No more breastfeeding.. for now

Which makes mommy very very sad. Babies still had blood in their stool, after I was off dairy for about 3 months, and soy for 3 weeks. So the pediatric gastroenterologist wanted me to start them on this special formula called Elecare (it contains pre-digested proteins, the amino acids are easier to digest) for 6 weeks, and then we can try breastfeeding again. If the blood is still there, they will have to stay on the formula. I've cried a lot over this whole thing, I REALLY wanted to exclusively breastfeed the girls for about a year. It makes me sad that they can't digest my milk properly, and it was damaging their intestines. I've decided to eliminate the top 8 food allergens from my diet (dairy, soy, wheat, fish, shellfish, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts), to see if it helps them digest my milk later on when we try breastfeeding again. This makes eating VERY difficult and tricky. It's not like I have tons of free time to go shopping for special ingredients, plan my meals and then cook them! But breastfeeding is very important to me, and I want to try everything I can to make it possible again.

So the formula adventure started a few days ago.. the babies HATE this new formula. I first tried giving it to them on its own, but they refused to drink it, they screamed and cried and wanted nothing to do with it. So then I mixed in a little breastmilk, didn't work. I basically had to give them a full bottle of breastmilk with a dash of formula in it to make them drink it. I kept trying to increase the amount of formula, but they really hated it. I tasted it myself to see if it really was that horrible, and I have to admit it tastes pretty bad, it has a bitter taste to it. So after reading about experiences with this formula online, we decided to try adding a little maple syrup to it, and VOILA, they took right to it! We've already reduced the amount of syrup by almost half, and it's only been a few days, so I'm pretty sure we will be able to wean them off the syrup until they are drinking only the pure formula.

I thought I was busy before... but now I have to make bottles, we have to constantly clean a whole bunch of bottles, not to mention finding the time to pump regularly everyday, if I want to keep my milk supply up. It's definitely been a big pain in the butt, but now that they are at least drinking the stuff pretty easily, it makes feeding them a little less stressful. Ok, a LOT less stressful. At one point, I'm not sure who was crying more, the babies, or me! Boy do I miss the ease of just lifting up my shirt to feed them, not to mention the poops! Compared to these formula poops, their breastmilk poops smelled like roses! They made mustard before, now we've moved on to pesto! YUCK!

Four months and a half

Here are some recent pictures of the girls.

Chaya passed out after a meal

Anjali on her tummy

Chaya (brown) and Anjali (beige)

Chaya and Anjali

Smiling Chaya and Anjali

I guess the tuques I knitted them won't actually fit them anymore by the time winter comes around!

The girls showing off their cute onesies ("I'm a little bit country" and "I'm a little bit rock and roll")

Chaya in her pretty dress, and Anjali in her adorable onesie

Family picture!

Anjali and the mirror

Chaya lifting her head

Chaya (left) and Anjali (right) showing off their beautiful shorts knitted by our friend

Anjali (left) and Chaya (right) in their cute New York City onesies

Chaya

Anjali

Anjali (left) and Chaya (right)

Mommy and Anjali, and her cute onesie given by a friend ("Made with love and science")

Trip to the E.R

It was a monday evening.. I was getting ready to feed Anjali around 8:30pm, she seemed quite hungry. First, I gave her a small bottle of pumped milk with the vitamin drops (they taste horrible, so I give it to them with a small bottle to wash it down). She would not drink the bottle, she kept crying, coughing, and being very fussy. I tried breastfeeding after, but she was so upset by this time that she wouldn't eat at all. She started coughing really weird, it made a loud raspy noise, and then I was worrying that she was having trouble breathing. I tried feeding her for maybe 15 minutes, she would eat for a minute, then start crying again, coughing, and would go hysterical. And then, very suddenly, she just fell asleep. I was scared that she was passing out, she slept very deeply. We got scared, Prosanta would try to wake her up, but she just kept sleeping. We didn't know what to do, so we called 911. An ambulance came, they checked her out, they said everything sounded and looked normal, good pulse, good breathing sounds, good oxygen level.. but if we wanted he could take her to the hospital. We said yes. So I rode with her in the ambulance while Prosanta drove with Chaya (who cried the whole time apparently). By the way, once we were in the ambulance, she was wide awake and happy, looking around at everything. Didn't seem sick at all of course!

