It's About Time!!
I know we've been delinquent... there's just so much going on! I feel as though I've lost the last five weeks, but I do know where it's gone - I've spent it sitting and staring at the cutest little boy on the face of earth :)!

Graham's Hospital Stay
Three weeks ago this weekend (it seems like an eternity ago already!), Graham starting spitting up, and throwing up a bit. We were concerned enough to call the Pediatrician who suggested Pedialyte, and to come in and see him the next day if things hadn't let up. So when things didn't stay down much better we went in to see him. He assessed that perhaps Graham had a bit of Reflux, so gave us a prescription for Axid. We tried the Axid - it seemed like it helped a bit, but towards the end of the week, Graham was throwing up more and more to the point that it seemed he couldn't be keeping much of anything down, and was actually heaving when he threw up (very sad to watch). Saturday night he slept 8 hours before I woke him up to eat... at that point I knew something must be really wrong. Sunday afternoon he was throwing up lunch & a bit of bile, so we made another emergency trip to the Pediatrician's office (thankfully open on Sunday afternoons!). Although our wonderful Pediatrician wasn't in, his partner was (who is also super caring and awesome we discovered!). She immediately suspected pyloric stenosis, and sent us across the street to the hospital for an ultrasound which confirmed her suspicion. Sunday evening Graham was admitted to the hospital in hopes of Sunday night surgery, but he was pretty dehydrated so the surgery was delayed until Monday morning. It was hard to look at little Graham with monitors stuck all over his little body, and an IV taped to his little arm (the nurses had to poke him three times to find a vein they could use). Sunday night we met the surgeon, had a visit from our own Pediatrician, were prayed over by our wonderful friend & pastor, Carl, and were reassured by the night nurse that with Graham as her only patient she was more than happy to sit and rock him all night long. So Craig and I went home to fill in his mom on all the details (here visiting), and catch a few hours of sleep once we were able to relax a little. First thing Monday morning, we carried our baby down to his surgical prep room. All of the hospital staff were SO wonderful, and doted on him SO well, but it is SO VERY hard to hand your 3 week old baby to an anesthesiologist & surgical nurse.
The surgery was pretty quick - out of recovery & back in his room in an hour and a half. For the next three days we just held him, rocked him, and reassured him that there would not be much more poking. He was able to have pedialyte 12 hours after surgery (those last couple hours were a little rough!), back on breast milk from a bottle the next morning, and totally back to breastfeeding by the second evening after surgery. We came home early Wednesday afternoon.

What IS Pyloric Stenosis??
There is a muscle between the stomach and the small intestine that controls the flow of things. Pyloric Stenosis is when the muscle grows too large causing it to be too tight, and the tightness stops things from moving through. Because Graham's food had nowhere to go, it came back up. The surgery involves going in and simply clipping the muscle, and scar tissue that forms is enough to give the space necessary for things to work correctly.
Pyloric Stenosis affects 1 in 200ish newborns, usually runs in families - although we hadn't heard of it before, and generally affects first born males - but can occur in other boys, and sometimes girls. It's usually caught around 6 weeks. We were fortunate (?) that it progressed quickly, and was caught early in Graham so that he hadn't lost an extreme amount of weight (he lost about 1.5 lbs in a week), and his electrolytes still looked quite good.

How is Graham Now?
He's doing great. He's eating super well - but we think still has a little of that reflux, sleeping good (usually will sleep 6 hours at night), and is a much more active baby. Unfortunately is a little fussier, but we even found ourselves thankful for that!
Graham made his way onto many prayer chains & prayer lists (at least 5 that we know of!), and was in the thoughts of MANY friends & family. We're so thankful for the way that you have helped to take care of our little boy this way, and so thankful that God provided a swift, and seemingly simple fix to a pretty serious situation.

Gotta run - Graham's dinner time - but I promise more 1 month pics & news very soon!