1/13/15

Well, there is a good bit of same-old, same-old around here these days. After a lot of trial and error we, along with our pediatrician, felt fairly convinced that Jackson's tummy problem was due almost entirely to the negative effects of his narcotics. As narcotics do, his seems to very much effect his gut and bowel motility. This makes it very difficult for him to pass gas or stool and causes bloating and general stomach discomfort. With that said, two days ago after having good poopy diapers, his stomach seemed worse than ever...ugh. By yesterday he was absolutely miserable. Any medicines or milk led to immediate crying and squirming. So now his new antacid has been increased to twice a day. (It's worth a try.) Jackson has been on "fortified" breast milk since birth. This means each tube/bottle feeding has formula mixed in with it to add extra calories. Yesterday afternoon we ran pedialyte through his tube for several hours then switched back to breast milk overnight but left out the formula. He did great! So maybe the formula was a culprit? Either way it's gone now...yay! I've never been excessively fond of it anyway. (The pediatrician also ordered several stool sample tests.) The formula is gone, but unfortunately the narcotics aren't quite that easy. We long for the day when that morphine bottle goes into the trash. The NG tube too. Jackson hasn't made any progress on taking a bottle. He loves it...for about 5-10 minutes. After this he arches his back and refuses to drink. The speech therapist came last week. She said he has a good, strong suck, but exhibits classic signs of reflux. She recommended adding rice cereal to his bottle, but with as much trouble as he has with digestion, this doesn't seem like an option at this time. Well, that's the skinny on a very chubby belly boy. God is keeping us...one day at a time.