We got there, doctor checked her out, he suspected it was croup. They put in an IV to draw blood, and took a chest x-ray. She LOVED the nurse who came in to hold her during the x-ray. He was talking to her in a high pitched voice, smiling at her, she kept smiling back at him. What a little cutie. The doctor concluded that it was definitely croup, an upper airway viral infection, quite common in small children. It's not really dangerous, you don't always need treatment for it, but when it interferes with feeding, then they recommend getting it checked out. She also had a little fever. They gave her a breathing treatment, and then a steroid syrup. It seemed to make her feel better, because she breastfed really well after that, and then fell asleep. I also fed Chaya while we were there, to hopefully not have to feed them again when we got home.

She wouldn't need any more meds, it would go away on its own, and she would start feeling better right away. We got home around 12am. Anjali went to bed very easily, Chaya woke up when we got home, but fell asleep pretty fast. Phew! Glad it was nothing too serious!!! It was quite scary to see her like that and not know what was going on.

UPDATE: We saw our pediatrician 4 days later, and she isn't convinced it was croup after all. Anjali didn't cough again after, never had a runny nose, and never seemed congested at all. If it was croup, it wouldn't have lasted only one night like that. Might have been her choking on the milk or vitamin drops, causing a spasm in her throat, or some sort of allergic reaction (but not as likely since she didn't have anything out of the ordinary). She said to let her know if it ever happens again, but it was most likely just a one time occurrence.

Prosanta's parents finally meet the girls!

My in-laws finally were able to make the trip down to Baton Rouge to meet the girls, their first grandchildren! They were quite excited to finally see them. Here are some pictures of their week long visit.

Chaya and grandma

Anjali and grandpa

Crazy face Anjali and her grandparents

Anjali and grandma, and Chaya with daddy

Bessie still thinks she's the baby

Grandma, daddy and Chaya

Grandpa trying to make Anjali laugh

Chaya and grandma

Grandma making Chaya smile

Grandma, grandpa and Anjali

Grandpa and Anjali

Grandma taking pictures of grandpa and Anjali

Proud grandpa with Anjali

Anjali getting some fresh air

At Live After Five (free outdoor concerts in downtown Baton Rouge)

Chaya showing off her fancy socks!

Enjoying Live After Five

Grandma feeding Chaya

Grandma, Chaya and Grandpa

Grandma holding Chaya

Feeding the babies at Live After Five

Grandma holding Chaya

Proud grandparents

Grandma holding both girls

Anjali rolls over

On the day the girls turned 4 months old, they were on their playmat playing with the hanging toys.. When I walked away for a few seconds, I came back, and found Anjali rolled completely on her side. I thought maybe she was trying to roll over, so I took out my camera, and she did it again and all the way over this time! She hasn't done it since, but a few days later, Chaya started rolling onto her side as well, so I guess she's getting ready to try it too!

 

The second video was taken on Sept 26, she rolled over from tummy to back for the first time! Now she likes rolling over a lot, she'll do it when on the playmat, from back to tummy when I'm not looking.. and then she'll get stuck on her tummy with an arm under her. ;) Chaya hasn't rolled over yet. She thinks rolling over is overrated.

Chaya and Anjali turn 4 months old

What big girls! Now, they are definitely smiling a lot, and occasionally laughing a little, which is adorable. They really like looking at each other too, and like to smile at each other. It's so cute! They look at the dogs too sometimes, they seem to find them a little interesting. They still love being on their playmat and swinging at the hanging toys. They like sitting in their booster seats (with blankets stuffed around their waists to stabilize them a bit) with toys on the trays. They want to put everything in their mouths now, and have started drooling a lot! They love going for walks in their stroller, or in the carriers on mommy or daddy. They love to look at the sky and all around them at everything. They are still mesmerized by ceiling fans, they think it's the most beautiful mobile ever! ;) Here are some pictures I took of them on the day they turned 4 months old.

Chaya on mommy

Anjali can hold toys with both hands now!

Chaya holding her ball

Chaya (left) and Anjali (right) in their booster seats

"Hey, I wanted the pink ball!"

Anjali (left) and Chaya (right)

I LOVE this picture!