Well the adventures of Lachlan’s first birthday party had past and his actual birthday was upon on. I was devastated that both Jamie and I were going to be at work for the day and that Lachlan would spend his first birthday in day care….then I realised he loves it there and has fun there with all his little buddies so what a better way to spend the day. This photo was taken on Wednesday 19 December 2012, on Lachlan’s actual birthday before he was going to day care.
Now if you have been reading my other posts and pay close attention to this picture we may pick up something different about Lachlan here. He does not have his Nasal Gastric Tube in for overnight feeding. You might think WOW that is awesome, he finally has had it removed he must be on the improve. Well I really do wish that was the case, however the reality of what happened was that the day before Lachlan and I went into my work for a visit and driving back home little mister cheeky pants decided that he had enough of that damn NGT and one big yank and all the tap of his face came loose and he ripped the whole thing out of his face. I turned to check on him at the red traffic light and I nearly had heart failure to see him swinging the tube around having a fun time with it.
Once we got home I rang the WCH to find out what to do. We scheduled for our next follow up outpatients appointment on the Monday 24th December anyway so they suggested to just leave the NGT out for a couple of days, which was also a good assessment of what would happen to his weight without the overnight feeds) and at the next appointment with the Paediatric Gastroenterologist we could re-assess if after 2 long months of having the NGT in if we would continue.
Off we go on Christmas Eve to brave the madness of the road to head to the hospital for out outpatients appointment, the normal routine of weigh in etc with the nurses and then we go see the consultant. At this stage Lachlan had put on about 600g since being discharged from hospital – it was so very exciting seeing some improvements in his weight. However we were still continuing the day time vomiting and the new trend of the massive bed drenching overnight vomits. The doctor reviewed that in the 6 days that Lachlan did not have the NGT tube in (after monkey pants ripped it out) he had not lost any weight – he had in fact gained another 50g over that period and with the NGT in the overnight vomiting had also stopped. The Gastro concluded that his stomach was no longer tolerating such large doses of formula in the overnight feed and that is what was causing the excessive vomiting and because he had not lost any weight, and in fact gained weight, without the tube in, we were going to go between now and the next appointment with no NGT and reassess early in the new year, however if without the NGT if he had any dramatic weight losses we were to pack our pack and head back into to emergency again. And of course to continue the normal recording of his food intake and also record and monitor the vomiting STILL.
I did a small and silent celebration that the NGT was being removed! After 2 months of constant sterilizing all the equipment and setting up the pump every night and 2 middle of the night change overs of milk it is safe to say I was ready for a break from the pump. I did not get too excited as it was still not discounted that it wouldn’t have to go back if we started dropping weight again.
That night we had our own little Christmas celebration with Jamie, Lachlan and I (as Jamie had to start work at 5am on Christmas morning) it was the one time we were together to celebrate, and we actually had a reason to celebrate, we had a mini break and the NGT wasn’t coming back, at least for a while
The next day was Xmas day and it was like Santa delivered a little Christmas miracle to my little miracle baby. Santa has delivered me a change in Lachlan’s mood!! I don’t know what happened during the sleep that he had that night but he woke up like a changed baby. He was nowhere near as grizzly and irritable as he had been for the 3-4 months prior and this beautiful happy cheeky inquisitive little baby that we had known before his reflux flared up was back. My boy was back!! Admittedly he was still leaving a trail of vomit behind him after any food or drink, but that was emotionally and physically a lot easier to deal with when his demeanour was a lot happier.
Lachlan and I spent Christmas day at my sister’s house with our parents and my nephew Max, it was so good to see the boys interactive and playing together and having fun. It is amazing the bond these two little boys have given that they don’t spend as much time together as I would like. It’s like they know they are related and they just unconditionally love each other
It was such a lovely day and it was such a relief after such a stressful few months to sit back and relax and watch my little elf have such a fun day.
Jamie joined us at my sister’s house once he had finished work to have a gorgeous family photo taken. Words cannot express enough how much love I have for these two men in my life!! I am so grateful everyday to be surrounded by such strong, amazing men – I’m one proud partner and mummy!
