Searching for Answers

We are now in search of answers for the issues that are keeping Landon in the NICU.  He was doing great with his breathing and keeping the Brady count down. Heck, we were less than 48 hours from leaving.  Since then, he has headed the complete opposite direction.  In addition to the increase in Brady counts, Landon has had a difficult time eating.  He ultimately gets all of the food down, but it involves a lot of spit and just plain frustration as he struggles to eat.  Our hands have been tied until he reached 38 weeks.  They needed to rule out the premature factor first. 
The initial thoughts is that he has reflux.  The trick, he isn’t always spitting up the food.  As the food starts to come up, he closes off the throat and keeps it from entering the mouth.  The only issue, he is also closing off the airway and results in a heart drop (i.e. another 5 days).  Today, we met with an occupational therapist.  She observed Landon eating and wants to conduct a swallow test on Friday.  During this test, Landon will drink formula combined with Barium.  As he swallows the mixture, they will run a series of xrays to check for a number of things ranging from tongue position when swallowing to what happens with food once it is in the stomach.  Hopefully this test will lead to answers.  And if it doesn’t, at least it will rule out something else before we move on to the next round of specialists.  Bottom line, we want Landon home, but we need him healthy first.
Here are a couple recent pictures of Landon.

Get your guns up!