Busy, busy week so I decided not to blog til today! Didn't really have a lot going on...just the usual 20 million outfit and diaper changes a day. Learning how to do most everything one handed since Mason is quite the fussy boy.

Mason is 2 months old now! His appointment was today and he is 11lbs 9oz (50th%), 21.75in long (12th%) and his head is 15in (12th%). Sooo...he's longer and weighs more than Austin did at his 2mt but I think his head is smaller. Will have to look it up. I think that contributes to him still looking more like a newborn than a infant.

Lots of stuff covered at this appointment....

For starters: we will be adjusting his milestones due to his somewhat early arrival. I didn't think 3 weeks would matter but she said that it would. Already have evidence of that since he just started smiling this past weekend and hasn't done it everyday yet. He started some cooing earlier this week and that has increased in the last day or so. :) She does think he will roll over early since he is so hypertonic (tight muscles for non medical peeps) due to always splinting/guarding himself against the pain of reflux.

She did increase his Zantac dose since he gained a bit more weight so that should help. He was increased to 0.8ml twice a day at the 6 week weight check and she increased him to 1.2ml twice a day today. Recheck in a month to see if the dosage is still working.

I've got a feeling we will be seeing the insides of doctors offices a lot in the coming months...

So onto the milk protein allergy issue. His stool was tested on Monday for blood. It was negative. With a (undiagnosed/untreated) milk protein allergy the blood in stool may not show up until the baby is a few months old due to the chronic inflammation. So it wasn't unreasonable that his was negative. Based on his many, many symptoms that matched the milk protein allergy she went ahead and diagnosed him with it. He should start to get better in 2-6 weeks. Takes a while for the milk protein to leave my system and his. I had already started the new diet this past weekend but was not completely aware of what all I need to avoid. I know have the ingredient list of what I can't have so I feel more confident. Whey and casein are milk protein derivatives....they are in everything it seems like! Had to throw out my "dairy free" coffee creamer yesterday because it has sodium caseinate in it. If he is not much improved in 6 weeks we will do bloodwork. I'm sure I'll keep ya updated. Random factoid of the week...Oreo's are "safe" for me to eat! haha :)

Also this allergy is completely different than lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is actually rare in babies....while milk protein allergy is uncommon in adults. There is a good chance Mason will grow out of this as his intestine matures! We will do a "milk challenge" test around 9 months of age. Could take up to 5 years (or more) to outgrow the allergy. Doctor said most outgrow it around 1-3 years of age.

Next on the issue agenda: his penis. My poor lil guy has penoscrotal webbing. Not sure how much detail or if I've even talked about this on the blog. It isn't dinner table conversation and I don't want to gross anyone out. His isn't terribly noticeable...actually wasn't caught until they were prepping him for his circumcision. So no circumsion for him until he sees a pediatric urologist to determine the course of action. We see the pediatric urologist on November 30th. He comes once a month from Riley Children's Hospital to the Lutheran Pediatric Outpaitent clinic to see kids and do consults and followups. So we will see him on his November visit to Ft Wayne. He didn't want to see Mason til he was 4-6 mts of age. If he needs surgery and then circumcision it will be done at Riley when he is older than 6 mts. Do yourself a favor and don't google it! It comes up with a bunch of adult men with the disorder and the extreme versions of the webbing. His is minor.

I think that's all I wanted to blog about with regards to his appointment. Other than his few medical issues she is very happy with his weight and his development thus far. :)