Zantac has arrived

Aiden and mommy went back to the GI doctor for visit number two. It is a good thing that daddy is not a doctor because the results of the previous upper GI barium x-ray were not normal. The results showed that Aiden has acid reflux. Not exactly startling news to us or the doctor but it was confirmed.

Mommy told the doctor that Axid was NOT WORKING and she wanted Zantac. Mommy got Zantac. Aiden has not taken it yet so we don't know if it will work or not but it can't be any worse than Axid.

Aiden has another test scheduled for next week for a gastric emptying test. No x-ray, but they do a scan and track how quickly his stomach will empty after they feed him a bottle with nuclear stuff that will light up. This is because we cannot lay him down without him getting very stuffy (congested sounding in the nose) and will regurgitate his food after two hours. The doctor wants to rule out the possibility of the fluid making its way back up the esophagus and down into the lungs. That is VERY dangerous and extremely scary to be told the end result of that. So for the time being, mommy still will hold him 24/7 vertical just as we have done since birth.

Friday Update

We made it to Children's at 9:30 am and waited. I said wait because Aiden could not eat past 6 am that morning and he took his bottle at 5 am. It ended up being 10:22 am before we got to give him a bottle.

An upper GI barium x-ray. No fun, but better than the barium enema I am sure. They strapped him to a board with his arms above his head and proceeded to feed him barium chalk junk. They called it sugar water but we are not stupid. We watched on the screen him swallowing and it making it all the way to his stomach. Very neat, but I could live without having gone through it and I know for a FACT Kelly didn't like this test one bit. It was hard to watch.

We don't know anything and probably will not until Monday. Kelly and I did not see anything that would seem to be cause for any concern but we are not doctors. We did have to call the doctor on Friday night to tell them we were going back to #4 or #5, I may have lost count of the formulas at this point, because Similac Alumentum was horrible. Aiden has never spit up like that in his life! Fussy, gassy, uncomfortable, constant spit up that could be measured in ounces, horrible. We are back on Similac Sensitive with Rice cereal because that seemed to be the best of all the ones we have used.

I believe the medicine he is taking in conjunction with his Axid is working. It coats the stomach so he doesn't feel the reflux go up and down at all while the Axid trys to calm it down. Big help so far but we are still not there by a long shot.

Back to Children's

Aiden gets to drink some special fluid and get an x-ray tomorrow at Children's. *Sigh* Poor guy just has not had one day of peace. Neither has mommy.

Reflux, what a mess.

We did make it to the GI doctor at Children's today. A very special thanks to Wendy. We believe we are on the correct path to alleviating the reflux and getting to sleep, without holding Aiden vertical all night.

We have a new formula, #5, and more medicine.

Aiden weight 10 lb. 13.5 oz.

Reflux...

Another trip to the doctor on the weekend meant another formula and an extra medicine for reflux. The formula made things much worse but the jury is still out on the medicine. Aiden is now on Axid in the morning and Prevacid at night. Unfortunately, this is not enough. He has to sleep elevated a very steep angle.

Kelly and Aiden went back to the doctor today and we now have an appointment with a specialist at Children's Hospital in gastroenterologist in a few weeks. Kelly just reminded me that we have seen a cardiologist, urologist, and now a gastroenterologist. I think we are running out of 'ologist.

The reflux is bad. It is safe to say that he has not had a peaceful sleep on his back since he was born. It is safer to say that he has not slept but a handful of times on his back since he was born. And the most safest thing to say, Mommy has had almost no sleep while daddy sneaks it in with naps and when nana stays with us to help out.

Aiden is now 21" long, 10lb 3.5 oz and growing like a weed. He is taking a full 5 oz. bottle and we cut him off at that. H would gobble up 6 oz with no problems but the eating too much makes things much worse.