Reflux

Breanna did awesome at her Children's hospital appointment!  I was a nervous wreck, but she made me proud!  Her appointment was at 8:30 am, and she wasn't allowed to eat after 4:30 am.  That was the source of most of my stress.  I made sure to wake her up to eat at 4:00, but since she is still eating every 3 hours I was afraid this wouldn't be enough to hold her over until her appointment.  Thankfully it was a cloudy morning, so the sun filling her bedroom at 6 am didn't wake her.  This was truly answered prayer.  She began stirring at 6:30, but with the help of a pacifier and a wonderful daddy, she continued to snooze while I got ready for the morning.  We loaded her into the car at a little after 7 am for the drive.  She was awake at this point, but was happy to just look around out the window (Answered prayer again).  When her pacifier fell out after about 5 minutes into the ride, I was anticipating the worst, but she held off the tears (she actually doesn't have tears yet, haha) for a solid 20 minutes.  I was impressed!  When she did finally start to cry I turned the radio to a station that was all static and turned it up loudly.  This worked great, and she was out in minutes.  She slept until the nurse called us back.  Once in the room, Breanna drank a liquid called barium.  This was her first experience with a bottle and she did great!  The radiologist then did an ultrasound to see how the liquid traveled through her system.  He said everything looked great at that point.  He then left and the nurse had me hold Breanna for 5-10 minutes and then they did a few more xrays to see how things looked then.  They said my doctor would get the results in a few hours.  I was able to nurse Breanna at that point and then we left.  I was a little scared and nervous leaving, because I thought since the ultrasound looked good that it meant her breathing problems were not because of reflux.  Thankfully the doctor called me not too long after getting home and explained that the xray pictures that were taken later were what show the results.  The ultrasound that the radiologist looked at just let us know that her system is working properly.  The xrays actually showed severe reflux.  This is just basically because her esophagus is not mature yet and needs to develop more so her food will stay where it belongs.  This is a pretty common problem in babies and is not too serious, so I was pretty relieved that it was the reason for her breathing issues.  We have to keep her upright for at least 30 minutes after she eats, her crib is slightly elavated, and she is taking prescription zantac.  I have been amazed at the difference it has made for her!  Her breathing and noises at night have decreased significantly!  She sleeps longer stretches now.  She doesn't spit-up as much or as often.  She burps a lot more frequently, haha!  I'm glad my baby girl is feeling better!  Thanks for all the prayers!

Keep praying for our family of 3!