21 Days After His Birth Day
I just need to pen this down…for our family journal and sharing with other parents out there. This gonna be a long one.
It has been 2 years now…Two years ago of this day, Jonathan boy was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis and went through a surgery.
It all started when he was 2 weeks old. He started to vomit forcefully (projectile vomitting) after each feeding. During the first visit to the paediatrician, he suspected air in the stomach and so gave us some colic medicine. Two days later, we went back to the paed and he said it could be reflux or allergy. But Jonathan boy was fully breastfed and breast milk has never been not safe to a baby. Nevertheless, we listened to him and I stopped BF temporary and gave him anti-regurgitation milk as recommended for the reflux by paed. We were told to monitor his urine and bowel movement too.
Despite all these, his condition persisted and worsen. Still vomit forcefully, no intake of milk and his urine and bowel movement reduced. He was restless and slept most of the time. Losing weight and had sunken eyes. My mom, sis and MIL didn’t know what was wrong and had never experienced such condition in our family nor heard of it. Seeing him like that, I have the feeling of losing him and kept praying to God for mercy.
I looked through all the baby reference books I have and searched through the Internet but couldn’t solve this mystery puzzle. Every time, day and night, I was never at peace when feeding him as he may vomit anytime. It had became phobia. I had to be prepared with container, clothing and mop. I lost my appetite and lost weight during my confinement.
I looked through again at Dr. Spock’s baby and childcare book, page by page and word by word. God hears me and fix my eye on a subject called Pyloric Stenosis. I later confirmed this medical term on the Internet. Jonathan boy had exactly all the signs and symptoms mentioned. But to confirm the diagnosis, he may need to go through X-ray, barium swallow or ultrasound. The first two is too much to bear for a baby and so I was hoping that the ultrasound alone can confirm the diagnosis.
The next day, we brought him immediately to the paediatrician and told him if Jonathan could be suffering from Pyloric Stenosis. He was not convinced of that because he didn’t feel any abnormality during his physical examination as usually, you can feel an “olive” at the abdomen. And usually, the symptoms only showing when baby is 3 weeks old. Moreover, it is unlikely to happen among the Chinese, based on the statistics. No wonder he didn’t diagnose this earlier. Good thing the paeditrician was compassionate and he was willing to schedule for an immediate ultrasound to rule this out.
While waiting for the ultrasound report, I was praying to God that the ultrasound could diagnose his medical condition and let it be Pyloric Stenosis so that our mystery puzzle can be resolved. Really praise God that the ultrasound report came back positive to rule out that Jonathan is suffering from Pyloric Stenosis. Immediately, he helped us to make arrangement to see the best paediatric surgeons at SJMC.
We thought things would be fine now since we know what was wrong with Jonathan boy. But not really. They had to put him on tubes and the worst was putting a tube through his nose to drain the fluid from his stomach.
We heard his suffering cries from outside the room. It was so heartaching. When the nurse brought him out, my whole heart fell and tears rolled down. We didn’t expect and wasn’t prepared to see him this way. There was another tube for the saline at his foot as that was the best place they could find after trying from his wrist.
The surgery was scheduled for the next day. That night, both of us couldn’t sleep. He was cranky because of hunger. I can only pacify him and wet his lips with water. The next morning, I was allowed to accompany him at the ops theater recovery area because of his age. Praised the Lord that the surgery went well and the surgeon confirmed once again that it was Pyloric Stenosis and he had fixed it!
That same night, he was cranky. He was not allowed to drink yet. He was only allowed to drink few teaspoons of glucose the next morning just to monitor his digestion. I was only allowed to BF him later in the afternoon. It was such a relieved then.
The above pic was taken one his fullmoon which was 1 week after the surgery. It left a scar on his abdomen. Just a thin and very light line about 5cm long. I didn’t apply any anti-scar oil. Let it be there as something to remember. Anyway, the scar is not so obvious and appear on covered area.
Now, whenever you watches him eat, you never lost your appetite. And he never stop eating. Praise the Lord!
karen shia says:
After reading this, I really wanted to praise Jonathan’s parents. You both just made it! Hard time is over and God does hear you! Hope everyone stays stronger…
andrewjune says:
i feel for you, julie…
can’t believe this strong boy had gone through all this while he was only 2 weeks old! and most of all, his is so blessed with his parents’ tender loving care and so much dedication and also with the blessings of the Lord.
i am so happy he recovered and you’ve done a great job yourself by searching up & low and found out that it was Pyloric Stenosis.
praise the Lord, and yes, no matter what gender of baby we’re blessed with, the most important thing is that both mummy and baby is healthy!
*hugs & kisses to jonathan boy*
Mery says:
It is my first time came across this sickness.
Hope Jonathan boy always stay healthy!!
E says:
a mother knows best 😉
glad he & you guys got thru that.. may your prayer covers him all his days..
rachel says:
Gosh…U didnt blog about this at all.. and u blog it 2 yrs later.. I’m glad Jonathan is all strong n healthy now and he is eating..
How one would get this Pyloric Stenosis if is not inherited? Something during pregnancy?
debbie says:
Oh mind… reading this post and my tear is almost rolling out. It remind me about Xandria when she admitted due to lung infection. It’s really heartaching….
Thanks god that Jonathan boy is fine now.
lil prince's mum says:
oh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It must be a hard time for all of you…….
Anyway, it’s over and Jonathan is growing up well now!~ 🙂
Pet says:
It always makes us worry when there’s something out of an ordinary. Like my son, at just a mere 10 days, we found that he likes to stick his tongue out, really often. Sleep also his tongue sticks out. We had him checked a few times for thyroids. Turns out, it was just ‘his way’. 🙂
anggie says:
I feel heartache when i read tru this …. it’s just how i feel when Baby J going tru a Surgery early this month, even is a small surgery compared to ur boy .. but is still a surgery …
But praise the LORD … ur boy is growing healthy and strong now!!
kathy says:
Thank god you found out early. My friend lost two babies due to strange vomiting. Private and hospital doctors didn’t know what was wrong. She found out later thru the internet but too late.
Julie says:
Is it also Pyloric Stenosis or something else? Thanks to the world of internet that we are able to get lots of information. Else if I waited for the paed to diagnose Jonathan’s situation, he would have starved and dehydrated to death.
Julie says:
It’s not inherited. So far what I read is that the cause is unknown yet.
mc says:
what a horrible thing to go thru! thank god you found out what was wrong with jonathan! now i beleive even more that you must always do things yourself to get it done right!
yugene says:
Oh boy…..is not easy to go through that!! I have seen my uncle went through the same pain (different sickness), his baby gone thru 1st surgery on the 4th day from birth day!!
Salute to both of you!
Joanne Tiew says:
Poor Jonathan that he needs to went thru all these during the very young age.
Glad that he is fine now.
Kristie says:
Praise the Lord! It’s good that u and ur family have very strong faith in God.
So sorry to hear abt this, u are a very strong mother 🙂 I salute u 🙂