The Final Countdown

Well, we're almost there - we've almost made it through Bobby's first year of life. He was born 4/4/08 at 7:07 am and weighed 6 lbs and 12 oz. If that's not being born on a numerically lucky star, I don't know what is.

His at home recuperation is going great. He got partially weaned from his oxygen last Wednesday and I have high hopes that he will be off of it completely after his Wednesday check up with surgery.

He's gaining some weight after basically holding steady during his month in the hospital. The continuous feeds are awkward, but its so nice for him and us that he doesn't get sick all the time anymore. Some days he actually wears the same outfit all day. We met with his GI doctor last week who formally recommended a g-tube. We knew that was coming. Our big decision is around whether or not he gets a nissen fundoplication. This procedure tightens the sphincter that connects the stomach and the esophagus, preventing reflux. If not done well, it can also cause long term problems. We have a meeting with a surgeon later in April to discuss the pros and cons. The g-tube will hopefully come in May.

Therapy has slowly restarted. He's doing tummy time and some simple exercises to help him gain his strength back. He's siting up nicely in his booster chair.

We had some issues last week with him not sleeping well. Valerie and I each spent a couple of nights getting little to no sleep. The surgery APN told us that it was an adjustment issue with being out of the hospital, that he was used to the stimulation of being in the ICU. Whatever it was, it was wicked. Things are getting better on that front as he's back to sleeping until 6 or 7 am.

Bobby has also developed a very crabby side to his otherwise perfect disposition. He screams if he gets put down when he wants to be held. Really screams. Its the first time we've had to really grit our teeth and let him cry. I know it's normal. I just somehow hoped we'd get a pass on some of the normal parenting trials, given that we've had some unique ones to overcome. But, given who his parents are, there was really no chance we were going to bypass the development of an opinionated boy.