Reflux Hell

About a week ago I had a post about our babies reaching a "colic" stage. Their crying has been increasing since then (especially Anna) so I took her to the pedi after we became more and more suspicious that her colic was really bad reflux. I was hoping for meds to help stop the incessant sound that happened all day long. Witching hour? I wish. When I read about babies having a bad period of day, it made me jealous. The pedi agreed that she had reflux, and asked us to try a different formula until Monday, and if we didn't see improvement, over the phone she would give us a prescription. (She said over the phone because both babies cried the entire time we were in the exam room, and I was by myself. It was so awful I can't find the words to describe how horrible that was.) We tried to give Anna the new formula a few times but we had a few issues- first, the nipples wouldn't work with the thickened formula, and once we fixed that problem, we discovered that Anna wouldn't drink it. So we stopped attempting it and were resigned to waiting until Monday.

Meanwhile, Anna's screaming reached a whole new level between Friday evening and Saturday. She literally cried 24/7. It was no longer just most awake moments, but it was keeping her from sleeping. It was keeping her from eating. We tried calling Saturday morning, but was told that our pedi wasn't the on call doctor so we couldn't get a prescription then and would need to wait until Monday. My poor baby took one decent nap all day, and that was only because she was in the Sleepy Wrap. All other "naps" were interrupted frequently by crying bouts. My little girl was in so much pain from the acid burning in her throat, that she couldn't sleep. While she had vomited a few times in the past week or so, on Saturday, she vomited a bunch of times. You have no idea what it is like to hold your screaming one month old for hours and hours, smelling the rancid smell of acid on her breath constantly, hurting so much for her. So we called again, and asked when it would be considered bad enough that we needed to go to urgent care. The nurse suggested that if she had cried for over an hour straight, she would go. My little girl had been crying for hour-long jags all day long. Off we went to the ER.

Once at the ER, we didn't get much help. Thankfully Anna was not dehydrated and she did not have a high temperature, so they didn't have an immediate concern. The ER doctor wanted us to come back in the morning to get a GI xray done (since it was 9 pm on a Saturday night- I guess the right people to perform the xray weren't there) to rule out pyloric stenosis. Apparently pyloric stenosis is rare, but more common when there's a heart murmur. If Anna had that, she would need surgery to fix it. We headed back this morning, Anna had the barium drink, got the xray and short version: does not have pyloric stenosis (I didn't think so after consulting Dr. Google when we got home from the ER last night, so I wasn't overly concerned). So she most definitely has severe acid reflux. They sent us on our way, and now we are just getting through the minutes trying to get to Monday.

Sam's reflux is not as severe, but he definitely has it too. His level of discomfort has been increasing too.

One baby with reflux is really hard. I remember reading all about Blair's adventures in Reflux Hell a few months ago. Two babies with reflux- especially when one of those is as severe as Anna's, is insane. My husband call his mother in tears yesterday asking if she could drop everything and come stay with us for a while- because when you have two babies constantly crying that need to be held nobody ever gets a break. My husband and I were crying off and on all day. We were past the breaking point.

I can say that today is better though. My most-amazing-friend-ever came for a few hours after I placed a hysterical phone call so each of us could get a small break. I used earplugs to get a glorious nap in silence. My husband's mother should be here within an hour. We don't know yet how long she can stay. The doctor's appointment will be tomorrow, and although I know we won't get an instant, magical cure- it is still helping me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know this won't last forever. I have gone through a lot of tough things, and I can get through this too.

Meanwhile, although this blog has been my sanity-saver, I don't think I'll have much time to post when there are two babies that need to be constantly consoled and held, so I may not blog much until some relief is found for my babies. I hope to be back with good news very, very soon!