Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Like Mommy Like Son!!



Lincoln had his first trip to the emergency room at 5 weeks old this Monday!! I cannot possibly explain the sheer panic that I had to harness when we left the pediatrician's office. This is how our day went. On Sunday, Lincoln had horrible projectile vomit and grunting all day, so on Monday the pediatrician told me to bring him in. Dr. G did a basic exam on him but after hearing about our harrowing day thought it best to get him tested for pylorexstynosis (which is the opposite of acid reflux ...basically the exit stomach muscle is too strong and forces food back up instead of out...it can only be treated with surgery). This is common in first-born sons and flares at around 6 weeks of birth...Lincoln is 5 weeks. Rather than go to a lab where it would take days for the results, Dr. G thought it best to go to the emergency room. Now Maddy has been with this doctor for almost 3 years and he's never had me take her to the ER, that's how mellow he is...so to say that I was panicked would be an understatement! We got to the ER minutes to noon. And similar to my last ER visit he hadn't eaten since 9:45 and he was not happy about starving b/c they had to do an ultrasound of his stomach while it was empty. Man, we danced all over that PED ER room (luckily he's so little we got a private room to keep away from the other sick children). At this point I had missed 2 feedings and was feeling quite engorged, and begged them to get us in or find me a breast pump. They got us in to the sono around 1pmish. First they examined his stomach empty, then I had to give him an ounce of baby pedialyte for them to see how fluid interacted with his stomach and the acids. Again, he was pissed off after only getting that one ounce. Thankfully, the ultrasound ruled out pylorexstynosis...however, we had to find out what else it could be, but at least now I could feed him. They came in again around 2:30 to get blood. For all you moms out there, remember he's just pushing 7lbs now, his hands are soooooo teeny. The first attempt to get his vein was unsuccessful to the point that when the nurse pulled the needle out, she blew the vein and there was blood every where. Can you believe the restraint I had to exihibit not to strangle this chick?! She finally got it on the second attempt with the help of the attending. He screamed his head off, my poor baby. I got him to fall asleep after some more dancing around the room, then they came in to do an xray of his stomach, lungs, and esophagus. All came back clear...but the blood came back with a high white blood cell count, so now they thought maybe he has some type of virus or infection and needed to get a culture. Where do you think they had to get this culture? His penis!!! His teeny weeny peeny!!! DH said he was glad I was there with him cuz he wouldn't have been able to handle it. Handle it?? I can still hear Linc screaming for bloody murder! After a day that test for RSV came up negative as well. Finally the PED-ER doc came in and asked to observe a feeding to see how Linc was latching on, how his stomach reacted, and what came up after. He was satisfied with the little amount that came up after and agreed he was nursing well, however, Linc is an agressive eater which in little babies can be an additional reason for the reflux and projectile vomit. Basically - He's greedy! The doc told me to keep doing what I'm doing, try putting him to sleep in his carseat at night, and try not to worry since ...let's all say it together..."HE'S STILL GAINING WEIGHT!". Until he stops wanting to eat or can't gain weight, really there isn't much a mommy can do about acid reflux...except wait for the day that he grows out of it. I took these to show him in all his hospital splendor:

****Oh, and get this: DH comes home this morning stating that he's not going in to work b/c he doesn't feel good....and then a few minutes ago the nurse at Maddy's school called, guess what? Maddy has a sore throat!! They've got us completely surrounded! Now I'll have to bleach everything and keep them away from my baby!!! EESh, a mommy's job is never done!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pheebs, I feel your pain, but that teeny weeny peeny comment was hysterical. By the way, I think you should have titled this "like father like son," not mother. Especially the part about being greedy for Mommy's boobie. :) Enjoy it all, my girl! It goes verrrrrry fast. My baby boy (316 months old) leaves for school in Amsterdam on Monday. WAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Love ya, Bonnie

Unknown said...

he's grown soo much! sorry to hear about the harrowing experience at the ER. poor baby... poor mommy for having to watch all that happen to her baby. but happy to hear he's alright and that he's a good eater.