+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Weight update!
10 lbs., 5 oz. diaper free! Yeah, double digits!
+ 1 - 1 | § ¶4 down, ? to go.
Alex had his 4th dilation yesterday. It went well...they were able to get his esophagus up by one more size, and they said that it's getting easier to stretch each time they do it. Alex was understandably cranky afterwards, but some tylenol and a good night's sleep will do wonders for him. The plan is to do it again in two weeks.
In other news, it appears as if Alex has reached the 10 lb mark. He was weighed yesterday (with his diaper on) at 10 lbs, 2 oz. His latest thing is peeing all over himself...he went through three outfits in two hours for Dan the other day. We've tried three brands of diapers, but he evades them all!! Oh, well, I can handle laundry.
We'll have our first meeting with the counselors at Early Intervention on the 10th of Feb. We're not sure yet how helpful the program will be, and I've gotten mixed reviews from two former Wyeth co-workers, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to say.
+ 3 - 0 | § ¶To answer your questions...
We were referred to the Early Intervention program by our pediatrician. They just want to make sure that we start tracking his developmental milestones as early as possible so that we can avoid as many problems as possible. We aren't monitoring his O2 sats at home...they will test them at our next appt. in a month, and we are to call them if he starts looking blue or having any similar problems. They also look at his sats each time he has a dilation. THe more natural form of feeding hasn't gone well, though we were discouraged from trying until an evaluation is done of his swallowing. They want to make sure that he doesn't choke, which is probable if too much is given to him at once. And finally...he is at a very high risk for reflux. Almost all of the babies (better than 95%) born with his esophagus problem (EA/TEF) have reflux and about half of them will require surgery to correct the problem. Alex is on an anti-acid med to help prevent damage to his esophagus. The swallow study that they will probably do will also tell them if he has reflux and how bad it is.