Quick Update on Isaac

Our son Isaac, whose birth story I will have to post later, has been admitted to North York General Hospital on Friday, November 14.

Initially, he was breastfed only, but we had trouble getting successful feeds that we started worrying about dehydration, and decided to augment the feeding with formula on Thursday night.  Before then, he was vomiting mildly after each feed, but after being fed formula, the severity of vomiting has increased to an alarming level.  Other early signs of trouble we didn't notice until later were the infrequency and low volume of wet diapers and the lack of dirty diapers since the start of day 2.  Unfortunately, after having it easy on bottle, he refused to go back to breastfeeding because I haven't fully established my milk supply.

We took him to a scheduled first paediatrician appointment and told the doctor about the situation.  The doctor was slightly alarmed by the infrequency of the feeding and increasingly so when he knew about the diaper situation.  Isaac was weighed and had lost more than 10% of his birth weight.  Finally, Isaac decided to show the doctor what we've been most worried about -- he threw up in front of the doctor.  The doctor quickly made the arrangements to admit Isaac to the hospital immediately.

The initial check-up was slightly reassuring: Isaac showed no signs of malnutrition or severe dehyration.  I was also relieved that he would finally come back to breastfeeding thanks to a pair of fully loaded (and dripping!) breasts.  Later blood tests results showed he was just dehydrated.  He was put on IV and NG feeding tube, and was fed every 2 hours through the tube last night.

The doctor orderd the NG feeding tube to be taken away this morning, and we had some more success with breastfeeding.  Another round of blood test was done this morning and we haven't heard back from the nurse yet.

There is no internet or cell phone access at the hospital, so any more updates will be infrequent.