Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Oh Ellie-Bellie, Why Won't Your Belly Grow?

The Triplets had their four-month appointment today. Can you believe it? Four months have passed since they were born and I still haven't gotten my shit together to write about the day of their arrival into the world. I suck. Needless to say, it's not that I don't care, it's just that I've been wrapped up in their lives and in caring for them. Yeah, that's it. Uh huh. Anyway, they will be 18 weeks old tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're having this much fun. And seriously, how come no one told me it was going to get to be this much fun? All of a sudden they've started noticing people and they're all smiley and interactive and loveable! I adored them before, but now, ohmygosh, it's a whole new level of love that I didn't even know existed! Seriously, I knew before how much I wanted to be a mommy, but if I'd known it would only get BETTER after they were born, well, gosh I'm not sure I would have been able to wait five years for these little monsters to arrive!

Anywhozit, they went in for their four month check up this morning and Sam and Abby are definitely growing, but Ellie... oh poor, sweet Ellie. She isn't! I don't know what to do with my poor Ellie-Bellie! Here are their current stats:

Sam: (my little piggie!) 10 lb, 6 oz 21.5 inches long
Abby: (my smiliest) 9 lb, 7 oz 21.5 inches long
Ellie: (my teeney beanie) 7lb, 8oz 21 inches long


Ellie last got weighed on January 4th and she was 7lb, 7oz. Seriously! I actually made the nurse re-weigh her today to make sure we'd read the scale correctly, because I just couldn't believe she'd only gained an ounce. My poor, tiny baby. So we don't know why she's not gaining weight. We know that she doesn't like to eat as often as the other two, that's for sure. But we also know that when she does eat, she's eating a sufficient amount (she gets about 3-4 ounces when she breast feeds...we've weighed her before and after feeding and she consistently gets that amount). In the past her weight gain has been borderline worrisome, but never really, really awful. Now, obviously, she's definitely giving us something to worry about. In a way, it's almost better because now at least we KNOW that it's time to be more aggressive and we know that we're not poking and prodding her for no good reason this time.

So here's the plan: We drew blood from her today to run a CBC and a full metabolic panel on her (she'd previously had a thyroid panel drawn which came back normal). We'll also have her stool checked for blood. We'll add 22 calorie fortifier to her EBM feedings to try and get some extra calories into her. We will bring her back next week to be re-weighed and bring a copy of her feeding log so that we can calculate how many calories per day she's eating. We will aggressively wake her to eat every three hours (we've tried this before with little success, but we'll do our best).

I love our pediatrician and I'm very glad that he's very level headed, but being very aggressive about working with us to find answers on this. We are relieved that her head circumference growth is exactly perfect on the growth charts, that her neurological development seems spot on, and that her muscle tone and motor development does not seem impaired. These are all good signs, so perhaps the weight gain (or lack thereof) needn't be so alarming, but we still definitely need to explore it.

After the appointment, I went off to my first day of work. It was a very, very short day since I just really needed to fill out some paperwork and do a little reading, but that was okay with me. I think I'm going to enjoy this job. I hope so, anyway. I came home to smiling babies and promptly pumped 15 ounces, a new record for me.

Finally, I leave you with some pictures of my gorgeous trio...

The Trio:


Sam Playing:


Abby, Cute as a Button:


Ellie Sleeping:

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness. They're gorgeous!
I hope you're able to get to the root of EllieBean's problem easily, but man, she is looking good in the meantime. She certainly looks healthy. :)
And amazing job on the BFing. Hope the new job works out well.

illahee said...

oh oh oh, they are beyond beautiful! thank you for the pictures.

Meghan said...

They are just beautiful! Hope you able to figure out what's stopping little Ellie from packing on the pounds.

oh...and glad your first day back went well

Amy Anderson said...

15 oz...good lord! That's awesome!

LJ said...

Ok, that pic of Abby is TOO AWESOME. Look at that little grin??

And Ellie, stop scaring your mom! Food is good, and tasty! eat up!

Shelby said...

They are absolutely gorgeous!! I can't believe how much they've grown from your last pics! I'm glad the doc is being aggressive about seeing if there is a reason why Ellie isn't eating.

Good luck with the new job!

Matt said...

Karen,
I think you are awesome. You're doing a great job!!!!

Anonymous said...

They are divine -- and very healthy looking! I hope you get some answers about the weight gain.

Anonymous said...

Your babies are so cute! I am sure the Drs have checked, but you might want to ask them to check her stools to see if she is spilling protiens. My Alyssa was labeled Failiure to Thrive in the hospital because we couldn't get her to gain weight. When they FINALLY checked her protiens, she was spilling them and it was causing her not to gain weight. I had to stop breastfeeding her and give her pregestimil formula. It stinks to high heaven, but she started gaining quickly after that.

Kimberly and the GA Guinn Trips
www.guinnfamilyhome.com

Rachel Inbar said...

Your babies are adorable & it's so beautiful to read how in love with them you are :-)

I hope Ellie starts gaining more weight soon :-)

My brother has a daughter named Elisheva and they used to call her Ellie Belly Mozarelli (she just turned 11, so I think she may have outgrown the nickname).

decemberbaby said...

Gorgeous babies!

(and man, it's weird to see someone else's baby in the sleeper that my baby is currently wearing!)

I hope that you get Ellie's situation figured out soon.

Catherine said...

Oh my goodness, they are absolutely gorgeous. I love what little Ellie is doing in the picture of all three and the pic of her sleeping is just so precious.

One question (and I'm guessing the answer is no) is Ellie on a regular curve on her growth chart? E, my little guy, weighs almost 10 pounds less than his brothers at 9 months. A big part of that is due to his reflux, but he is gaining and has been growing on a normal curve, it's just below the 3 percentile.

E is also getting a teaspoon of olive oil in his vegetables to add calories and a healthy fat.

nickoletta100 said...

Thank you for sharing the pics! They are just lovely!!!!

Sunny said...

I love love love pictures, especially of your little miracles. Way precious!

Jody said...

Oh, they are SO GORGEOUS! And I'm sorry I forgot to tell you how absolutely delightful it starts to be when the smiles arrive, because ooooooo, babies. [Sob -- I miss my sweet little babies. How I wish I had a time-turner and could turn mine back seven years for a fill-up on the abundance of babies....]

Good luck with Ellie. Hopefully this is just a minor bump in the road. I'm glad you have a lot of good signs -- head circ., muscle tone, etc -- to hang onto. And those smiles!

Tripletblessed said...

Isn't it fun! They are adorable, you deserve a pat on the back mom.

Anonymous said...

I am in love x 3.

Lea Bee said...

what an adorable trio! hope you are able to figure out what is going on with ms. ellie without too much trouble.

Casey's trio said...

Those babies are looking so precious. I hope the bumped up calories do the trick for Ellie.

ms. c said...

All I can say is: Yum, Yum, Yum. They are all so perfect!

I hope all is well with Ellie.

pam said...

they are just gorgeous! cute beyond words!!! hope ellie's weight gain is nothing serious. she looks good to me!

:)

Cindy said...

Karen, they are just so beautiful! i love their sweet faces!