6 weeks...rough morning, trip to doctor, and a diagnosis

Sorry...this is going to be a LONG one ;0

Cooper is 6 weeks today! :) But....

I just KNEW it was too early to celebrate our one easy night (darn!). Last night started out well enough but quickly went downhill. Cooper's feedings became increasingly challenging. At his 3:00 am feeding he would take 2 gulps then cry and flail his arms and push the bottle away but then start to cry and smack his lips and root to signal he was hungry still. This went on for an hour as we slowly but surely got him to consume 3.5 oz of formula, followed by some spit up (spit up is OK and normal and doesn't happen very often). After finishing the bottle he became increasingly agitated and upset. I went through the normal round of checks and made sure his diaper was dry/clean, burped him again to help get any remaining air/gas bubbles out, etc. yet he continued to cry and squirm and occasionally stiffen his body. I spent 2.5 hours trying to console him - pacing the house with him, tried the swing (worked for 10 minutes then he started up again), repeated the round of checks (diaper, burping, offering more formula, etc.).

At 5:15 am he gave the hunger cues so I prepared a bottle and fed him. Another challenging feeding and I was suspicious he may have a tummy ache (Bob had a stomach ache all day Friday) so I fed him a half ounce at a time and burped him before resuming. Once he reached the 2 oz mark (and a typical feeding these days is 3.5 oz) and was burped he pursed his lips and wouldn't take anymore so I let him rest and he had his eyes wide open and was staring at me (not unusual) when all of a sudden he had a fearful expression and BAM - projectile vomit all over himself and all over me and the couch. It was curdled and chunky - so gross and alarming looking. Cooper became hysterical so I calmly stood up with him and brought him to the nursery to change him and clean him up and check his temperature (no fever thankfully), then called the pediatrician's office and left a message for the on-call doctor to find out if we should hold off on feeding him or go ahead and feed him again, and/or bring him in to be seen, etc.

Once he was cleaned up I was able to calm him down and he fell asleep on my chest but I wanted to get him more upright just in case he vomited again so I placed him in his car seat and put it between Bob and I against the headboard of our bed. It was about 6:30 am at that point. We watched him for about 90 minutes as we waited for the call back and I ended up falling asleep probably around 8:00 am and of course as SOON as I fell asleep the doctor called back (but that's OK - we wanted to hear from them) and she instructed us to bring him in to their office right then. So we got dressed, packed Cooper up and off we went.

Once there, he was weighed -- 8 lbs, 5 oz (up 3 oz since Monday -- I expected a bigger gain but the doctor said he is right on track and that there are going to be weeks with BIG gains like he had last time and weeks with lower gains but overall he's doing super). Then they put a plastic urine catch bag on him so that if he urinated while there they could take it and run an analysis on it to check for various things that may help figure out what's going on with him. Turns out Cooper decided not to pee the entire time we were there (so odd since he pees ALL the time - maybe he was feeling shy LOL) but it was of no concern to the doctor once she evaluated him.

The doctor checked him over and said she was happy that she saw no signs of illness - no fever, no distention or swelling, coloring is good, weight gain still on track, vomiting episodes are not frequent enough to indicate a serious problem, etc. We talked through the signs/symptoms of the past couple weeks and having the feeding/diaper change log with us was a huge help. Call me crazy but we're still logging EVERYTHING and so far it's really been helpful to us for predicting/responding to his needs and also to the docs to see what patterns and symptoms he's exhibiting. For instance, doc asked me when the last time he pooped was. Now, had I not logged these things I would have just shrugged my shoulders b/c sleep deprivation does a job on one's memory and ability to tell the day/time LOL....so I pulled out the log and said "9:45 pm last night". She asked if that was typical for him and again having the log handy I took a look and confirmed that it's typical for him to have just 3-4 poopy diapers per day (excluding that one day we tried to change formula and OMG there were like 8 that day LOL). So...my OCD and need to document Cooper's feedings and bodily functions are paying off. Bob had teased me last night about how I'm STILL logging feedings and diaper changes but he acknowledged this morning how it's really been useful information. =)

The doctor concluded that Cooper has Acid Reflux (Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER) )- even though he doesn't spit up a lot (which is typical for GER), his feeding behavior of arching his back, throwing his head back and gulping and crying during some feedings is consistent with GER. This explains why he sleeps best in the car seat carrier - in an upright position. What's interesting and frustrating is that all the books say these behaviors mean gassiness/air bubbles so we've been using the Mylicon drops when it happens (and it has helped) and had no idea it could be GER. Doc said the drops are good and helpful and that Cooper seems to be having both the GER and gas issues so we should continue using the drops and she prescribed Zantac for him (there's a liquid form for babies) to have twice daily.

We asked her about the purpose, usefulness and safety of what is called "gripe water" since I've heard so much about it from friends recently. I bought some yesterday but didn't want to use it without checking with the doctor first and had planned to call them Monday to ask about it but since we were already there...haha. She explained it's a homeopathic remedy for colic, gasiness, hiccups, etc. and that as long as it's an alcohol-free formulation it's safe to use and she said to go ahead and try that when he gets super fussy and upset to see if it helps. She even said that if needed we can give both Mylicon drops AND gripe water if one doesn't do the trick.

I asked her to look at his neck (site of staph infection he had but had cleared up as of a week ago) again to be sure that it still looks good since it's been a week since they directed us to stop using the ointment and she confirmed that it looks great and it's gone. However she suggested we get a specific over-the-counter anti-fungal cream to have on hand in case we notice his neck smelling funky since he has a chunky neck that gets minimal air flow/exposure and could end up developing a yeast infection - she said if he smells funny, apply the cream. OK, got it.

We talked about the attempt to reintroduce the previous formula and she said to keep him on the lactose-free formula through til his 2 month check up (end of this month) and then after that we may try again to see if it was the AR that was interfering with the experiment or if there really is a lactose intolerance issue.

Before leaving the doc's office she suggested we feed him while we were there and hang out a few minutes to see how he does. Thankfully I was prepared with a bottle since I knew he'd be super hungry after up-chucking the prior feeding in its entirety several hours earlier. He took the full 3.5 oz with no issues so she gave us the Zantac prescription and we headed out.

Dropped Bob and Cooper off at home and I hit the pharmacy for the Zantac and anti-fungal cream. Back home now. Cooper got his first dose of Zantac, had his lunch time feeding and is now asleep in his swing. Time for my nap now (fingers crossed that it actually happens).

We were supposed to take my little sister to lunch today but I had to call her from the pediatrician's office and reschedule for tomorrow since we wouldn't be able to get down to LA in time following the doctor's visit. I felt terrible postponing this long awaited reunion with Mary whom I adore. She's been so incredibly patient while I was on bed rest and since having the baby and needing to recover and ensure Cooper's immune system could tolerate exposure to other kids. Mary was gracious and understanding - she's so wonderful. I can't wait to see her tomorrow and to give her a great big hug and thank her for her patience and understanding over these past several months. She's such a great kid and I've missed her so much.