The beginning - part 2

So I am starting to realize that it is going to take several posts to catch everyone up on little Miss Julia! She has been through quite a lot in her four little months. Here is the next installment:

We brought Julia home from the hospital and I was DETERMINED to breastfeed. You see, it hadn't worked with my son Jed, and I really, really wanted it to work this time. So I nursed and nursed and nursed for those first few days. And she lost weight. So we started supplementing and I pumped and pumped and nursed and nursed. And she still lost weight. So I started taking suppplement after supplement and reglan and still nursed and nursed and pumped and pumped. And she still wouldn't gain.

After 3 weeks of craziness, I saw a lactation consultant. She weighed Julia, then I nursed for 45 minutes, and then she weighed her again to see how much she had eaten. Guess how much? ONE measly ounce. All those times she was nursing and nursing, she was getting next to nothing. I was devastated and relieved at the same time. I knew in my gut that I wasn't producing anything, and it was nice to have that validated. Even the lactation consultant was stumped as to why I wasn't producing. I am just one of the very few women who have no supply. So we switched over to formula.

When we made the switch (at about 3/4 weeks old) I noticed that Julia was very fussy and would scream. For hours. So at her one month appointment, I asked about reflux and we started some meds to try and help her. I guess I should have noticed her eye at this point, but my focus was to get her to be comfortable and stop screaming. We switched bottles, switched formula, and nothing really helped. You can see from this picture that her right eye did not have a "red reflex" which is a sign of a cataract. The eye looks "cloudy."

I guess I should have noticed that her right eye looked different, but I didn't. I was so focused on her screaming and reflux. I can honestly say that I was at the end of my rope - we tried everything. At about 6 weeks we saw the doctor again to switch medicines in hopes of getting her reflux under control. She was put on prevacid and carafate. It helped some, but she was still pretty miserable. Right after this appointment was when James and I noticed that the pupil in her right eye looked like a "mirror" and was different than her left eye. We talked about it, but decided to wait until her 8 week appointment to mention it to the dr. I didn't want to be that "neruotic mom" who takes her child in for every bump and bruise. The one time I decide to not go to the doctor is the one time I should have!