Our life is still a crazy rollercoaster ride!

Hi there -
Just wanted to share a quick update on our Addison. One would think that taking care of acid reflux would be easy since all we do as adults is take med and we feel better. Well, it is not that way at all with babies. We are still dealing with Addee's reflux issue. We have her on zantac twice/day. For feeding she is on breast-milk supplemented with a special hypoallergenic formula. She has been on zantac for 2 weeks and it just doesn't seem like there is much improvement. Also, she doesn't sleep much during day and still seems so uncomfortable. She does sleep wonderfully at night though except waking up for a feeding. Anyway, we went back to Dr Chaban this week. He gave us a special drops to help her with gas/stomach discomfort. He also suggested that we thicken her feeds with a little oat cereal to help with the acid. Dr Chaban also referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr Bhargava. I quickly made the appt and got in this morning.

Kirk and I took Addee to the gastroenterologist and the Dr feels she does have reflux and also colic. She added an additional dose of zantac so now 3 x's/day. She asked that we continue everything else we have been doing. I am also to stop eating all dairy foods to see if that helps. It seems Addee may have a difficult time digesting milk proteins which is what happens often in reflux/colic babies. Also, we need to get her blood tested and take her for an GI x-ray next week. We go back to the gastroenterologist in 3 weeks for a follow-up.

We absolutely love our little munchkin to pieces but, this has been a VERY rocky start to parenthood. The crying sessions throughout the entire day, fussy times, and upset tummy are really hard to take sometimes. Taking care of our sweet one has pretty much taken over our days so we will do our best to be more in touch with you all soon.

We are really hoping we turn a corner soon so our sweet baby feels better and also so her parents continue to keep sane. :o) If you have dealt with reflux and/or colic then you know what I mean...you really can't explain it unless you live it. Supposedly colic can improve around 3 months so we are keeping our fingers crossed and hopefully reflux will follow after that. Just hoping for even some relief for now until it goes away for good. We know with time it will get better...please keep us all in your prayers. We really appreciate your love and support.

Here is a link to ALL the pictures from Addison's newborn photo session :o)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/givealittletlc/sets/72157624877365902/

I will post some updated photos soon!
Love, Kirk, Katee, and Addison :o)

Update and a few sneak peek photos! ;o)

Hi there! Sorry, we have been out of touch. Life has been a little crazy this past month. We have had our ups and downs with loss of our sweet Jasmine and caring for our sweet newborn, Addison. Thank you all for your support and love during our loss. We miss our Jazzy everyday.

Addison was just diagnosed with GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease). Silent Reflux is very common in babies and similar to acid reflux in adults. We realize now that this has been something that has been happening from the start but, her symptoms recently got worse and noticed a real problem especially when she wouldn't eat. So, our doctor has her on a new formula for acid reflux and baby zantac. We have not seen a big change yet but, hoping it will get better soon. She is eating better now. As with all medicine...it takes time. We just want some relief for our little one. We hate to see her upset and would love to see her content! ;o) The symptoms not only include acid reflux but, also similar to colic and include crying, gas, and irritability quite often. We do love our pediatrician, Dr Chaban so we are really hoping his plan helps us. Please keep our Addee in your prayers. We are trying to do everything we can to help her feel better. This has taken a lot of our time so we apologize for being a little out of touch. We love every little bit of our sweet girl and just want to see her feel better soon!

Here are a few sneak peek photos from Addison's newborn photo shoot. We were really pleased with our photographer. I will add more soon....

We will update more soon!
love,
Cooper Fam