11 Month Update On Rhett Waylon

I woke up this morning to the prettiest snow hitting the earth. It’s the first snowfall of the year and probably our only snowfall. But so beautiful and I’m enjoying every second of it until it turns to rain.

It’s been months since I wrote anything on our Rhett. I promised an update way back in September and then life got the best of me. So I decided to do one today.

I get a lot of questions about Rhett and today I’m here to answer them all! If you’re at all curious on his traumatic birth story, you can read that here. Also, here’s a blog on his condition and why he’s so special.

He’s the drooliest baby who loves his brothers and sister and loves to be cuddled all-the-time.

We have specialist appointments that are ongoing for this little guy and at the end of January we will be taking him to Victoria for a few days to see an ENT specialist ( Ears - Nose - Throat ). He was born with smaller airways and he’s very snorty and colds are very taxing on his little body. So we’re hoping that this specialist will give us some answers so we can proceed with hopefully having his tonsils / adenoids taken out in the future. We also have to get an ultrasound done on his kidneys as there was a bit of swelling at birth.

In March we’re meeting with Ophthalmology in Vancouver and as well, we’re having a mini surgery on him. We’re having his skin tag taken off his cheek. This is another symptom of Microtia. Most babies born with Microtia are born with skin tags on the face. The actual surgery only lasts an hour and it’s pretty painless after. We just have to make sure he doesn’t touch his face. He will have a scar on his precious cheek probably for life - but that’s why they like to do the surgery on babies, to help minimize the scar as much as possible. The smaller they are - the less apparent the scars are.

When we were in the NICU, the Doctors told us we would have a lot of challenges with him - mostly mentally with him being very far behind other babies his age. But this little boy has defied the odds. He’s SO smart! Here are a few things he is doing:

-Signing “Milk” and “Bye”

-Saying “Dada” and “Mama”

-Eating Human foods, but mostly prefers breastmilk

-Now Sleeping through the night

-Bum scooting everywhere

-Pulling himself up on things

He’s such a goof too and is a overall pretty happy guy!

So what does the future look like for us with his Microtia?

Well, we will be going to Vancouver over the next few years to talk about having surgery done on his ear. We cannot have surgery until he is 3-4 years old, so we haven’t put a ton of thought into it. But since he can hear 55 decibels in that ear, we think that as soon as they open it up, he will have full hearing.

Right now he’s wearing a hearing aid occasionally and as soon as we put it on him, it’s like the world is a new shade of light.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions on his neck tilt. He was also born with “Torticollis”. It is tightened muscles on one side of the neck, which leaves your baby’s head at a tilt or rotation. It’s very uncomfortable for them so we’ve been doing stretches on him every few hours for the last 11 months. As well, we take him to Chiro care. If left not dealt with, it can be a permanent issue. Due to this as well as his recessed jaw on his left side, I’ve had issues breastfeeding. But again, this kid is a power house and we’ve overcome each issue that has come our way.

He’s 11 months on January 21st and we’re loving every second of his little life. Trying to soak up every stage as he’s our last baby.

Let me know if you have any questions on his conditions!