Breathing not normal... tests next week

just-woke-up Benji in his jammies this morning

So the pulmonary specialist confirmed that there IS something wrong with Ben. Just watching him breathe, the doctor could immediately tell that Ben uses his stomach muscles to breathe and that each breath is takes work: coming in and going out. The doctor said Ben's case is particularly "interesting" (which he knows isn't what a parent wants to hear); since Ben has done just fine this far in his life, but he is breathing in a way that another baby might be showing real signs of distress and need to be taken to the hospital. I feel like a terrible mom, because all this time I just thought he was normal and never did anything about it...

Anyway, the gist of the two hour doctor visit is this: while Ben clearly is a happy, developing baby, and doesn't appear to be in any immediate danger, his breathing isn't normal and could cause problems for him later on. The doctor thinks something is either obstructing his airway or his trachea is underdeveloped and making him work really hard for each breath. There could be a blood vessel in the wrong place, a polyp, or the cartilage in his trachea could be underdeveloped. All of these could cause either large or negligent problems for him in the future and could either need surgery or need no intervention at all.

The doctor's office is scheduling an appointment for him at the hospital next week to have Ben drink barium-laced milk and then take an x-ray. This will tell us if there is anything pressing on the back of his trachea (like a blood vessel in the wrong place). If that procedure doesn't show anything, then Ben will have to be put under and have a procedure where they put a tube with a tiny camera in it down his trachea. That procedure will almost certainly tell us something the doctor said.

In the meantime Ben was prescribed asthma meds twice a day (not that they think it's actually asthma, but just in case).

Poor little guy.