A very stressful day...and a very long post

We have been so blessed. D'Laney has hardly been sick, she's hit all her milestones, she's pretty advanced in several areas. So yesterday when I went to angelo for her 1 year well baby I had every reason to believe that Dr. Patyrak would just brag on her and tell her how smart and pretty she was and that would be the end of it. That's about as opposite as it could be from how it actually went. She's grown to 28 inches long, which is in the 15%. But she still only weighs 16lbs 11 oz. That's exactly what she weighed three months ago, which is not good. He also thought she looked very pale and mentioned the dark circles under her eyes. I thought they were because of allergies, given my history. But he said they're often a good indication of anemia, as was the paleness. That, coupled with the low weight, had him concerned. So he ordered a full blood screen and I got some orders. Apparently, I'm not producing nearly enough breastmilk. He gave me some formula, a special kind that they give to preemies, and I'm to quit nursing immediately. If I were to try to gradually wean, D'Laney would never take the bottle of formula and we'd be looking at a more serious situation. This child has never had a drop of formula, and we skipped the bottles altogether. She went straight to a sippy cup. Now she can drink out of a straw and even out of a regular cup with just a little help. But now I have to introduce a bottle with formula. I was pretty upset. I know it's not my fault and there really were no signs to clue me in, but technically, I've been starving my child. Well, not starving, she was getting enough to sustain her, but underfeeding. This probably explains why she's so reluctant to advance with solids and why she's still getting up so often at night...she's hungry!
So, we had to go to the hospital for them to draw the blood. My mom came with me, and she had to hold D'Laney down while they did it, I couldn't do it. But she didn't make a sound! She just watched them find the vein, but the needle in, take it out...the whole process without so much as flinching. Let's just say she handled it way better than I did, but I had quit crying by the time we got back to the car. We went to walmart and got some bottles because we don't even own any, and went back to my mom and dad's so mom could try to feed her before we headed back to Stanton. We thought D'Laney would take it better from my mom instead of her's with the boobs that have what she really wants. Cadye ended up being the one to feed her, and it took about 2 hours but she got about 6 oz down. I was terrified that it was going to be a very long night and next couple days, but we got home and I gave her another bottle around 10:30. She took the entire 8 oz, then fell right asleep with the paci and rocking for just a few minutes. She slept until 4 (yay!) took another 8 oz, and slept until almost 8. I am so proud of her. This is a pretty tough kid we were blessed with. Dr. Patyrak's office called early this morning and said that the tests came back perfect and just to keep up with the formula and he's see her again in a month to check the progress. Hopefully, after that month, we'll be able to stop the formula and go to cow's milk and foods, hopefully.
I wish I could say that I was handling the weaning as well as my daughter. Cold turkey is NOT the way to go, but in this situation we really had no choice. I was about ready to try weaning anyway, so mentally and emotionally, I'm doing great, as far as that goes. But physically? Very, very different story. I was hoping that the only good thing about me not producing much anymore was that maybe this process would be pretty easy. I was wrong, so so wrong. I feel like I'm walking around with bowling balls under my shirt, both in size and density. I do not envy women with large breasts. And produce in my bra is a very strange feeling! But I do think it's working. Thank goodness I'm able to stay home and don't have to go through this in a workplace. I'm really hoping it goes down pretty quick, we're going out of town friday, and this would make for some miserable traveling.
Wow, long post! 2 quick, much lighter notes: We moved D'Laney into a forward facing car seat yesterday, and she loves it. Even short trips into Midland were getting to be miserable. She really likes being able to see where she's going. I know she's a little small, I mean, we really know now, but she fits just fine, and even slept a while yesterday and her head stayed upright and to the side, so I think she's fine. Secondly, today is Cameron's last day driving a truck for Trey. He'll have a long weekend off, then he'll start his new job on monday! We're really excited. I'm planning a big supper and cake tonight for him. We're leaving friday afternoon to go on vacation with his family down to Hunt, TX...with lots of formula in tow!