So Henry has officially been on formula for a little over a month. It still breaks my heart that I can't nurse him any longer, but it's best for him and that's what has gets me through this. A little history on it: Somewhere around Henry's 2-3 month milestone mark I started noticing a little blood in his stools (maybe TMI, but hey you're family!). Being a nurse often times makes me more paranoid, almost knowing too much about certain illnesses. I called the after hours nurse (because it couldn't have happened during normal business hours) and she advised for me to stop all dairy. So I don't drink milk, I've always used almond milk and I rarely eat cheese. Just to let you all know, there is dairy in everything! This was all happening around the holidays too, which only made it worse for me, great for my health! At his 4 month appointment they checked his stool again and noticed that there was still blood in it and now there were white blood cells as well, which indicated inflammation of the bowels. I was then told I needed to do the elimination diet, so I now needed to stop eating milk and soy products. I was allowed to eat fruits, veggies, meat and rice...Yippee :) That diet surely got me in shape, but I was also losing too much weight. When they noticed that this diet wasn't helping Henry at all, my pediatrician opted to start formula instead of eliminating yet another thing from my dairy, wheat was suppose to be the next thing to eliminate. So December 23rd I got a call from the doctors office saying that I needed to stop nursing all together...I was bummed to say the least (ok I'll admit that I cried for the entire afternoon) :( Henry had to be on Alimentum which is Similacs hypoallergenic formula. The first bottle was priceless...oh the faces he made. He has taken a liking to the formula...it smells horrible so I'm not sure why he likes it. On another note...it's expensive!!! Of course he has to be on the most expensive formula, 1 can goes for $25 and lasts 4-5 days!!! Thankfully I get a ton of coupons and free things from Similac so I usually get 10 or so dollars off per can which REALLY helps!! As for the nursing aspect...it took me almost a month to "dry up." As of 2 weeks ago, I was still pumping out 30+ ounces a day...it was crazy!!! My body is back to 'normal' and I'm looking forward to nursing the next baby...whenever that may be!
We go for our hematology check up Monday so I'm anxious to see how much he weighs now. He's definitely going through a growth spurt since he usually is asleep at 7pm and up around 7:30am, however now he wakes at 2am and acts like I never feed him. He chugs his bottle down, I change him and he's back to sleep in 20 minutes tops...so I really can't complain!
Grandma's here this week and we're suppose to get an ice storm today so we're just going to kick back and relax today...look for some new pics later:)
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