1 1/2 Years!

I can't believe our sweet little preemie is now 18 months old. He's growing up way too fast and I miss cuddling my little 5 pound baby all day long. He's now walking like a champ and very close to running, which also includes getting into more trouble. We're still going to feeding class with him and working on eating table foods, with no new developments. We have an 18 month appointment coming up soon to see how he's weighing in these days.

Last Wednesday we finally got in to see a pediatric GI doctor. After having a meeting talking about all his issues, how it started, and all the treatments we've tried, he had a few recommnedations. The first was to go through the standard tests for such severe reflux. We scheduled an Upper GI Series and he wanted to call Zach's nephrologist to see if he could take magnesium citrate. The GI doc was worried that he had chronic constipation to the point of partial impaction and wanted to give him this medication to clean him out. It turns out he can't take the magnesium citrate so we're going to continue miralax and even increase his dose to try to fix that problem. We also went in for the Upper GI and had equipment malfunctions during the procedure. During the procedure Zach had to drink barium while the radiologist took continuous x-rays. Zach didn't seem to mind the drink, but hated the fact that we kept turning him side to side. The doctor was able to follow the barium all the way through, until he got the emptying stage (from the stomach to the intestines) when the machine shut down. They rushed him into the other room with a different machine, but it was too late. We had to reschedule to come back so that he could get this last stage. We went back a couple days later, but it wasn't quite as bad because we already knew how to get him to drink the barium, and there was less turning side to side. This test showed that he didn't have any anatomical defects throughout his digestive system.

When I called the GI doctor to find out what the next step was, it turns out he's out of town until next week so we won't find out until then. Generally they would now do a pH probe study (NG tube down his nose and into his stomach that measures the acidity for 24 hours, which would also require an admit to the hospital) and after that they would do an endoscopy. I would rather they do one or the other, and only if it's going to affect his treatment. Not only would these procedures be extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant for Zach, they'd be extremely expensive for mom and dad. Hopefully we can figure something out to not only stop the vomiting, but help him to become a better eater.

He continues to talk like crazy and surprises us with new words every day. He's growing up way too fast, but becoming so much more fun. We sure love this little man!