Growing a boy: Back at the hospital

Monday (May 15) our now full-term son (born 7-weeks early) began to have trouble eating. At first we didn't think too much of it but as a precaution we took him in to see a pediatrician on Tuesday. His reflux was the culprit, the pediatrician thought, so we added an antacid to our son's diet: twice a day -- morning and night. The first day it seemed to be working but a few days of the meds on board and it seemed like he was doing worse.

Last night was the worst of all! He stopped breathing twice...so much so that the Owlet foot alarm blared to warn us of his condition, oxygen dipping below 80. Racing into his nursery to stimulate him--rubbing and patting his back-- he finally took a breath. In addition, he was in so much pain he literally had to be held all night. My husband and I took turns throughout the night consoling him. Laying him down for 30 seconds or less would send him into a fit of rage. Poor thing. We couldn't figure out why he was in so much pain, why he wasn't eating and why he had stopped breathing. At about 5am we were getting desperate...again troubleshooting why our son would appear to the sucking on the bottle but not consuming any milk. We decided to try the preemie bottle nipple (he hadn't used this in over 3 weeks). Success! He "downed" 2 ounces...still a fraction of what we was eating before all of this occurred but more than he had eaten since the day before.

Of course we were concerned. The husband decided to take him to the hospital first thing this morning to get evaluated. I later joined him once our nanny arrived at 11am.  After a quick evaluation, he was admitted for a 24-hour observation. To our relief, Ollie had gained weight since Tuesday instead of losing (upwards of 9 pounds now!)...great considering he hadn't had very much at all to eat from 7p Friday night until 7a Saturday morning. Yet there were still many questions:

• Did he have virus?
• Was he being affected due to his partial lung removal?
• Is it something I am consuming and passing to him via breastmilk?
• Does he have such severe reflux that his esophagus has been compromised?

We were hoping to get answers. 

Shortly after arriving to the hospital, Ollie and I went with the nurse to the x-ray room in the ER. I sat on the stretcher holding Ollie, who was attached to an oxygen & heart monitor. My sweet son slept the whole ride. When we arrived, he was stripped down to a diaper and placed in this mid-evil torture looking device which would keep him still for the tummy and lung x-rays. It was horrifying to see my son----- sitting upright, strapped into this device, arms stretched overhead, head held by a leather band that was strapped to the plastic "body" holding device thing-----screaming as the x-ray techs worked as fast as they could to get the films so they could remove him. Wow.

The x-rays were good and showed that his lung looked good and a tummy full of......GAS! Yup! Gas! In addition to the reflux he has severe gas which he cannot pass...poor guy! Thankfully, Ollie calmed down quickly in my arms and within less than a minute he was fast asleep as we rode back up to his hospital room.

About an hour later the doctor came and shared with us that his x-rays looked normal aside from the gas. His esophagus is most likely stinging due the high amount of reflux. She changed his reflux meds and increased the dose as well as added IV fluids to ensure he was hydrated.  She also suggested that I should cut out dairy from my diet...surprisingly something I started 3 days ago!

So once again, our family is separated. My husband is at the hospital with our youngest and I am home with this bigs. We are still unsure of the outcome...they say he should grow out of the reflux (maybe around 3-5 months old?); his esophagus should heal quick-ish which would allow him to eat more (plus adding some rice-cereal to thicken the milk and better coat his throat); the elimination of dairy in my diet should (hopefully) reduce the reflux Ollie is experiencing. It is a waiting game coupled with trial and error. We are patiently enduring, trying to embrace every moment of this crazy thing called parenthood.