Nichols Family Notes: 2-week check-up

Well, Gracie has only gained one ounce since her last appointment (6 lbs, 11 ozs), which puts her 4 ozs under her birthweight of 7 lbs. The doctor is not too concerned though, because it was a gain and not a loss. We will take her back in a week to check her weight again, but some babies just don't gain it weight as fast as others. She's also grown one half inch in length, so that is also encouraging. Gracie has also had some stomach issues over the last few days, some frequent diarrhea and spit-up, which could also be attributing to the slow gain. They said I dont' really need to do anything different with my diet, just increase my water intake to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated. I also have to feed her every 2-3 hours instead of every 3-4, but I dont' have to feed her for as long. I've been letting her nurse until she's done, but now they're saying that could be causing her to spit up more because she overfills herself, and her sucking reflex takes over before her stomach lets her brain know she's done. So now I just will limit her to 15 minutes on each side, but more frequently, and she should gain that weight back quickly.

Her umbilical cord fell off last Saturday (12/22), and the doctor said to give it 24 more hours and then we could give her her first real bath (just been doing sponge baths until now). So we will probably do that tomorrow. As for her skin being really dry, the doctor said that's very common in babies this young at this time of year, and that once we start bathing her it will help keep her skin moisturized and to use baby lotion liberally. So she's fine!

Got her 2 week state-mandated newborn screening done today, also. They do it at birth and at 2 weeks old to check for a variety of deficiencies (see this link for details: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/lab/mrs_nbs_tests_ns.htm). They had to stick her heel to get the blood so I didn't watch. For some reason it bothered me to no end and she cried through the whole thing and it made me really upset that they were sticking her. At her 2 month appointment she's supposed to get 5 vaccinations... I already told David that I'll have to wait outside the door; I dont' think I can handle that! Anyways, so she's all fine and dandy, and I'll keep you up to date on how her appointment goes next week. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Gracie's one-week-old birthday! (12/19)