Valley Children's visit and Bryn's Allergies

On day 9 Bryn woke up with a swollen pink eye with goop coming out, also she was inconsolable without wanting to eat or nurse.  We thought it was a blogged tear duct as we had heard of that being quite common.  We called the doctor just to be safe and they told us to bring her in since their was some green and it seemed to getting worse.  She had a fever of 100.3 and after examining her the doctor said it was cellulitus of the eye and she needed to go to Valley Children's Hospital immediately.  She warned us they would be doing a full work up with blood cultures and a spinal tap:(  Sure enough they immediately checked us in and began the exams and it was so sad to see her hooked up to everything and getting pricked and the spinal tap was the worst.  It was deja-vu, as we had to take Harper there on day 5 of his life:(  She was given lots of antibiotics because they don't mess around with infections in infants.  The worst was that we would have to stay there for at lest 48 hrs until the blood cultures came back. I had already been going stir crazy when I had delivered Bryn at Clovis Community and now we were checking back in to a hospital:(  Trying to nurse her was soooo hard because she was hooked up to the IV plus 2 other monitors.  The monitors were soooo loud and kept going off for no reason, so def hard for her to sleep as well.  They have pull-out couches for the parents, so we stayed with her and my parents stayed at home with Harper.  Thank you Mom and Dad for helping out!  The nurses and doctors were very nice, but they constantly come in and check baby and unwrap her and so it was def not easy to sleep for anyone.  Brendan would go home from time to time to see Harper.  On day 3 the tests all came back negative for other bacterial infections and menangitis.  We were released to go home-yay!  Glad to have such a great children's hospital nearby, but hoping to not see it ever again!

So as many of you know Bryn was definitely a cranky baby from the get go, she would scream and cry for hours on end, it felt like in the evenings and nothing but nursing seemed to calm her, but even that didn't always work.  It was quite overwhelming and hard since it would be about when Brendan would come home until bedtime around 10.  That is the busiest part of the day and we couldn't even just sit down and relax, get Harper fed and bathed, or eat ourselves and she wouldn't take a bottle.    It was such a struggle hearing her cry and also not having gone through it with Harper.  Around week 5 or 6 I noticed that her poop (TMI) was starting to look strange, very different than what I was used to.  I know they say that breastfed babies can have all colors, but Bryn's started turning green and filled with mucous-ewww!  I spoked with the lactation consultant and the nurse from the ped office and they said to try a few things, but not a huge concern without blood.  After a week I just knew something was not right and took her in with some dirty diapers.  Dr. Evans tested it and came back and said "well I know what is bothering her, she is allergic to cow's milk protein.  Don't stop breastfeeding, because the formula for this is expensive and really gross tasting.  You are going to have to get rid of dairy from your diet though"...I looked at her and said "my favorite food is cheese!"...then I though about alllllll the milk I had already pumped and frozen for when I returned to work:(  She said I could donate it or give it to anyone I knew with a baby, but when I told my niece Kaila about it, she suggested I start mixing it with Harper's reg milk since it will help during cold and flu season:)  Oh man was I in for an education, milk and its by products are in everything!, from bread to salami to protein bars, to chocolate!  Not only milk, but whey, casein, etc.  After starting my research I also learned many infants with this allergy are also allergic to soy, which is in even more things!  Soy is a highly subsidized crop by the government so it is a cheap filler for lots of things, plus it is usually a GMO:(  Although it can take weeks for dairy to come out of my system, the dr suggested I take soy out as well since she wasn't really get a lot better.  We had her tested for some bacterial infections since she had been in the hospital with an IV for antibiotics but that came back clear.  She has what is called proctocolitis and MSPI, basically she is allergic to dairy and soy protein and it gives her colitis:(  After weeks of being dilligent I even say soy is an ingredient in the vitamins I was taking-REALLY???!!!  I have been free of it for over 2 months now and she is doing much better.  I am still not convinced this is truly the fix, but since allergy tests are not accurate until 1 year old, this is the route we will be going:)  It is definitely a hard route, but I have found a lot of great resources (thanks to some of my friends and family for leading me to recipes and websites) and have learned a ton of new recipes.  Eating out is the hardest since it is difficult to trust restaurants and waitstaff since dairy and soy are in EVERYTHING practically and lots of people always answer, oh yes it's gluten-free, well that's not the same;)  I have learned to be a label-hound and we cook even more at home and lots of fresh ingredients, so I feel like this is at least making us eat healthier:)  Of course I don't limit Brendan and Harper to all of this, but we don't make separate meals at home normally. 

I am curious to see what it will be like when we start introducing Bryn to solids and what the doctor says as far as trying to re-introduce soy and dairy around the 9-12 month mark.  We keep our fingers crossed she outgrows it:)