Keeping in Touch

Dylan wanted to call you all to tell you how great things have been going for him, but we've never really shown him how to work the phone yet, so I figured I'd post it here. The little guy sure did give it a good try though, as you can see.

Seriously though, not much new has really been happening. He gave us a bit of a scare today though, when his herniated umbilical cord got hard, swollen and could not be reduced back into his abdomen. This can be dangerous if part of the intestine gets caught in the hernia and becomes twisted or strangulated. Typically, the hernia is nothing more than a little bulb on his belly that is squishy and can be pushed in temporarily, quite easily. This morning though, Dylan was very upset, seemingly in pain, and the bulb was hard and sensitive to the touch. After a quick call to one of the staff in the NICU (still helpful even two months after discharge), Barbara packed him up and headed off to the ER. I was working, and arrived a little after she did.

It turns out that it wasn't strangulated, and Dylan wasn't in any immediate danger, but the doc agreed that we did the right thing by bringing him in. Apparently, part of the intestine had gone into the bulb, and it may have been painful. Since he was in pain, this then caused Dylan to tense the muscles in his stomach which in turn caused the bulb to tighten and become hard. Once he had relaxed a bit, they were able to reduce the bulb back into his abdomen without much effort, and he was fine. Still, he recommended that we mention it to his new pediatrician (who we go to see on Wednesday) and have them set up a surgical consult. Apparently, he feels that it likely will need surgical intervention at some point (perhaps because the intestine is entering the bulb- it doesn't always happen that way) and that we should have a familiarity with the surgeon and the surgeon should have a familiarity with Dylan and his case before it comes to that. So, it's on our list for his new pediatrician.

Incidentally, the ER doc mentioned that he is familiar with our pediatrician and he spoke highly of her. He also mentioned that his own children go to the same practice. That's a pretty good endorsement, in my eyes. We'll she if she lives up to the advance billing.

Otherwise, Dylan is doing very well. He is about 25 inches long and weighs 15 lbs 7 oz. His latest thing seems to be long winded conversations with his Mommy and Daddy. We'll talk to him and he seems to be responding. We can go on for 30-45 minutes at a time sometimes. He'll coo and goo and make all sorts of sounds that sound like he is trying to form words. It's great to see him starting to develop language skills. He is also getting better control over his hands, sometimes holding his pacifier for a while, grasping at his bottle while being fed, and even rubbing his eyes when he first wakes up or get's sleepy. His head control is much better as well. When on his belly, he has full control, turning from side to side at will and holding his head up whenever he wants to see what is going on around him, which is most of the time. When upright, he is still a little unsteady, but he get's the idea of it and can keep his head upright, if not altogether still, when he wants to. He's just really impressing me with all of the little things he can do. It's amazing to see a little baby learn to do things that I never would have given a second though to until he came in to our lives.

Anyway, that's it for now. We have his pediatrician appointment on Wednesday during which eh will get his 4 month shots. I'll try to post back and let you all know how that went.

Take care!