Quintons Surgery Story

sorry about some spelling-- im typing this with one hand while holding Quinton

I must admit I did not foresee us spending 3 days of our vacation in the ER & Hospital.
But I'm so glad this happened when it did. Unseen blessings

On Saturday (11-3-12) Quinton turned 3 weeks old and 1 day! That also marked the first day I got covered in Vomit.

let me explain the difference between projectile vomit and spit up:
Possetting- occurs in almost every baby at some point. This is the basic “spit-up” that a baby will have after your baby feeds. Possetting is almost always a small amount of vomiting.
The major type of infant vomiting that concerns parents, however, is infant projectile vomiting. This occurs when vomit comes up and out in a way that is especially forceful. Sometimes, when this occurs, the amount of milk that comes up seems like a lot. However, it is typically the amount of milk from the last feeding.

I had finished feeding Quinton his 4oz and was burping him while talking with family and all the sudden he puked all over my chest and down my shirt. awesome! I didn't think much of it and went and changed. about 6 hours later he did it again but an hour or so after i fed him he vomited and it hit my chest again except this time he was laying on my lap. I was weirded out that he shot puke that far.

Quinton didn't sleep very well Saturday night. He was very irritated and didn't seem comfortable no matter how I held him. Early Sunday morning he threw up on my again and I was irritated, tired and smelt like vomit but I got ready and we made it to 8am church. Jacob, I and the kids went home to my parents after the first hour because xelly didn't want to go to Nursery and I was exhausted. I fed Quinton with no issues this time and got some food cooking for his Blessing that afternoon then took a nap while Jacob took care of the kiddos.

i bathed Quinton and got him dressed then Jacob fed him just as people were arriving. During his blessing he got the hiccups and I was crossing my fingers that he would not vomit during it. Thankfully he did great and was a happy boy.  My mom took him for the night so we could sleep when she brought him in at 5 then he woke up around 6 Jacob fed him and once he finished he was changing him and he puked all over himself and the bed. then his next feeding he puked all over me and the pillow. I bathed him and figured he got some stomach bug from someone at his blessing.

Jacob went with a friend and I swaddled Quinton and put him in our room while i showered. When i got back into the room i checked on him and he had thrown up... all over his face and it even shot out his nose. poor boy couldn't cry because he kept gagging on it. later on I was hanging out with my sis-in-law Ashley when he puked all over the floor and then again on my chest. She mentioned she hadn't seen a kid puke that much and gave me her doctors info. While I waited for Jacob to get home I did some research and the term Pyloric Stenosis showed up in a blog comment from  2008 i looked it up and once i saw that it takes surgery to fix it I blocked it out of my head and waited till Jacob got home and told him it was his turn to feed Quinton because i was down to one shirt and Quinton had  only been pucking on me. 

we were watching TV and bam Quinton puked on Jacob and then he got worried because that was the first time someone besides me saw hot strong it shot out.
I called doctors and Urgent cares and no one would see him. I was stressed and started crying after getting rejected for the 3rd time. I finally called the ER and told them he had not kept any food down in over 12 hours so they had us come in.

We were suppose to go out with friends at 6pm so i figured we would go to the ER (it was 3pm) then meet our friends for dinner after... Wrong! once we got to the ER they checked his temp and it was normal. after the heard how old he was, how much he was throwing up and that he had a normal 98 degree temp they sent us to wait for our ER room. 

When we got to our room we fed him and i got puked on again.. all over my shirt. later on the Dr came in and told us they needed to check for Pyloric stenosis-- a narrowing of the pylorus, the lower part of the stomach through which food and other stomach contents pass to enter the small intestine. When an infant has pyloric stenosis, the muscles in the pylorus have become enlarged and cause narrowing within the pyloric channel to the point where food is prevented from emptying out of the stomach.

some nurses came in with the IV items and i started to cry. I waited out in the hall while Jacob stayed with him- I could not handle seeing him like that again. once they were done I went back in the room and cried again once I saw him laying on the big bed with his arm all wrapped up.

