Pyloric Stenosis

**This will be long, but I want to write everything I can remember about this experience so that I have a record of it (not that I will forget this any time soon).**

On Thursday 3/31 we took Julian to the pediatrician for cold-like symptoms and gas/fussiness. Amelia had them too, but the Dr. wanted to see him to rule out RSV and the flu [which he did, thank God]. The diagnosis was an upper respiratory virus. We were to give him Pedialyte with feedings to rest his tummy.

Saturday we took Julian to the ER. He had vomited 3 times in a day, including feeds that were just Pedialyte, so the nurses line wanted him to go in. Again, the diagnosis was an upper respiratory virus. Julian was to have nothing but Pedialyte for 24 hours.

Sunday he pretty much couldn't keep anything down, but was super hungry all day.

We took him back to the pediatrician on Monday, tried giving him Nutramigen, but he vomited that up as well. That evening, the pediatrician made the decision to have him admitted to St. John's Children's Hospital to do some tests. Julian had already lost 4 ounces, and we didn't want him to lose any more.

We had never (thankfully) been to the children's hospital, and everything that was going on with Julian PLUS just being in a children's hospital was extremely overwhelming for me. I couldn't stop crying - everything set me off. Seeing the little crib hospital bed - forget it. I will never get the image of my little 3-week old laying on that bed out of my head. The "worst" (I use that word, even though everything was unpleasant and down-right crummy) was when they had to stick him for the IV. His dehydration and just his small size made it near impossible for them to stick him. On top of it, he kept vomiting and choking on it. I left the room because I couldn't take watching him suffer, but felt sheer panic from the other side of the door hearing, "Come on, breathe, breathe!" I came in to see him choking on his vomit. Finally they got the IV in him. We were told to still attempt feeding him, but not to worry about vomit because he wouldn't be dehydrated.

He had blood work done and an X-ray. The X-ray showed that he most likely had pyloric stenosis, but the lab work showed he was fine. They decided to do an ultrasound on him in the morning to be sure. That meant no feeds after 3 am. Of course, he slept until after 3 am and decided he wanted to eat. All that we could give him was Sweeties on his pacifier. Yeah, didn't satisfy him. Alex & I spent the night taking 1-hour shifts holding him. Every time we laid him on the bed, even at an incline, he would vomit and we were afraid he'd choke on it while we were sleeping. It was NOT a good night.

Sure enough, the ultrasound showed that he had Pyloric Stenosis. Pyloric Stenosis is when the muscle that connects the stomach to the small intestine is too thick for food to pass through. This meant he would need surgery to open it up. On one hand, we were relieved to know what was wrong, and to know there was a "cure" (a pretty fast cure, per everyone we spoke to). On the other hand, we were not thrilled to have our 3-week old undergo anesthesia and surgery. It was terrifying to think about.

Since he was only 3 weeks old, Julian hadn't been baptized yet. The thought of sending him to surgery unbaptized scared me. We had the chaplain come and perform an emergency baptism. I didn't have my camera, so I took a picture with my cell phone. We waited for word on when the surgery would take place. In the meantime, we met with the pediatric surgeon who was fantastic! I later found out that the son of a mom-friend of mine had undergone surgery performed by the same surgeon - and she sang his praises.

We found out he would go down for prep at 1pm. Again, seeing my little 3-week old carted down for surgery in his crib/bed is something I will never forget. The nurse got some information, and Julian cried. She told me that I could hold him, and I desperately wanted to but I was afraid I wouldn't want to let him go. As soon as I picked Julian up, he stopped crying. So I held him while I cried. The surgeon came in, went over the details again and asked if we had questions. Then he asked if he could pray for Julian. Of course, I said yes. It was such a beautiful moment, and it meant so much to me. Then the pediatric anesthesiologist came in to talk to us. She assured us that she would treat Julian as if he was her own child. I guess Alex & I felt as good about things as we could feel.

Before he went to surgery, I took this picture of Julian with my cell phone. They took our sweet baby boy, and all we could do was wait. Since he was so young, one of us had to remain in the waiting room at all time. I left Alex & went to the chapel to pray. I came back, and we made small talk. We checked in on Amelia (who was enjoying a day of shopping/spoiling with the Grandmas). And sooner than we expected, we got called into a small room. Julian was out of surgery and doing well, and the surgeon came in to reassure us that everything was fine. He talked about Julian's recovery and asked if we had questions. Then we had to wait until we could see him.

Initially, only one of us could see him at a time. Alex was awesome and let me go see Julian. I walked in and saw a nurse holding a little baby, cooing at him. She saw me and said, "Shoot! I guess I have to give him to you now!" Julian made quite the impression on ALL the nurses - they all wanted to hold him. I told them that they could leave their phone numbers and come baby sit him anytime they wanted, but no one took me up on my offer. Anyway, Julian looked so much better. He was sleeping, and had his color back. I rocked him for a while, and then they called for Alex to come see him.

Afterwards, we took him back to his room. We were told that after he kept down 2 feedings we could be discharged. He did great with his feeds! Since it was so late, we had to wait until the next day to be discharged.

Fortunately, he has been eating like a champ and has been keeping things down. We check in with the doctor tomorrow, and expect everything to be fine.

We are so thankful for everyone's prayers and good thoughts. This was definitely the scariest moment I've had as a mom. We pray that Julian (and all of us) remain healthy and happy.