Baby B Vs. the ENT

Today J got to go play with my Aunt Deb and my Grandma while Baby B and I went to visit the ENT.

Now, I have to take you back in time, just a couple of days. We have been blessed to have some guests in town, we are sharing them with other people who love them, and on Wednesday night we provided what we hope was a restful night in our guest room. Baby B likes to think the guest room is his room and as such his little portable crib had to be relocated- to the Mom and Dads room. For all we knew Baby B was an okay sleeper. We don't go to him when he cries at night anymore, and truthfully I don't really hear him cry much anymore either, so Ken and I were kind of surprised when B seemed to be waking up much more than we had expected. Were we really loud sleepers, were we waking him up? He seemed really congested to me, it seemed hard for him to breath, so I tried to suction his nose out. Nothing really came out. Eventually he fell back asleep and for the rest of the day he was my happy little baby, this guy here- you've seen him before! Happy Baby B!

So I worried that B had a cold and that he would get an ear infection and make our visit to the ENT today not such a great visit. Well I was wrong. The ENT was nice, he looked in our little guys ears and told me that there was fluid but no active infection. He explained that he could, if we wanted, put tubes in B's ears which would allow for the fluid to drain. He continued to tell me that B the fluid buildup was most likely chronic and so if we didn't do tubes he would continue to get ear infections easily. I already knew we wanted to take the tubes option. But then the Dr continued to explain what he thought we might need to do, above and beyond tubes. (Now, this next part is pretty much what the conversation with the ENT went like- the words may not be exact- I didn't have a digital recorder with me or anything)

"Is this little guy a mouth breather?"

"Well.....yeah, why?"

"Well, He has not even tried to breath through his nose the entire time I've been examining him."

"I think that is probably because he has some nasal congestion"

"Actually his nasal passages were clear"

"Oh......" Major look of confusion

The Doctor then talked to me about Adenoids. It seems that enlarged adenoids push up into the nose making it hard to breath and they push up the ear canal as well making a perfect place for fluid to get trapped. If tubes alone don't seem to help kids with enlarged adenoids the Doctors tend to go back in and do tubes AND and adenoidectomy. The doctor said he actually would skip the tubes alone and go straight to the tubes and adenoidectomy...............insert stunned Kate hear. Maybe I shouldn't have told Ken that it was just a consult with a surgeon and that he didn't need to be there. UGH. I wish I could go back in time. ("for reals this time!") ;)

So the Doctor told me what to look for when Baby B sleeps and lucky for us we have guests in the guest room again tonight, so Baby B will be in our room- Ripe for the Watching! If Ken and I decide that we see what the doctor believes we will see- basically baby sleep apnea- we can call and add an adenoidectomy to the surgery that I scheduled today. Then we get to scramble and get B tested for Von Willebrands a little earlier than I had expected too.

So, if you wouldn't mind, keep us in your prayers tonight. I just want to make sure we make the right choice. I don't want to let someone cut my baby if I don't need to, but I also don't want to make my baby suffer and struggle to breath any longer than I absolutely have to. I will definitely be asking God for guidance tonight, He understands how I feel.