Smiles, Squeaks and Specialists

The video I posted shows you why we call Jordan the squeak.

When Jordan was 2 days old the nurse in the hospital asked me if he had always made that sound. I immediately thought " Oh my God, What sound?" It had come on gradually and was barely anything more than a hiccupy sound which I had mistaken for new born baby sounds. She had the doctor look at him and I was told it was a very common form of lung spasm. But the nurse was having a hard time actually describing the correct term, but assured that it was nothing and was normal, I dismissed it. On the day of his 1 week appointment it had grown louder and a bit more noticeable so I asked my doctor about it. He explained it much better than the nurse. He called it a loose voice box and that it wouldn't interfere with his breathing, and was normal.

As the weeks went by, the noise became louder and the more Jordan moved around the worse it was. He seemed to spit up more, and now his whole chest vibrates like he has the hiccups. So when the doctor saw him again a couple of weeks ago, he heard the sounds and decided that perhaps he should send us to a specialist. Again assuring us it sounded fine and normal he just wanted to be absolutely sure it wasn't affecting anything else.

I came home and googled it. Which is never a good idea as you always find the WORSE cases documented while little is said of the other 99% of cases. The actual diagnosis is larangomalacia. And it is essentially the tissue around his voice box aren't fully developped and are soft which causes little noises as the air when he breathes gets by it. And in very severe cases can actually obstruct airways and require surgery. But after our visit today at CHEO, the specialist said that it wasn't causing Jordan any harm and that he should grow out of it by the time he is 18 months old. But more than likely we would see some improvement in the next couple of months and it would fade out earlier than that.

As a side note, I need to say that CHEO is fantastic. We were in and out of there in under an hour. Barely any waiting. And the doctor was just fantastic: kind, approachable, eager to answer any questions we had and great with kids. Jake also saw a specialist there last week for his feet and the same story,no waiting and a wonderful doctor!