Reflux sucks. Please help.

I know just two weeks ago I said I was going on a hiatus from blogging, but this is the way I get advice from other mommies and I figured I could get some feedback on the no sleep/reflux issue we're having over here. Now, we're not doing much of this at night:

Here's the problem:

1. Hailey has reflux. I was excited because at her 2 week appointment we got a prescription for zantac and a lot of people say that it is a night and day difference in their baby once they get the zantac on board. Well, unfortunately it hasn't really made that big of a difference for us. She no longer projectile vomits anymore and she screams a little less, but that's it. I know there is a "next step" drug if the zantac doesn't work. It's called Bethanechol I believe. Has anyone ever had to use that because zantac didn't work?? Please tell me it works. It's not that she continuously screams for hours on end (thank the Good Lord), but she doesn't sleep. The longest stretch she ever sleeps is two hours. Otherwise it is short little cat naps here and there.

2. Hailey isn't like most babies. Most babies are awake, then eat and THEN fall back into a milk-induced sleep coma. This is very useful at night time when you feed them and then you want them to sleep right afterwards. Apparently Hailey never got the memo because she eats, then stays awake (because of the reflux) while fighting sleep for what seems like an eternity only to FINALLY freaking fall asleep for a short time before she wakes up again to eat.

3. She is tired but can't sleep. I guess I should retract that previous statement from above that says she fights sleep...she doesn't fight sleep, reflux fights sleep. I think she's exhausted actually and wants to fall asleep but the reflux won't let her. What I mean by this is that she will fall asleep for five minutes then will wake up gagging/coughing/spitting up, grunting, letting out a screech, and doing this horrible gasping sound that the pediatrition labeled "esophageal spasms" induced by the acid reflux. Then I'll finally calm her down and she'll fall asleep for ten minutes (repeat waking up, then falling asleep for two minutes, wake up, I calm her down and then sleep for 5 minutes, wake up, then fall back asleep for another 10 minutes...okay you get the picture) She's better if I hold her up over my shoulder....she'll sleep then, which is why she sleeps okay during the day...but I can't do that at night. I've tried propping her up on a pillow (sorry SIDS police, get over it) and I've tried putting her in her boppy, and I've tried putting her in her car seat. The car seat has worked the best. And by best, I mean she will sleep 2 hours at time (at the most).

4. What makes me the most bummed about this situation? (other than not sleeping and her having pain from the reflux of course...) She can go longer periods at night without eating, which means if she didn't have reflux, I could be sleeping during that time.... For example, the other night she fed at 9:15pm. She was awake til 12:45am and then didn't wake up to eat again until 2am. So she can go five hours without eating. I would KILL to have almost five hours of sleep in a row. Especially considering I haven't slept longer than 3 hours in a row in over a month. AWESOME.

5. The last problem that will stem from this is creating a bad sleeper. Now Hailey doesn't have one of those sweet, quiet cries. She has an incredibly loud, screeching, SCREAM. It could wake up the neighbors a block over. Now, IF I ever get her out of our room/bed (don't judge, the last thing this mom wants to do is get out of bed every five minutes for hours on end to tend to an upset baby in another room...or even a bassinet in our room) how will I get her in her crib at night when she wakes up every two seconds...she will wake Ryder up and that is that last thing I want! I have heard horror stories of moms who said they leaped out of bed the second they heard child #2 cry at night to quiet them because they didn't want child #1 to wake up. And that in turn develops bad habits of child #2 waking up all the time and never learning to sleep through the night because they have learned they can wake up, cry and mom comes running. Uhhhgh, seriously.

I could probably continue writing/bitching forever, but I don't have time and I just heard Ryder on the monitor---Big Head is up for the day!

So please tell me something to make me feel better. What did you do in these situations if your child had reflux? What worked? When did they grow out of it? Any suggestions help as I am pretty much at wits end with the whole sleep thing!

Updates

We had Hailey's 2 week appointment on Tuesday. She is gaining weight nicely--she was born at 8lbs 1oz, and she weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 10.5 oz :) which is the 75th percentile for weight. Both her height and head size were also in the 75th percentile too. So she is a good sized gal!

Ryder is still hit and miss on whether or not he likes Hailey. One moment he does and the next he doesn't. I think it's less that he hates her, and more that he hates that we can't pay attention to him 100% of the time like he's used to having. Here are a few pictures of him in a "loving her" stage...

Anyways, I have been fairly busy (hahaha, that's funny) and find it hard to write on here much. So I am thinking that this whole blog thing will be put on hold for a bit. I barely have time to shower or get laundry done or go to the bathroom even...let alone blog at this point in my life. So I'm taking a leave of absence for now :( I will try to occasionally give some updates, but overall....just assume we're surviving!!

We're still here...

Every night I think I'll get on the computer to check my emails and update my blog. Something always comes up or there is always something that needs to be done. But yes, we're still alive over here at the Haskins house!

Sometimes I think it's going to be impossible to do this whole "2 kids vs 1 mom" during the day thing. But then I remember that everyone does it... I think the main thing is just figuring out what works for us. The worst part is trying to nurse Hailey with Ryder around. He absolutely HATES when I nurse her because a)I'm with her and not him and b) I can't get up and play with him. Unfortunately it takes a solid half hour with doing both boobs and changing diapers and burping...for a two year old, a half hour is a lifetime! I guess we'll be watching a LOT of Elmo! Here are a couple pictures over the last week and a half. (and it's true that the second child gets the shaft when it comes to pictures. I've barely taken any pictures of Hailey).

Hailey has gas...

Here she is showing her big blue eyes.

