Dexter has been pretty sick since he was born.
He has always had breathing issues.
He has never slept through the night, and usually gets up 6-7 times per night. Now you might think "boy those parents really need to sleep train him..."
But he was in pain. He would comfort nurse all night. And I recently learned breastmilk has a "pain medication" effect, so another awesome thing a baby instinctively knows "when I hurt please just let me nurse!" Amazing!! I also knew in my gut that just letting him cry it out was doing more harm than good.
In November 2013 Dexter got his first ear infection. At this point he has been having high fevers, he was in the hospital twice already for his high fevers and breathing issues. He wore a breathing monitor at home for the first 6 months of his life.
Then right after Christmas we took him to an ENT. The ENT we saw didn't take me seriously and sent us away to do a sleep study, which Dexter didn't need and just caused so much trama to our little 6 month old. He was breathing awful. Turns out he has what is tracheomalacia. Which is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the windpipe (trachea), which is present at birth. So after we figured that out and learned that we just need to watch him and around 18 months get him checked. He might need surgery but we are hoping he just grows out of it.
Then around the same time he started getting ear infection after ear infection. He would get high fevers, very congested and be miserable. From January to July he had a total of 12 ear infections.
No one was sleeping, and it was awful. His throat was always red from crying, and he was constantly congested. What a nightmare!
But - he was and still is SUCH A HAPPY GUY!! It is a blessing he has always been so happy
We finally saw a wonderful ENT at Primary Chidlren's hospital in Salt Lake. He scheduled Dexter for surgery immediately. He said his ears would never heal on its own. I am so grateful for this wonderful doctor. Surgery was rough on Dexter. His O2 levels were not great after surgery, and we ended up staying at the hospital longer than expected, but he is home now and on the mend.
Dexter is now almost a year old and finally slept a good 6 hour chunk. The first two nights after surgery he only woke up TWICE!! It was amazing. We are hoping getting TUBES and his ADENOIDS out will really help him.
He has always had breathing issues.
He has never slept through the night, and usually gets up 6-7 times per night. Now you might think "boy those parents really need to sleep train him..."
But he was in pain. He would comfort nurse all night. And I recently learned breastmilk has a "pain medication" effect, so another awesome thing a baby instinctively knows "when I hurt please just let me nurse!" Amazing!! I also knew in my gut that just letting him cry it out was doing more harm than good.
In November 2013 Dexter got his first ear infection. At this point he has been having high fevers, he was in the hospital twice already for his high fevers and breathing issues. He wore a breathing monitor at home for the first 6 months of his life.
Then right after Christmas we took him to an ENT. The ENT we saw didn't take me seriously and sent us away to do a sleep study, which Dexter didn't need and just caused so much trama to our little 6 month old. He was breathing awful. Turns out he has what is tracheomalacia. Which is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the windpipe (trachea), which is present at birth. So after we figured that out and learned that we just need to watch him and around 18 months get him checked. He might need surgery but we are hoping he just grows out of it.
Then around the same time he started getting ear infection after ear infection. He would get high fevers, very congested and be miserable. From January to July he had a total of 12 ear infections.
No one was sleeping, and it was awful. His throat was always red from crying, and he was constantly congested. What a nightmare!
But - he was and still is SUCH A HAPPY GUY!! It is a blessing he has always been so happy
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| Right before his surgery. He then threw up and got a fever. But for a moment he was happy. |
We finally saw a wonderful ENT at Primary Chidlren's hospital in Salt Lake. He scheduled Dexter for surgery immediately. He said his ears would never heal on its own. I am so grateful for this wonderful doctor. Surgery was rough on Dexter. His O2 levels were not great after surgery, and we ended up staying at the hospital longer than expected, but he is home now and on the mend.
Dexter is now almost a year old and finally slept a good 6 hour chunk. The first two nights after surgery he only woke up TWICE!! It was amazing. We are hoping getting TUBES and his ADENOIDS out will really help him.
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| They give babies these MC Hammer pants to wear during surgery. Pretty cute, huh? |
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| So tired. So mad at the world. But his hair, soooo awesome! |
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| Snuggles after surgery. He was not happy. |
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| Finally home after a very long day |
