Doctor, doctor! Gimme the news...
...I've got a bad case of Baby Blues!

Since he was caught by the obstetrician at 2:30am on March 7th.  Jay has seen a total of 17 different doctors and 3 med students.  There will be 3 more added to that total before the weekend is over.  Just our little contribution to keeping the health care system running and educating the future of the medical profession (several of the doctors we saw at Duke were interns, residents, and fellows). 

Today was his first trip to the pediatrician.  Yeah--a regular newborn checkup!.  This was our first attempt to get somewhere on time with Jay in tow.  The appointment was at 10am, so we got up at 6am to get started.  Seriously, we got up 4 hours before his appointment.  Now you'd think the pediatrician was in Greensboro, but no he is very close to where we work.  So that means to get to work by 8am and get him to daycare first, we'll have to start about 3am!

Unfortunately, his regular newborn checkup was not just a regular newborn checkup.  He has had some raspy breathing--sort of Darth Vader-ish--for a while now.  The folks at Duke said it was normal newborn sounds--they have small noses, don't cough very well, and can't blow their nose--but now he has gotten worse.  Our pediatrician agreed that it does sound like normal newborn grunts and groans (who knew that newborns snore like 50 year old men with deviated septums?) but he shouldn't do it all the time.  So guess what, we got to see doctor number 17 today--a radiologist for chest xrays and a look at his trachea.  Well, apparently the time he spent on the ventilator at Duke may have led to some irritation of his trachea and now it is swollen.  This apparently is what croup looks like on x-rays, and while he doesn't have croup, he does sound very similar when breathing.  There is also a chance his vocal cords are irritated, so that warrants a trip to see doctor number 18 tomorrow--a pediatric ENT.  Please keep sending those positive thoughts and prayers our way.  Maybe we'll only have to see his pediatrician and cardiologist before too much longer.

Due to popular demand by our far away friends and family, here are a couple more pictures.




Posted by jmfoster ( Mar 19 2008, 04:32:37 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [6]