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| Wyatt up WAY past his bed time, so I was trying to "wear" him out! It's the only time I've gotten to use that sling. He's been too "connected" |
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| Daddy & Wyatt hanging out! They always crack me up. :-) |
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| Tummy time with Nurse Angela. He fights me SO much more than he does with nurses and Daddy! |
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| Dr. Richrdson says we need to do more tummy times through out the day... so here we go! |
Wyatt went in for a weight check today with our pediatrician, Dr. Richardson. I am so excited to report that Wyatt weighs 11 pounds even!!! That's almost an ounce a day (exact = 25 grams) since our last visit on Halloween! YEA WYATT!! He is 24.25 inches long and his head is measuring at 14.25 inches. His head circumfrence has always been what is "behind" and "below the curve" but it's continuing to grow and Dr. Richardson said if there is going to be something that is behind in growing, it's that. His weight is in the 3%... on Wyatt's curve nicely! His length is in the 50% and his head circumfrence is <3%.... I'm good with it all because it is all growth and again, on his curve!
Praise the Lord!!!!!
On another note, in the last blog I memtioned one sentence being a entire blog in itself... well, here it is...
Wyatt gets my breast milk as his food. He isn't ready for solids just yet. I've been told to wait until month 6 or 7 since he was a 36 weeker. In the NICU Wyatt wasn't gaining enough weight so the doctors started to fortify my breast milk with formula to make it higher calorie. They even "spun" my milk to see exactly how many calories I was producing. I think I said it before but I was secretly hoping I would have low calorie milk so that I could eat more cheese burgers, fries, pizza, ice cream.... I could keep going. Haha. BUT that was not the case and to be honest, I don't even know if it works like that. :-) My milk spun at 20.2 calories per ounce. The docs ended up adding formula to make it 30 calories per ounce. It doesn't sound like much but that's a lot for a tiny human!
Fast forward to coming home, skipping everything I've talked about- the milk protien algergy, Wyatt being put on special formula and then back to my breast milk and then breast milk with special formula added again... We are here and I have some control over how Wyatt is fed. Wyatt wasn't making it through the night without spitting up/refluxing tons and a fair amount in the day as well. I just had a gut feeling it was the formula. He spit more on it in the hospital too while I was going dairy free. I hated it and just knew that is what was making him spit so much. He's going to spit no matter what with his insides the way they are but it kills me to see him do it when he might not have to. He is obviously so uncomfortable when it is happening- gut renching as I am sure many of you know, CDHer, premie or not.
So... I began cutting back on the necate (smelly special formula) at night. The spitting got better. Wyatt was weighing in with an increase so James and I discussed it and we quit adding formula to his night time feeds altogether. He gets the full amount during the day, just not at night. He is sleeping the entire night, he may spit once post 6 AM sometimes not at all AND he is gaining weight. Dr. Richardson felt comfortable with his gain and said she is okay but still wants me to talk to his dietitan at GI to make sure. So, if he continues to gain we are good. No one has given me a "goal" weight gain so we'll see what they say. I'm comfortable with where we are at the moment. I just pray that by the time we get to solid foods, we can be off the Neocate. I'm also thankful for insurance because that stuff is $50 a can or more. CRAZY!!!
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I also wanted to add that if anyone reading this ever has any questions about what we've gone through or are going through, please contact me. I know I had a hard time keeping up with anyone ahead of me on the CDH journey until we were in the "clear" so to speak, really post repair surgery and I follow a lot people that are "behind" us on the journey. Even if it's just to have a specific prayer request, we'll pray for you! We share in hopes of helping others and in doing so, again hopefully, glorify our God of miracles!
We're "behind" you in the journey, don't have a blog of our own yet, and have been following your blog for weeks! We're due on January 25th. I literally cried when Wyatt came home. I was so happy for you. I had a question about your pediatrician-did you worry about whether or not they had previous experience with CDH patients? Did you ask specific questions? Or do you find it doesn't really matter? Thanks for your help! E & J
ReplyDeleteErica,
DeleteThank you for keeping up! I STRESSED about finding a doctor for Wyatt. I really was nervous about him having CDH and didn't want someone that would treat me crazy for being worried about a "little cough" or something like that. I did want someone who was familiar with CDH. I did not even speak to any doctors until after Wyatt was born and he was closer to coming home. I will say I did have plans on having one before he was born but that didn't happen because of how he came early and my "heart burn". I just printed out a generic pediatrician interview page from a website like parents.com or something like that and then adjusted and added questions that pertained to us- NG tube, g-button, chronic lung disease, after hours and priority appointments, separate waiting room for well visit kiddos (which we don't even wait in there for flu season, we always go straight back and wait in a conference room or something). I looked up several doctors around us and then narrowed it down to 3 doctors. I'm not sure where you are delivering or if it is close to where you live. We've been blessed to have a Children's hospital here in Dallas so a lot of doctors "trained" or have worked there. I was pretty insistant that I wanted a doctor that had admiting privliages at Children's. As I spoke with them, I just tried to go with my gut feeling of who would be best for us. I narrowed it down to 3- one of whom I knew before hand- I was her son's teacher. Her office was a 30 minute drive away though so because of that, we said no. There was one that was SUPER close but she was only in that office 1 day a week and then the 3rd doctor was really close as well. I liked her and she seems really comfortable with Wyatt's CDH and knowledeable with confidence (not arrogance). :-) I hope this helps!!!! :-)
This is awesome. Thank you SO SO much. I've been looking and had a few give me absolutely ridiculous responses when I ask them about their CDH experiences (one woman laughed at me when I asked about separate waiting rooms), so you have just confirmed what I think I already knew- to just keep looking. We are about 40 min. from Children's in Boston (our delivering hospital is connected), so I am also looking for admitting privileges without having to go the full 40 min for a regular pediatrician appointment. I look forward to learning more through your journey and hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving! You have much to be thankful for. =)
DeleteErica, Please email me! I'd love to know more about you and how we can pray for you! Are you having a boy or girl? :-)
DeleteCaseyDavis1221@gmail.com
Thank you for sharing, Davis fam. I am humbled by your gratitude, floored by your faith, and inspired by your perseverance.
ReplyDeleteSo honored I could help!!! 40 minutes is about what it takes us to get to our Children's too (it depends on who is driving, what car we are in and the traffic of course... But mostly who is driving!). We live in a suburb of Dallas and like I said a lot of the doctors seemed to have sme experience with Children's. so, I bet it's like that for y'all too!! Also, you might give your delivering hospital or children's a call and ask if they have any recommendations. I know our delivering hospital didn't usually deal with "private patients" (it's the county hosp) but we got a couple of suggestions. :). Also, please feel free to email me any time, I'd love to know more about your story and how to pray! Caseydavis1221@gmail.com.
ReplyDelete