Prayers for Baby Otto

Disclaimer: This was written at 5:00 AM after Mommy had about a 2 hour nap.


As many of you may know Otto has been having some reflux issues since last Thursday evening. Towards late Thursday night and into Friday morning he was not keeping most of his feedings down. They were large enough volumes that I called the Pediatrician on Friday to see what we could do for him. We tried several at home remedies for reflux with no success. We have either talked to or seen a doctor/ nurse everyday since Friday. 


Since there had not been any progress by Tuesday morning our Pediatrician, Dr. Brooks, decided to see him again. He checked him out and he seems like a normal, healthy baby. He had a check list of things to screen for and remedies to try at home. For example, keeping him upright before, during and after feedings, cutting dairy/soy out of my diet, etc. He also wanted to check out another possible issue and ordered and ultrasound for Otto's tummy that afternoon.  


So Otto and I left Franklin and headed up to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. We arrived around 2 pm for the ultrasound and lIttle did I know we wouldn't be leaving. It turns out he indeed does have the condition that Dr. Brooks wanted to screen for. He has a condition called Pyloric Stenosis. It's where the Pyloric muscle between his stomach and small intestine gets so enlarged that it constricts/stops the flow of food from going out the back end. Unfortunately, the only remedy is surgery. It is something that is most commonly found in first born, male children. 


He will have the surgery sometime on Thursday. It's a fairly common procedure and takes about an hour. As soon as he starts eating well afterwards we will all be able to head home (most likely on Friday). At this point the poor guy hasn't had anything to eat since 12:19 pm on Tuesday. Obviously it kills us to see him like this, but we know it will be best in the long run. Grandma & Grandpa Geis drove down from Indiana Tuesday night and were able to come snuggle with him before it was their bedtime. They decided to camp out in the waiting room since visiting hours are over at 9 pm. I hope everyone is getting rest. Thursday will be a long day. 

Bionic Karate Man

Sleeping peacefully with his seahorse