the grocery store by myself (I accidentally stole some chicken that was hiding under Miller's car seat, because I was so distracted by her crying which turned me into that lady with the crying baby in the grocery store. I didn't discover the chicken until we were getting in the car and there was no way I was going back in! Judge me if you will.)

6. Starbucks drive-thru embarrassment (Apparently babies who are perfectly calm in the car will turn into wailing banshees once your car stops in a drive-thru with 4 other cars in front of you and behind you. There was no way out. And I wanted my Frappucino! The nice man at the window is now my BFF after telling me he was sure I was a great mom AND that I didn't look like I had just had a baby. And he said Miller'e name was beautiful. I was so distracted and embarrassed that I didn't even tip him!)

So, needless to say, things haven't gone exactly as planned. But Saturday night, I got a little taste of the perfect parenting bliss I had imagined. Instead of looking like this:

Miller looked like this:

(excuse the blue swaddler, it was a hand-me-down.)

Fred made a yummy dinner that looked like this:

And our TV looked like this (for several hours!):

And our dogs did this:

And that was enough to get me through the week! (I think...it's only Tuesday.)

3 Weeks Old!

Miller celebrated her 3 week birthday by watching the Gamecocks play their first game of the season. It seems like she might be a lucky charm, since we beat Southern Miss 41-13! Here is a picture of Miller all ready to watch her first football game....

Now, to be completely honest, this is how she spent the majority of the game...

That is pretty much how she spends the majority of her time. Well, that and screaming. She has had a bit of a rough week. We have thrush and she has a little cold, and it is making her pretty unhappy. Which makes her scream. Which makes us unhappy. Hopefully, it will clear up soon!

Birth Story-Part 3 (The End!)

Sweet Miller is FINALLY asleep and we got zero sleep last night. I am under strict orders from the husband to rest today, so I thought I would try to quickly finish writing about Miller's birth. I want to finish so I can get on to posting about all of her current cuteness. (Except for last night she wasn't very cute when she was demon-possessed and screaming all night.)

OK, so this is the bad part of the story. I am going to tell the quick version. The day after Miller was born, some doctor that we had never seen before came in and told us that Miller's blood culture was growing something. They did not know what it was yet, but he said it could be anything from a contaminated sample to SPINAL MENINGITIS! They immediately took Miller to the NICU to do a spinal tap and told us she would probably have to stay there for 10 days to get antibiotics regardless of what the bacteria turned out to be. Needless to say, we were extremely upset and worried and had no idea what was wrong with our baby girl.

Well, to make a long story short, NOTHING was wrong with her. The moron that did her blood culture did it incorrectly and took the blood of her skin rather than straight from her vein. The bacteria that had grown could have been anything in the world, because the culture was done right after she was born and she hadn't even had a bath yet! When they were finally able to identify the bacteria 24 hours later, the doctors said it had to have come off her skin and that there was basically no way that whatever it was would have been in her blood. Poor Miller had a spinal tap, several heel sticks and IV's, was hooked up to monitors, spent days in the NICU, and was unable to be breastfed and forced to drink formula all because of one nurse's incompetence! I still get SO mad just thinking about it. If anyone knows a good medical malpractice lawyer, please let me know!

Anyway, once they figured out that Miller was a normal healthy baby, just like we figured all along seeing as how she had no symptoms of any kind, they finally let us take her home. We took her home on Sunday and were back at the pediatrician on Tuesday just for a check. She was already almost back to her birth weight.

We are SO glad that Miller is okay, and I am working on being a little less paranoid about her health. They scared me so much and treated her like a sick baby and now I am worrying about everything. Stupid hospital.

Does this baby look sick to you?