Reflux...

Elliott has been diagnosed with reflux. His spitting up was getting really bad - several outfits a day for him and us. He was also doing a lot of arching and crying during and after feedings. I had him to the doctor on Wednesday and she suggested several things that we could try - ex. keeping him upright for 45 minutes after a feeding, leaving him in his car seat or bouncy seat, etc. Dr. Ginsburg said that the reflux can trigger the apnea and since we had seen an increase in the apnea alarms she suggested medication. So we did - he started on Previcaid on Wednesday evening and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It had gotten so bad that for 2-3 nights in a row, he cried from 11 - 4am - but the second night on the meds he slept from 11-5:45! Last night he ate at 9 and slept till 6:45! YOWZAA!!!! He is spitting up and crying less - his feedings are much smoother and don't take near as long. His apnea episodes have decreased as well.

Thursday, Neighborcare - the monitor company, came out to download Elliott's monitor. Karl (our rep) said that the pulminologist would have the information by Tuesday and that we could call to speed up the process. He said that it could take 2-3 weeks for our pediatrician to get the results but that by calling we could speed things up. He also said that with preemies the apnea alarms can be false because they can breath really shallow. As you can imagine we are very eager to hear the results.