Saturday, July 25, 2009

My Baby's Back!

Poor Bethany had been on a worsening slide into crabbiness with every new morning of her little life. She had become so difficult that it was nearly impossible to get anything done. It was unheard of to lie her down successfully. She had two states of being: asleep or screaming. The babyhood we had enjoyed so much with Tubby was completely absent with this little girl. On Thursday, I had a little chit-chat with Bethany's doctor during her two month old well-child exam. We decided to give Zantac in hopes of solving Bethany's reflux problem. We had 3 other kids with problematic reflux. Michael blessed us with projectile spit up. It was extremely gross, and we had to change his clothes and ours at least 3 times per day. But, it never seemed to bother him, so no meds were needed. With Jonny, his very sad cries stopped and he had become a brand new baby within 5 days of beginning Zantac. With Laura, nothing worked. We tried 3 different meds, and the reflux continued to bother her. She cried a lot, and screamed in the car seat. As she got a bit older, she grew accustomed to the reflux, just as her respiratory problems and need for multiple nebs daily began.
I had a good feeling about starting Bethany on Zantac...I just felt it was going to work. What I had not expected was how quickly that would happen. She received her first dose on Thursday night. Already on Friday morning, she was more relaxed, and made it in the car seat driving 3 hours that day without crying even once! She was a pleasure to hold and snuggle with that evening, and was able to fall quietly asleep in her bed later that night.
Since then, she continues to take her doses of Zantac twice a day, and she is doing so well. She is finally acting like a normal baby, crying when appropriate and without all the scary screaming. She can now be awake without all the rigidity her body would hold and is relaxed enough to snuggle. She no longer looks stressed out and no longer sounds psychotic. She is simply a lovable, sweet, little baby doll.....just like when she began her little journey on this earth.

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