Bringing Home Bryant: November 2012

Eleven months home and I am 6 days late on my post. This time it is intentional, I promise. Keep reading.

Still hard to believe I have a two year old. Little peanut had a great family birthday party the weekend following his actual birthday. Bryant had a blast opening presents, playing outside and of course being the center of attention. He got a guitar from his cousin Hutson, a pup pup from his Papa and Nana and his favorite gift was a tee ball set from his Uncle Grayson. See the video below for a good laugh. He wasn't too fond of the cupcake, which doesn't surprise me. He did eat a bowl of ice cream, some icing, herhsey's kisses and a lots of lollipops. Wild man geeked up on sugar didn't go to bed until 10pm. Thank goodness birthdays only fall once a year.

The girls had a great Halloween. Bryant, the lion, didn't feel too hot. The mermaid, clown and bumble bee raided many houses and came home with buckets of chocolate. It is great to be a parent at Halloween. You tell them you have to check the candy and come away with lots of good chocolate for yourself. Macie finished her soccer season with an awesome goal in her last game. She played as the only girl on an all boys team and truly held her own. So proud of my spunky girl. Sara Kathryn started gymnastic season. We have meet this weekend. Amelia is blossoming in preschool and won the cutest at a Halloween costume contest. See my precious bumble bee below.

Now for the not so happy stuff, as I mentioned in my last post Bryant had a PH probe study done at the hospital to test the amount of gastroesophageal refux he has on a given day. Two weeks ago we went in for a horrendous overnight stay at the hospital which consisted of the doctors strapping Bryant down, putting a tube down his nose in to his stomach. It was so awful as I stood outside hearing my baby scream and feeling so helpless. Afterward they put "mittens" on his hands to prevent him from pulling the tube out of his nose. Well he was having nothing to do with that so I took them off only to have to watch his every move. He and I were linked together by a computer monitoring his PH levels. After 20 hours I fell asleep and he reached up and pulled the tube out. He and I were both done.

After the study I had convinced myself it would come back fine even though I have known in my gut that he has been silent refluxing since we came home. Bryant burps an average of 15 or so times a day. His complex feeding issues are due to quite a few things - learned behavior, avoidance, wanting control, and being a toddler. However there has always been what Jeff and I feel is some sort of pain and discomfort. The Nexium and other meds have helped some but we have still not seen tremendous growth and we still struggle with the burping and silent reflux. We have made progress on the number of foods he eats, textures and behavior but I feel some days we are fighting abdominal pain and discomfort. Anyway, the doctor called and dropped the bomb that Bryant is having a significant amount of reflux that in turn could be causing his esophagus to be inflamed. He has GERD. This could be causing some of our problem (maybe not all). So he suggested we do a surgery to repair the top of his stomach and prevent the reflux. Met with pediatric surgeon this week and just found out we are scheduled November 26th to have a Nissen fundoplication surgery done. At the same time a feeding tube will be placed to enhance Bryant's growth and get him the nutrition he needs. He will be in the hospital four nights and by the fourth I am sure they will want to kick us out. He is a tough patient. He has such medical anxiety he screams everytime a nurse opens the door to the room. He yells "Momma Momma" and grabs me around the neck as tight as he can. It is awful for him. I am not looking forward to this surgery. Tonight the surgeon gave me some reassurance. He said without a doubt Bryant needs this surgery. It will be a tough road to recovery but in the long run Bryant will hopefully feel better and his brain and body will finally get the nutrients they need.

Next week Sara Kathryn is having ear surgery to repair a hole in her ear drum. This will be the second attempt. We are hoping that this will be successful and improve her hearing. She is very nervous about it. We assured her she is in good hands. We have both prayed together about the surgery, the anxiety and nervousness. We have placed all that in God's hands as he is our ultimate caretaker. I know he is the great physician and healer of all.

To all our friends and family - your prayers are greatly apprciated during this time as we try to get our precious children through surgery and their bodies repaired. It is going to be a mess for the next few weeks but hopefully all will go smooth and our babies will feel better. Thank God daily that I have these precious children to worry about and nurture. They remind me daily, through their smiles and laughter, just how blessed I am.