I was trying to do too much at once this morning. I was trying to blog and get Sonny and I ready for his doctor’s visit at the same time and the blog lost. I wanted that picture of Sonny to accompany a thank you to all you wonderful ladies who commented on Sonny’s various ailments. I really needed all the encouragement and advice. Intellectually I KNOW that this stuff isn’t my fault, but my mommy-heart does not always listen to my head. My nerves calmed after hearing that many of you have gone through the same issues. Also, a special thank you to SmockLady for sharing about her experiences with reflux. I won’t lie, she did scare Smoochy and I a little. But, in a good get off your ass and do some research kind of way.
So, as for the doctor’s visit: One of the benefits of living in this community is having access to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Their facility is amazing. Today we had our first appointment with the pediatric department of urology to have Sonny’s hernias evaluated. We became a little discombobulated trying to find exactly where we needed to be, as Stanford’s medical complex is huge. When we first arrived we went to the wrong building all together, but the nice people at the information desk arranged for a golf cart to take us to the right place. How about that for service?
Once we made it to the correct building and I approached the front desk, the friendly receptionist asked, “Is this Jacob?” I hadn’t said one word! What a relief. No bell to ring or glass window separating my sick babe from the office staff, and to top it all off we were expected! We didn’t even wait five minuets before we were called back for our appointment. And once we were situated in the examining room the nurse practitioner (with whom we had the appointment) was in to see us mere moments later!
The best news is that Sonny’s hernias both seemed small and so we are taking the wait and see approach to his treatment. We were told today that often hernias like his will close on their own, and so they don’t recommend surgery until the baby is a year old, if at that point it is still necessary. What a huge relief. I was so nervous that my tiny little infant was going to have to go under the knife at this tender age! And by my “tiny little infant” I mean my 16 pound two month old!
It amazes me that he is still gaining weight the way he pukes so much! How big would he be if he kept it all down? My sister (Kate) spoke with a lactation consultant she works with who believes acid reflux in breastfed babies is uncommon. This woman thought maybe Normy was sensitive to the proteins in cow’s milk. The more I’ve read about this the more I think it could be a possibility. Smoochy was extremely sensitive to dairy as a child, so perhaps Sonny is also. That would be VERY tough for me. I LOVE milk. I love cheese. On average I consume a bowl of cereal with milk, a cup of milk with lunch, yogurt, butter, cheese on everything, and a bowl of ice cream EVERY DAY. Well, not tomorrow. I’m going to cut it all out for a couple of weeks to see if it might help. I needed to knock off the nightly bowl of ice cream any way.
Well, ladies and gentlemen. It is time for a shower and some shut eye. Once again, thank you to all of you who commented recently on my little Normy and his ailments. You really did make me feel tons better!
6 comments:
I'm so glad the the appointment went well. Thank you for letting us know! I love that hospital. I think you will find that all of your experiences with them will be just as you described.
Hooray! That is wonderful news and so awesome that you were able to show up and receive such great treatment.
As for the dairy, just wanted to let you know that my friend had to give up dairy for one of her babies for the same reasons and she was told by her Dr. that it could take up to 6 weeks for all of it to completely get out of the baby's and her system. It was hard, but worth it, and she actually found a few good substitutes (a special-made ice cream being one of her favorites). :)
I'm so sorry I scared you that way. I really didn't intend to scare you , but I did want you to see two things: 1) that it can be very serious and 2) do some research: every child is different and don't just give in to what they tell you. My little Lottie just turned five the other day and she was our fourth and not the third with reflux. We thought we were doing all the right things with her; I still struggle witht the fact that had I not put her to sleep on her back that afternoon she would not have choked and she wouldn't have the problems she has. Because she was weakend my it with that incident, she had troubled clearing anyamount of vomit from her throat thereaftere and we had the apnea monitor so we would be alerted if she was choking again.
For one of ours that had reflux, I had to cut out all dairy as well. It was so hard to do. I'm not a milk drinker (by the glass), but I love yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and so on. But for what it's worth, the yogurt didn't seem to be a problem. And while my little boy who has milk problems still has milk problems (he's two and a half now) he does fine with yogurt too. If you should really have a great craving or desire for dairy, try the rice milk variety. Many people substitute soy products for dairy. Do a little more research and you will find that many children sensitive to the protien in dairy are also sensitive to soy. Watch out for very dry skin patches on Sonny; eczema is a very common reaction to dairy protien sensitivity. We give Flynt RiceDream rice milk and sometimes RiceDream ice cream. We use Earth Balance Organic Butter Spread (it's a vegetarian butter spread that tastes good). I've got some other tricks and lists for foods that you can substitute in your diet and later allow him to have as he grows. It can take a few weeks for the symptome to be completely gone in Sonny. Many children do outgrow this. My little Flynt has not and we assume he probably won't, but it's not caused him the slightest bit of slowing down - he's the most active child of our five, the brightest, and the biggest. He's two, weighs 38# and is 39 inches tall - that puts him way off the growth charts. He's taller than every three year old we know and even some four year olds.
And as far as Sonny's surgery goes. I am so grateful that you are able to wait and see. We knew when our second child was born that we were looking at the possibility of surgery for him. He had some eye muscles issues and at four months old it was confirmed by a pediatric specialist. We adore her and are so glad that at the time we needed such care for our boy we lived so close to getting that kind of help. (We live in the boonies now). He underwent eye surgery at 13 months and again at three and with the two surgeries his eyes were completely corrected. We had been prepared for a total of six surgeries for our little boy. We feel so blessed with such a wonderful surgeon to have been in our path of life at that time. It is very hard to go through that as a mom and dad - to have your little child placed in the hands of others for something so scarey.
Oh good, fabulous news about the hernias.
I'm sory you're going through with so many health worries for Normy. Poor thing!
Ummmm, hi, this is weird, looks like Blogger is making a few changes and somehow I got signed in with my Google account? I'm going to try this again with my Blogger acct since that's how everyone knows me. You're probably scratching your head and wondering who this 'shana' chick is.
Thanks everyone for your well wishes. We are pretty stokd that surgery is not imminent!
And what the heck is this Blogger Beta? I made the switch w/out reading! I am finding a couple bugs...like posting pictures from picasa isn't working! :-(
And SmockLady, like I wrote before I'm VERY greatful for your comments. We were only scared in a constructive way. And yes, Sonny has VERY dry flaky patches of skin, especially on his face. He has also had a rash on his arms and chest for a couple weeks now. I am cutting out dairy as of today... wish me luck! Rice milk and veggy butter it is! ick! ;-)
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