Friday, March 11, 2011

Praying for Reflux???

I never ever ever in a million zillion years thought that I would be praying for my sweet bundle to have acid reflux.  I mean I have heard so many awful things about it, and quite honestly I am clueless in my knowledge regarding it.  However, on Wednesday, I and basically everyone I know was praying hard that sweet bundle had just that. 

Here is the story:

Since birth bundle has had her fair share of gas issues.  She has literally screamed and screamed after eating, has pushed gas out for what seems like forever, and has had her share of exorcism throw ups.  She recently has started pulling away from the breast, holding her breath, and then screaming after she swallows her milk.  This has made feedings painful for both she and I.  Her main problems seems to occur between the hours of 7 pm to midnight, and at those times she is so uncomfortable.  We have had some good days, but for the most part we have been dealing with these issues for the past month.  I had brought my concerns up to my doctor, and he told me to first try mylocin drops and if those did not help to bring her back in.  Tuesday night was just awful at my mamas bible study.  Bundle was refusing to eat, but was hungry. She kept pulling away from the breast, spitting up, and crying.  I felt so bad for her.  Some veteran reflux mamas that were there informed me that she was showing the same signs their babies did when they were diagnosed with reflux.  With all that being said, we made and appointment to see her pediatrician on Wednesday.

Caleb, Mckinlee and I arrived at the pediatrician around 2 on Wednesday, and I was fully prepared with my list of questions/symptoms etc to speak with the doctor about. He arrived in the room, I started explaining everything and he started taking a look at little miss. He pushed on her belly, and then informed me that he wanted to get her checked for a pyloric valve enlargement before he diagnosed her with reflux. He basically said that he felt a little enlargement at the bottom of her stomach, and he wanted to rule this out first.  He said that sometimes the pyloric valve in infants can become enlarged and begin pushing food back out of their stomach.  If left untreated it can continue to enlarge and keep them from getting any nourishment.  Then he said the scariest sentence I have heard yet in my life as mama, "If it is an enlarged pyloric valve she will have to have surgery to fix it".  My heart stopped right there, and tears immediately filled my eyes.  My sweet little one month old baby having surgery scared the living poo out of me.  The doctor saw my tears, reassured me that he thought it was probably okay, but that we had to have an ultrasound performed just to be safe.  He then scheduled an ultrasound at Childrens Hospital for two hours later.

We left the office that day, and I was actually calmer than I expected to be. I was trying not to allow my fear to take over until we knew for sure that was what it was.  I called hubby, and apparently did not give him enough info over the phone because he was a nervous wreck when he got here. He basically heard, enlargement, surgery, and childrens.  Poor guy.  Anyway, he came and we traveled to have her ultrasound performed.  In the meantime I had everyone I know praying that the ultrasound came back clear, and that we were just dealing with acid reflux.

Thank God our prayers were answered.  Mckinlee was a champ during her ultrasound, and everything came back normal. We revisited the doctor the next day, he informed me that it could have just felt a little enlarged because she was so small, and he prescribed medicine for her reflux. She is also a little congested so he checked her for RSV and other respiratory issues before we left the office, and all came back clear. 

With all that being said I have a sweet bundle with congestion (blah), and acid reflux, but I am thanking my God that there is nothing else wrong with my sweet angel.  (Here are some not so flattering sleeping newborn pictures. Gotta love them).

She has her ear bent in a crazy way with that headband.  (FYI, I do try to keep socks on her feet, but they are so tiny they always fall off)

This morning we spent about an hour in the bathroom with the shower running to break down congestion.  She is wearing her brothers hand me down sleeper, and looks exactly like him.  She looks like such a boy in this pic, but she rocked it.



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1 comment:

Elizabeth Taylor said...

I just had a friend whose little baby had that surgery. He did great but it is sad a scary when littles ones need such interventions. I am so glad that was not the case for your little one.
Suggestions for the reflux: pay attention to what you are eating. Dairy can cause big issues in bf fed babies causing tummy issues when you eat/drink milk, cheese etc. For me I noticed orange juice made my little ones have tummy issues.
You might be totally against this but you could offer her a bottle of formula at night- and see if that helps. In my experience it also helps with sleeping longer periods at night too, which is always a plus.
Hope things are getting better!
Elizabeth