Claranna at Four Months

Claranna was officially four months old on August 26th--how the time flies! She is such a joy to have as part of our family and we already have forgotten what it was like to have only two children. James and Ella continue to adore their baby sister. Ella loves to hold her and James loves to make her smile. Both kids know that their sister is the happiest right after she has eaten, so they love to spend time with her then, making her laugh and giggle. Although, Ella is quick to ask if she has already done her spitting up. Ella doesn't like to get spit up on her, but who does?

Speaking of spit up, if medals were awarded for spit up amounts, Claranna would surely win a gold. Mark and I continue to be amazed by the amount and frequency of her spit up. We try to manage it with Zantac and I am trying to keep dairy products out of my diet (which is hard for a former dairy princess to do!). The medication seems to help with her comfort level, but doesn't really keep any more food down in her tummy. It seems Claranna has been to the doctor quite frequently lately. When she has a couple of bad days in a row, we head in to the clinic where Claranna performs her amazing spit up routine, then they promptly weigh her and increase her Zantac dose.

Claranna had her pediatric urology consult and kidney ultrasound in mid August. Since her ultrasound at birth was normal we were hoping for a clean bill of health and a dismissal, but that wasn't the case. Her left kidney showed mild hydronephrosis and a prominence of the collecting system in the upper pole. As Claranna grows and has a larger urine output, the problem will either correct itself (like if there is a kink in the ureter, the larger urine volume going through the tube could un-kink it) or the problem could get worse with more urine output and require an intervention. Right now, since her right kidney is normal we'll just wait, watch and return to the doctor in the spring unless there are some complications before then.

Last Wednesday, Claranna had her official four month measurements taken. She weighed 10 lbs. 15 ounces. Though on Saturday when she was in to have her eyelid examined (she has an infected eyelid), she only weighed in at 10 lbs. 13 ounces. Regardless, she is almost 11 pounds and she is 22.2 inches long. She is a little bundle and is still easily wearing all 0-3 month clothes. Thankfully, Grandma Judy is happy to alter all the little summer outfits we were given as gifts so that she can wear them while it is still warm out!

Good things come in little packages!!!