Saturday March 23rd update

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been a while. I haven't really known what to write re: Seth as he'd started doing a lot better on the Neocate, but was still vomiting enough and having enough gas to incline us to switch to goats milk, which we did about 36 hours ago. At first we thought it was nearly miraculous, the difference! Then he started vomiting again. However, he hasn't had the gas he's had with all the formulas, so that means he hasn't had the screams of pain, a HUGE blessing! And he's not vomiting more than he was with the formula, plus the other babies have had some vomits in the past few days and just seemed out of sorts, so I wonder if there isn't a bug bothering him too. He seems happier and just more comfortable on the goats milk. He also isn't having the huge residuals he was having on the formulas. (I.e., it was taking him a LONG time to digest his food to the point we had to turn off his feeds for an hour or more to let him digest.) Now he's digesting the goat's milk beautifully, thank God! His diapers are looking a lot better, too, much less runny and a lot less mucus. (Sorry if that's too much information!!) I took the plunge and returned the GI doc's call to let her know we switched him (against her advice). We are going to mix in enriched powdered goats milk too so he can get the folic acid that goats milk doesn't have. And of course he'll be on his vitamins. We also have to add carbohydrates (some type of non-allergenic sugar/syrup) to the goats milk to increase the calorie content as he's on a much higher calorie diet due to the increased metabolism of kids with broncopulmonary dysplasia, who have to work harder just to breathe.

Which reminds me, the other night I was watching him sleep peacefully and breath very gently. I counted his respirations at just 20/minute! I've NEVER seen him breathe so slowly and gently before, and he was satting 98% on blood oxygen!

So suffice it to say we're encouraged right now. He still has reflux related to prematurity as all the kids do, and because there is no anti-reflux (added rice starch) goats milk formula he is going to have more spit-ups and vomits than the others. Their formula turns semi-solid when it hits their stomach acid, so they have a distinct advantage over him in that way. Goats milk is thin and soft and curdy, so comes back up a lot more easily than Enfamil AR. :}

He's mouthing things, including his pacifier and food and our fingers and his, quite a bit now. He still manages to gag himself, but it's a huge step forward in overcoming his oral aversion! He doesn't seem to have any aversion to sticking stuff in his mouth. It's going down the back of his throat that gets him.

Thanks for your continued prayers! The other kids are fussy but fine. Here are some pictures:

Our beautiful Marcie so cute and chubby I just had to snap this picture! She'll be so embarrassed one day.

Grandpadad with Seth, Marcie, Grace, David and Will

They no longer fit perpendicular to the tub length! Good thing Marcie was at Lynee's house or we never would have fit her too! Or at least it would have been very tight. L-R: Will, Seth, David, Gracie. They all kicked/splashed like crazy!

Cute little Easter outfit with eggs on the bottoms of the feet. Only Marcie fits in it so far. Thanks, Lynette!

Love and gratitude,
Carrie