Holy Crap

Let me set the stage:

For the last week and a half, Addie has only been eating 1 or 2 teaspoons from her first bottle of the day. The other 4 bottles, she takes between 1 and 2 ounces. The last 2 bottles, she eats about 3 ounces. So, the most she eats in a day is 14 ounces and 2 teaspoons. Not very much. We had an appointment with our GI doctor on Friday and he said that she might have delayed gastric emptying because of the prevacid. It slows down the acid production and thus reduces motility in the gut. She doesn't eat because she always feels full, but if she continues this way for much longer things could get pretty bad. Plus, we're trying to feed her and she hates it and now has her feeding aversion which will only continue to get worse.

He suggests this drug called Reglan. When we were in the ER with Addie, the doctor said, "No matter what, do not let them put her on Reglan!!!!" I found a chat forum for reflux families and I kept seeing things like, "seizures, screaming, emergency room, permanent brain damage, worst 3 days of our lives, kept hitting himself in the face, he started drooling and stopped responding to us" regarding people's experiences with Reglan. I asked the doctor about this and he said that 1 in 100 people will have a fairly serious side effect with Reglan, but most do well. The most common side effect is fussiness. If that occurs, just stop and all will be set to rights within a few days.

Of course, I went over and talked with my NICU nurse neighbor. She has been a NICU nurse for over 20 years. She says she and her fellow nurses LOVE IT! But, they have taken it out of the NICU because it caused so many problems. Hmmm. She is pretty conservative, though, so I ponder her statement.

I then called my sister-in-law's dad who is a pharmacist. I asked him if he'd give it to his kids. "Oh yeah." Says the risks are really small and the good it does can work wonders. Definitely give it a try. He said that a baby's main job in life is to eat and grow and you gotta try to make that happen if they are struggling.

Armed with this information, we proceed forward with the Reglan. Addie ate her next bottle (but up until that point, she had had 1 ounce and 1 teaspoon all day and was starving). She didn't show any weird behaviors, so we gave her another dose. She ate her next bottle really well. But, she didn't nap at all between feeds. She ate the next bottle well and slept as usual until this morning when she woke up about 1/2 an hour early. But this morning she still only ate 1 teaspoon. Hmmm. At church, she was awful. She did eat her whole bottle though (well, of course, she had only had a teaspoon again). No sleeping though. Next bottle, she ate just over an ounce and still no sleeping.

So, we are totally on guard with Addie. Watching every move, tick, jerk, and blink to see if we're ruining our kid. We're a little preoccupied with her wondering if she's fussy because she's hungry 'cause things are finally moving or perhaps because the Reglan is causing her to be fussy or maybe now that things are going through her system, she has a little gas. It could be anything, but she's acting a whole lot different and we want to try and rule out some things before taking her off the meds. But then again, if she's not eating much better, why keep her on them and risk the side effects? We go back and forth, back and forth wondering what to do with this kid.

Now, it's after church and Lexi is in her room having "quiet time". She has been coming out of her room during this and night time so I had told her to stay in her room before we put her down. So, I'm feeding Addie (the bottle where she only ate an ounce) and I keep hearing Lexi moving stuff around and opening and closing and opening and closing the door. But, I'm trying so hard to get Addie to eat without puking on me and trying to keep the bottle in her mouth while she bats at my hands, gags and kicks trying to avoid the bottle that I decide to check on Lex when I'm done with this battle (everyone else was napping).

Before I can get back to her, she comes down the hall with her play kitchen sink in hand. I notice she is totally naked. Uh oh. I immediately think she must have peed on something as I have no idea how long she's been in her birthday suit. Then, in slow motion, I also notice a large green streak across her chest. Then, in even slower motion, I notice her sink is completely full of...POOP! She had pooped and, knowing she couldn't come out of her room, had taken matters into her own hands - literally.

Tossing Addie in the swing, I grab Lexi and head to the bath and yell at Allen to get up and help. As I fill the tub, Lexi, with her impeccable timing says she needs to use the big girl potty. She then proceeds to go potty like nothing out of the ordinary is going on. I really want to beat her, but I find myself telling her what a great job she is doing. I toss her in the tub where she proceeds to say, "I was supposed to stay in my room? I'm sorry mama". We wash twice.

There is poop on play fruit, in the utensils (yeah, she scooped the poop with the noodle spoon and the stainer thing), ground into the burners on the stove, on the handle to the oven, on the floor of her cottage, on the carpet in her room, on her pillow, on her babies, everywhere. I tell them to start bleaching everything.

LaNell sticks everything in the sink with bleach. Allen dismantles the cottage and we proceed to wash it on the antibacterial setting in the washer (that, by the way, Allen had put 3x the needed detergent in since he'd never used it before). Allen scrubs the carpet while I get Lexi dressed. Luckily, Addie has finally fallen asleep in the swing while we are frantically trying to get poop out of everything.

Needless to say, this was one of the crappiest days we've had.