Timothy is now 13 weeks old, but for the past couple of months he has been spitting up LOTS and LOTS. He was born weighing 8 lbs. 5 oz. At 3 weeks old he weighed 11 lbs. But, at almost 3 months old (when I took him to the doctor a week ago) he only weighed 11 lbs. 5 oz. So, he has not been gaining weight accordingly or growing properly.
I have tried various formulas to no avail. He just could not seem to tolerate any type of food for long - it would always come back up. So, I recently took him to the doctor after a very hard night, thinking he might have reflux. His pediatrician started him on two reflux medications. After three days on these meds. he had not gotten any better. So, his meds. were increased, and I was told to watch him for three days, but if he was not completely better then I needed to bring him back into the pediatrician to be re-evaluated. After three days he was the same - spitting up in large volumes and looking much weaker and even dehydrated.
On Friday morning (Dec. 21) I took Timmy into the doc. again, and he thought there may be a slight chance that Timmy had a condition called pyloric stenosis. However, most babies who have this condition are diagnosed much earlier (around 6 weeks of age). We were then sent immediately to Palmetto Richland Hospital for Timmy to have an ultrasound. Tears filled my eyes as I placed my little baby on a large hospital bed for him to have his ultrasound. He had the same type of ultrasound I had just a few short months earlier when he was in my tummy.
After two sonographers and a radiologist took turns looking inside his tummy on the ultrasound machine, the radiologist halfway concluded that he might have pyloric stenosis; however, he was not completely convinced. I waited alone with Timmy in the ultrasound room at the hospital for over an hour and was then told that Timmy did indeed have pyloric stenosis and was going to be admitted to the hospital and have surgery that afternoon. My heart sunk, and I was also confused. You see, usually this condition is very easy to diagnose by ultrasound. Babies either have it or they don't - it's black and white. But, with Timmy, the radiologist had said he was on the fence as to whether or not he had it. So, I was a bit concerned that they were ready to jump into surgery when he was certainly not a typical case of this condition.
So, what is pyloric stenosis, you may be asking? The pylorus is a muscle that connects the stomach to the small intestine. When a baby has pyloric stenosis, their pylorus muscle has grown too large and cannot allow food to pass through to the small intestine. Therefore, since the food cannot go down, it must come back up. Timmy's pylorus was basically like a donut that was closing up in the middle.
By 2:30 Friday afternoon, we were admitted to Room 934 in the Children's Hospital in Palmetto Richland. Tim arrived shortly after that, and I was so happy to see him. We loved on our little boy together, prayed for him, and sang with him, as we would continue to do throughout our time at the hospital. Even as I waited with Timmy alone in the ultrasound room and throughout our time at the hospital, the song that I sang over and over again was Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Another common song around our home that we sang quite a bit at the hospital was "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever." Amen!!
Timmy was taken from us a little later in the afternoon so they could start his IV and also draw blood from him. My heart was sad as my baby was brought back to the room attached to an IV machine. As Tim and I sat and prayed and waited, we were a bit troubled that Timmy was going to be taken into surgery later in the evening when there did not seem to be a clear diagnosis. We called several people and asked them to begin spreading the word and praying for Timmy as well as for his doctors to have wisdom. As evening approached, we finally were able to meet with the pediatric surgeon, Dr. James Glasser. He spent a long time with us, and we quickly grew to love him and felt confident placing our little boy in his hands. After feeling Timmy's tummy for 15 minutes, Dr. Glasser was not convinced that Timmy had pyloric stenosis. He reiterated what we had heard, that this condition was easy to diagnose, but it was not clear with Timmy. So, instead of rushing into surgery he had us try Timmy on a special hypo-allergenic formula through the night, and ordered that Timmy have an Upper G.I. test done on Saturday that would certainly confirm what was going on in his little body.
Timmy did very well throughout Friday night. He as taken off of IV fluids, and I woke him up every three hours to eat three ounces of this specialized formula. He was able to keep it down - all 12 ounces that I had given him. However, when he was weighed on Saturday morning, he weighed 12 ounces more than he had the night before. That started to clue me in that the milk wasn't going anywhere and that it was still in his little tummy. Another symptom of this condition is that babies do not have many wet diapers since the milk is not being digested properly. This was true with Timmy. I had only been changing about 4 diapers in a 24-hour period with him for quite a while.
Saturday afternoon Tim and I bundled up our little baby in just a blanket and headed down to the 2nd floor of the hospital for his Upper G.I. test. We were able to watch on a screen what was happening in his little body. As he was strapped to a machine, they started feeding him a bottle of barium and watching where it went. We watched it travel into his stomach, but when it tried to leave the stomach and go into the small intestine, it was rejected. Several times over the 5 minutes he had the test, the fluids would try to squeeze through, but could never make it out of the stomach. The radiologist as well as the pediatric surgeon were certain that Timmy did indeed have pyloric stenosis. Tim and I were also now convinced after what we had seen on the screen.
Timmy was once again prepped for surgery, and Tim and I headed down to the 3rd floor to meet with the pediatric anesthesiologists. They were wonderful, just like Timmy's surgeon. They put our minds at ease that our baby was in good hands. We were really impressed and thankful that everyone we came into contact with took lots of time to explain to us everything that was going on. There was never any rush. We were treated as people and not as numbers.
At 5:00 Saturday evening, we kissed our baby and handed him over to the anesthesiologists and surgeon. We watched them disappear between double doors and were told we would hear some news in about an hour and a half. Our hearts were not heavy or anxious in the least. We were completely at peace and knew that our Mighty God was and is completely in control. Whatever happened was in his hands, and whatever happened we would certainly always declare that He alone is good.
At 6:30 p.m., one of the anesthesiologists came out to speak with us and let us know that all was well. Praise the LORD!! Timmy had done great and was recovering nicely. Before surgery they had to find a new site for his IV and said that was a bit difficult because Timmy was so dehydrated. They also had to empty the contents of his stomach before giving his anesthesia, and said that he threw up 12 ounces of fluid! But, all went well. Dr. Glasser made an incision just above Timmy's belly button that was about 1.5 inches long, and went in and cut a hole in the pylorus muscle to allow food to be able to start passing through. The muscle will never grow back together and food will always be able to pass through from here on out. Dr. Glasser told us, "This is wonderful disease to have if you have to have a disease. It is life-threatening, but it is also 100% curable, and you never struggle with it again." Praise the LORD again!
Around 7:00 p.m. we were able to go back to the recovery room and hold our baby, who was still asleep. Precious little boy!!! We could just eat him up!!
We were then taken back to room 934 where we would stay until Monday afternoon, when we were discharged to go home. Timmy is allowed to eat 2-3 ounces every 2-3 hours and will gradually build up from there. So, for a little while we will be on a newborn schedule where I wake him up to eat during the night. He is able to hold his food down now and is having many more wet and dirty diapers. I have never loved changing dirty diapers so much!! :)
Timmy already looks so much better. Those who have seen him have even commented how different he looks. He is smiling much more and able to focus and interact so much better. God is good no matter what, but we certainly are delighted and grateful to be home now with three healthy children.
Pictures above:
1 - Timmy in his carseat after his IV had been taken out and he was only connected to the heart monitor. What a precious, happy baby.
2 - Timmy in his 5-star hotel room. :)
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