David Michael has been diagnosed with tracheomalacia. "Tracheomalacia in a newborn occurs when the cartilage in the windpipe, or trachea, has not developed properly. Instead of being rigid, the walls of the trachea are floppy, resulting in breathing difficulties soon after birth. Babies born with tracheomalacia may have other congenital abnormalities such as heart defects, developmental delay, or gastroesophageal reflux. Also, aspiration pneumonia can occur from inhaling food. Symptoms include: breathing noises that may change with position and improve during sleep, breathing problems that get worse with coughing, crying, feeding, or upper respiratory infections and high-pitched or rattling breathing." (According to Johns Hopkins)

He is definitely a trooper and the sweetest little baby. I hate to see him in pain or struggling! He has been taking zantac (a reflux medicine) three times a day, which seems to help some. He breaths a lot better when he is being held up or on his belly. When he is laying flat in the pack n play he has a really difficult time breathing which in turn wakes him up. We have developed a little system where his daddy stays up with him till 1am and then I stay up with him the rest of the night. We have tried putting him in the swing, bouncer, and carseat. Nothing lasts because he struggles breathing and it wakes him up.

I have been assured from friends and family that he will outgrow this condition and be fine, but it definitely terrifies and concerns this momma.

The BIGGEST caution and risk with this diagnosis is that if he develops any kind of respiratory sickness it could become life threatening. That being said we are pretty much hanging out on the couch. For David Michael and little runny nose could be life threatening. So be ware that if you come over to our house you will be washing your hand and not allowed in with any kind of cold.

Please pray with us that he will outgrow this quickly without any complications! We know our God is much bigger than we are and loves this little guy more than we could even imagine!