Instinctual Malfunction
I am a big believer in the "go with your instincts" philosophy. If something doesn't feel right deep down in your gut then it probably isn't. Unfortunately Chris and I did not follow our instincts today.
Our morning started off with a 7:45am GI Specialist appointment for Elsa to follow-up on her acid reflux. The appointment went fantastic and Elsa is growing exactly as she should be and the doctor was very impressed with her. Yes, she still spits up a ton and makes herself miserable and more laundry around our house but she is healthy and growing as she should be. The acid reflux could end up delaying Elsa's development a little just because of the mere fact that she spends so much of her day spitting up her food. Watching her every day I can tell you that it does make sense that this would be the case.
At 11am we had a doctor's appointment for all the babies at which time they were going to get their two month shots -- we delayed them a month and a half because of their prematuraty. We had gone back and forth for months on what to do about their vaccinations. Do we split them up so there aren't so many shots at one time? Do we delay them another month? There are so many conflicting opinions on what we should do and ultimately we delayed their vaccines 1 1/2 months and went with our pediatricians recommendation to give them all of them - a total of seven vaccinations done in three pricks. This morning though, we were second guessing whether we should give them all today or split them up and Chris was thinking we should just split them up because they are still too little. This is Elsa's GI Specialists' opinion also and she is the mother of twins and a very smart lady.
The appointment initially went well, with their doctor very pleased with the triplets growth and health. Preston weighs a whopping 10 pounds, 3 ounces. Elsa weighs 8 pounds 15 ounces and Violet weighed in at 9 pounds 11 ounces. Preston and Violet are on the regular (babies who were born at their due date) chart at 10% for height and weight. Elsa is at 5%. We are very happy and the doctor said we must be doing something right.
Then they each got three shots - two in one leg and one in the other. They screamed bloody murder. But then the screaming stopped shortly and they seemed to be okay with it. We came home and Ava, Violet and I went to the pool party at Angela's house where I sat in total relaxation for almost 2 hours while Ava swam her heart out and Violet was being held by my friends Lauri and Dawn. It was enjoyable for a time.
And then we came home and the madness began. It was obvious they were all feeling a lot of pain in their little legs and every time Laura and I moved them or they moved their legs they would literally scream out in pain. I felt so sad for them. All three of them were having a terrible reaction to the shots. Not an allergic reaction but it was just too many vaccinations for their little bodies. This was confirmed for me with a phone call to a pediatrician in the group we go to who said that maybe with babies this small we should've just waited on some of the vaccination. This is when we realized that we should've listened to ourselves and our feelings that the vaccinations should've been split up. As Oprah says, if we had known better we would've done better. Now we have three miserable babies who are on steady doses on infant Tylenol to control their pain. We are hoping they feel better tomorrow.
Luckily there will be no lasting effects from our instinctual malfunction and in the end we found that we have three healthy babies despite the fact that they were born 6 weeks too early. I am proud of them. They are great little people.
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.
Our morning started off with a 7:45am GI Specialist appointment for Elsa to follow-up on her acid reflux. The appointment went fantastic and Elsa is growing exactly as she should be and the doctor was very impressed with her. Yes, she still spits up a ton and makes herself miserable and more laundry around our house but she is healthy and growing as she should be. The acid reflux could end up delaying Elsa's development a little just because of the mere fact that she spends so much of her day spitting up her food. Watching her every day I can tell you that it does make sense that this would be the case.
At 11am we had a doctor's appointment for all the babies at which time they were going to get their two month shots -- we delayed them a month and a half because of their prematuraty. We had gone back and forth for months on what to do about their vaccinations. Do we split them up so there aren't so many shots at one time? Do we delay them another month? There are so many conflicting opinions on what we should do and ultimately we delayed their vaccines 1 1/2 months and went with our pediatricians recommendation to give them all of them - a total of seven vaccinations done in three pricks. This morning though, we were second guessing whether we should give them all today or split them up and Chris was thinking we should just split them up because they are still too little. This is Elsa's GI Specialists' opinion also and she is the mother of twins and a very smart lady.
The appointment initially went well, with their doctor very pleased with the triplets growth and health. Preston weighs a whopping 10 pounds, 3 ounces. Elsa weighs 8 pounds 15 ounces and Violet weighed in at 9 pounds 11 ounces. Preston and Violet are on the regular (babies who were born at their due date) chart at 10% for height and weight. Elsa is at 5%. We are very happy and the doctor said we must be doing something right.
Then they each got three shots - two in one leg and one in the other. They screamed bloody murder. But then the screaming stopped shortly and they seemed to be okay with it. We came home and Ava, Violet and I went to the pool party at Angela's house where I sat in total relaxation for almost 2 hours while Ava swam her heart out and Violet was being held by my friends Lauri and Dawn. It was enjoyable for a time.
And then we came home and the madness began. It was obvious they were all feeling a lot of pain in their little legs and every time Laura and I moved them or they moved their legs they would literally scream out in pain. I felt so sad for them. All three of them were having a terrible reaction to the shots. Not an allergic reaction but it was just too many vaccinations for their little bodies. This was confirmed for me with a phone call to a pediatrician in the group we go to who said that maybe with babies this small we should've just waited on some of the vaccination. This is when we realized that we should've listened to ourselves and our feelings that the vaccinations should've been split up. As Oprah says, if we had known better we would've done better. Now we have three miserable babies who are on steady doses on infant Tylenol to control their pain. We are hoping they feel better tomorrow.
Luckily there will be no lasting effects from our instinctual malfunction and in the end we found that we have three healthy babies despite the fact that they were born 6 weeks too early. I am proud of them. They are great little people.
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.
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