As I said, Nathan seems to fit in perfectly with our family and keeps us on our toes at all times. The day after his birth, he failed his newborn hearing screening so of course we worried about that for 2 weeks until we could go back. Thankfully, he passed at his follow up. We were also told by the pediatrician the day after he was born that he had a tongue tie. At first we were going to just leave it alone because he was nursing ok and gaining weight, but after much thought and discussion with his pediatrician and ENT we decided to have the tongue tie clipped. Nathan was around 2 months old when this was done. It was a fast procedure done in the office at the ENT's. Even though we have already been through so much with Connor, it was still very nerve wracking! The doctor numbed the area on his tongue with a liqud and then basically just made one cut with scissors and that was the end of it. He nursed after, fells asleep and just like that it was done. Very happy with out decision to have it corrected while he was young and not under general anesthesia later in life.
Nathan was also diagnosed with Allergic Colitis or MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance) So basically he is allergice to Dairy and Soy Protein and since I am breastfeeding that means I have eliminated all those foods from my diet. I was very familiar with Dairy as I had already done that once with Makayla, but I have learned that Soy is in many, many foods. We have also eliminated nuts of all kinds. eggs, shellfish and fish, but he is still showing symptoms. We found out about the allergies at his 1 month checkup when I mentioned his constant spitup. The doctor then decided to check his diaper and found occult blood in his stool. At that time, she recommended that I eliminate dairy from my diet and see if it went away. We checked 2 weeks later and his diaper was still positive for blood. At that point, I eliminated soy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and shellfish from my diet as well. The soy was recommended by the doctor and I decided to take the other out, since Makayla is allergic to them as well. Unfortunately, his stool is still testing positive for blood, but we saw a GI Specialist at Children's Hospital who recommended leaving other foods in my diet becauce CURRENT studies are showing that even though he is still reacting to something, the small exposure through the breastmilk may help him outgrow the allergies quicker. We were also told that in about 90% of cases, the baby outgrows this type of allergy around the age of 1! They explained that it is a different type of allergy than Makayla's since it is effecting his gut and is not an anaphylaxis reaction. That does not mean he won't develop allergies like hers, but there is no way for them to test at such a young age. He has also recently developed eczema so I am not sure if that is allergy related or not.
Today we learned that Nathan has Ocular Albinism just like his big brother Connor. I am still not really sure how I feel about this diagnosis. I know that in the end it is going to be ok, but have to admit I am a little sad. I was really hoping things would be a little easier this time around! The doctor was not really able to make any predictions about his vision at this time since he is so young, but did comment on how well Connor is able to see and she said that based on examination of his eyes she would not predict his vision to be as good as it is. Hopefully, Nate's will be similar!
