Unexpected Progress & Lots of Crying

I have lost count about the number of times I have opened the computer to write this post, but almost as sure as I get started, Elijah starts crying. It's been a rough several days. Skip to the crying part, I found out Friday that Elijah has reflux. It explains the days of screaming and the increased spit up. We're working on some solutions so hopefully it will improve soon! Poor guy. 

We headed to NY this week with Nate's mom (aka - Grandma Evans). She came over Tuesday afternoon. We tried to go to bed early to get some rest, but Elijah had a rough night. Nate was a trooper taking care of him so I could get sleep before our big drive. He had been up since 6 that morning and stayed up past midnight with a somewhat inconsolable baby. 

Elijah woke up about 2:00am (a half hour before my alarm was going to go off). It probably worked out for the better, and we (Grandma Evans, Elijah, and myself) got on the road to Chicago by 3:15 am. I won't repeat all the details of our travels as you can read the itinerary in the last post. One difference was that this time I had arranged for a car service to pick us up at LaGuardia as I was told it was not that much more expensive than the taxis (not completely true). On the way out of the airport, I saw this sign and laughed (see paragraph 3 of last post to understand why).

Our driver was wonderful. He gave us a history lesson of many of the sights we passed. At one point on the way back, he even slowed way down on the Ed Koch bridge to allow for Grandma Evans to take a picture of the Manhattan skyline. This resulted in lots of honking behind, but he was so sweet to be patient. He told us to call him when our appointment was done and if early enough, he would give us a little driving tour of some of Manhattan before he would take us to Queens to get a good to go lunch to take to the airport. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

We arrived at IRPS again at 11:30. I was more intentional about taking more pictures this time. Here is the entrance to this beautiful, one-year old clinic space. 

Elijah started screaming once I changed him when we got there, but he immediately stopped crying when I put him down on this bench. (Don't worry, I was sitting right there making sure he wouldn't fall off!)

We went back to the room for the regular adjustments. Here is one of the dental assistants Lucy trying to console him. She's fun. She has a great European accent of some sort. (I know...that's a wide group of accents to cover in one adjective.)

Here is Dr. Olson making adjustments. He's the orthodontic fellow working with Dr. Shetye (the main orthodontist). On our first trip he casually asked me how I liked Indianapolis. I thought he was just making small talk and Elijah was screaming at that point, so I casually said something like "I like it for the most part." I later learned he is thinking of applying for a job here with Dr. Flores (our plastic surgeon at Riley) to bring NAM to Indy when he finishes his fellowship. Oh man. What a terrible sell. Once I realized this, I made sure to tell him about all the things I love about Indy and explained my lackadaisical answer before was because I was distracted by Elijah's demeanor. I balanced it out with my dislike of the winter and distance from my family, but I tried really to convince him that I do love Indy (which I do). I really hope he comes. He's great, and even though it would be too late for us, it would be great for families/babies with clefts to have local access to NAM. 

Dr. Olson and Dr. Shetye told us they didn't want us traveling the Wed before Thanksgiving because it would be so crazy at the airport and on the roads. Originally, they were thinking about placing nasal stints this coming Wed, but then they didn't like the fact we wouldn't come back the next week. They thought about placing nasal stints the first week of December, but Dr. Grayson (inventor of NAM) later came in and said he felt that would be pushing it too late. So, they put in Elijah's nasal stints! It took a while, so I got have a little time staring at this beautiful face without his plate in. I am thankful for the NAM plate, but also miss the natural look of his face, so I snapped some pictures. 

Sweet boy fell asleep

Catching a little "sleep smile". Sorry for the crusty boogers. Didn't have time that morning to clean them off :)

I was told by a dear friend (Marge) that I put pictures of everyone else but me, so here are a few. The one on the left is with another dental assistant Stephanie who spent hours with me on the very first visit explaining how to take care of Elijah and his NAM plate. She was so patient and wonderful at understanding the overwhelming nature of the info. I am so thankful for all of the IRPS staff, but she will hold a special place in my heart. I was wrong in thinking she could be Filipino, but I wasn't that far off in my "if you can't tell if someone is Hispanic or Asian, they are probably Filipino" rule. She is Latino, but recently found out she has some Chinese ancestry. I explained why I asked and disclosed my 3/8ths Filipino background.  

It took a while for them to get all the adjustments of the nasal stints just right, but here are a few views of Elijah with his updated NAM plate. They added the wires that come up from the front of the plate. The stints that actually go into his nostrils to shape them are made of some soft material. The shape of his nostrils will change with time. I think it already makes him look different. It pushes his cute button nose up more. 

After we were done with the visit (about 2:30), we realized we probably should just head back to Queens. Our driver from the morning was already waiting outside the clinic for us. He said we didn't have time to do a quick tour, but that he would bring us to his favorite authentic Italian deli in Queens so we could get some good sandwiches to take back to the airport. The deli was delicious. It was kind of a small grocery store meat shop plus ready made Italian classics. Grandma Evans and I may have bought a few too many things, but the sopressata we bought to bring home...Molto bene! My only complaint is that this place, like the other NY eateries so far are cash only. 

We headed back to the airport, ate our delicious sandwiches and made the long trek home. Week 3 down...#? to go.