He had a couple shots today which he handled pretty well, but has seemed to make him unusually cranky and clingy the rest of the day unfortunately. :(
We're still battling his weepy eye but there's not much to do. We stopped the antibiotic drops after about a week but I continue to do hot compresses and massages to the duct to try and clear it out. It's apparently one of those things that will just heal on its own.
At least three times now this past month, Callum has given us a real scare. The first time, with Jon, he was laying on his back getting a diaper change when Jon noticed he was turning bright red and violently kicking his legs and arms. Jon then noticed he wasn't breathing. Luckily, he recovered right away, but just hearing the story upset me (especially how Jon chose to tell me: oh yeah, and Callum stopped breathing today...)
The second time was with me. I had just buckled him into his car seat and ran Grover back to our room to put him in his crate. I came back and found Callum kicking violently in his seat, turning bright red and gasping for air. The look in his eyes was horrifying. He was scared. And so was I.
Faster than I knew was even possible, I had him out of the car seat and was patting his back while trying to calm him down. I thought if I could get him to just relax a little (and stop arching his back, fighting for air) then he'd be able to breathe again. Thankfully he was able to get a grasp of air and recover. After I could tell he was alright, I then flipped out, calling Jon to tell him about it. I strained every muscle I had to listen to him breathe in the back seat of the car during my drive.
The third time happened in the middle of the night. We both woke up to Callum choking and squealing and sputtering. He sleeps in the co-sleeper next to me and again, with lightening speed I had him up and out of his swaddle and on my chest. He slept the rest of the night that night on my chest.
At that point, Jon had decided he had some sort of sleep apnea, which I was wondering myself. Except it seemed to happen whenever. He's also had trouble drinking from a bottle since day one (gleeking and sputtering all over the place), and tends to choke randomly on his own spit too.
Which all leads up to today's appointment when they asked if I had any questions and I said, as a matter of fact, I do.
Turns out, Callum has what's called laryngomalacia, where the cartilage of the larynx is underdeveloped and can collapse inward, causing an obstruction in the airway. It's actually very common for infants and will usually go away on its own in a few months as the larynx develops properly. Mostly we need to keep an eye on his positioning. Dr. Safir prefers we actually lay him on his side, since laying on his back causes the little flap of tissue to fold over and block his airway more frequently.
He also showed me what to do if Callum has another non-breathing bright red spazzing episode... Basically what I had done before was the right approach, holding him so he's on his belly face down and patting/hitting his back so that the airway can open back up. As scary as it all sounds, I'm just happy we now know what the cause is and what to watch out for from now on!
Wanna see a crazy comparison? Here's the two boys after their respective 2 month check up appointments. Can you guess who is who? ;-)
We're still battling his weepy eye but there's not much to do. We stopped the antibiotic drops after about a week but I continue to do hot compresses and massages to the duct to try and clear it out. It's apparently one of those things that will just heal on its own.
At least three times now this past month, Callum has given us a real scare. The first time, with Jon, he was laying on his back getting a diaper change when Jon noticed he was turning bright red and violently kicking his legs and arms. Jon then noticed he wasn't breathing. Luckily, he recovered right away, but just hearing the story upset me (especially how Jon chose to tell me: oh yeah, and Callum stopped breathing today...)
The second time was with me. I had just buckled him into his car seat and ran Grover back to our room to put him in his crate. I came back and found Callum kicking violently in his seat, turning bright red and gasping for air. The look in his eyes was horrifying. He was scared. And so was I.
Faster than I knew was even possible, I had him out of the car seat and was patting his back while trying to calm him down. I thought if I could get him to just relax a little (and stop arching his back, fighting for air) then he'd be able to breathe again. Thankfully he was able to get a grasp of air and recover. After I could tell he was alright, I then flipped out, calling Jon to tell him about it. I strained every muscle I had to listen to him breathe in the back seat of the car during my drive.
The third time happened in the middle of the night. We both woke up to Callum choking and squealing and sputtering. He sleeps in the co-sleeper next to me and again, with lightening speed I had him up and out of his swaddle and on my chest. He slept the rest of the night that night on my chest.
At that point, Jon had decided he had some sort of sleep apnea, which I was wondering myself. Except it seemed to happen whenever. He's also had trouble drinking from a bottle since day one (gleeking and sputtering all over the place), and tends to choke randomly on his own spit too.
Which all leads up to today's appointment when they asked if I had any questions and I said, as a matter of fact, I do.
Turns out, Callum has what's called laryngomalacia, where the cartilage of the larynx is underdeveloped and can collapse inward, causing an obstruction in the airway. It's actually very common for infants and will usually go away on its own in a few months as the larynx develops properly. Mostly we need to keep an eye on his positioning. Dr. Safir prefers we actually lay him on his side, since laying on his back causes the little flap of tissue to fold over and block his airway more frequently.
He also showed me what to do if Callum has another non-breathing bright red spazzing episode... Basically what I had done before was the right approach, holding him so he's on his belly face down and patting/hitting his back so that the airway can open back up. As scary as it all sounds, I'm just happy we now know what the cause is and what to watch out for from now on!
Wanna see a crazy comparison? Here's the two boys after their respective 2 month check up appointments. Can you guess who is who? ;-)
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5 comments:
You mean aside from looking at the giant fuzzy stuff indicating winter between those pictures? Logan had a slightly rounder chin than mister Callum seems to :P
yeah well, it was kind of a rhetorical question! ;-)
Hey I picked right, I thought there might be a prize!
I picked right, too, but both are precious and of course my grandsons!
Sorry about your scary episodes, it was scary reading about them. If it is any conciliation, Jonathan did the same thing but becasue he was a premie. So understand the scary parts.
oh my goodness! That is so scary! I don't think I would ever be able to relax. we have one of those breathing monitors if you wanna borrow it.
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