The weight on my shoulders

Wednesday afternoon, we took Brooklyn to the pediatrician for her weekly weight check.

11 pounds, 12 ounces. And she turned 6 months old that day.

She is growing...just much more slowly than everyone wants.

Last week at the gastroenterologist, she nurse told us that Brooklyn weighed "just under 12 pounds." As it turns out, she was 11 pounds and 8 ounces, and the nurse rounded the numbers off. Which is not a big deal at all if you are dealing with, say, a ten-year-old child...but an infant with weight gain problems? Yeah, you shouldn't round up to the nearest pound in that case.

Our pediatrician was actually out of town this week, so at our weight check visit, we had to deal with a different nurse and different pediatrician. The nurse seemed somewhat alarmed and told us that Brooklyn had gained only 4 ounces since August 18th (3 1/2 weeks). They want her to gain between 4 and 7 ounces per week. She went and consulted with the pediatrician who was there, who really didn't want to get involved because Brooklyn already has so many doctors. They told me to call her gastroenterologist (Dr. R) ASAP.

The nurse at Dr. R's called me back Thursday morning. She really freaked me out at first by telling me that Dr. R was considering hospitalizing Brooklyn to have her fed through an NG tube (through her nose). She asked me a few questions then said she would call me back that afternoon after she talked to Dr. R....leaving me to worry for hours about the prospect of hospitalization. I really don't understand why they would even consider this...if Brooklyn was refusing to eat or someothing, okay...but she does eat. She just doesn't gain weight properly. The doctors need to figure out what is the matter that is causing her not to gain and fix it, not force feed her and put her through more pain!

Anyway, the nurse finally called me back. No hospital stay for now. They have changed Brooklyn's feeding plan again...more cereal in the bottles, even more formula powder in them as well, to increase her calorie intake again. Dr. R. is also increasing the number of times per day she is taking her Reglan, because she is still having problems with the reflux and lots of spitting up.

Oh...they also told me that the endoscopy and bronchoscopy will not be until October 17th because that is the first date that the gastroenterologist, pulmonologist, and ENT could coordinate their surgical schedules. So here we sit waiting, again. It's quite discouraging when you know that no progress will be made toward finding out what is wrong for over a month...

My baby can't grow like she should be able to. And I can't seem to do anything to help her. She is so light, and my fears are so heavy.