What's With the Projectile?

WARNING: This blog discusses bodily functions and motherly acts . If that weirds you out, please do not read this posting of our blog. If you are a parent, though, I'm sure you've already experienced this and can relate. ...but I don't want to hear your comments about what I posted on a blog if you decide to keep reading on - so do so at your own risk!

Although I am not completely sure of when it all began, I know it was right around the time that I got sick with my kidney infection. Because I stopped eating and drinking over a few days time, my milk supply went down substantially. (Not to mention that I was so ill, I didn't even want to nurse). During this time we depleted all of the breast milk storage we had accumulated during Ryan's hospital stay and moved on to feeding Ryan formula to make sure that he was getting all of the food that he needed.

I had already mentioned in a previous blog that Ryan had an episode of projectile vomit during Dylan's school meeting. That incident was probably the 2nd or 3rd incident of projectile vomiting. Since then, there have been others:

Saturday - Jeff and I needed to run over to our rental property so that we could determine what needed be done in order to get it listed for rent once again. We fed Ryan a bottle of formula and spent an additional 15-20 minutes getting him burped so that we could feel comfortable about avoiding a projectile incident. We put Ryan in his car seat and got him situated in the car. Jeff did a little more running around to make sure that he had a measuring tape and other items that we would need for the rental walk-through. As I sat down in the front seat of the car, I heard a splat! I got out of the car and to the back seat to realize that Ryan had spit up all over the back seat of the GX (so much for my ingenious "burp him for 15-20 minutes" plan). Luckily most of the vomit had cleared the inside of the car seat and his body - - but the mittens on his hands and his socks were soaked. The leather was more of a casualty in this case. Jeff had to unstrap the car seat and the base to clean up the puddle left behind (I can not imagine if I had CLOTH seats....all that sour milk soaking into the foam of a hot car - ack!). We rinsed the mittens and the socks and put them in the windshield to dry - and went on about our day.What if this had happened while I was driving on the freeway in traffic? What would I have done? Would I have even known anything happened?

Sunday - Jeff's parents brought us dinner. While we ate, Grandma Norton fed Ryan a bottle of formula. We warned that he needed to be burped during and after his feeding and I even took over the task of burping trying to get anything to come up out of Ryan. Nothing ever came up. This could not possibly end up good.

After his parents had left and Dylan's friend Randi was here to visit with Dylan. As Ryan lay on his back on our couch and as Randi and I hovered over Ryan adoring him - PROJECTILE! - he vomited straight up into the air and back down on to his own face. I quickly grabbed him and turned him on his side and pat his back to keep him breathing. At least the episode was over... I knew it was coming... but it is still not an easy feeling knowing that vomit is always right around the corner.

Monday - I fed Ryan a bottle of formula this morning, got him burped and held him upright for 30 minutes before laying him down in his port-a-crib for his morning nap. No sooner did I walk into the kitchen to grab a bite.... and I heard a splat! I rushed over to the crib and poor little Ryan was choking and gasping for air. Vomit was miraculously sprayed all over the bed of the crib. I quickly grabbed him, wiped his mouth and made sure he was breathing and thanked my lucky stars that I was nearby to hear him. What if I were in another room - or in the shower and didn't hear him gagging? Would he have choked to death?

Completely freaked out, I made an appointment with his pediatrician to make sure there wasn't anything serious going on - like Pyloric Stenosis. Ryan's pediatrician says that Ryan is gaining weight and continues to have an appetite - therefore he thinks that the projectile vomit is all related to formula feeding... which means breast milk ONLY if I want the projectile to stop.

For now, I will still be hawking over Ryan while he sleeps to make sure that there aren't any issues with gagging or vomit. So much for getting anything accomplished during the day.