Journey Continued #2

So now ... where were we? Oh yah, out of the hospital, on formula supplement to gain weight, with Christmas approaching.

My (Ashlee) Mom & Dad came down for 2 weeks. That was such a blessing just having the support, extra hands, and good healthy meals to fill our tummys. The same day they left (just hours after they left actually), Nate was readmitted into the hospital for close observation. Why you may ask? Well, he was sleeping soundly and when we checked on him we found him blue in colour. He was breathing when we grabbed him so the initial 'freak-out' was subsided. We went immediately to the ER and they did a bunch of initial checks on him to make sure he was stable. We were in the hospital for 3 days so that he could be closely observed 24 hours a day with different wires attached to him. They did an ECG to check his heart, as well as a chest xray to see his lungs. What they concluded after the 3 days was that it was acid reflux (heart burn) that caused him to chock on and stop breathing. He is on medication to help suppress the reflux and the pediatrician says a lot of babies are on the medication and he will likely be on it for 8 - 9 months (this is the average time-frame). So back home we went with strict instructions to hold him upright after he reeds for 45 minutes to help give him time to digest his food.

Remember that we are still trying to increase my breastmilk to get off of formula at this time. So what did all this look like for us? Well, feeding time would start and it would take him 25 minutes to feed on me, then we would give him formula through a feeding tube in a bottle that was attached to me so that he wasn't using a bottle nipple most of the time in order to avoid 'nipple-confusion'. Then Jeff would usually burp and hold him upright for 45 minutes so I could use a pump to try to pump breastmilk. I don't know if this makes a lot of sense but to sum up: it would take approximately 2 hours from start to end of feeding and holding. We then would put him down and have 45 minutes to rest, eat, and stay clean before we had to start again by waking him to feed.

Good news though: 2 weeks ago (so week 8), we reached the point where we didn't need to supplement with formula anymore. It was VERY TOUGH but we actually did it! I can't begin to tell you how hard it was and how many people (doctors and nurses included) that have said it takes a very perseverant (aka stubborn) person to actually make this happen.

I need to get going to feed our little man. I will continue our journey later.

Love and hugs,
Ashlee