A terrible morning was followed by a pretty awesome afternoon. I bought a new brand of bottle and nipple for Brendan to try and he took to it very well. Even though he was eager to eat, his little tummy seemed to just do rolls when he tried to swallow. Next thing I know, this poor kid lets out the loudest hard belch ever. It looked painful. But then for the next few hours, it seems like he was a different kid, and he didn’t have a reflux episode for a long time.
He had a nice long comfortable time and I was able to give him about 10ml from the new bottle. We will try a little more again later tonight. I have picked him up and patted him and tried to burp him as much as possible before, it is really sad that he had all that air built up and couldn’t get rid of it.

Trevor has been really cute today too, he is learning how to smile at people. He doesn’t do it very often yet, but he definitely does it to connect with someone.

I am going to get out some material and try to sew Brendan a sling to sleep in, so this post will just be short. Always pictures though, here they are!

Brendan finally feeling good for the evening

He even was cool with being held for quite a long time

Trevor working on his new smile

My Mr.Chunk is going to have to move to a size 2 diaper now. He is just growing like a weed! (If weeds get leg rolls that is)

It was another doctor visit day, I packed Brendan and took him to see the GI specialist. I can’t say that there is going to be a lot of change for now, this doctor is just going to manage his eating and functioning with his ostomy to help him grow.

With the major reflux episodes he has been having, the doctor decided to make a few changes. Instead of getting a bolus feeding 3x a day and then continuous overnight, we are going to move to 5-6 bolus feeds. So he will eat 90-100ml every 4hrs, on a 2 hr push. That is 2 on, 2 off around the clock. He thinks that the continuous 10hr feed overnight does not give his system enough time to rest and does not promote switching to the bottle to eat.

Some of the things they do for reflux include mixing in a little rice cereal in to the food to thicken it and help it stay down, but we can’t do that because we can not thicken food to put through the tube. The doctor is switching him from the Zantac to Prevacid because it is a bit stronger. The other thing we can do is keep him elevated especially when eating. I found a hold that seems to work to keep him fully upright and as long as someone held him, he had a really good evening. I put him back in the bouncy chair thinking that he would be sitting up enough but obviously he isn’t because toward the end of eating now, he has had 3 major refluxes. If I go back to holding him upright, he is OK.

The doctor ordered a special sling for bedtime to keep him at an angle to sleep. We are having trouble tracking one down so I might have to get out the sewing machine and improvise.

More on this later, typing with one hand and holding Brendan with the other arm doesn’t work.

It was a much better day today, I am getting better at multitasking. From 6am to 1pm, I was going nonstop and finally had a chance to sit and have something to eat.
Trevor did a lot of sleeping today after a pretty good night of sleeping so now we are keeping him awake as much as possible. Trevor is learning how to smile, and it is really REALLY cute. I bugged him with the camera to try to catch it, but he doesn’t do it often enough.
Brendan had a mixed day. I did everything I could to prevent his episodes of reflux but nothing seemed to make a difference. It is like he throws up but it only makes it out as far as in to the back of his throat and he doesn’t spit up. But then it burns his nasal passages and chokes him so he struggles to breathe for a while. The whole thing causes him lasting discomfort.
The saline mist seems to help rinse his nose and make it hurt less. I think the Zantac may be kicking in so even though he still brings up food, it may burn less.
We go to see the GI doctor at 10:30 tomorrow, I am really hoping he has some other ideas to help Brendan heal and eat. It is ridiculous that he has to deal with yet again another issue to cause him discomfort.
He was 8lb 15oz on the nurse’s scale again today so no growth registered this week. No loss either though.

I managed to give both boys a bath, Trevor spent time under his mobile while Brendan had his turn.

The swing keeps Brendan a bit upright, even if it isn’t swinging. Brendan needs some new snap-side shirts, he is getting too big for these!

This was his best moment of the day, he was comfortable for a few hours.

He is working on his cheeks!

I made the mistake of picking up Brendan while he was comfortable today. I tend to feel bad during the day that Trevor gets held more and has more time for bonding. Holding Brendan just makes him hurt, and does not foster any bond right now. I got him upset and then it took a long time to calm him down. I guess when he is feeling good, I should stop worrying about it.