1 Month Wellness Visit

As if we haven't visited the doctor enough, Chase had his 1 month wellness visit yesterday with Dr. Lobiscio and here are his stats, taking into consideration his recent surgery: Weight: 8 lbs, 14 oz. (12th percentile) Height: 22.5 inches (85th percentile- could he be more like his daddy!) Head Circumference: 37.5 cm (45th percentile) It's been quite an exciting month, and hopefully things will settle down now. Our biggest issues for Chase have been his frequent spitting up/ vomiting after meals, and occasional fussiness after eating likely due to gas/ reflux (that and recovering from abdominal surgery). He is becoming more and more alert, tracking us with his eyes, and developing good head control. He loves tummy time and will tolerate it for a good 10-15 mins at a time, and at times even longer. He likes to sleep in his bouncy seat with the vibration during the day and his pack n' play at night. He is still in newborn clothes and newborn diapers. He eats about 3-4 ounces per feeding and will take a bottle of pumped milk without a problem. Although he has had a few ounces of formula during the weekend of Christine's wedding, we have not given him any since because I was able to pump quite a bit of milk during his hospital stay when he couldn't eat. He eats every 3 hours during the day & sleeps well at night- Last night he had a feeding at 9:30, went to sleep at 10:30 and didn't wake up until 5!

Big Sister steps it up

While I'm busy with Chase, Leila has done a great job of being more independent, playing pretend and being mommy's helper (sometimes a little too much)! She has even started going to sleep on her own without even asking us to stay, which was a huge obstacle for us before. Here she is being a princess at a tea party!

Another ER visit

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare. Chase had some red stool and was spitting up quite a bit in the morning. As we are very sensitive to everything now given what just happened, we called the surgeon's office and Dr. Hoover (who spoke to us directly- love him!) told us he wanted Chase to go the ER so he could have an abdominal ultrasound and X-ray to rule out any obstructions or post-op issues. Although the tests were stressful for us, having to hear him cry and want food through it all, the tests came back good and gave us reassurance that there are no new serious issues. Dr. Hoover even came to the ED to check on Chase & show us his scans. His stool was tested for blood but came back inconclusive, so is thought to be some remnants from his surgery or just dye from food I've eaten. Let's hope this is it for awhile!

All bundled up

1 month old (yesterday)

Taking a break from the hospital

During our hospital stay, my parents took care of Leila and would visit us with her. Leila would say "Chasey man is at the doctor". Since we couldn't leave Chase by himself, their visits gave a chance to get out of the hospital room and spend some time with Leila:

Surgery

Turn of events- after resolution of the intussusception, they were all ready to discharge us from the hospital attributing it to an idiopathic cause. However, after meeting with the pediatric surgeon, Dr. Hoover, he explained to us that intussusception in a child this young was rare and just to be on the safe side, had us do one more ultrasound to check for another rare congenial abnormality, a duplication cyst, that can cause intussusception. Well it turns out he was right! And we thank God he was our doctor and he cared enough to check, because had he not, we would have been back with more serious issues in the future. So Chase had his surgery on Friday (28 days old) to remove the 5cm duplication cyst found on his small intestines and his appendix was also removed (just because he was there). He has a small incision just above his belly button. Before & After surgery:

Best Friends

Trip to the ER

Chase had a bad night and became very lethargic and didn't want to eat much all day. Then had some bloody "jelly-like" stools. After talking to the nurse at the pediatric office, she told us to go right to the ER. We had a bunch of blood tests and another abdominal ultrasound, this time looking for "intussusception"- where the small intestine folds on itself. Turns out that what it was- not very common for this young an age & they don't know why it occurred in his case. Chase had a air enema procedure which was luckily successful, otherwise he would have had to have surgery. We are staying overnight for monitoring to make sure it doesn't reoccur.

Cuddling with Jack

Gramma K to the Rescue

Gramma K came to visit and help us out for 3 weeks. We can't thank her enough for all her help! 

2 Week Wellness Visit & Follow-up

We met with Dr. Lobiscio for Chase's 2 Week wellness visit on 6/8/12. Here are his stats:

Weight: 8lbs, .5oz  (25th percentile)
Height: 20.75 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 36.5 cm (75th percentile)

As Chase was gaining good weight the first week, his weight slowed down significantly the 2nd week and he was vomiting up his food 75% of the time. He was still eating and sleeping well, as well as peeing and pooping often, but the vomiting and slow weight gain was of concern. So we had an abdominal ultrasound scheduled for monday 6/11/12 to rule out pyloric stenosis (thickening & narrowing of the passageway between the stomach and small intestines). The test results were negative and we went for a f/u weight check on 6/15/12, and Chase was back to gaining good weight at 8 lbs, 7oz. So, the issue is most likely a mechanical issue (which he will likely outgrow) or reflux which the doctor put him on a small dose of zantac to see if it would help with the fussy periods he has after eating.
Otherwise, Chase is doing well- he likes tummy time and can lift and move his head side to side. He is becoming more and more alert, looking around and focusing his eyes well, following voices and objects to some degree. We still have to wake him up most times at night and have even stretched feedings at night to 5 hours. He feeds every 3 hours during the day.

Dinner at Shuckers

A perfect night for dinner and live music outside at Shuckers!

Sponge Bath

Play Time

Didi's Wedding

First walk