Emily's Appointment

Some of you may know that I have been a little concerned with the way Emily breaths, since  she has been born. When she was born, she had what is called "reactive breathing", which just means the baby is breathing a little harder then normal, and it is shown by the sides of her lungs going in farther than they should. All went well though and she was fine within an hour or so. I really didn't think anything of it once she came home.

But the past few months I have noticed how far her chest and sometimes throat indent when she breaths. It definitely looks a little strange to me. I only really notice it when she is in the bath tub or I am changing her clothes because, well, I don't keep her naked. She has never had any choking incidents, or stopped breathing or looked like she couldn't catch her breath but many people have commented on how loud of a breather she is, so at our 2 month appointment, I asked our pediatrician about it.

She watched her breath for a good five minutes and pointed out some things to me and asked me a lot of questions. On the outside, listening into Emily's lungs, everything sounded great and  there was no issues with her getting enough air. I was very happy about that. However, the doctor was a little concerned about a condition called "pectis excavatum" and so she gave us a referral for a pediatric pulmanalogist. Basically it's where the breast bone is sunken into the chest wall, and can look like a hole in the middle of the chest when breaths are taken, which is exactly what it looks like on Emily. However, if I hadn't pointed it out to the doctor (or anyone else) you probably wouldn't even notice. But me, being her mother and knowing every inch of my babies body, I did, I knew it was something different than in her sisters.


I looked for a photo that you could see it on her, but this was all I had. It was barley visible, and unless you watch her breath, you won't see it too much, but it has become a little more prominent.

Look right in the middle of her chest, it almost looks like a little shadow, but it's a little indented hole.

The appointment was last Friday and I sure learned a lot. (And Emily was weighed and she was 11lbs. 4oz.!!!) First of all, Emily does, unfortunately have this condition known as, pectis excavatum. The doctor took one look at her and diagnosed her right away, which I was very surprised at. However, she does not have any of the symptoms at this time, most likely due to it being a mild case. Her oxygen levels are great which was a great sign, however he still wanted me to get an xray to make sure all of her organs were properly placed and this abnormality wasn't causing any issues. After the xray, we went right back over to the office and he took a look at the films and said she is perfect inside. No issues at all. Thank goodness.

We can't really do anything for this condition and hopefully it will correct itself on it's own, possible in just a few months. Once the chest muscles become stronger, they will most likely "fill in the gap". Like I said, if you looked at her, you probably wouldn't notice anything, but there is a difference. I am so glad though that it isn't bad.

The doctor said she should be fine and correct itself, so we are praying that is the case.

And for now, the loud breathing is just a lovely characteristic she got from her Daddy!