Caleb's Journey Pt.2

As part of Heavenly Homemaker's "gratituesday", (what are you thankful for Tuesday's) I am posting about how thankful I am for Caleb's weight check with the G.I. Specialist today!

WOO HOO!  Caleb gained 2 POUNDS over the last month!  That is HUGE!  He is still on the negative side of the weight curve but he IS close to actually being on it.  You can read about Caleb's failure to thrive here. 

I had been thinking that he felt heavier, but was afraid that it might be my imagination and that I would get my hopes up for nothing.  I even had thought his cheeks were looking fuller.

His cheeks.  Let me tell you about his cheeks.  He has the cutest little round cheeks.  We are talking Gerber baby cheeks.  Big, round chipmunk cheeks.  The kind that Aunt Gertrude can't resist pinching (no we don't actually have an Aunt Gertrude, but if we did, she wouldn't be able to resist these cheeks).  The kind that scream to be kissed.  They are some really cute cheeks...and they got even cuter with his weight gain,  I am one blessed mama...all 4 of my kiddos have had the best cheeks.  With Caleb though, it is rather deceiving since he has chubby little cheeks and is so severely under weight.

He isn't out of the woods though.  I am to continue on the current high calorie diet and have another weight check in 5 weeks.  We are hoping for another couple pounds.  He still can't seem to have any bowel movements without the help of miralax which I'm not comfortable with, but he isn't exactly comfortable without it if you know what I mean.  I've tried more natural things like prune juice, prunes etc. but none of it has helped.  That is one of the goals as well....get him "moving" on his own.

The specialist isn't exactly sure why he couldn't gain but is now.  She said that sometimes if the baby isn't getting enough calories, the body starts to shut down. So in his case, I was not providing him enough calories with nursing (not surprising since my 1st son had failure to thrive as well, only with him, as soon as he started on formula he gained as he was supposed to). So with the lack of calories, his body went into "shut down" mode.  He was getting enough to stay alive but not enough to thrive and grow.  Even with the introduction of formula and solids, his body stayed in mode until the tripling of calories forced it into an active mode.

So today, I am thankful for Caleb.  I am thankful for his weight gain.  I am thankful for the specialist helping us to figure this out.  And I am thankful that the Lord is protecting my sweet baby.