I am the mother of a wonderful 7 year old boy, who was born into this world with a tough first 6 months and a mother left with this "gut feeling" that there is something there beyond just some "breathing issues" after birth.
I will give as much of a brief run up to today as I can so those of you that have dealt with this for years can hopefully pass on some thoughts as to whether it is worth my pushing for further testing....my worries just keep gnawing away at me.
My little one's respiratory system issues began the moment he was born. The staff was short that night, so they put him into the bed for measuring etc. and actually had my husband "keep an eye" on him for the first 10 minutes or so. Dad noticed that our son just wasn't breathing right, hadn't cried, and his skin was starting to turn a darkish red....not a normal color. So the nurses wisked him off, and told us that his lungs were full and that they had to "pump his stomach" and that had helped him breathe easier. Well before we left the hospital, in only a day, our son's "stomach" had to be pumped 2 times due to a "back up" of thick mucous that was causing him problems breathing and digesting.
We just knew something was up, even once we got home, he wasn't eating, he was sleeping all the time, and in a couple of days of not passing his meconium since birth, he began to turn yellow! So off we went to the doc again, and they found that his bilirubin was way high, so we were sent home with the light blanket to get break up the bilirubin in his system and we had to get him to pass his bowels...which he had not yet in his life!
We finally did get everythig flowing, but his first 6 months of life were full of repiratory problems, in the hospital 1x for continued thick mucos issues which led to breathing problems.
Of course, I did not think of CF at that time and it wasn't until he had severe bouts of pneumonia 3 years in a row between ages 3-6, that I began wondering. He still has to take continued allergy medications, inhalers, and he has always had issues with passing his stools, getting backed up, etc.
I have mentioned it to the doctor, but she said she does not feel he has CF, but has not tested for it. Again, my intuition tells me otherwise, but I thought I would put it out there to see what those who deal with this all the time may think/know. I would appreciate any advice at this point, because I just don't want to not do something that could prevent complications in the future. Thank you so much!!
I will give as much of a brief run up to today as I can so those of you that have dealt with this for years can hopefully pass on some thoughts as to whether it is worth my pushing for further testing....my worries just keep gnawing away at me.
My little one's respiratory system issues began the moment he was born. The staff was short that night, so they put him into the bed for measuring etc. and actually had my husband "keep an eye" on him for the first 10 minutes or so. Dad noticed that our son just wasn't breathing right, hadn't cried, and his skin was starting to turn a darkish red....not a normal color. So the nurses wisked him off, and told us that his lungs were full and that they had to "pump his stomach" and that had helped him breathe easier. Well before we left the hospital, in only a day, our son's "stomach" had to be pumped 2 times due to a "back up" of thick mucous that was causing him problems breathing and digesting.
We just knew something was up, even once we got home, he wasn't eating, he was sleeping all the time, and in a couple of days of not passing his meconium since birth, he began to turn yellow! So off we went to the doc again, and they found that his bilirubin was way high, so we were sent home with the light blanket to get break up the bilirubin in his system and we had to get him to pass his bowels...which he had not yet in his life!
We finally did get everythig flowing, but his first 6 months of life were full of repiratory problems, in the hospital 1x for continued thick mucos issues which led to breathing problems.
Of course, I did not think of CF at that time and it wasn't until he had severe bouts of pneumonia 3 years in a row between ages 3-6, that I began wondering. He still has to take continued allergy medications, inhalers, and he has always had issues with passing his stools, getting backed up, etc.
I have mentioned it to the doctor, but she said she does not feel he has CF, but has not tested for it. Again, my intuition tells me otherwise, but I thought I would put it out there to see what those who deal with this all the time may think/know. I would appreciate any advice at this point, because I just don't want to not do something that could prevent complications in the future. Thank you so much!!