Gabrielle & Matthew

Our first family vacation didn't quite go as originally planned. Everyone said we were nuts to drive to NB with a 2.5 year old and a 2 week old, but Mommy didn't listen to them. Matthew was so laid back and with so many activities planned with Gabrielle, by taking our time, and setting no specific agenda, we thought we'd make out just fine. Unfortunately we ended up driving 40 hours there and back within 3 days. Here is the full story:

Prior to leaving, Matthew was throwing up 1-2x per day but we thought it was due to us overfeeding or not quite getting all the burps out prior to putting him down. So we really didn't think anything of it. On Saturday morning of the 15th we set out on our first family vacation. Throughout the drive Matthew became sicker and sicker. We assumed it was due to motion sickness or possibly he caught a bug. We arrived at Granny's house on Sunday and the day didn't progress very well. We tried solely breast feeding to see if it was the formula that was causing him to be sick. When that didn't work, we tried just formula feeding and again, Matthew continued to projectile vomit with every feeding.

Thanks to Granny's work connections, we were able to see Dr. Perly on Monday morning at 9am. He scheduled an ultrasound right away to check out his tummy but based on his exam he suspected a condition called - pyloric stenosis - which hits 1-2% of boys betweeen the ages of 2-4 weeks where the phyloric muscle found between the stomach and intestines becomes elongated and enlarged and closes off the opening between the two therefore causing food not to be able to pass through and ends up coming right back up. The radiologist was not confident due to little exposure to this condition so he asked for a second opinion. A pediatrician from Fredericton was consulted by phone but really needed to perform the ultrasound herself before confirming the condition. We were informed that if surgery was needed, that it was only performed in Halifax or Toronto.

At this time, Joe and I immediately made the decision to head back home. AT 4;00pm on Monday afternoon, we all piled back into the car to make it back home as quickly as we could. Joe was pushing as much as he could to get us home as quickly as possible and I was pushed to stop as many times as we could to keep Matthew fed and not become dehydrated. Throughout this whole trip, Gabrielle was a super hero. She watched more TV in this trip than she has in her whole 2.5 years. The makers of portable DVD players, Doodlebops and the Max and Ruby cartoon, all deserve an award for recognition. We made it to our family doctor's office at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon who advised us to immediately make our way to Sick Kids Hospital in downtown Toronto.

I have to take a pause in our story at thi s point to say a huge thank you to Michelle and
Doug. It was at this point in our story that Doug and Michelle took our call for help and
cared for Gabrielle in our absence. Having Gabrielle with you allowed us to concentrate on
Matthew and his illness with little worry knowing her needs were met. We can't come up with the words to thank you enough for the care, patience, putting Gabrielle's needs first (ie
staying overnight at the house so G could sleep in her own bed) and the time it took away
from your own family activities. Going from 2 small kids to 3 had to be a lot of work and
we truly appreciate everything that you did. Gabrielle still talks about her baths with
Owen, Tish the pussycat and asks where Doug and Michelle are everyday (though I can't say
she asked about us all that often when we were away from her) so you left an everlasting
impression on us all. Thank you for everything!

Sick Kids Hospital lived up to it's reputation. From the janitor who stopped to help us find
the emergency department to the caring nurses and calming surgeons, we felt well taken care
of considering the circumstances we were under with a 3 week old baby. We were pushed
through the 6 hour wait at emergency due to Matthew's small size and age. We were given a
room glassed in where we waited for the doctor to order another ultrasound to confirm his
condition. At 12:30am on Wednesdsay, the doctor finally confirmed it was indeed phyloric
stenosis and Matthew was put on the surgery list. At 11:00am, they took Matthew into
surgery and at 1:00 pm they came to tell us everything was successfully completed. The
surgery entailed a small incision through his belly button to gain access to the phyloric
muscle which they cut through to release the pressure. They put in three small stitches and
some steri tape on his belly button and he was ready to go back to the recovery room.