 

The bottom one is them getting him ready to transport hospitals

 

A few hours later he got 2 ultrasounds to see what his belly looked like. about 1 hour later the doctor walked in and I knew surgery was in our future. He explained to us that normally its very clear in pictures if a kid has it or not but that they were 50/50 on if Quinton did. but even the 50/50 chance was enough to get us a trip to Cardons Children's Hospital.

They called ahead and got him a room- we asked if we could drive him to avoid the extra ambulance fees thankfully they said yes.  Jacobs bro in law met us at the hospital to help give Quinton a fathers blessing. I am very grateful for that blessing of strength and guidance as we began this unknown journey.

We got to our room after passing doors or kids that are all way to young to be in a hospital. our nurses weighed him took his vitals and started explaining what would go on.:
He had to be on IV for 24 hours to make sure he was hydrated
could not eat till after surgery- he went over 24 hours with no food
got vitals every 6 hours

at 6 am Tuesday morning the nurses came in to check him then the surgeon came in and explained everything about the surgery.
He said PS forms between 3-6 weeks old and then never again.
happens to mostly 1st born white males.
and is normally passed down in the family- no one on either side of ours ever had PS

lots of hours waiting

Quinton was scheduled to get surgery at 1:30 that afternoon (Tuesday)
at 1pm the transportation crew came to take us to the Pre Op Pediatric area- more vitals and check ups before the anesthesiologist came to explain how she was going to put him under before the surgery- i had to aft like i was watching a TV show about this so I would not cry. I don't enjoy hearing how they will make my kid "comfortable for surgery"
A man came and took him back and they showed us where we could wait for the 1.5 hours while he was in surgery.


We went up to his room and ate, Jacob showered, and we both kept joking and eating Popsicles to try to make it seem like we were not freaking out. I could not keep my phone on me because i kept getting texts from amazing friends telling me how strong i am and that everything would be okay- because that would make it real-- and this was not real in my mind.

We were back in the waiting room when the surgeon came out to tell us that everything went perfectly and that he was in recovery. they wanted us to be there when he woke up so  he would be comfortable as possible. After an hour in the Post Op room with Jacob and his dad we were allowed to go back to our room.

The swollen part above is what was swollen- the area next to it is what it should look like

the bottom one is where they cut into the muscle to help open up the area.

it heals on its own

They hooked him back up to the IV and we waited the 3 hours till he could eat. Jacob went to get my mom and xelly from home and my dad came to the hospital after he got done working at the temple. finally he was aloud to eat 1oz of pedialight. then 3 hours later he could have 2oz of formula. then 3 hours later 3oz of formula as long as he never threw up.

He did great! drank everything and only threw up once from stress of getting his IV bandage changed.
Jacobs mom came to visit him after she got done with working on the election poll then she also brought us yuumy food in the morning

The Surgeon came in in the morning to check on him and said he was looking amazing and that we could go home later that day (Wednesday) 1pm came around and we were out of there by 1:15. perfect timing because Jacob had a 4pm flight to catch.

3 weeks later and Quinton's doing amazing!! hes chubby and perfect!
he has had 1 doctor check up and one surgery check up both were passed with flying colors. he even weighed 11lbs 7oz!

A few months back southwest had a deal for $59 one way. but the catch was you had to fly on select days so the 2 options we had was to fly out on 9/11 or Halloween and return on the 6th or 28th of Nov. I now can see the big picture and that we were guided and blessed along the way. before we flew to Az Jacob and i decided to extend xelly and my ticket to he 10th so i would not be in UT alone while he was on a business trip the 6th-9th.

We were guided to have everything planned out perfectly to work around Quinton's surgery. Parents to watch xelly and friends/family to bring us meals to the hospital. I am so grateful to everyone who was there for us during that time. I am eternally grateful for the amazing hospital staff and the Surgeon who cared so much and helped our little boy out!

It was an unexpected surgery in our eyes but now that I look back at it and see the timeline I know we were suppose to be here.
Next Az trip will hopefully be filled with more fun and less hospital!