Laryno-ma-what?

We are now at 9 weeks. Have I said that time flies? What did we ever do in our spare time? Peter’s parents left yesterday, and now we have word that Peter’s sister Christina might be able to come in August. Let’s keep our fingers crossed cause we would love for her to see her little nephew while he is still little. I know that every parent says this, but Cooper seems to grow and change by the day. He has totally lost the newborn look, and looks like an infant now. We had a second x-ray last week, which showed that he is, indeed, aspirating. We are now thickening his formula, and are just starting to get a few extra hours of sleep at night. Last night he ate at 6:00 pm, went to bed at 7:20, and we didn’t hear a peep until between 1 and 2 am. Then he ate again at 5:30. It is now 8:30 and I think I hear him right now waking up. Not a bad night! But back to the x-ray. We now are being referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor because it is suspected that Cooper has Laryngomalacia. Basically he has a weak or floppy epiglottis, and so his trachea doesn’t get blocked off properly while he is eating and the airways themselves are kind of loose and floppy as well so they collapse in as he breathes in. Kind of scary, but Cooper is a trooper, and he is just as delightful as ever!

A Visit from Opa and Oma Claus

Our little man has made it to 2 months, and we are all still alive. We found out that the throw-up episode in the aforementioned blog (which came out of the mouth and the nose with great force) would soon be followed with many more similar episodes along with scary moments where Cooper would have difficulties breathing (typically during and just after eating) and even stop breathing for a few seconds at a time. Thoughts of allergies, asthma (since it is full force pollen season), and what would happen if he were allergic to Kayla (our first four-legged child) were racing through our heads. When described to the Pediatrician, she suspected reflux. An x-ray proved her correct and confirmed that our dude has severe reflux. Who knew that it takes 4 adults to hold down one tiny baby under an x-ray camera. So, Cooper gets his first medicine for his severe reflux. We’ve seen a small amount of improvement, but he is still having a lot of the same problems. Another x-ray on Tuesday of this coming week will show if he is aspirating into his lungs.

Other developments this month are increased support of his head which means that he can hold his head up in the car. This is, of course, thanks to the exercises that his mommy does with him everyday. And the best development of all, his first true smiles. The first ones occurred at about 6 ½ weeks. I had been trying for already a couple of weeks to get a smile out of him, and one morning just after a 6 AM feeding, he just cracked one on me and I just melted. I didn’t see another smile at me for about a week later, but he did give his dad a few grins in the meantime. Now at 8 weeks, we can typically get a few smiles a day at times when he is in a good mood. It’s a beautiful thing!

But the major updates are that Cooper’s Opa Wolfram and Oma Inge are here from Germany. They got their first look at Cooper after a long plane ride and it was a joy watching them hold their grandson for the first time. They have been here for 1 week so far and still will be here for another week. Cooper has graced them with several smiles this week in exchange for songs sung by Inge and some educational words from Wolfram. Oma and Opa brought lots of goodies, including some kisses and hugs from Peter’s sister, Christina, and Cooper’s first Lederhosen. Danke schoen!