Wow, it's been a whirlwind over here...I photographed Solomon's birth Wednesday night (click over to Little Earthling Photography to see more photos of his birth!) I arrived home about 12:30 then we headed to Children's Hospital at 8 AM.
I only gave the bare facts about Apollo's appointment when I blogged on Thursday. I wanted to update those of you who were praying. Now I'll share a few more details.
The Children's Hospital is amazingly organized and efficient from the moment you walk through the door, whether you are visiting someone or seeing a doctor.
When we got called back to have Apollo weighed and measured the nurse noticed is name and asked if he was "a fourteenth". We said yes. She told us how much she liked his name, said she'd never seen Roman numerals used and how cool she thought it was that he was the fourteenth. Apollo weighed in at rather dismal 16 pounds 6 ounces (two ounces less than he weighed on March 26th when he turned nine months...)
When the resident arrived in the exam room he said, "Is this Apollo?" and we said yes. He then turned to Chuck and said, "And your name is Apollo, too?" Confused, Chuck said, "No, my name is Charles". The resident paused for a moment then said, "But thought he was the fourteenth..." Apparently word travels fast down at SCH...then we explained he was our fourteenth child, not the fourteenth generation of Apollos...
After being examined by the resident, we saw the ENT. He was very nice. He listened to Apollo's symptoms then told us he was going to stick a camera down his nose to check everything out. He told us he had the "smallest best camera in the world". When he stuck the camera down, the images showed up bright and clear on a flat screen TV. It was a far cry from when Mordecai had the same procedure done here locally, eight years ago. The ENT had to numb up his nasal passages with spray first, he procedure took longer and the images were not nearly as clear.
Then he told us everything was developed properly, but there was inflammation...he's definitely in pain and something is causing damage to those areas...he thinks it may be reflux, which is a great starting point. I'm more than happy to have something to try. Apollo and I are now dairy free (this is new to me, if you have any suggestions, websites, lists of what we can/cannot eat, please let me know) and I hope to get some reflux medicine on Monday to see if that will give him some relief.
I'm not totally convinced this is the answer to our problem (but happy to have a starting point). For one thing, most babies outgrow reflux by a year...he's over ten months and still suffering and not gaining weight. Keeping him upright vs. lying down as a tiny baby never made a difference. He certainly spends most of his time upright now...I don't know, I'd love to think this is his problem and we can now "fix" it, but very discouraged once again by his lack of weight gain. He's put on less than two and a half pounds in the last six months... and it's hard to listen to his breathing/crying now, knowing it is indeed causing him pain (verified by the swelling/irritation).
After that, the doctor then had to exclaim over him being "the fourteenth" and was delighted to learn he was a fourteenth child.
We got home from Seattle about 3 o'clock. I had a headache the size of Texas, but still needed to make dinner and care for my family. Keep in mind, I only had 3-4 hours of sleep (and not consecutive) the night before due to the birth and Apollo's night waking). Apollo of course had napped in the truck and was then bright eyed and bushy-tailed for the rest of the evening.
I got called at seven to head out to another birth. That baby (look for photos tomorrow!) was born at 8:30. I tend to hang around longer after home births because in the hospital they do the weighing, newborn exam, etc, right away. At home they may wait and hour or two to even start. I like to capture photos of those things for the family.
I finally headed out about eleven o'clock...only to be pulled over by the police. Our license plates, it seems, have expired. Never mind that the paperwork we have states they expire 5/11/11...the policeman told me as soon as we receive the new ones in the mail, our old ones are cancelled...so my plates were expired. My head was hurting so bad, I could barely put together a coherent sentence. I'm surprised he didn't make me 'walk the line".
Ah, well, he was nice and didn't give me a ticket. He did ask where I was headed, and I told him I was going home after photographing a birth...I imagine he was a bit confused since I was driving toward the hospital instead of away...
At any rate, I am home, dairy free, trying to recover from a crazy, crazy week. Thank you all for your kind words, suggestions, prayers, etc. Keep 'em coming!
