Faces of Elliot

Our Little Crocodile Hunter

Elliot in Action (well sort of . . . )

Here's a video from a couple of weeks ago of Elliot playing with his

toys. And at last an elusive smile caught on film.

New and Improved Elliot

I almost decided not to share this as it's all getting a bit old, but last week Elliot was admitted to the hospital yet again . I know, I know, it's getting very old, isn't it?

What happened is that we noticed that there was some blood-colored stuff in Elliot's spit up and we got very worried so we took him to the local ER and the doctor decided to admit him for observation.

It ended up that it was a little blood but the doctors assured us it wasn't something to be too worried about given that he was so healthy otherwise and discharged us the next morning. They suspect that he is refluxing quite a bit (maybe because of the antibiotics he's still on) which is causing some irritation in his esophagus and the bits of blood. Definitely doesn't sound very pleasant for the little guy but we were relieved that it wasn't anything more serious. And now a week later we haven't seen any more blood so hopefully that's all history.

But something really really good came out of all of this which is why I decided to write about it. In hospital, the nurses were really concerned about Elliot's constipation and tummy pain and suggested that we change his formula to a special type which is more easily digested. We switched that day and what an amazing effect it has had on our little boy.

Elliot is so much more contented and happy now. He smiles and babbles and coos all the time and he can sit in his bouncy chair forever amusing himself so I can actually do something other than hold him and try to keep him happy and settled. And even better is that he actually sleeps now without waking himself up because of the tummy pain. In fact, for three of the last four nights, Elliot has slept from around 8.30 at night until 5.30 in the morning!!!

I know I didn't really let on too much about how difficult I was finding everything but things were really starting to wear on me. I can't tell you how much easier and happier life is now! Sure he poos a bit more often now, but what a small price to pay for a little peace!

I can't believe I drank the whole bottle . . .

Is this the cutest koala you've ever seen or what?

Grandad and Elliot

Elliot and Grandad are sharing a smile . . .

. . . and Nacho just had to get in on it too!

Men's Work is Exhausting

A perfect little bladder!

Yesterday Elliot went in for his cystourethrogram to test whether there was any reflux of urine going from his bladder to his kidneys which is what the doctors suspected caused his initial UTI travelling into the kidneys and thus his blood stream. Little Elliot was strapped down to a contraption which resembled a rotisserie. Then he was covered from the chest down with a little hole for his willy to poke out. If only I had my camera with me; it was so funny-looking and would have been excellent blackmail material for when Elliot was a teenager. Then they put a little catheter up his penis and filled his bladder with liquid containing a contrast agent and we all sat back and waited for him to pee as the radiologist took pictures of his bladder. Surprisingly, Elliot didn't seem to mind any of this.

When he finally started to wee, we were all elated to see that there is no reflux whatsoever. None! We still need to wait for our appointment with his doctor, but this is such great news! Now little Elliot won't need to have surgery and it's likely we'll be able to take him off the antibiotics soon. You can't imagine our relief to take one more step closer to having this whole mess behind us.

(You might be wondering if there is no reflux, then how did the E Coli buggies get into his bloodstream. It is quite common for little newborns to have some reflux that corrects itself in the first weeks/months of life and this is what I suspect happened with Ellie. We'll see if the doctors concur with my theory.)

Look Mom, no tubes!

Last Tuesday, Elliot went in and got his PICC line removed which was fabulous for a couple of reasons. First, it looks like we might have kicked this E Coli bug for good, and second, we no longer have to live our lives around the visits of the home health nurses. Yippee!!!

Now the little guy is just on some low dose oral antibiotics which Paul and I can give to him. This Tuesday we go in to have Elliot's urinary tract tested to see how much, if any, reflux is going on from his bladder to his kidneys in order to determine how long we will have to continue giving the antibiotics and if he will need to have a surgery to correct any problems. Hopefully he'll pass this test, like so many others he has been put through, with flying colors.

 

But enough of this medical crap. I thought it would be nice to post some photos and stories that have nothing to do with doctors or creepy bacterias.

Elly Belly

Elliot has been getting lots of nicknames over the last couple of weeks (Squeaky for all the little noises he makes, Bubble Butt for his windy back end), but one of our favorites is Elly Belly which has something to do with his adorable round belly but more to do with his amazing ability to consume vast quantities of milk every day. He averages just over a liter a day yet amazingly only poos about every other day. Where does it all go, you might ask . . . his Elly Belly of course! Or perhaps it's just being used to fuel his amazing growth spurt.

We can't believe how big he is getting. He weighed in at over 10 pounds as of early last week and has already grown out of all of the newborn clothes and a good portion of the 3 month clothes as well! Elliot is also getting amazingly strong, perhaps it's the super hero coming out in him. He has really gotten control of his head and he can hold himself up on his arms during tummy time (which is especially impressive since we hardly ever did tummy time when he had his PICC line in as we didn't think it was fair when he could only use one arm). But we really notice his strength when he pitches a fit and straightens his little body out with so much vigor that there's just no fighting him. But we'll talk a bit more about his temper a bit later.

Lastly, and most fun for us, is the way Elliot is really starting to explore and interact with the world. He is so alert and seems to just take in everything around him which is so cute to see. Equally cute is watching him happily play with his toys in his cot, reaching out for his favorite little donkey or kick at his baby wind chimes. But nothing tops the cuteness factor like one of Elliot's gorgeous squinty-eyed-open-mouthed-chubby-cheeked-grins. They are priceless and as we're yet to get one on film, you'll have to take our word for it.

Cuddle time with Mommy and Daddy

(Un)Happy Hour

But everything isn't always peachy in Elliotland. He seems to really struggle with gas and gets quite fussy and unsettled at various times of the day. It used to be an excruciatingly long period (up to four hours) each night when he would go red and scream his little head off. Paul and I took turns passing him back and forth as we paced the floors, took laps around the block in the pram, consumed several glasses of wine, and did just about everything else we could think of to calm him and/or ourselves down. These long periods at night seem to have improved (he only cries for about an hour each night now) but now he likes to spice things up with crying jags at various times during the day. I guess he's had to put up with quite a bit in his little life and now he's letting us know how he feels about things. Fair enough! I just hope he gets it out of his system soon.