No One Said It Would Be Easy...

They just said it would be worth it, and it is!! Now I know that sleepless nights and a fussy baby are tough (believe me, I do!), but that's not what I'm talking about.  As most parents probably agree, there is nothing in this world that is scarier or more heartbreaking than having something wrong with your child or having to see them hurting.  From what I'm told, this never changes - no matter how old they get! :) 

As I mentioned before, Noah has been breathing very rapidly since birth, and because he is still breathing fast his pediatrician decided at his one month appointment yesterday that he should be seen by a pulmonologist at Riley (a lung doctor) just to make sure we weren't missing anything.  So today Noah and I spent our morning at Riley meeting Dr. Weist and getting some chest x-rays.  Dr. Weist believes that Noah has "laryngomalacia," which is actually very common in infants.  Basically he has a "floppy" airway, which can become occluded, or blocked, when he inhales.  In order to prevent this from happening, he is taking very quick and shallow breaths.  This diagnosis can only be confirmed by actually looking in his airway, so on October 19th Noah will have a bronchoscopy as well as a special type of sleep study.  The bronchoscopy is just a camera that they will put down his nose or throat and it will only take a few minutes (although I'm sure it will feel like an eternity as I sit in the waiting room).  The sleep study will take several hours of literally watching him sleep on special monitors that will help the doctors to see if Noah is occluding his airway when he sleeps, so they will know the severity of the problem and whether or not he needs any medical intervention. 

To most people this all sounds pretty scary, and as a mother I'm definitely nervous, but as a nurse I can tell you that this truly isn't all that frightening.  The most likely scenario is that it will just take time for him to grow out of it!  I was reminded by a good friend today that God doesn't give us anything we can't handle, so it makes perfect sense for me, as a nurse, to have a child that needs a little extra TLC!

Ok so enough of all that - here's the fun stuff! Noah was 12 lbs 12 oz and 23.75 inches at his one month appointment! That puts him in the 97th percentile for both height and weight!  He is having much more awake time now and we are starting to find a nice rhythm.  The last several nights he has slept one 5 hour stretch between feedings, so things are looking up! Ben has been incredibly busy with school, especially this last week since he has had 4 major exams in a row! Tomorrow is his last exam before fall break, so I know he is looking forward to getting in some serious Daddy Time with the little man this weekend!

Enjoy some photos from the last few weeks!


Great Papa came from Florida to meet his 5th great-grandchild!





Showing off our Colts gear! He has already outgrown this outfit :(



The boys are checking out their fantasy football teams!

Ty loves his baby cousin

We had a very nice dinner at the Stratford, where Mamaw Great lives!

Bath time is Mommy and Noah's favorite time of night!

More interested in me than the toys on his bouncy seat :)

I caught Ben sleeping - so I can prove that he does sneak in a nap every once in a while!

Supporting our Hoosiers against Michigan - surprisingly a good game!

Ty and Kate were all over Papaw while he held Noah - this is them saying "Cheeseburger!" but unfortunately they missed the part where they are supposed to look at the camera while they say it!!