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.
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2 comments:
My heart twists and turns in response to this post. Your fatigue and frustration are well-founded. I know you long for a respite, a hiding place, relief. and you certainly deserve one. i still can't recall a lot about that first year with our twins...such a blur. so many "issues". connection with my husband? forget about it! i know no body can completely relate to all that is going on with you (on the inside and out)...but just so you know, my heart goes out to you during this time.
I have to say that my son was constipated too, and it was awful. I eventually tried the glycerin laxative suppositories every blue moon. They worked wonderfully, and it was a short-term thing. Does he drink iron-based formula at all? Cause I think that was it with my son. My sister went and got them, and I felt awful the first time but you would be amazed at how much poop came streaming out and how much of a relief it was for all of us. Poor little man.
If you feel awful about it, they're very gentle, and as long as you only use them when it's been a long time and you KNOW he's uncomfortable I think it's a fair tradeoff.
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