take it down a notch

Well, my son is constipated. He has acid reflux too, but the constipation is the biggie. A week or so ago, we took him to the emergency room (it was a Sunday, not many other options in the wee hours on a Sunday), and through the genius that is the emergency room staff in our town, after all their 'testing': ie; blood taken from both arms of my tiny child (I guess they expect infants to be able to explain their own malfunctions to them!), they diagnosed my son with 'teething'.

They attributed all the ceaseless screaming, refusal of food, and vomiting to teething. I guess medicine has really come a long way for teething to be the disovered cause of all that is wrong with my son. Wow. They tell us this, but not before admonishing me by asking, 'you haven't taken him to the doctor and he's been screaming for nearly 2 months?' , and, 'don't you try to give him water or Pedialyte?' Of course, these questions were posed directly to ME, not my husband, who is actually holding the offender/patient at the time. Yeah, that's right. Two months, no doctor... we are gluttons like that (or maybe we have TWINS, and the one who is screaming has always been fussy and who can tell the f'ing difference at this point?).

We were sent home with essentially no answers or advice, $150 co-pay lightening our wallet, and imagining we'd just been pushed aside for a drunk driver's head injury or a teenager's pesky cough, and I knew we'd be begging the twins' regular doc to fit us in the next day. Trouble was, my husband would be leaving for work in the morning and I had never taken the twins to the doctor alone... whatever; if needed, I'd do it. However, the decision was made for me when Jackson began projectile vomiting (once again!, darn that 'teething'!) during the morning bottle.

I ran to the driveway to tell John, who was about to enter his car to leave. I didn't 'expect' him to cancel work for the day, but I wanted to give him the option; he has never missed an appointment for these kids -- even when they were just tiny specks on the ultrasound screen, so I wasn't sure, but I figured, he'd want to be involved in this too. In the end, Jackson and I went to the doctor while John stayed home with Evelyn (no point in dragging her through it again, though she did well during our almost 4-hour visit in the emergency department the day before).

Jackson's doctor thought teething and acid reflux could be causing the intolerable behaviors and quickly wrote a prescription for Tagamet. I wanted 'proof' of who-knows-what, so she agreed to order an abdominal X-ray. Turns out, he was full of poop. Full. Entire intestines showing up filled on the X-ray.

Now, we're doing flax seed oil in the AM oatmeal, and glycerin suppositories as needed (he needs them a lot, and I know they aren't to be used for long term, but I also know that if Jackson is screaming and won't release his bowels, then we are BOTH in pain). He seems 'better', though not back to 'normal'. Like on a scale of 1-10, ten being the screaming he was doing, he is now about a 7. He still has the same type of screaming going on, only now instead of all day, it is only when he needs to 'go'. I can see how crazy all of this has made me, because it feels like such a break to 'only' have to go through this several times a day in bursts instead of all day without breaks! I do my best to relax him and try to get him to go on his own, but the last two days, he's needed at least 1 suppository to go.

My husband is starting to break. Usually, he is the King of Patience while I am tearing my hair out and muttering about how our baby is never going to be able to poop on his own and that we'll never again be able to leave the house, but since the doctor's visit, I can tell that the ongoing screaming is getting to him; he seems depressed and withdrawn, and I know he is overwhelmed with work as well. I have almost no energy to cheer him up either. It is all I can do to remain calm and 'cheery' for Jackson all day long so that he doesn't become more upset over bowel movements.

I hope this gets straightened out in the next couple of months. At this point, I am so beaten down, I am no longer shooting for relief in the next few days, but would love some normalcy to return by the time they are 12 months. As it is, we think traveling (with babies) out of state to my husband's 20 year reunion the first weekend of October may be out of the question.
If this goes on much longer, sanity may be out of the question.

let's go crazy

Not much to say today except that my son is a cry-whiner. He has always been much more demanding (de...monic?) than my daughter, but it is really coming to a head lately, either because it has been 8 really long months of it now, or because it is getting worse. I honestly can't tell.

He sleeps and naps just fine, and takes his pre-food bottles just fine, but something happens between the bottle and the baby food and he goes berserk and cries and whines up until the next nap. You can only get him to be quiet/happy if you (constantly, without rest) wrestle him, tickle him, or toss him around in the air, but with two babies to care for, SOMEtimes you have another diaper to change. Other times, I have to pee, but I guess he can't handle that either, and I have already given up eating, so I'll be damned if I have to give up elimination of my meal-replacement drinks too.

The twins have their 9 month check-up soon and I plan to ask the Dr. what we can/should do about the crying+screaming+whining that have made it so we can't go anywhere or have any friends over if the twins are awake. The incessant crying that makes it so I can't eat or relax. The noise level that makes it so I can't play with and enjoy the other baby (oh, yeah, remember her?), my daughter.

Right now, I am thinking it could be reflux, though he doesn't show many of the more obvious signs of that problem, but I can't put my mind to thinking he is just a 'bad' baby or that we'll have to wait for him to outgrow it. I hope there is a diagnosable, treatable problem with him... something we can 'fix'. If there isn't, there WILL be a diagnosable, treatable problem with me - insanity (or anorexia... anxiety... exhaustion, you name it).