Mr. Hyde becomes Dr. Jekyll
During the past few weeks, when someone asks how we’re doing, I either say “Good, yeah, we’re doing good” to most people or – to a few – I say “It’s been hell” and then go into gory detail for half an hour.
Now that things are improving, I’ll sum up…
We got the Prevacid and it definitely helped. Silas started resting better between feedings and he wasn’t screaming as much. But the feedings themselves were still difficult and he began to cry after four or five minutes and I’d have to spend 5-20 minutes calming him down before he’d eat a few minutes more.
A week later I had to pick up a receipt at the pediatrician’s so I schlepped all three kids over there by myself. Since we had to wait nearly 20 minutes, by the time we got the piece of paper Benjamin and Jonah were climbing the walls and Silas was getting cranky. I caught the pediatrician between patients and said the Prevacid was definitely helping, but it was still pretty bad. On cue, Silas starts in on a screaming fit.
Me: So is this the highest we can go with the dosage on the medicine?
Silas: SCREAM SCREAM!
(Benjamin and Jonah engage in a boxing match.)
Doctor (hesitatingly): Well, you could go up to 15mg twice a day...
Silas: SCREAM SCREAM!
Me (full of hope and remembering we had to do that with Jonah and Benjamin, and having to yell over Silas): REALLY?
(Benjamin and Jonah attempt to decapitate one another.)
Doctor: But that’s all. Remember [he said with a smile, because he told us the same thing three years ago], GERD means you want to exchange him for a new one.
Silas: SCREAM SCREAM!
(Benjamin and Jonah collapse on the floor in fits of hysterical giggles.)
Me: YEAH, WE REACHED THAT POINT LAST WEEK! YOU WANT HIM?
The doctor smiled. He thought I was joking.
Silas: SCREAM SCREAM!
Me: WELL THEN, CAN YOU PRESCRIBE ALL FOUR OF US A VALIUM?
The doctor laughed. The nurse laughed.
Sheesh.
I was so not joking.
So Jonathan and I debated the doubling of the Prevacid. Without naming names, I’ll say that the parent who fed/held him 90% of the time while he screamed was all for it. The parent who escaped worked outside the house was concerned about such a high dosage.
Silas was hoarse from all the screaming (he was starting to sound like a baby Nazgul).
I was hoarse from having to scream above his screams.
When someone asked the boys what their little brother does, Jonah said, “He cries.”
I was desperate.
After the feeding that night took an hour and the screaming never let up…. guess who won that debate.
A couple of days later we saw much more improvement. Most of the time he was resting well between feedings. The feedings themselves were sometimes good, sometimes a struggle - - but at least better. I resigned myself to a year of caring for a cranky but tolerable baby.
(“Because a normal newborn just seems to much to ask for, now doesn’t it?!” she asks, in a darker moment.)
Maybe the Lactation Consultant would have some tips on making the feedings easier. So back we went (thank goodness each visit kept getting cheaper) to ask for any tips on nursing GERDlings.
We switched the nursing position to the regular way – I had been doing the football hold because he was so small. And she said that since he was drinking only five minutes on each side, he was getting mostly foremilk which is high in sugar and causes a lot of gas… a-ha! The hindmilk that comes in a little bit into the feeding has all the fat and whatever it is that makes babies full and content after a meal. I knew all this, but I thought since he was only nursing ten minutes total, I needed to do some on each side.
The very next feeding he drank for 15 minutes on one side barely taking time to breathe. Very strange. The rest of the meals that day he drank fairly well, all on one side.
And things started changing. Jonathan and I hadn’t had a chance to talk the next morning so I called Jonathan after feeding Silas around noon: “You are not even going to believe what happened this morning!”
He said, “No – you are not going to believe what happened last night!”
He said Silas had slept without a peep for four hours after I put him down in the living room with Jonathan around 10:30pm. After Jonathan fed him a bottle, he put him down – and again he didn’t peep for nearly four hours.
And I explained that Silas ate for nearly 20 minutes for his morning meal and over 12 minutes for the next – both with minimal fuss and struggle. “And he slept soundly for two hours between the two! And now he’s sleeping again!”
Jonathan was concerned, “Will he sleep tonight if he’s doing all this sleeping now?”
“Of course,” I said. “This is what normal newborns do - - they sleep all the time!”
Then other strange things began happening. Like Silas was not quite settling down to sleep for a nap. So I picked him up before he put himself into orbit with screams.
He calmed down within a few seconds.
How odd, I thought. I put him down again. He started fussing. I picked him up.
He stopped.
I did it again, just to be sure. Same thing. Whoa - - he can be comforted! And by me, his Mom, who up until that point in his short life had been only a source of frustration (bottle to nursing transition) and pain (reflux while eating).
And since he no longer cried constantly, when he did cry I began to able to interpret what it meant. Oh - - he’s tired. I put him down and he’s instantly asleep. Or he cries 2-3 hours after a meal - - oh – this means he’s hungry now.
Feedings are not always easy, but they’re so much better. The reflux is more uncomfortable and annoying instead of a stabbing pain. But guess what… yesterday right after a feeding and when he heard my voice…
HE SMILED!
A big, long grin from his mouth, his eyes, his whole body.
Totally made my day week lifetime!
(same thing happened with Benjamin)
Sep 6, 2009 at 3:00 PM
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