Eight Months of Memories, Milestones, and Motherhood

Height: ?

Weight: 15ish pounds

Milestones and Firsts: walking along furniture, mashed potatoes, blood tests, anesthesia, hospital visits, Valentine's Day, finally in 3-6M clothes!

Nicknames: Deet-Dee (like D.D. her initials...), Little One, Little Frog (when she hops), Little Bird (when she flaps), Packy (short for Pachycephalosaurus when she head-butts things)

Favorite Things: mashed potatoes, bananas, eating whatever Mom and Dad are eating, playing with Dad before bedtime, reading books, sleeping with Mom, taking showers, sunshine, playing outside, going for walks, helping Mom with laundry and the dishwasher, mouths, and noses

Dislikes: still getting her diaper changed and getting dressed/undressed, blood tests, taking medicine, her crib, being alone for any amount of time, bland baby food

Things We Did This Month: long walks in the unusually warm February sunshine, started eating delicious oatmeal with bananas and cranberries for breakfast every morning, saw the Pinkalicious musical at the Scera Theater, aaaaaaaaaand went to way too many doctor visits.

• This is how that all went down. Early in January, Annie had her 6 month check up. As always, she was teeny tiny according to percentiles, but this time, the family practice doctor was a little concerned and asked to see her again in a month to check her weight. He said she needed to gain about a pound during that time. A week later, Annie started acting a lot more clingy than normal. It was a little late to attribute it to shots, but she seemed fine besides that. I noticed that she often ran a fever at night while she slept, but it easily went away with Tylenol, and after a few days, she was back to normal. By the time her next appointment rolled around, however, she had only gained a couple ounces. The doctor ordered bloodwork and referred us to one of the pediatricians in the office. We had another appointment with Dr. Polly the next day, who ordered more blood tests, urine tests, and stool samples since Annie also had diarrhea. Thus began the week from hell. I stayed home with Annie every day, trying to collect the urine and stool samples and getting pooed upon in the process. You'd think someone would have invented an easier way to collect pee and poo from an infant, but no. Someone invent a sterile diaper already! So we visited the doctor every single day that week. Poor girl. The next week, the test results came back, and there were some anomalies. Besides being anemic, Annie was also fighting some sort of infection, but it was sort of a guessing game to figure out what. Dr. Polly immediately prescribed antibiotics and started trying to piece the puzzle together. At first, we were referred up to Primary Children's Medical Center to test for cystic fibrosis, but after a couple more results came back, Dr. Polly felt we should try something else first. Her best guess was that Annie had recently suffered a nasty UTI, and that she might have a condition known as Vesicoureteral Reflux that exacerbated the issue and stunted her growth. A week later, Annie and I went in to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center for more tests. First, they did an ultrasound on her teeny little abdomen, trying to get a good look at her bladder and kidneys. I sat by her, and she mostly just watched the doctor while he rubbed slimy stuff on her tummy. Then we went up to the children's ward and got comfy in our own room. Soon, the sedation team came in and explained everything to us. Even better, a nice lady brought a bucket of toys and an iPad to distract Annie while they hooked her up to all sorts of wires and monitors. She was a little feisty, but mostly good. A quick shot of Versed up her nose, and she was happy as a clam. She went all floppy and just chilled while they inserted a catheter. As soon as they got the ok, we all put on lead outfits and wheeled Annie down to radiology. She looked so little in that giant bed with all the wires and tubes. The radiologist was on lunch break, but they had to call him back before the sedation wore off. I sat by Annie's head distracting her with light-up toys while they refilled and emptied her bladder over and over again with dye, taking pictures of the effects on the screen. The results were immediately evident. The valve that separates the ureters from her bladder doesn't work properly, which means her bladder leaks urine back up to her kidneys. Luckily, hers is mild and will hopefully correct itself in the next couple years. Until then, she is on antibiotics to protect her kidneys from UTIs until she can talk and communicate specific pain more clearly. If she gets a fever, urine samples are mandatory, and if she doesn't grow out of it or UTIs continue, we'll proceed to surgery.

Moments to Remember: One night, I came home late from work. I had pumped not too long before coming home so I didn't have much to give when it was time to put Annie down to bed. I started feeding her a bottle, but Tucker offered to feed her. She snuggled right into him and drank it down, watching her daddy, her eyes growing heavier and heavier. I love catching little moments like that between the two of them. I can't wait to see how much she loves and adores him when she's older.

The Little Things: This girl is in the happiest mood every morning. I love that she wakes up so happy to see me and gives the best snuggles while we just lay in bed for 20 minutes after waking up. I love our relaxed morning routine of snuggling, making breakfast, watching Curious George, playing, and then snuggling for a morning nap. She gives the hugest grins when Daddy calls her name, and her favorite place in the world in snuggled right between Mom and Dad. I love the way her hands wander over every surface, scratching and feeling and poking and pinching. Sure, it's painful at times, but I can almost see the gears in her little brain turning as she learns more and more about her world. She is my favorite teeny girl, and I love being her momma.