Special Visits & Test Results

Friday through Monday morning has been busy- as usual. Friday morning Caelin had a bronchoscopy, another upper GI tract, and a new IV. The bronch came back normal- there is nothing wrong with his airway; however, he does have a mild case of Laryngomalacia that the doctors say he will grow out of. The upper GI tract revealed nothing unusual, so Cael has no anatomical abnormalities. We are thankful that both tests came back negative, but it still leaves us and the doctors with no answer as to why he is retching and vomiting so frequently. Because of his busy Friday, Caelin did not go back on feeds until 10:00 PM. He then came off them again at 1:00 AM because his oxygen saturation levels were low. In addition to taking him off feeds, they put him back on the nasal cannula with oxygen assistance. The doctor was not sure what caused it but we are thinking it was from the anesthesia and possible swelling from the bronchoscopy.

Saturday late morning he was doing much better and breathing on his own. During rounds Mommy and Daddy asked if they were going to restart feeds and if the milk protein intolerance test results had come back yet- they had just come in at 1:14 AM that morning. He tested positive for a milk protein allergy so he is now on a special formula called EleCare where the proteins are already broken down to where Cael’s body will be able to digest them. He started on 5 mL/hr, was bumped up to 10mL/hr Sunday, and this morning (Monday) to 12 mL/hr with increasing by 2 mL every 12 hours. Because Mommy and Daddy are strong advocates of breastfeeding, Mommy is cutting out all dairy AND soy from her diet. Because of this, within a few days Cael will be able to go back on breast milk. By the way, it is ridiculously hard to find snacks that do not contain milk or soy- so it looks like Mommy will not have cake for her birthday and may need to take a trip to an organic or Whole Foods store.

Caelin had a lot of visitors on Saturday! First, Danny and Rachel came to visit. Caelin is the first baby that Danny has ever held but he was a natural- Caelin was sleeping and content in his arms! Rachel thought he was going to cry but he liked her holding him, too! Then later on Grandma and Uncle Tristan arrived! Grandma was nervous holding Cael because of the wires, but it didn’t take long for her to channel her natural ability. Uncle Tristan is still a little bit nervous about Cael but he will hold him before he heads back to Michigan!

Sunday was a nice, easy day which Caelin really needed because of the previously busy days and because he did not sleep well due to being gassy and constipated. From 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM Cael got to sleep on Daddy’s chest! He was completely content and he did not make a peep.

Sunday night into Monday morning Cael slept better than he had been sleeping. Then at 8:00 AM he got his blood drawn for his labs and that started a ripple effect. After his blood was drawn he got all his medications. All the medications get put through the tube and Mommy and Daddy have been the ones dispensing them. Mommy started with the aspirin and this caused him to retch and vomit, which is strange because Mommy goes SOOO slow when putting his meds through the tube. He must have just been extra sensitive but he ended up doing fine with the Enalipril, Prevacid, Poly-Vi-Sol, Zantac, and the flush. Because he threw up Mommy grabbed a nurse to change his sheets and when she did she noticed his arm with the IV was red and swollen. She asked the nurse to look at it and with one glance the nurse knew the IV was no longer good. She grabbed Cael’s assigned nurse to come pull out the IV and to put in an order for the IV team to come give him a new one. His poor little arm is so red (almost purple in some spots), swollen, and sensitive to touch. Because of this, we gave him some Tylenol to help with the pain. While waiting for the IV team to arrive, Mommy noticed Cael’s right eye had yellow goop in it- it had been recurring for a few days now. A couple days ago a nurse suggested he may have a blocked tear duct and we should apply warm compresses to it. They did not seem to help so I asked the nurse and IV specialist what else I could do to help. The IV specialist suggested massaging the bridge of his nose. I did and almost instantly his entire eye flooded with the yellow goop! Mommy was shocked, as was the nurse, but Caelin’s facial expression showed relief which helped calm Mommy’s nerves and nausea. After this, the IV specialist gave Caelin his new IV but not before she stuck him three times because his veins were small and uncooperative. Our poor guy after this was exhausted, he could barely keep his eyes open. He did not even protest when Mommy swapped out his wet diaper. As the IV specialist was finishing, both Speech and Physcial Therapy showed up and I told them it was not a good time. The speech pathologist said she would come back in the afternoon. The physical therapist just looked over Cael’s IV to make sure it was properly dressed and checked out the rest of his limbs as Mommy was wrapping him. He is finally taking a well-needed nap.

The only thing Mommy wanted for her birthday was to be home with Caelin but his body is just not ready. So although it has been a crazy morning at the hospital, Mommy would have her time spent no other way than here with her baby boy. The day will be complete once Daddy, Grandma, and Uncle Tristan arrive to share and expand the happiness and love.