This little guy

This little guy has given us a rough road from the beginning. Not even 24 hours after birth, it was very clear something wasn't right. Babies spit up. It happens. But they don't vomit so much that they are completely soaked, not once, but repeatedly within an hour. After going home, this mega-fest of spit-up continued. There were days I'd do an entire washer-full of his laundry from what he'd worn that day. There was the day I sent Christopher to Wal-Mart to buy more burp rags because we soaked them by noon. There were the oh-so pleasant times that he'd vomit while still latched on, soaking me as well as him. At two months, they diagnosed him with reflux, after I'd told them about it, and then they witnessed him vomit across the room. Lovely! They prescribed Zantac, which helped somewhat with the amount of spit-up, but not the screaming for hours on end. If you've had a baby with severe reflux, you know how that is. It took several trials and errors before they finally found a combination- four months later- that controlled both. Sigh...

Then there was the time he came down with RSV at 3 months and was almost hospitalized twice in one week due to one doctor's error. He was given amoxicillin for an ear infection and had an allergic reaction to it. He was in and out of their office 5 times in 10 days...

Then at 6 months, he got his first taste of rice cereal. I was so careful to wait the whole six months before starting solids. I wasn't expecting an allergic reaction, nor the multitude of reactions leaving his skin so welted up that it looked like someone had taken a whip to him. I can't even begin to describe that... It was absolutely horrible. A trip to the allergist confirmed his allergies and we began our lives as "allergy parents," toting an Epi-pen everywhere we went.

Around 18 months, we noticed that he coughed. A lot. He'd wake up coughing, he'd cough all the day, and he'd really cough when he'd run or cry. We thought the nighttime coughing was his reflux, but they thought that with his other symptoms and allergies, that it might be asthma. They prescribed Singulair and shortly thereafter, the coughing improved. It was also around that time that he had bad bout of croup and was thrown into a scary, gasping, barking state. The dr. prescribed prednizone and he had a very scary reaction. Not only did his skin welt up again, but this time he was so lethargic he couldn't move. Add another to the list... After that, we had to be very careful with his breathing and anytime he started to get a cold, we had to start breathing treatments to keep his airways in check because if it got bad enough, he couldn't have prednisone. Looking back, we think his airways were damaged during his bout with RSV when the dr. we saw on a Saturday told us to stop his breathing treatments when he actually still needed them, leading to his asthma.

Then right after he turned 4, he started in with the ear infections. He went through every antibiotic he could safely take and even the Clindamycin stopped working. It was off to the ENT for tubes. That six months he had them were wonderful! Then as soon as they were out and healed, he was right back to monthly infections. He got another set in June of 09, and that set was good for 6 months, then began the battle of infections every other month with tubes. Then in August of last year, he got a mega infection that took three weeks of drops and oral antibiotics to clear it up. So far, since then he's done well. They're due to be out soon and I can not lie... I am terrified! Even Preston said last night that he hoped he didn't have to go back to the operating room for another set. :(

So, after all of this, Preston is back on his Singulair today after nearly three years without it. I hate to see this, but I think it really is the best decision. The cough he'd had for weeks was just like the one when he was little- dry, in the morning and when he's running around. I really think it will help him. If he's not improved within a week, they want to see him. That's kind of hard to guage considering he's got a nasty cold right now and is productively coughing non-stop. Let's pray he gets better!

It's been a long road the past 7 years, but with the exception of allergies, asthma and ear infections, he's healthy, and that's what matters most. I'm so thankful for him, and love him dearly despite all he's put us through! Preston, you're one tough kid!