baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

portraits 02 // roman + marina

DenaJune 8, 2015

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

“Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.” –Hafiz

It’s been a crazy couple of months, friends. Over the past few weeks, Marina’s crying has gone from bad to worse. Despite her pediatrician repeatedly telling me that — “She’s healthy, just colicky” — my gut has been telling me something different. I strongly suspect that Marina has silent reflex. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to help her by changing my diet, we’ve decided to try her on a medication for reflux.

It’s been a painstaking time and we didn’t make this decision lightly. In case you hadn’t guessed it, I’m not a pharmaceuticals person. I’ll try every natural remedy in the book before resorting to a chemical medicine. However, I can’t stand to see my baby suffering anymore. It’s gotten really bad. We’re almost at three months now and she still screams for hours every day. It takes all of my energy to calm her down and sometimes nothing will soothe her. She shows all of the typical symptoms of reflux — she screams, arches her back, makes a sour face, goes hysterical when you try to lay her flat, and so on. But because she doesn’t vomit after most feedings and because she is gaining weight extremely well, the pediatrician didn’t think it was reflux. However, both of those things can be explained. Many babies with reflux do not vomit because the acid comes up and then goes back down — causing double pain. Also, many babies with reflux gain weight well because they feed (sometimes excessively) to soothe the burning.

We knew that we had to try something else. After exhausting almost all of the options in front of us, we found ourselves with two choices: trying to give her a dairy-free, sensitive formula or trying medication. I deeply want to continue exclusively breastfeeding her if possible, and that is how we ended up deciding on the medicine. We just started it yesterday and are hopeful that we will see some improvement very soon.

In other news, we’re all enjoying the end of spring and the beginning of summer. When Marina is not screaming, her sweet personality is really starting to shine through. She just loves attention! If we sit and talk to her, she will smile, coo, and even giggle. It’s the sweetest thing. She still loves her big brother desperately and he loves her right back. He has settled so beautifully into his role as big brother, just as I knew he would. I don’t know what I would ever do without him. He brings light, joy, and laughter to even our most difficult of days.

You can’t see it too well in these photographs, but Marina’s eyes are blue! When she was born we thought for certain that she would have dark eyes & dark hair, but as time passes, her eyes continue to get lighter and bluer every day. Her eyes can still change color. Most sources say that a baby’s eyes can continue to change significantly up until six months, but so far it’s looking like we’ll have another blue-eyed baby! It’s pretty surprising to us, as M. and I both have hazel/brown eyes, but there are lots of blue eyes in our families and Roman’s are as blue as they come.

I hope you’ll enjoy these photographs of my sweet babes. I’m so grateful to be their mama.

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

baby portraits // livelovesimple.com

Happy Monday, friends. I hope that your week is off to a beautiful start. If you are so inclined, I would truly appreciate your prayers that we may find a resolution to Marina’s issues ASAP. Many, many thanks. xo


Comments (3)

  • Nichole

    June 8, 2015 at 6:28 am

    Our little guy sounds a lot like Marina. He screamed pretty much constantly unless of course he was eating, he slept upright in a swing etc. I also prefer to avoid meds if possible but the reflux meds were a miracle for us. Within a few days the difference was amazing!! He still had normal, cranky baby moments but the screaming stopped! We kept him on a very low dose until he was about 5 months and then tried him without and he was fine. It is SO hard to endure the constant screaming, I hope the meds work out for you guys. You have beautiful babies by the way 🙂

    1. Dena

      June 8, 2015 at 8:34 am

      Thanks so much, Nichole. It’s so nice to hear your story and to learns that the medicine helped him *and* that he was fine after five months. I hope & pray for a similar outcome!

  • Tina

    June 10, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    Aww beautiful photos. I hope this medicine helps Marina and she isn’t in pain / crying anymore. Lyla didn’t have these problems but did not at all like to be laid flat ever, so I used to have her sleep in those Rock and Play things. Good luck with everything! And yay for two blue eyed babies!

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