2 Months!

A week and a half ago, on October 10th, Gemma turned 2 months old! She got her first round of immunisations on the day, and I think it was harder on mom than it was on Gemma. She screamed when she was jabbed and until we got into the car, but once we started moving, she fell asleep pretty quickly. She was quite sleepy the rest of the day, but she didn't run a fever or have any increased fussiness (at least not any more than she already has with the reflux!). It was a very quick visit with the nurse- she wasn't weighed or anything, which surprised me. A few days after the visit, I weighed myself, then held her and weighed the two of us, and she weighs around 13 pounds! I think she is quite long, especially in the torso, so in my opinion she's well proportioned!

At 2 months, Gemma recognises me and my voice especially and follows me with her eyes if I'm moving around in her line of vision. She also tracks toys/objects if we move them back and forth in front of her, and she holds her head quite steady if she is up over our shoulder or sitting on our lap. She coos and smiles more now, and it melts my heart every time! Gemma can also push her chest up a bit when she is on her tummy. She is our big, strong girl!

With regard to Gemma's reflux, we started a new medication, Losec (Prilosec) on Thursday, October 11th. It's kind of a pain to give- half a tablet is dissolved in warm water, then syringed or droppered into Gemma's mouth 30 minutes before a bottle. Sometimes I don't know how much actually gets into her! We have seen improvements though. Even though she continues to have a fairly fussy period each day (usually the evening) and she usually fusses when she's getting sleepy, she is soothed and calmed much more quickly. She still does not like laying on her back for very long, and we experimented with a few different things for overnight sleeping. She tolerated sleeping in her car seat for a couple of nights and also tolerated the Fisher Price Rock and Play that I ordered from the States for a couple of nights, but that was it. She was most comfortable and would sleep the longest if she slept on her tummy on my chest. Needless to say, this did not make for very restful nights for me. I talked with the paediatrician, and he said to let her sleep on her tummy in her Moses basket as long as she was in a sleeping bag with no blankets. In order to have a bit more peace of mind, we got an Angel Care monitor- a pressure pad goes under her mattress and detects even the smallest movements (i.e. breathing) and alarms if there is no movement in 15 seconds. We have let Gemma sleep on her tummy for the past 7 nights, and she has slept 5-6 hours straight from 10 or 11pm, wakes for a bottle (this can take an hour to an hour and a half, as she can have some difficulty settling after the bottle), then sleeps about 3 more hours- all in her Moses basket! Not too bad! We're still working on getting her down into her Moses basket for naps. At the moment she usually wakes as soon as she's put down, but we're working on it. Today she slept an hour and a half of her late morning/early afternoon nap in her Moses basket, so that's progress!

It really is hard to remember life before Gemma now. Paul and I often just stare at her when she's asleep in our arms and are in awe of how absolutely perfect she is!