Tears of joy!

I had another breakdown yesterday, but this one was from my pure joy!!!  I know I posted that Camden has started eating, but it was yesterday that it really hit me how far this lil’ guy has come and how amazing it is.

Camden’s feeding therapist came yesterday.  She was blown away at all Camden’s eating.  She said very few kids go from a liquid diet to table foods so quickly.  Usually it takes a month or more just to get them to eat ONE jar of baby food.  She expected Camden still to be taking only a few bites and she would have been happy with that.  Instead she saw Camden eating all by himself and actually  yelling when I didn’t feed him fast enough!  Halleulejah! 

She actually asked me what we had done.  She said this just doesn’t happen.  The only other thing besides the tubes is the chiropractor.  Whether this is what has made the difference or not, we may never know.  But I don’t need to know.  I am thankful that God has healed this little boy and allowed him to eat.  He is loving food! 

One downturn of this eating is that he's having bowel issues now. He's been one to only go once or twice a week up til now, but when he did, it was never a problem. The last two days he's really been struggling to make a bowel movement. You can see the uncomfortableness. We may have to try some laxatives or suppositories.

And there’s more good news:  Last night as I was nursing him before bedtime he bit me.  I pulled him away but he started to cry, like he wasn’t done.  Hmmm….okay, one more time.  He bit down again….hard…ouch!  Okay, I said, you’re done.  I thought for a minute and then filled a cup with a bottle-like top with soy milk and offered it to Camden.  He grabbed it and immediately put it to his lips.  WHAT?!?!?!!?  He was really biting it and then spitting out the milk, but this is also huge progress.  When I took the cup away, he screamed until I gave it back.  THAT is what led to my breakdown.  Just a couple days ago he wouldn’t have anything to do with a cup and last night he was crying because I took it away!  Wow.

Camden’s really showing off his personality lately.  He’s repeating things (“uh-oh,” “dada,” “wow,” “ball”) and making these funny faces.  Isaac was teaching him how to wave bye-bye yesterday and I believe he’ll have that down by the end of the week.  It’s so adorable.He also slept a solid EIGHT hours last night! What a showoff.  

Now all he has to do is get MOVING!  He’s still being stubborn about doing his PT exercises.  I’m  praying that he suddenly makes the same progress in his physical therapy as he made in his feeding therapy.   That’s not too much to hope for,  is it?

“With God all things are possible.”

Amen!

Eating!!!

Camden has come leaps and bounds in the last few weeks.  He is now eating table foods like a champ!  He actually refuses baby food, or foods fed to him on a spoon, and prefers to feed himself with finger foods or table foods.  It’s an adjustment for me, but a good adjustment.  I now have to include him in our eating.  It’s a challenge to come up with “safe” foods for him, but we’re learning.  Lots of fruit and veggies.  He’s even tried chicken.  I am so thankful for his progress.  His feeding therapist will be shocked when she returns from vacation!

I even tried a cup last night with him.  A sippy cup without the valve in it.  I put some soy milk in it and held it up to his mouth.  Would you believe that for the first time he didn’t push it away???  He actually opened his mouth and drank! 

He’s still refluxing, but it’s less now that his medicine is in him and the teething is less.  Yesterday the chiropractor really felt like she made progress in the area that deals with digestion and his reflux.  I asked her about weaning him off his meds.  She suggested at this point to wean slowly, like every other day.  It’s usually within 3-6 visits that they notice a difference and he just had his 5th visit.  She didn’t suggest going cold turkey yet.  If we wanted to go that route, she said she would feel comfortable allowing that in a couple weeks.  I’m picking  up his medicine today and I am going to continue to give it every other day.  Possibly slowly giving less and less at a time.  The chiropractor did tell me that his reflux is going to flare up from time to time.  The  body’s reaction to certain things, like teething, illness, etc, is to produce more acid.  But if we can get it more under control in his day-to-day life, we can probably get off the meds.  Hooray!

I am so happy for Camden.  And it’s about time, this little guy start feeling better—he turns ONE in 18 days!!!!  Be on the lookout for your birthday invite!

Tube check and hearing test

Camden had his tubes checked this morning. One was clogged with wax, which was surprising considering they haven't been in there long. Unfortunately, we had to wrap him like a mummy and they had to take a special instrument in to clean out the wax. They wanted to be sure they were in the proper place, which they were. He also had a hearing test and his hearing is back to the normal range. He will go back every four months to have the tubes checked, until they fall out in a year to a year and a half.

Chiropractor

The chiropractor blew me away!!!!! I was amazed at how much she could help Camden. Yes, part of me is kicking myself for not going sooner, but I only found out about her a little over a week ago. Not all chiropractors can treat kids/babies, even if they say they can. They must be certified in pediatric chiropractic care. I'm not willing to go to anybody and allow them to start cracking my baby's little bones.

This one was great and best of all, she's close! She could tell exactly where Camden's ear infections/fluid and reflux was stemming from. She adjusted him and also recommended some soft tissue work. Her mom does soft tissue work and right there in the same office. We were even able to get in that day to see her. He had some craniosacral work done, which is beyond amazing and very hard to explain. Just Google it for yourself. I had it done when I was pregnant with Logan and wow, it works!

One problem is insurance doesnt want to cover chiro care for kids. We're claiming he has neck and back problems due to reflux and sleeping in his car seat for six months and it also created motor development delay, which is all true. This may get us one month of chiro care covered by insurance. I truly believe that chiro care will help Camden. It may be a bit expensive, but we need him better!

Update since the tubes: No big change. He's been up a lot at night, every 2-3 hours. He may still be adjusting though and I'm hoping in another week we see a difference. So far, none. :(

Feeding therapy

Camden had his feeding evaluation with Birth to Three on Friday.  At this point it really doesn’t come as any surprise that he qualified.  He will have feeding therapy every other week.  They are waiting to start until after his feeding evaluation (swallow study) with Children’s feeding clinic, which is tomorrow.  The therapist also was hopeful that the tubes would help with his eating.  She did give us some tricks and tips to try with him until we start therapy.  Just really simple baby steps to get him eating.  Like dabbing our finger in baby food,  juice, applesauce and putting a little on his mouth.  He will stick out his tongue for this and this gets him use to different tastes a little at a time.  It’s also not so much that it’s going to  upset his tummy or reflux.  Too much food for him at one time can be very bad for his reflux.  So even when I was thrilled that he ate a whole jar of baby food, it could have really made him feel bad and upset the reflux.  His tummy isn’t used to anything but breast milk so we need to gradually get it used to other foods. 

Camden has a busy week.  Tomorrow we go to the feeding clinic.  This is an important appointment and should be very helpful for us.  Tuesday the tubes are being put in.  We have to be at the surgery center at 6:30 A.M.  Yikes!  Camden cannot eat anything or drink anything after midnight.  Oh boy….it may not be a good night.  I’m nervous for this procedure, yet excited to see the results of it.  Will Camden finally feel better?  Part of me thinks he’ll improve but not be 100% better because he still suffers from his reflux.  He has been refluxing quite a bit the last few days.  Between today and Tuesday I’m trying to keep  him away from germs because if he gets sick, the surgery is cancelled. 

He’s made some progress with physical therapy.  He doesn’t scream during his therapy exercises and he rolls over from tummy to back.  This may seem like simple things for a 10-month old, but this is HUGE for Camden.  He doesn’t mind being on his tummy so much, but now that he’s learned how to roll off his tummy, he doesn’t stay on it very long.  The therapist wondered if we should even teach him how to roll off his tummy and now I see why.