We got to see Matthew again at 2:30 at which time we were informed that to be discharged, we needed to successfully complete 3 feedings at 60ml each. We started with 30ml of sugar water to test things out and it stayed down, but the next feeding of 30ml of milk didn't. We remained positive though as the projectile had stopped so something was different. The surgeons informed us that the stomach muscles were still swollen which was probably causing the opening to remain shut. After giving it some time, we had our first successful feeding of 30 ml on Thursday at 2:00pm, 24 hours post surgery. Slowly but surely we increased Matthew's milk intake by 5ml at a time and had our first successful 60ml feeding on Friday and were greatful to be discharged on Saturday morning.

There are no worries for follow-up or anyt hing to be concerned with in the future. Once the
surgery is complete, there is no need for concern that it will reoccur or complications will arise later on. We can visit with the surgery team a month post his operation, but any
follow-up needed at this point can be done through our family doctor.

So to all the future Curnew and Moran baby's - please note that this condition is hereditary. Somewhere along the lines this condition can be found and we need to share with everyone that it could show up in the future in particular in our boys. This condition is so common that Sick Kids performs the operation on average once a week and there actually was another little 2 week old boy who arrived the same night we did in emergency with the same problem and was discharged the same day as Matthew.

Matthew, over the next few weeks, we look forward to seeing you fill in all of your
wrinkles. After 2 days of a full belly, your smiles and coos on Monday morning were enough
to melt any last lingering worries that we had concerning your health. We love you to bits!

We end this story with words from one of the surgeon's: After all this trouble he's gone
through so early in life, Matthew won't give you any trouble from here on out - no taking
the car out without permission, no past curfew nights or any other trouble teenagers seem to
find themselves into!

A few key messages to those we love - Uncle Jeff, thank you for coming out Thursday night to
stay with Gabrielle to allow Joe and I to change shifts at the hospital. To Uncle Jamie and
Aunt Chrissy, we hope that your special day was full of ever lasting memories and so sorry
we didn't make it, we were so close! Lots of love to all who called with their kind words,
worries and prayers - we love you!

4 weeks old today Matthew and you've already been through so much. Let's start with your birth story as all future mommy's need to hear about silent labour!

Our due date of Aug 1st came and went with very little excitement. We had a few nights of discomfort but dismissed the pains as they were not consistent and went away as soon as I ate something. I had one night where it felt like a hot knife up my side, but again dismissed it as once I had breakfast it went away again. On Tuesday the 4th, I went in for my scheduled stress test at 8:40 am at which time an internal exam was done and the doctor declared me 5cms dialated! Holy moly we were going to have a baby today and I didn't feel like I had one contraction yet. Doc said it was the joys of silent labour. I didn't even know such a thing existed. Again a very busy day in labour and delivery so he sent me home with instructions to come back at 1 unless contractions started up as this baby was going to be delivered fairly quickly once he was ready to arrive. At 1:00 we made our way back to the hospital - Granny's nerves might have been on edge while we were home that short period of time - We finally got settled in the delivery area at 3:00 pm. At 3:10 the Doctor broke my water and after a short few hours, Matthew arrived in our arms at 5:45pm. Please note, never say to a labouring women that the epidural is an hour away due to the doctor being in surgery, it doesn't sit well at all. Though I can't say that it did much for me as the pressure was more painful than the actual contractions and the epidural doesn't take that pain away!

A huge thank you to so many who truly helped out all of us during this exciting time. We owe so many thank you's to all the grandparents (Granny, Grampy, Gramps, Nana, Poppy and Nanny), uncles (Steve, Larry, Jeff) and friends (Doug and Michelle). Your help through our transition to a family of 4 was truly appreciated - THANK YOU! And to Big Sister - you've been amazing through all of this and such a big help to Mommy and Daddy too! We love you all...

Welcome to the world Baby Matthew! We are so excited to watch you love, laugh and grow. We all love you to bits! Watching our family expand the way that it has and the different dynamics that play out is truly amazing and can't wait to see what happens next in the Curnew Family story book!

Our love and thanks to all!