3 weeks & Medical Updates

Sorry this is a little late, we've been busy :-)

Measuring: 6 lbs. 8 oz. today (3 weeks 2 days)...not good :-(

Sleeping: Soren goes 3-4 hour stretches at night, sometimes sleeps longer during the day

This week we... spent alot of time at MorMor and MorFar's house doing laundry and hanging out. We also had his swallow study done at Children's Hospital, and attended a church friend's wedding.

Medical Updates: I had been having some concerns about Soren possibly having reflux. He was spitting up often and large amounts of it. When we would lay him on his back, he would often spit up and ended up having choking episodes which was pretty scary. I noticed gurgling sounds and he would be fussy then gag and spit up. I spoke with our pediatrician about it and pushed to have it checked out. We were able to get him into Children's Hospital to have a swallow study done this past Monday. He was given a bottle with Barium and would drink it and x-ray shots would be taken simultaneously. This first test checked to see if he was aspirating fluids. They took 5 x-ray shots during the process, the first 4 showed everything looked good, but they decided to do one more, and on the 5th shot, it showed there was some fluid going down his airway; he then coughed multiple times. This showed that Soren was aspirating fluids, but luckily he would cough in response. They then gave him a thickened fluid and he had no problems with this. While nursing, I would notice that sometimes he would have coughing fits, but just thought it was because he was drinking too fast...come to find out he's aspirating (talk about feeling like a horrible mommy at that moment!).

The second test they inserted a feeding tube down his nose and gave him fluids with barium and took more x-ray shots to see if his anatomy looked good and if he was showing reflux; his anatomy looked perfect but he was showing some reflux.

The speech therapist who was involved in the testing said we would now need to feed him thickened liquids, and unfortunately a substance called "Simply Thick" which was safe to use with breastmilk was just recently recalled for use with preemies. There were no options to use with breastmilk. I felt so heartbroken and overwhelmed with the news we were given.

We went home and called our pediatrician to tell her the news. Luckily she thinks breastmilk has super powers and wanted us to continue breastfeeding, however if he ever needed a bottle, it would need to be formula thickened with rice/oatmeal cereal. She put him on Pulmicort nebulizer to keep his airways calm to hopefully prevent pneumonia, and also an oral-dissolving Prevacid prescription. So far we haven't noticed any changes, but we're hoping he'll start to feel better soon. Because of the aspirating fluids, he is at high risk to develop pneumonia and RSV, and we will now need to be extra careful with his exposure to others.

Today I wanted to get his weight checked again as I hadn't noticed any changes in his size. Last week at his 2 week appt. he weighed 6 lbs. 5.5 oz. which was basically back to his birth weight. Today (10 days later) he only weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. Dr. B said he should be gaining an ounce a day, and he definitely didn't do that. Now we will need to alternate thickened formula (with rice cereal) in a bottle and breastfeeding. We will re-check next week to see how he's doing.

It's hard to deal with this as a mother, but I am SO glad I followed my motherly intuition and advocated for him to get checked. I know I have a tendency to overreact, but being with my son 24/7 helps me learn alot about him and how he's feeling. I will be updating the blog as we learn more.

At the wedding reception