Top side, bottom side

In my last post, I said something about DJ's crooked noggin. Here's a photo that shows how his brow protrudes more on his right side:


And, no, that's not a ring in his nose, though that would be totally badass. At DJs last appointment on June 9th, the doc said that because his head circumference is growing as it should, we can be confident that no skull sutures have fused prematurely -- it's just good old fashioned positional plagiocephaly which will likely resolve now that he's more mobile. If not, he may need to wear a reshaping helmet a few hours a day.

A new issue has eclipsed that one. DJ didn't poop for almost two weeks. I read that breastfed babies often go 5-7 days without a BM. We called the doc on day 8 (last Friday) because DJ was clearly uncomfortable. They said feed him prune puree (his first solids!), give him relaxing warm baths, and check in again on Monday. Still no BM over the weekend, despite his increasingly frantic efforts. His discomfort got worse and it was interfering with his sleep.

They had us bring him in Tuesday. The poor little guy got a rectal exam which, understandably, made him scream. He probably thought he had been abducted by aliens. But his tummy wasn't distended, his bowel sounds were good, and there was no blood in the stool sample (collected in the rectal exam). The doctor had us bring him to the hospital for an x-ray to rule out Hirschsprung's disease. That happened yesterday (day 13 of no pooping). DJ hated being held still for the imaging, but the contrast-enema part of it was no big deal (tiny catheter) and it prompted big, prune-y BMs, which make him grin like a guy who just won Olympic gold.

So we're continuing with the prunes and checking in with the doctor early next week, hoping for spontaneous pooping between now and then. Right now his farts still smell like hospital.

There doesn't seem to be a particular cause; I guess it's just one of those things. Perhaps the onset of warmer weather and less frequent nursing combined with reduced mobility on two days due to a six-hour car ride to visit my folks. And maybe he forgot which muscles to flex.

The good thing is that we're very happy with the pediatrician. He took DJs discomfort seriously, explained his diagnostic thought-process to us, consulted with a specialist on DJs behalf, and followed up by phone yesterday and today.

In other news, he cut his first tooth already, he can roll over from tummy to back, and he's laughing more. His two biggest laughing jags were with my aunt tickling his belly and my brother entertaining him with fart sounds. And so it begins.