{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

~Pretty~

Enjoying the leftover bouquet of flowers from my godchild's bridal shower.

~Happy~

Joni makes Leo happy. Leo makes Joni happy. When Joni's happy, Mommy's happy.

~Funny~

~Real~

On Wednesday we had a bit of a scare with baby Joni. She is going to be fine! Deo Gratias! Joni has always been a "spitter upper" - all of my kids have been...but she's also a projectile vomiter, meaning she'll throw up an entire feeding on a pretty regular basis. At first it was happening about once or twice a week, and then it gradually became more and more frequent. Her general disposition was happy though, and now her weight gain has been good, so even though I would mention it to the pediatrician, we both decided to take a "wait and see" approach. Over the weekend, I noticed that the projectile vomiting was getting worse and worse. For two days in a row it seemed like it was happening at every feeding. Then Joni went two days with only wet diapers, so I began getting concerned. I actually prayed for a sign from God as to what to do, and seconds later she projectile vomited all over me...so I took that as a sign to call our doctor. I had been reading about her symptoms online, and what kept coming up was a condition called pyloric stenosis. This condition is extremely rare, but things had gotten to the point that we just couldn't rule it out as a possibility. Our doctor agreed. So on Wednesday I brought Joni in for an exam. The doctor felt her belly trying to find "the olive" - which is a classic sign of pyloric stenosis...many times the obstruction can be felt. He couldn't feel anything, which was a GOOD sign. We also learned that Joni's weight gain has been excellent - she's now weighs nearly 15lbs! Joni was also laughing at the doctor as he pressed on her belly - again, a good sign. Still, both the doctor and I agreed that it would probably be prudent to perform an ultrasound just to make sure there was no blockage. It was hard to see anything on the ultrasound because Joni was so gassy...the gas appeared as a dark cloud all over the ultrasound. But we were able to get a good shot of her stomach, and things looked good enough to rule out pyloric stenosis. So the projectile vomiting remains a mystery. My gut tells me that my letdown from breastfeeding is very strong and that she sometimes takes in too much milk - rare for a breastfed baby, but I think that's the case with us. Thank you for the prayers. They were/are most appreciated!