Thursday, January 8, 2009

What a day...

For those of you who don't know, Caleb has reflux. He has been on baby Zantac since the middle of December. At the beginning, it really helped and we could tell a difference. Slowly he began to spit up more and more. Finally Wednesday I had had enough and called the doctor and made an appointment for Thursday at 9:45AM. We get to the doctor and Caleb had only gained 11oz. in 3 weeks; obviously because of the spitting up. I talked to Dr. D and told him everything that was going on. He was concerned because Caleb wasn't wasn't gaining like he should be and was spitting up like a mad man, sometimes projectile. He examined Caleb, and the other doctor we see came in and looked at him as well. The 2 of them decided it was time to move to the next step...testing him to make sure nothing was blocked or abnormal. They then told me (Michael couldn't be there because of work) that I needed to go straight to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta to have an abdominal ultrasound and possibly and upper GI. I was OK...I went into "mother mode" and had the attitude of I will do what I have to do for my child.

So off to the hospital we go. We get there and the people I dealt with couldn't have been nicer. Actually they were wonderful....I guess they deal with scared mothers all the time. On the way I had called my mom (at the dentist -- she was very happy to leave), and she met me there. After filling out tons of paperwork, they sent us to radiology and Caleb had an abdominal ultrasound. It was just like he was pregnant!! :) What they found there was that his belly was still full from his feeding at 10:30, and so they couldn't tell much of anything. Lovely. What that meant was that to be able to rule anything out and get to the bottom of this they were going to have to pump his stomach and give him barium to make sure everything was flowing and doing what it was supposed to do. So down the hall we went. We had a wonderful doctor who explained everything to me and calmed me (and mom) down. Caleb got to wear a hospital gown -- Tiger and Pooh -- and the test began. I have to tell you that this was the WORST thing I have ever had to witness and I NEVER, repeat NEVER, want to see my son or anyone else's son or daughter go through it. They had to stick a tube down his nose to his stomach and pump the formula out. Well, the first tube they used wasn't big enough and they couldn't get the formula out. So they had to take that tube out and put a bigger one down. Basically what this means is that we had to do it twice. I was holding his legs and one doctor was holding his arms and head. Caleb screamed like I had never heard him scream before -- it was scared, mad, hurt all rolled into one. As he cried, I cried...I am telling you -- it was awful!! The only funny part was that they were giving him sugar water on his paci and he LOVED it! Every time he got some he would go "mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!" Too cute. The second tube got the formula out and Caleb eventually cried himself to sleep.

During the test, his stomach with the tube in it was on a TV screen in the room. I could see the barium in his stomach and see it flowing to something else (I didn't go to med school). Whatever it was flowing to was where it was supposed to do, and so the doctor was happy. They found NOTHING wrong with Caleb. So, after all that, we now know that Caleb has really bad reflux. She did say that since he has a bit of a cold that the extra drainage can make the reflux worse. I think it is safe to say that it did. Caleb was asleep before we even got out of the hospital. He was worn out, and so was mommy!!!!!!!

I am very glad we went and now know that nothing is internally wrong with Caleb, but getting to this point was horrible. I don't ever want to do that again. The hospital was wonderful, but I don't ever want to go back there either. There were children all over the place with tubes and wires all over them. Some of the babies were younger than Caleb. I said many, many prayers last night for those babies and their parents. Wow...

One awesome thing that did happen yesterday was that Caleb rolled over from tummy to back 3 times at the hospital. He was so shocked and proud of himself!!! When we got home he was over it and wouldn't perform for daddy. Oh well -- maybe this weekend!

5 comments:

Ashley, Scott, Grace, & Zane said...

Oh Jenn, I am so sorry you & Caleb had to go through that. I am glad to hear everything is fine though. I hope he grows out of his reflux soon:)

Tim and Mandy Sharkey said...

UGH! That makes me so sad! Poor little boy, I'm glad nothing terrible is wrong - what a relief. Good thing he has a wonderful mommy to take care of him! XOXO

Caroline G said...

I am glad everything is alright. My sister's two have really bad relux. Let me know if you need me to ask her anything. Poor little guy. The good thing is, they usually grow out of it (her 2 year old was really, really bad and got over it).

Leslie Gilbreath said...

I am so sorry! I can't imagine what that was like (without Michael on top of it all!). I hope it is not a problem you all have to deal with for too long!

Michelle said...

I am so sorry you and Caleb had to go through that. I know how scarry it is to go to the ped. and they send you straight to the Children's hospital. When Tyler was 1 month old they sent me there to see if he had a twisted testicle. And they told me if it hadn't corrected itself they would have to surgically correct it. All of this while Bryan was 5 hours away. I thank God his aunt had gone to the doctor with me so I didn't have to take it all in by myself. He turned out fine, but I can definitely empathise with how you felt. I'm glad he is okay.