gastro appt

Yesterday we had to drive an hour and a half, yes, you read that correctly, for Hailey's gastroenterology appointment. BIG difference from MD where we lived 20 minutes from Hopkins. Anyway, the appointment went well - Hailey is now 25lbs, 7oz and is 32 3/4 inches tall or short, however you want to state the obvious :-)

The appointment went well, the doctor we actually saw studied at Hopkins and was really great. He said at this point her reflux may be controlled by meds, but he said in "most" cases she should have outgrown it and so at this point we have to make sure there is nothing else going on. He ended up sending us for an Upper GI scan where Hailey had to drink some "chocolate barium, sounds yummy - and then we had to hold her down under this x-ray so they could watch the barium go through her GI tract. She was such a trooper through the whole thing! Thankfully she LOVES chocolate milk and settled down under the xray once she had her binky and banky (thank God for them).

After the test we went back upstairs and the doctor met with us to say all looks normal, with the exception of mild reflux (this is while on meds). So he said to continue the course we are on, then in March (after cold and flu season) wean the meds again and then schedule an appointment to see him again. He will then test her again off her meds to get a better view of how bad it is and to see if she is still refluxing. If she is still refluxing we will then proceed to scoping her to get a better view.

So lets hope and pray she grows out of it between now and March because I can't imagine she will do well with that test! On a side note, you may remember in the NICU there was talk of a "possible malrotation", but because she eventually started pooping with help (glycerin) they wanted to let her grow and re-test when she was older. Since she is going with the help of miralax our ped never saw it necessary to re-test, but since we had to for the reflux they also looked at that and the possible malrotation was ruled out! YEAH! So he wants us to eventually wean the miralax as well and start giving her more fruit and fruit juice and try to regulate her that way. She already eats fruit everyday for a snack so I am not sure this will work, but we will try.

All in all, we were at the hospital for 3 hours, which isn't to bad considering all we got accomplished. My mom talked to Hailey on the phone after the testing and asked her if she liked the doctor and Hailey emphatically stated "NO". She then proceeded to tell my mom that she drank chocolate milk and was crying! Poor baby! You always wonder what goes through their heads since you can't really explain what is going on at this age. Well, at least its over till next year!