Prevacid, the miracle drug

Little Eddie saw the G.I. dr. on Tuesday and she immediately diagnosed him with GERD. She said his case is so bad that she wanted to admit him into the hospital for 24-36 hours and give him medicines through an I.V. Eddie and I declined to do this because the medicines they were going to give our baby were the same medicines that she was prescribing for him. I brought him home and immediately tried to get his prescription of Prevacid filled. I went to 3 different pharmacies before I was told that I had to take the prescription to a compounding pharmacy because Prevacid has a 14 day shelf life.

I finally found a pharmacy that would make it, but a big storm was about to come in, so I had to wait for it to pass. It was 72 degrees and the temperature dropped to 36 degrees within an hour. It rained for a few minutes, then we had quarter-sized hail for 20 minutes, and then it started snowing. It was the CRAZIEST weather! The temperature continued to fall and ended up getting down to 22 degrees. Little Eddie and I bundled up and went up to the pharmacy, where they told us it would take 1 1/2 hours to mix up the medicine. I politely told the pharmacist that we would just wait it out because poor little Eddie had already been to the hospital twice (ultrasound on his tummy and the G.I. dr.) and to 3 pharmacies. So, I just sat in the waiting area and held him, which was his first nap of the day. I think the pharmacist felt bad for us, so she made his medicine in about 45 minutes. We finally got home around 4:30, after being out since 8:00 that morning.

I gave Eddie his first dose of Prevacid, and his relief was almost instantaneous. He normally shakes his head violently during feedings, but he nursed calmly. We then only have about 10-15 minutes after eating where he is happy, but he stayed happy and alert for about an hour!!

Little Eddie is on his 3rd day of the Prevacid and it's like we have a brand new baby! He only cries if he is hungry or tired. He still doesn't nap very well, but at least he will sleep for 20 minutes or even up to an hour! I might actually be able to get some things done around the house if he keeps this up!

Here is a picture of our happy little man...

GERD

Little Eddie has been to two dr's appointments today and we finally have an official diagnosis of GERD, which is gastro-esophogeal reflux disease. My poor little guy has acid reflux that starts to come up his throat, but it never comes all the way out, so it burns him coming up AND going back down. We have been trying Mylanta and Zantac for the past week, but they weren't really working. Eddie has been fussy and inconsolable for 5 weeks, so hopefully his new medicine, Prevacid, will help. The Prevacid is supposed to block the production of stomach acid, which should stop the burning of his throat. If he doesn't show signs of getting better in 24-48 hours, then he will have to be admitted into the hospital for further testing.

It's been a long and trying 5 weeks, so here's hoping and praying that Prevacid is our miracle drug...

Another trip to the pediatrician

Poor little Eddie has been REALLY fussy lately, so I called the pediatrican and he had me bring in little Eddie this morning. As if the colic wasn't bad enough, the poor little guy was constipated. Dr. Laycob had to "loosen him up" and he instantly went to the bathroom. He just screamed and screamed, but at least now he is feeling better. Little Eddie has been sleeping all day, which doesn't surprise me, since he hasn't slept much in the past 4 days. Hopefully, this little trip to the doctor will help to keep him regular, which will keep him happy!

I also saw Dr. DeRosa today and I got the green light to resume normal activities. I'm really excited about being able to exercise and play my horn again. I'm probably going to take a few more weeks off of horn playing, but I'm looking forward to rejoining the St. Louis Philharmonic again this spring.

Eddie and I got to go to dinner last night without little Eddie for the first time since he was born. We dropped off little Eddie with his Uncle Jeff and Aunt Julie. They watched him for a couple of hours and we went out to Kreis', one of our favorite steak restaurants. It was nice to get out without the baby, but I kept worrying about him the whole time. I guess it's just some kind of "new mommy syndrome" that made me worry, so hopefully that will pass soon. I wasn't really able to relax much because I was nervous that little Eddie was screaming the whole time. It turns out that he was pretty fussy, but it wasn't anything that Jeff and Julie couldn't handle!

That's all the news for now. We're still just taking things one day at a time. I'll just be REALLY happy when we get through the colicky phase and I'll be able to get to know my happy little son.

One month old

Little Eddie is one month old today. Sometimes I feel like the time is going by really quickly and other times it feels like it is really dragging. It's hard for me to believe that Eddie's been here for only a month. We've really settled into a nice routine and it's hard for me to remember what my life was like before he arrived.

We went to see Dr. Laycob (Eddie's pediatrician) today and we got a GREAT report. Eddie weighs 9 lb. and 1 oz., which means he's gained 2 lb. and 3 oz. since he was born. The average weight gain for the first month is 1 1/2 lb., so I have a little tank on my hands! He's 21 1/4 inches long, so he's grown almost a whole inch in length. This puts little Eddie in the 50th percentile. He started out in the 25th percentile, so he's really made quite a jump in 4 1/2 weeks.

Since he is growing so well, Dr. Laycob told me I could reduce his daytime feedings to every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. I was feeding him every 3 hours, but I was having to wake him up for his feedings, so now we can go a little longer....YAY!!!! I was also told that little Eddie's feedings shouldn't be taking longer than 30 minutes, which will be a nice change from the 45-60 minute feedings we've been doing. Basically, I've been over feeding him a little bit and he is a demanding feeder, so we need to scale it back. I will GLADLY listen to Dr. Laycob and the lactation consultants on this one! :)

Here's a picture of Eddie at one month old:



That's the update for now. I'm still only getting 4-5 hours of total sleep at night, so hopefully that will turn around soon, too!