Fire Drills

Baker now has a true inguinal hernia. He was diagnosed almost two weeks ago by his pediatrician. He saw his urologist on Monday who said that surgery is necessary. He was more irritable then usual over the weekend and Monday evening he was in pain. He wasn't sleeping so we put him in the car seat and started to take him to the hospital, he fell asleep we brought him home and he slept for most of the night. Teresa called all his doctors that had anything to do with this and all they could tell us was to give him a laxative, give him diluted prune juice, and to give him baby Tylenol for the pain. They also told us to watch out for a fever and throwing up which would be signs that the hernia was incarcerated which could cause bad things for the Baker.

That Monday night we also talked to his urologist who was on call, who said that if he got a fever or if we couldn't calm him down take him to the hospital… (almost forgot to add that fact). Also that we were going to get him into surgery very soon, they just needed clearance from his pulmonologist. Well the clearance didn't come until late Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday we finally got word that the surgery will be on Tuesday the 29^th. So Teresa asked if we couldn't get him in any earlier since he's in periodic pain and they said no.

So we have to wait, and watch our son suffer – this has been a very frustrating week to say the least. I'm going to hold back, because this is a family blog. I am going to say a few things though that I need to get off of my chest. We were referred to a Complex Care Pediatric group by the hospital, which was supposed to be of great benefit to us being that Baker had multiple issues when he was discharged from the hospital. We were promised tailored care to his specific needs. We were told that if we did have an emergency, that for severely premature babies (like Baker) he would get special attention since he probably had a compromised immune system. One of the supposed benefits were having a pediatrician on call at all times so that we could meet there prior to intake into the hospital so we wouldn't have to wait in a waiting room and expose Baker to a life threatening illness on intake. We were also told that these were the best doctors for children like baker because they specialize in the unique issues that you have with an extremely premature infant.

Well actually what we got was, never seeing the same pediatric doctor twice. Anytime we've called the on-call they have no answers, and when we did ask if we could see them then they said no – take him to the emergency room. Every doctor they referred us to, has been marginal. The only good specialists he has were ones we picked out our selves. I know it's late and I'm frustrated, so I should quit there. I want to end this on some happy notes…

Other then the Hernia, Baker is doing fantastic. He can see, he's smiling and laughing when we get in his face – he loves to play with my beard and his mom's hair. Every day we see him do something different, if it's a movement or noise he makes or when he talks to us with this look that we should really know what he's talking about. He is such a joy and we are still amazed every day by his progress.

We took him back to the old hospital that he stayed at for the first months of his life and he saw his old Neonatologist. That was such a joyous occasion, she was so happy to see him and to see how well he's doing. We thanked her again for all she did for him, I can't describe how great it was being able to bring him back and show him off. We saw his day time primary nurse as well; again it was another proud moment in our lives. She told us that this was why she does what she does, well after holding and squeezing him for a long time too. We need to get him there to see his favorite night time primary nurse, but he usually goes to sleep before they start their shift. So to Baker's favorite night time nurse if you are reading this we really miss you, think about you all the time and will bring him up there soon after he recovers from the surgery… J

Here are some of the latest pictures…