Happy Birthday Amelia!!

My precious little girl is 2 today!!!! She is the funniest little girl. Almost everyday Mark and I look at each other and say "The other two weren't like this were they?". Anyone who has had the pleasure of spending time with her knows what I am talking about. And to think that we almost lost her is unimaginable.

I just want to share with you what we went through in the first 12 months of her life. Some of you know the whole story. Some know bit and pieces so here is the whole story.

Amelia Nicole arrived 2 weeks early exactly! After a day at hockey in a town about an hour away I went to bed to be woken in the middle of the night by my waters braking as I rolled over. This is exactly how I went into labour with Molly so I knew I had plenty of time for the 2.5hr drive to Perth. Once we had packed bags, stripped the bed, and woken the kids we headed off and she was born later that day.When we called the kids to say they had a little sister, Lochie was not too impressed. He told me he was meant to have a brother. But as soon as he saw her in hospital he was in love. Since that say he has called her sweetheart.

I had trouble feeding her from the very beginning. She was a great baby and slept through from 3 weeks. I thought I had hit the jackpot! I took her to my GP for her 6 week check up. She noticed that she was under weight. So we went over the the child health clinic to get her weighed. She was under weight. I was supposed to get a urine sample done but didn't. Don't really know why I didn't. Between the GP & the clinic nurse we put in place a plan that I would give her an extra feed before bed and wake her in the mornings for an extra feed. Also get her weighed weekly. I did tell them that she was very 'chucky' but they didn't think that was the problem. I also got mastitis at this time and as we were having so much trouble with getting her to put on weight it was decided to put her on the bottle. I tried expressing but there is only so much you can do when you have 2 other kids to look after as well as a baby.

She put on weight slowly for a few weeks then when she was 10 weeks old she had lost weight. The night before that appointment I told Mark I was worried because she couldn't hold eye contact and she wasn't smiling. Whilst I was at clinic I fed her and she proceeded as was normal for her to chuck 90% of the bottle back up. We called the Dr's and my GP wasn't on that day so we had an appointment with another Dr at 5pm that day. The Dr I saw that day told me to put a bottle in her bed and she would feed herself through the night! I couldn't believe it. On this day my best friend gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy. He weighed more then Amelia did and she was 10 weeks old! This helped set of a huge light bulb in my head.

After a sleepless night I called the clinic nurse the next day and asked her is she would call and speak to my GP. As I knew that what I had been told the night before was not right. 5 minutes later  my GP called to tell me Amelia and I were going to be in hospital for the weekend. I had to get in there as soon as I could and be prepared for the fact that we may end up in Perth.  So after calling Mark and my mum we headed into the hospital. After getting in major trouble for not getting the urine sample as a urine infection can be a cause of weight loss in babies. We did that and came up with a feeding plan. We had to feed her 60mls every 2 hours and keep her upright for half an hour afterwards. At night it was every 3 hours. We had to set alarms as she wouldn't wake or cry if she was hungry.

Over the weekend she put on weight and we found out she didn't have a urine infection. It was silent reflux. I was of the thought that you don't wake a sleeping baby and that babies will cry if they are hungry. Apparently not! Before we left the hospital the Dr told us that when she came in on Friday she only had enough energy to keep her heart beating and her lungs going. Had we left it a few more days she would have died. This was very hard to hear and even harder to process. I still can't believe it.

The next 3 months were spent doing the 2 hourly feeds and have twice weekly weigh ins and weekly Dr appointments. She slowly started putting on weight. We tried several different formulas and in the end Soy Milk worked the best. We went to Perth for an ultra sound just to make sure that there was nothing wrong with her stomach. Then after 3 months we could stretch out her feeds and drop it back to weekly weigh ins and monthly Dr appointments.

Now you wouldn't believe that she spent that much time trying to put on weight. She is a very healthy 2yr old with a very healthy appetite!! She never stops eating!! I always spend a bit of time on her birthday reflecting on what we went through in those first 12 months of her life. It was really hard on the whole family as I was tired and stressed. Mark was the same and poor Lochie and Molly had to fit in around this new little member of our family.

We still have not decided if we have finished our family. I think both of us are a little scared of the same thing happening again. Although this time we would be more prepared and know what to look for. For now we have a great healthy happy family who keep me on my toes and make me smile whilst sending me grey at the same time.

Onto my weekly weigh in results as I can't do a post on Wednesday without my weigh in results.
I found 600 grams this week. I am not surprised as last weeks loss was helped along by gastro and I spent Monday and Tuesday 'grazing' all day. But back on track and seeding should all over with today so I will have more time to exercise! YAY!!
Weekly Loss +600grams
Totals Loss 15.6kg
Round 2  1.5Kg
4.4kg till bottle of Moet!