Grandma Poo To The Rescue!

Jack, you have the most amazing Grandma Poo. The night before last I stayed up with Jack almost all night, getting a whopping 2 1/2 - 3 hours of sleep, half of which I got after 6:00 a.m. when he finally gave up and went to sleep himself. For various reasons I did not get to nap on Sunday at all during the day, so by Sunday evening I was really hurting for sleep, and Jack started cranking up at exactly 11:15 p.m. Jeff got up with him and took him out of the room so I could get a couple of hours in, but Jack was evidently really crying hard, and Jeff called his mother, a 27 year veteran of the NICU, for advice. This woman's passion in life is for her children first, and secondly, for other people's children. Her job---she takes care of babies! And she is an excellent educator. Her knowledge has been invaluable to us throughout this whole thing. Last night when Jeff called her, she not only responded to his questions, but she got in her car and drove all the way here (25 min) and took care of Jack for the rest of the night while Jeff came to bed and I kept sleeping. I know that my own mother would have done exactly the same thing, if she didn't live 3 hours away, and I'm so thankful to have parents that are so caring and concerned, and love Jack (and us) so much. It also turned out to be a really good thing for us medically, because it gave her the opportunity to observe him for several hours and she has concluded several things. First, we really feel that Jack is more premature than just 2 weeks. We felt all along that my due date was off by a couple of weeks, and with him being born a couple weeks earlier than the due date, that makes him just about a month early. He is exhibiting signs of a preemie that is at least 36 weeks old. He has something called "trachial malasia" which means that his trachia is soft and collapses on him as he breathes/sucks. It results in a "honk" when he breathes (especially when nursing). It happens because he is trying to take in air, but his windpipe is cutting off the breath. It is not to a dangerous poing, thank goodness, but it's enough to make me extremely nervous, and every little sound that he makes jolts me up from sleep when I finally DO get to sleep. He also has trouble organizing his breathing/swallows. He doesn't breathe in the right pattern when he DOES take in air. So he needs to be watched carefully. He will grow out of all of these things, but for right now, it makes his life, and ours, a little more stressful. I am so thankful that we have Jeff's mother so close by, and with so much knowledge, and a desire to impart that knowledge to us to make us better parents. What a God-send she is! Thank you, Grandma Poo!