It has been a worrying week. Lucas has landed himself in the hospital. Let`s start from the beginning. He drank well during his first month, drinking an average of about 70ml per feed. Then after the 1 month check up, though his weight gain was really good, he kept crying and latching on/off the bottle, but still maanaged decent feeds. But all that changed during his 7th week or so, whereby he drank like only 50ml sometimes 40ml per feed and i broought him to his paed, but we did all the works and everything was normal. No virus, no stomach problems. But each time he drank it was a stressful feed. He kept pulling away and crying and i think he drank in so much air. Plus, he vomitted like 2-3 times a day.
I knew something was off just that noone believed me. Healthy babies do not drink that way. But still, no problems could be found. Then, things took a drastic turn past 2 weeks, where he refused to drik even 30-40ml until last Thursday, 27th April, he drank only 30ml at 10.30am. 5 hours later he still didn`t want to drink, in the end i brought him to a hospital, where they didn`t find anything wrong after doing a tummy X-Ray and Ultrasound. The breaking point came, when even the 3 midwives there tried to feed him and couldn`t and told the doctor. Thank goodness they tried to feed Lucas, otherwise i knew this doctor would have just told us to go home and monitor too. By then 7 hours had passed and we knew there was a high risk of dehydration, so he referred us to the National Center for Children near our house. It is the best hospital for children.
Once there, the doctors put Lucas on drip and admitted him that night itself. Poor GAbe fell asleep on and off. We only got home about 2am. Needless to say it was so stressful not knowing what the problem was. Next day, we went to the hospital and doctors told us that they will try to feed him and monitor and what they found was that he still refused any liquids, but he will suck on an empty bottle. So in the end, they ordered an X^Ray drinkung test to see the flow of milk from swallowing to the tummy. That came our normal. Then they told me they think there could be a problem with his central nerve system which controld gagging because when they inserted a scope into his throat he didn not have a normal gag reflex. I found this weird because at home, he gags when i use certain bottle with longer teats, and he gags on medicine too. ANd if this were a problem it`s a huge problem as it could mean long term feeding on tube.
Then, i tried feeding him in my arms like usual, and he still refused. So, i put him on the bed and elevated him with pillows, and tried.....like magic it worked..he drank...and drank and drank...so this poition was maintained and till today he is drinking well at 100ml per 3 hours...so finally after a week there, he can go home tomorrow and i will monitor his intake and report back to the doctor on Saturday and if all is OK, we can do the official discharging on Sunday....
This boy is an XFile...really even the doctors are perplexed because all babies are used to the lying down position and to drink in that position is so normal..but this boy obviously has other preferences and just loves to torture me. He has no idea the kind of stress he has put me through.
But to be honest, i felt that there was aproblem like colic or reflux before otherwise a hungry baby will drink no matter what position. It`s just that his tummy has had a rest for few days with no milk, so i think whatever problem was there is probably gone. But i am not paranoid, there was a problem. Otherwise the dwindling milk intake wouldn`t have occured. Noone took it seriously because his weight gain was good, so everyone just dismisses your concerns, then when htings spiral to the extreme, you get blamed. The husband was away overseas during the week the spiral really went downwards and even told me `I do not know what happened when i was away`....Imagine the doctors not believing you and your own husband trying to point the finger at you. I`ve tried to be the best mother i could ever since having Gabe and i believe i have done a really good job. Imagine trying to express your breastmilk with one hand, carrying a baby who only napped 20mins a time and doing invoices and accounts for your husband, all at the same time. Yeah, no one say that scenario so thought i was probably having a ball napping at home. With Lucas, i try to balance both kids and sometimes it`s good and sometimes there are bad days but i always do my best. It`s not easy,motherhood is a challenge, but that`s motherhood. When things go right, i don`t get a pat on the back, but when things go south i get the finger point that i can`t handle the situation. Seems to me i did a great job and have great instincts now that Lucas is in the hospital. So you know what kids, i think I did great and am a great mom. If only people listened when i said something was off we bprobably wouldn@t have to wait till you were on the verge of dehydration. So yeah, i think I`ve done good handling everything as a concerned and observant mother.
Since it`s wbeen a chanllenging week, these pics cheered me up immensely, so i hope they make u happy too...
