The Pendulum Swings

We are back in the hospital again. Over the weekend Mr. Boy' s reflux flared up pretty hard so we acquiesced to the Dr's suggestion to admit him for a 24 hour Impedance study which measures the PH of his esophagus, determining the amount of reflux. This morning, 30 minutes before we were to go home as the test was coming to an end and I was all packed up, the Dr came in and said that even though they do not know the results of the study yet, she is still not happy with his growth. He is finally growing, but not enough to "catch up." So here in the hospital we shall remain until Mr. Boy grows. Please pray that they get this figured out once and for all and that Mr. Boy thrives.

...So now we maybe, could be, possibly be on the right track

It seems that every time we post a positive update, things suddenly flip upside-down and vice versa. Last week was a week of trial-and-error. We were told to increase Mr. Boy's caloric intake (he was doing so well before, but he was only on half the calories a baby his size should be needing) and then suddenly we found ourselves battling his re-surging reflux symptoms which brought lots of screams and tears. Then we tried switching to a new formula that seems to work much better so far, but we are still dealing with lots of gagging and heaving.
We had a checkup with our pediatric surgeon today and everything is going ok, but he decided Mr. Boy needed a very quick and painful procedure. :( Mr. Boy is so brave but I almost fainted just watching. He also thought that it may be difficult for Mr. Boy to sit up because his abdominal muscles have not been put back where they are supposed to be (as they will in the next surgery) and he may not be able to walk until the next surgery (when he's 2 or 3) since his pelvic bones are not connected. We had asked several different doctors for their opinion in the past, as to whether Mr. Boy would be able to walk until the next big surgery, and they thought he would be wobbly, but could probably walk. However, this is the surgeon who has already operated on Mr. Boy and seen the state of his pelvic bones, so we take his word a little more seriously.  But we will certainly aim for walking since all things are possible when Jesus is watching over your baby! :)

Bath Time 

Finally on the right track

YAY! Mr. Boy is finally thriving. Our weight check at the hospital today showed that we have a whopping 9lbs 6oz baby! This past week Mr. Boy grew, ate, and slept well.  He did not throw up and his reflux was quite controlled. We hardly recognized him as he sat smiling and alert in a crowd of family this weekend as David's mom and 2 aunts came to visit. And we couldn't have been more proud. For the first time since we can remember, Mr. Boy could sit happily awake without screaming and thus we were finally able to relax our shoulders, release our breath, and replace the egg shells we'd been walking on for solid ground.
It will take some time to get used to this new Mr. Boy,  but hopefully very soon we'll gain the courage to venture outside these 4 walls with our little one.

Pretty skinny with dehydration

Swollen with IV fluids

Still pretty chunky and happy from IV fluids

The boys

Gift from my former eye doctor. heehee.

Shout Out

Our wonderful friends Nathan and Jennifer Nash just gave birth to their beautiful baby boy, Nolan and gave a shout out to Mr Boy from the hospital. :)

Thank You!!!!

I don't think I gave any credit to Megan Phillips for throwing us an incredible baby shower in Sioux Falls, in January right before Mr. Boy came home. It was an amazing shower including a full ice cream bar that would have put Cold Stone to shame and it was filled with blessing after blessing! At the time we didn't think we could be more blessed, but we were wrong. hee hee. More blessings were on the way!  Two weekends ago, some amazing ladies (BJ Maggert, and Lynn and Lisa Barwell) from the church where I grew up, in Jacksonville Florida, threw us another baby shower!! Yesterday we received boxes and boxes full of gifts! My mother was the guest of honor and relayed to me how beautiful and precious the whole event was. We just wanted to say a public "Thank You" to everyone who continues to pour out gifts, blessings, prayers and love on us day after day, month after month. We are overwhelmed with gratitude. 

Philippians 1:3-4

³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 

Corinthians 9:15    

¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Solid Weight Gain

Mr. Boy is 8lbs 8ozs today! He was that same weight when we left the hospital 2 weeks ago, but at that time he was pumped full of IV fluids, and only days before his actual weight was 6lbs 14ozs so an almost 2lb gain in 2 weeks is awesome! Mr. Boy  does wonderfully in the hospital and he always does well for a little while at home, but it seems like the longer we are home the worse he gets. He started gaging, heaving and projectile vomiting at least once a day last week and Saturday he did it several times and drank considerably less than usual, so we suspected he would be getting dehydrated again. Sunday we finally took him to the ER again just in case, since last time they said we waited too long before bringing him in, but he was fine, so we were able to go home. He continues to have throw-up/gagging sessions each day however and so we are thinking he may have some allergies and will be going to the pediatrician tomorrow to follow up on that. We have fewer hospital appointments each week which is delightful for me and I can bet Mr. Boy appreciates it too.