No Sleep + Acid Reflux = Bad Blogger

I have been a smidge slow with blogging lately and that's because of these three things, in no particular order...

• Evidently newborns don't sleep all night.  I had forgotten this and I've had a bit of a hard time adjusting to no sleep our new sleep schedule.
• My mom is preparing to leave this week and I'm scared.  I have a project list a mile long and only two days left to knock them out...wish me luck!
• Our darling Will has acid reflux.  Well, we think he does and so he moans and groans constantly.  He also has a nasty habit of getting choked and scaring the daylights out of me.  This keeps me pretty much glued to his side out of fear.

When you combine these three things, it means blogging has taken a backseat. Sorry about that.  But let's get back to the third thing on the list above for a second.

Last Wednesday night shortly before midnight, I woke up from a light sleep and heard Will choking.  He was sleeping in a pack and play a few feet away from our bed, so I jumped up and ran over to him and grabbed him up as quickly as I could.  I yelled for Carlton and we realized quickly that Will actually wasn't breathing.  We flipped him over, kind of simulating the infant heimlich, and had to suction out his mouth and throat.  Not good.  Not good at all.  Once he started catching his breath again, his respirations were rather fast and we were beyond scared.  After I literally picked myself up off the floor and started breathing again myself, we started discussing what we should do and I managed to convince Carlton that I thought we should call the NICU at Duke and see what they suggested.  When we were discharged, they told us to be sure we called if we ever needed any advice or anything, so I gladly took them up on the offer shortly after midnight.  

When I got through to the Fellow in charge, I told him what was going on with Will and in a matter of minutes he told me we should bring Will into the emergency room.  So, we loaded up the car and a few necessities and made the 45 minute drive to the ER.  Once we were there, it took over three hours before we ever saw a physician.  Will was sleeping peacefully at this point and was oblivious to the commotion around us.  Carlton and I, on the other hand, were exhausted and ready to leave.  In fact, at one point, we seriously contemplated just getting our things together and telling the nurses we were outta there.  Thankfully, we didn't do that, though, because once the doctors came in they seemed pretty concerned.  They ordered chest xrays and pretty soon thereafter they decided that Will was being admitted.  We really weren't prepared for that.

Shortly after six Thursday morning, I found myself back in those familiar hospital elevators.  I saw the transport person reach out and touch the button for the fifth floor and immediately I felt the all too familiar burn of tears begin creeping into my eyes.  I was upset we were back there again, only eleven days since we were initially discharged.  I think the real reason I shed tears, though, was remembering all of the other parents that still had children in the NICU.  The ones that haven't felt the sweet freedom of carrying their babies out...  I had tasted freedom with Will; we had been home together.  My heart still breaks for the parents that haven't had that moment.  

Back to last week, though, we spent a few hours in a general pediatrics care room and were finally discharged around 10 AM Thursday.  The best guess from doctors is that Will has a really bad case of acid reflux.  He is on Zantac now and we are hoping he starts feeling better soon.  I think he may have improved a little bit, but he still has a long way to go.  

So, that's what has been going on around here since last week.  Thanks again to everyone for your continued prayers and support.  Things really are going well with Will, all things considered.  We just keep praying for his body to be strong and for the Lord to continue protecting him and guiding us in making the right decisions for his care.

Will also just had his two week appointment today at his regular pediatrician and here are his stats!

• 8 pounds and 5 ounces!  That's six ounces more than his birthweight and 27th percentile
• 20 inches long; 17th percentile
• 14 inch head circumference; 17th percentile