Forgive me if any of this seems scattered. The past week has been a bit of a blur. I wish I could have updated from the hospital, but alas...no wifi. So...here goes...
This past Sunday as I was writing my update on J, his Daddy was with him continuing our 'puke count' as we had done the day before. Pretty sad that we had to do this to basically 'prove our case' to the Paediatrician after seeing her for 4 months, but it helped for sure. On Sunday we counted over 65 pukes. I nearly choked saying it - seriously??? 65?!?!
We weren't sure when he would have the barium swallow done on Monday but we knew that he had to fast for 4 hours before hand and the first appointment is at 8am. So, I woke J up early to feed him but then it turned out that his appointment wasn't until 1pm. I fed him one last time at 9am and then was told 'no more' until after the test. Thankfully J is a HUGE fan of the ladies and was absolutely amused by all of them in Paeds while we waited. In between we also had an ultrasound done on his head just to rule out any neurological issues. Towards 12 he started to get fussy and we were called down early for the test. But...still waited until 1:30 to actually have it done. They did the first set of images and then wanted to have him wait a few minutes and do some more. At this point a friend from church arrived - yeah! another distraction for J! He was happy to see a familiar face. After the 2nd set of images were done I was able to take him upstairs and feed him but I had to bring him down about 20 minutes later for a 3rd set. By the time he was allowed to eat I think it was 2:50. Felt so bad for the little man, but he was SO good about it. The results from the head ultrasound came back fine and the barium swallow showed that his stomach was slow to empty. Guess that explained why when he pukes it doesn't look like it's been digested and also why there seems to be so much of it.
Somewhere during the week (I guess it was Tuesday) we saw a Dietician who figured out a whole new 'diet' for J to help him pack on the pounds. We have to be pretty strict about following it, just like someone who is trying to lose weight. She dropped the plan off to my hubby while I was out with L having dinner, etc. When I arrived back and looked it over my first thought was 'and how do I fit into this?' meaning, how does breastfeeding fit into the schedule?? She had down that he needed to start his day with a bottle of formula, then cereal and go back and forth like that throughout the day. I immediately broke down in tears. I had made it so far with nursing him and now I was just going to have to drop it just like that?? For some this may not seem like a huge deal, but let me tell you...it's huge! Not only is it painful physically to stop on a whim, it's also difficult on your emotions. Although a few of the nurses that I spoke with that night agreed with me that I could continue breastfeeding I was apprehensive that the Dietician would agree and so I sat down that night and fed him for what would be the last time. I have always ALWAYS wanted what's best for my boy, don't get me wrong...it's just that I didn't expect to have to be told that I would have to stop breastfeeding him. I thought 'oh I'll stop around 7 months' and I'll do it when I want to or when he's ready, etc. But to be told basically you're not allowed to...WOW! Anyway, enough of that.
So Wednesday we started on the new diet. He gets small amounts of food more often (funny...didn't my hubby say that to the Paediatrician just days before and she said no???) - 5oz of formula mixed with some baby cereal first thing in the morning and then 2 1/2 hours later he gets a few Tb of cereal mixed with a bit of formula by spoon. This is repeat through the day with his last feed at 10pm. The first night he fed at 10pm and woke up at 4:30am. This morning he was up at 3:30am. Yawn! My little man that had gone from sleeping 7:30 - 7:00 was now only sleeping about 5 1/2 hours. The nurse commented that this was 'normal' for someone his age...but definitely not 'our' normal. I'm interested to see what he does over the next few days after being at home and back on a better napping schedule and not being interrupted to check his vitals.
Did I mention before that my Mom ran into my aunt's sister in the cafeteria at the hospital on the weekend and she suggested that we ask to see a specific Paediatric GI specialist? First let me tell you how cool it is that she ran into her there. After speaking with her tonight I know absolutely 200% that it was no coincidence whatsoever that they saw each other. This woman only works part time and switches between the hospital and working across the street. My mom was only down in the cafeteria for a few minutes. In my whole time at the hospital I haven't seen this woman AT ALL. How INCREDIBLE that my Mom would bump into her?!?! That was DEFINITELY God's timing and He deserves all the praise for what came of that situation! My Mom mentioned to my aunt's sister that J was in Paed's and why we were there, etc and immediately she told her what she would suggest. After getting the results of the tests on Tuesday my hubby asked our Paed for a referral to this GI specialist (this was on Wed). Yesterday (Thursday), she met with me for about 1/2 an hour. We talked about EVERYTHING that had been going on over the last 6 months. She is amazing! It's hard to explain what she wants to do and why, but let's just say we are getting somewhere!!! AND even more incredible - we are seeing immediate results! Especially in the poop department. lol! No more of this 'oh give him prunes' garbage (which uh...hello! that doesn't exactly work if he's just going to puke it up!). Since giving him this stuff that the GI specialist wants him on he pooped half an hour later! YEAH!!! We have to set up an appointment to see her in her office within the next 2 weeks (a squeeze-in of course because she said that normally it would be about October before she could see us. WOW!).
The computer battery is about to run out on me, but let me just once again say thank you SO much to everyone for their concern and more importantly their prayers! I can't tell you enough how much God answered SO many of your prayers for us over the last week. NOTHING is a small concern in God's eyes. Our little man is putting on weight, slowly, yes, but he's not losing! AND he's puking less! INCREDIBLE! Please continue to pray that he will just improve as time goes on. Good night! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment