Urgent Care and Weight Gain

We had a typical Sunday afternoon...until Jackson began vomiting profusely.  We're not talking about projectile spit up.  This was a tiny body throwing up so hard he was convulsing until the only thing left was heaving.  Jackson threw up violently four times within an hour.  We were obviously concerned about dehydration and wondering if there were more serious problems.  I was sick to my stomach I was so worked up over the whole ordeal.  It is absolutely heart wrenching to see our sweet boy in pain or worry about his health.  Jesse and I had a choice to either pay $87 at Urgent Care or wait and see if it got better.  If it got worse, we would spend the evening in the emergency room and pay $233.

We decided to go ahead and drive to Urgent Care.  As Murphy's Law would have it, Jackson slept rather peacefully the entire time we were there and has not gotten sick since.  After over an hour wait, the doctor checked all of his vitals.  His temperature, pulse, breathing, eyes, ears, etc were all perfectly normal.  She said that he had a virus but was unsure why the vomiting was so concentrated in such a short time span.  We were simply told to watch for vomiting and to take Jackson to the ER if he was unable to keep breastmilk or Pedialyte down.  Thankfully he nursed once we got home and slept uninterrupted until 3 a.m.

Our pitiful sick boy

Sleeping on Daddy

Despite getting a clean bill of health from the nurse and doctor, Jesse and I are increasingly concerned about Jackson's weight.  If you recall, he weighed 14 lbs 4 oz at his 4 month check, which was only a 1.5 lb gain from his 2 month check up.  On Sunday, he only weighed 14 lbs, 9 oz.  While I am certain that he lost significant weight throwing up, he was weighed in his clothes and cloth diaper.  (He is always naked at his official weight checks.)  To think that he's gained half a pound or less in a month is unsettling.

After calming myself from complete hysteria, I am still unable to make peace with the realization that formula is in our very near future.  I hope and pray that Jackson is able to be exclusively breastfed up until 6 months before we are forced to use formula.  There is still 200+ ounces in the freezer, but I am only able to pump 1-2 bottles of breastmilk while we have increased Jackson's intake to 4 bottles a day.  Nursing and pumping has been a HUGE source of stress for me this past month, which doesn't help with my supply issues.  

We are going to give Jackson an extra bottle each day (4 total) and hope that it's enough for him to gain weight.  Jackson is still happy and playful.  He rarely shows hunger signs and he isn't fussy very often.  However, Jackson would have to gain almost 4 pounds in the next month for him to double his birth weight (8 lb 15 oz) by his 6 month check up.  Clearly that is not going to happen!

Many, many prayers are needed.