jumping for joy

We've been on the new formula for exactly 4 weeks now and I'm thrilled to report that SHE'S CURED!! We have a new baby on our hands! Her spitting up has drastically reduced....she's not spitting up 1/10 of what she used to. It's just normal baby spit up now, not the constant all-day-every-day vomitfest that had been taking place. Within two days of switching to the new formula, her eating consumption dropped from 35-40 ounces per day, down to 25 ounces per day because she is not spitting up as much any more. We haven't had any more scary gagging and choking incidents either. Such a relief. Of course insurance is refusing to cover the formula, despite the fact that we have a letter from the doctor stating that it's medically necessary. So for the forseeable future we'll be shelling out about $400 per month for formula. But if it makes her feel better it's all worth it.


And we finally have her medicine under control, so that has eliminated the all day fussing and crying that were once plaguing us. Turns out there's a HUGE difference in the medicine depending on where we get the script filled. Walgreens, CVS, etc (which are the only ones covered by insurance) do a terrible job...the medicine is very thin and watery and presumably tastes awful, because she make a terrible face and spits it out. The small private independant pharmacies (which of course are not covered by insurance) are the only ones that do a good job...the medicine is thick and properly suspended and tastes better, so she'll actually swallow it. So we'll just keep shelling out $75 per month for the good meds. 


To say that I have a bitter distaste for the medical/pharmaceutical/insurance industries right now is an understatement. The doctors all refused to listen to me when I kept bringing up the possible milk allergy...if I had listened to them I'd still be dealing with a screaming baby. ("She's gaining weight; she's fine."  "It's colic, there's nothing you can do."  "She'll just outgrow it."  "Only 2 out of 10 babies with reflux actually have a milk allergy; it's just reflux.") The insurance idiots are refusing to cover anything that has actually helped her; if it's not on their little checklist forget it. Throw out logic and reason and just adhere to the almighty checklist. And despite the fact that Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation, with 938457984 pharmacies in the city, I have only found ONE pharmacy way out in B.F.E. that can make the compounded prevacid correctly. This whole experience has been maddening. My heart goes out to those who have serious continual illness that forces them to deal with this BS on a regular basis. What a nightmare.


But on a lighter note, with her feeling better she is really kicking into high gear now, moving and shaking and always on the go! She started doing the "half roll" last week, where she flopped over from her back to her side but couldn't quite get over her arm to complete the roll.  This week she finally managed a complete roll, and now all she wants to do is practice rolling.

She's also getting pretty good at squirming her way around to get where she wants. When I lay her on the middle of the blanket in my closet while I'm getting dressed, she squirms her way over to my clothes to play with them. If I lay her in the middle of her room, she squirms her way over to the crib or the dresser. Let the baby chasing begin...

And we put together her jumperoo and she LOVES it!! It's her absolute favorite toy right now. She loves pushing off her legs and tap dancing around. 


So much to be thankful for right now....we're all jumping for joy in this household!