How was your weekend?

So, our family just had THE longest week of our lives...as well as the hardest. I'll share a quick recap of what happened. On Thursday night, really late, we fed Violet right before bed and shortly after she threw it all up. We just figured she ate just a bit too much and didn't have much room for it so it had to come out. Anyway, we put her down to bed and she peacefully slept. She woke up at around 5am. When I first woke up I thought, "wow, she slept a long time." Then I fed her, but she didn't really seem interested. Within a few minutes she threw it up. So, then I remembered that she threw up earlier and thought that she must have some sort of stomach bug. All day Friday she would eat then shortly after she would throw up. I tried everything...sitting her straight up, feeding her formula, nursing her, not feeding her as much, burping her in the middle of feeding her. Nothing seemed to work and she kept throwing up- projectile vomitting. Called the doctor Saturday morning and took Violet into urgent care from the doctor's recommendation. The urgent care doctor sent us to the ER because Violet was very dehydrated. We spent all night in the ER, with blood/urine tests, and an ultrasound but nothing could be determined. They put her on an IV to hydrate her and did an ultrasound of her abdomen. I was hoping it was pyloric stenosis, I did some google searches on Friday, and her symptoms sounded like this, but I guess the ultrasound didn't show any signs of that. The ER nurse seemed to be happy that it wasn't pyloric stenosis, but if it was then we would know the problem and could fix it...but I guess she was happy because the solution is surgery and Violet is just a baby after all. Anyway, since they couldn't determine the problem, they admitted her to the NICU based on the recommendation of our pediatrician. So, we headed up to the NICU. Until they knew what was causing her to throw everything up she would have to stay in the NICU on IVs to keep her hydrated. Walking away from Violet, walking out of that NICU, walking out of the hospital and walking into our house without Violet was the hardest thing I've done. It still makes me tear up as I write this and remember that day. Long story already. A gastro-specialist came in and they did and x-ray where they found that indeed it was pyloric stenosis. Pyloric stenosis, semi-common condition that happens when a muscle near the stomach is enlarged and doesn't allow the milk to pass so it just builds up and then gets thrown up within minutes of eating. How does that get fixed? Surgery, a pyloromyotomy? Quick procedure where a small incision is made by her abdomen and the surgeon cuts the muscle that is enlarged so it lets the food pass through to the small intestines. One day of recovery. It took a while for Violet to fully wake from anesthsia so her discharge kept being delayed because they like to monitor their feedings for a day to make sure they are keeping it down. Wednesday night Violet threw some of her milk up and so the doctor delayed her discharge but then out of the blue Thursday morning he said it was okay to take her home within the next hour or two. What a relief.


After her procedure she was really sleepy. This is her relaxing.



My little Violet after coming out of surgery.

Although I can't understand what Jeff underwent, I do know that his strength helped me stand and helped me breathe. All the prayers from friends and family were also things that helped me have strength. Knowing that Jesus Christ suffered all of my pains/sorrows/heartache helped me feel some solace knowing that I was not alone in my suffering. The hardest part was not knowing what was happening to Violet...if she would ever get better. Once we knew what was happening I felt peace and I knew that there was a solution.

Violet is home and we are so grateful for her. Way more tired than I've been in a long time but so happy to be tired. So happy that she's here in our home and not in the hospital. So happy she's waking up in the middle of the night to eat.


Violet back home.