Worried about Little Z

This is a picture of us in the hospital right after Z was born.  There's a little spitup in there.  Ah for those little ones.  If only that's what we were dealing with!

Yesterday I visited Jeff at work on the way home from Z's ultrasound.  He had a few more episodes of projectile vomiting.  I was thinking I would pursue the breastfeeding support group route and also put a call in to the pediatrician.  As it happened, the pediatrician had an appointment cancellation, so we saw her yesterday, and she ordered an ultrasound for Zack.

It was an adventurous day, driving all the way into Beverly Hills for the ultrasound.  Zack handled the car ride like a champ.  Poor little guy was not quite as brave during the ultrasound, which really freaked him out.

We got the results today, and Z does have some pyloric thickening.  This was not the news we wanted to hear.  We have to monitor him over the next couple weeks and see how he does.  If the symptoms worsen, he may need surgery to correct pyloric stenosis.  However, he can't get the surgery yet, because fluid is still getting through the narrowed pylorus.  So he's not in bad enough shape to need surgery.  And the problem might resolve on its own.  I didn't know, from my extensive Google diagnosing, that this problem could resolve without surgery.  But as Jeff said, that's why we don't pay Dr. Internet to care for our baby.

Our pediatricians seem great.  They are are trio of women and I've met them all now--Lubin, Whang, and Blume.  I trust what they are telling us.

We are just worried sick.  But we have to be strong for Little Z.  The main thing now is that we have to really slow down his feedings so that whatever we put into his stomach can make its way out of the pyloric valve.  This is very, very tough for me to do while breastfeeding, so I am thinking it would be better to pump and bottle feed.  Jeff has a lot of success bottle feeding Z expressed milk.  It's just easier to monitor the amount.

Also, we have to keep up with Z's output in the coming days.

What's wrong with Z is totally fixable and very common.  It affects boys something like 4 or 5 times more than girls.  It's especially common in firstborn males.  The surgery to fix the problem is routine and the prognosis is great.

But we are just wrecks over it nonetheless.

There was such a nice woman working at the ultrasound lab.  I had my stroller and diaper bag and then they tossed a clipboard at me.  But she came and sat down next to me while I fed Z and filled out the forms for me.  She said her son had to have a surgery when he was an infant, and she could see it all on my face--exhausted and worried mom of a newborn with a problem.

I feel vindicated that there is a problem.  I knew what was happening was not right.  I may not be a baby expert, but a baby who vomits out a stream of liquid that goes a yard out from his face--um, that just didn't seem normal to me.  Overfeeding didn't quite explain it.