Archive for August, 2008

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! jackson rolled over all by himself today. paul and i are delirious over this video!!! we have been concerned about him not having enough tummy time on the floor because of the dog running around. when we put him in on the guest bed today to play, here’s what happened!!!!

(ps- pictures of the newly landscaped backyard are coming… thanks for asking!)

in the midst of all of our drama, jackson and rachel made a music video last night. introducing… “the bumble bee.” (ps- the hysterically infectious laughter you hear is coming from billy). thank goodness for jackson’s billy and his rachel. we would be lost without them.

as if we didn’t have enough drama going on last week with jackson being in the hospital, tropical storm fay decided to leave us with our 80 ft pecan tree uprooted and leaning into our neighbor’s backyard. red was the one who found our beloved pecan tree tilting backwards. paul had let red out to go to the bathroom and when he saw red running up a hill in our backyard, paul thought to himself, “wait a minute… we don’t have a hill in our yard.” it was then that we realized we had an enormous tree uprooting itself and moving it’s way on to our neighbor’s house. as we waited to get estimates on what it would cost us to have the tree removed, the situation worsened and hour by hour the tree tilted more and more. long story short, we asked jackson’s awesome GODparents to come over last night and help us entertain the magoo while paul and i dealt with the tree removers. after assessing the situation, everyone decided to get some rest in the hopes that the tree wouldn’t fall and the crew came back this morning and removed it. now paul and i are left with a mess in our backyard and a lot of work to get done before putting the house up on the market (which we are supposed to do by sept. 1st). who can we recruit to come help out with house projects??? anyone… anyone???

alrighty, we are back!!! ~ paul and i can’t thank you enough for all of the prayers and well wishes that you have sent our way over the past week…. after 5 full days and 4 nights in the hospital, we are home, which is absolutely wonderful. jackson is doing well and has been through the ringer in terms of tests, so seeing his goofy smile these days is just great. after his successful endoscopy yesterday morning, we have been told that the best treatment for his reflux right now is to continue with his new medication in the hopes that it combats all of the acid in his stomach, allowing him to eat and fully satisfy his hunger. so far so good… he is on a very strict “tough love” schedule, purposely stretching the amount of time in between each feeding in order to make sure that his stomach is reteaching him to feel hunger. this too should help him to eat successfully at each feeding.
a lot of questions have been asked as to why we didn’t simply change his formula… “maybe he just needs a new taste to whet his appetite…” easier said than done, my friends. we are very limited in terms of jackson’s formula to begin with due to his allergy situation. he must be on hypoallergenic formula and there are only 2 options for that. the only difference between those two formulas is the equivalent of the difference between coke and pepsi. the speech therapist spoke with us about how they have flavored formulas in the past for kids… the outcome in that case is that you can only trick kids for so long before they catch on. believe me, paul and i would LOVE it if it were as easy as changing his formula… after 4 months of battling with jackson to eat, it’s a little bigger of an issue than just a formula change.
as of now, with the combination of medication and jackson’s “tough love” schedule, he is taking on an average 5 ounces at each feeding with 5 to 6 feedings each day. granted we’re on day 3 of this and have a lot of work ahead of us, but so far so good. the burping after feedings is HUGE as it has always been. since jackson fights each feeding (which is improving but not totally gone yet) he takes in a lot of air. he has to be upright for a full hour after each feeding to relieve his stomach of all the air he takes in during each feeding.
we do have follow up appointments scheduled for next week with both his pediatrician and his GI specialist. the pictures we took of our hospital stay will make you laugh and make you tear up… it has been a loooooong few days but we are thrilled to have a plan and to have our little magoo get some relief. please keep up the prayers!!! we love you all and are so appreciative.

As some of you may know, we have been at the hospital since Saturday afternoon with Jackson. We decided that his trouble with eating was getting to be too much. The amount that he was taking each day was in a steady decline and not sufficient for what he needs. We have a number of test done, meet with a bunch of doctors and even a speech therapist all of which have shown nothing is wrong with him. He has a endoscopy tomorrow morning with the GI specialist, in which we are hoping to get some clear answers. Jackson is on some new medicine to help with his reflux, which has begun to help him eat more at each feeding and is good news in the short term. We could use everyone’s thoughts and prayers, needless to say it has been a very trying time for all of us.

we have been to the gastro-specialist dude twice this week because jackson has had such difficulty eating. he was almost admitted to the hospital today because he refused to eat for so long. i cannot stress to you blog-readers enough how much this child HATES to eat…. absolutely hates it. no matter what test they have run on jackson, nothing comes back with any results (which we are thankful for). medically speaking, there is no reason why jackson should not be eating. he simply hates to eat from a bottle. paul and i are left to believe that the 5 weeks i did breastfeed jackson for were so horrible for him that he taught himself that EATING = PAIN and he therefore refuses to eat. it’s so sad…. i am left knowing that i will never breastfeed any future children because this has been such a nightmare for nearly 4 months now. his allergy to my breastmilk back then affects every single feeding he has now. we are scheduled to see a food therapist next week in the hopes of re-teaching jackson how to eat so that he breaks the habit of associating food with pain. we’ll see what happens…. til then, we’re trying anything and everything to get this child some nourishment. if you have advice/ideas, LET ME KNOW!!! enjoy watching jackson eat his first bowl of mush.

here is video of jackson sitting up for us today!!!