It's been another busy week for Simon. On Wednesday we went to Rush to have his weekly NAM adjustment - he's growing so fast at this stage he needs it fine-tuned every 7-10 days. We can already see that it's making a difference in the shape of his nose when we have it out to clean it. He has adjusted to eating with it in, and actually he is eating more than ever now. He has gained almost 2 pounds in his first month, so he is right on schedule.
Today we went to see the pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat specialist (ENT) to check out his ears. The doctor used special tools to look into his tiny ears. He has some fluid built up in his inner ear already, which is very common for cleft kids. Luckily he does not have an ear infection yet, but we will probably have them put tubes in his eardrums during his lip surgery at 3 months so that we can make sure his ears are draining properly. That should reduce the risk of ear infection and guard against hearing problems, which is very important during the time when he is developing speech. The tubes will not be visible, and they only take about 15 minutes to put in.
The ear tubes eventually work their way out of the ears on their own, and he will eventually have 3 or 4 sets of tubes over the course of his childhood until he is maybe 8 years old or so. By then his palate muscles will develop to the point where his ears will drain without the aid of tubes.
In fun news, Sy is giving us dreamy smiles as he drifts off to sleep. We're hoping for real waking smiles soon. His Mom-Mom was able to feed him his bottle the other day, the first time someone other than mom and dad has succeeded in a whole feeding. I think pretty soon he'll be a chubby little dude.
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