Surgery coming up...

Conner is going to have surgery this coming Monday to have his "G-tube" placed and also a procedure called a Nissen Fundoplitation. Conner had a PH probe test done last week which measured the acidity of his reflux and the number of times he refluxed in a 24-hr period. The results came back that Conner was pretty much refluxing constantly. With this procedure, they basically wrap the top part of the stomach around the bottom of the esophagus. This acts as a muscle and prevents Conner from refluxing and throwing up. This will protect him from aspiration and getting fluid/food into his lungs. Conner "silently" aspirates and although his doesn't eat anything orally right now, when he refluxes, the reflux sometimes aspirates, which is very dangerous for him. The "nissen" will be a very good thing for him.
We will be using the "G-tube" as his only feeding source for the next month or so. The goal is to gradually build him up on his oral feedings once he passes the swallow study. We hope that Conner will be able to nurse/bottle-feed exclusively after a few months of having the g-tube. The g-tube will remain in place until after his heart surgery, because he will need a feeding tube again for a bit until is he strong again. It is projected that his heart surgery will be when he is about 6 months old.

Conner is getting so much more facially expressive! It's amazing and wonderful, and just about the cutest thing you could imagine! The past 3 days when I have arrived at Conner's bedside, I put the side of the crib down and put my face right above his and start talking to him. Just in these past couple of days, he has totally started to respond to me through his facial expressions and eye contact and smiling! It's like he really starting to be excited when he see's Paul or I, and it is just so fun! It's amazing the progress he is making. It seems like just 2-3 weeks ago he was still sleeping a lot and just hanging out, and then like boom, all of a sudden he is being awake for a good portion of the day, and being so much more alert and and learing to use his face to express himself. I can hardly believe that Conner is going to be 9 weeks old tomorrow! Happy 9-week Birthday Conner! We love you!!!