I also cannot even begin to say how thankful I have been to have both my parents and Joe's parents helping us out these past two weeks. They have both been fantastic help and have been so flexible with helping out around our house and especially with Ryder. Here are a few pictures my mom snapped of Ryder playing outside the other day. Of course, it's of him playing in the weeds. He's such a boy...always in the weeds, dirt, puddles, etc.

What a bruiser this boy is!

And here is one of Grandpa Donn breaking the rules and he's busted on camera! I never let Ryder climb up the slide and I just finally got him to the point where he doesn't even try anymore because he knows he's not supposed to... Apparently he is enjoying breaking the rules :) That's what Grandparents are for though, right?!

And an update from last Thursday's weight check for Hailey: she passed! She gained 6oz in two days and they said that was "impressive". So hopefully she'll be getting chubby sooner rather than later. I love chubby babies (and chubby big boys. i.e. ryder!)

Hailey Joan Haskins!!

March 15th...the day we've been waiting for finally arrived! After spending the morning with Ryder, we headed to the hospital at 11am to get checked in and ready for my scheduled c-section. With Ryder, we were an emergency c-section and everything happened so fast I couldn't even think while it was going on, but this time was different. I walked myself to the operating room and got onto the table myself. The anesthesiologist did my spinal block and we were ready to go! I was so aware of everything going on and since the OB took her time with this one, I decided I wasn't a huge fan of it. I got really nauseated and just overall did not feel well throughout the procedure. It totally could also have been related to my nerves, but either way...not a fan.

But totally worth it because our little peanut was the end result. Hailey Joan Haskins was born at 1:18 on March 15th. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 21 inches long. Immediately we thought she looked identical to Ryder when he was born, but by the next day after swelling went down and she was all cleaned up we decided there were similarities but they definitely don't look identical like we originally thought.

This is a picture after her first bath in the hospital. Gotta love the bow!

As for Ryder, the day she was born he came to hospital and took one look at her and as Joe tried to bring her over to my bed to get a family photo, he bolted off the bed and out the door. He never looked at her again that day or even came anywhere in the same vicinity!

Day number two, he touched her hair and then ran away. Day number three, he started to look at her more and was curious about her...and then we brought her home :) It's been a roller coaster ride since we've been home. One minute he likes her, can't stop pointing and saying "baby" and he even gave her a kiss the other day. And then the next day it's like the worst most horrible day ever and he's crying all day. I suppose it will be that way for awhile, but I know it will get better. I'm actually very proud of him because he was sooo good for Joe and both Joe's parents and my parents throughout the four days I was in the hospital. He was in great spirits, was really flexible, and was a happy camper. That was the one thing I was most worried about last weekend, and I'm so glad that we have such a good support system and our parents took such great care of him. Thank you for being so flexible!!

Here's a picture of Hailey after her first bath at home last night. With that hair sticking up everywhere, she looks like a baby monkey ;)

And here is a photo of what our mornings are like now. It used to be just Ryder in bed with me (or all three of us if Joe was home in the morning)...but now he has to share it with her. Can you tell he's not that impressed??

And here was one point where Ryder thought she was pretty neat. I'm glad I captured this one, because it's so dang cute!

Another one of Ryder checking out his new baby sister. Get used to it my big-headed friend because she's here to stay!

Oh and we also had Hailey's newborn photo session today. It went really well and she was super sleepy the whole time, which was nice. We got some REALLY good photos and I can't wait to get them back. We also managed to get some 2 year photos of Ryder in as well. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get them back.

Oh, and another side note. Since Hailey had lost 10% of her weight from birth, we had to bring her to the doctor's office on Tuesday to recheck her weight. She had lost another ounce or so, so tomorrow we'll go back again and get her weight rechecked. I'm HOPING she has gained weight a little (or at least hasn't lost anymore). I'll keep you all posted!

The day has finally come!!

Yesterday mid afternoon, Joe and I said, "this time tomorrow, we'll be heading up from the recovery room to the postpartum floor...with another baby..." And I won't lie, we both got some major butterflies!! You know, I'm not nervous for the surgery. I did it before, I know what to expect and I'm hoping it will be better (or at least no worse) than last time considering last time was an emergency c-section and this one is planned. The thing that I am nervous about is Ryder. I'm nervous about how he will handle the new baby coming in on his turf. I know it will be fine, and he'll get used to it eventually. And if it was that bad, every family would be a single child family, right?? Anyways, I can pretty much guarantee that I will be a mess when we leave this morning. Every time I think about leaving Ryder "for the last time as my only child" I seriously get choked up. I have let a few tears drop numerous times when I think about it. Mostly the tears come when I think about his feelings getting hurt :(

Yesterday was sooo incredibly gorgeous out! And to make things even better, Joe decided to take the day off so we could have one last day as a family of three! I couldn't have been happier--we ran errands in the morning, went out to lunch, and played outside all afternoon and evening. We went to the park, we went on a bike ride (which I'm sure was quite the sight to see--a full term pregnant lady riding a bike....) It was a FANTASTIC day! I'm sure today will be even more fantastic as we finally get to meet our little lady :) Our c-section is scheduled for 1pm today (not that I was sleeping anyways, but I did get out of bed at 5am to have my "last meal"!!!) so keep us in your thoughts and wish us luck!!!

Last preggo picture: me on the day of my induction with Ryder (at 41 weeks)

Me this time at 39 weeks. (WOW, I'm carrying so LOW this time compared to last time).

Less than a week!

This will be a random, hodge-podge post.

So the other day, Ryder was watching me very intently when I was cleaning the bathroom upstairs. In particular, he loved the toilet bowl brush. Then yesterday I needed to clean the half bathroom by our kitchen. I squirted toilet bowl cleaner into the toilet and walked away to let it sit there for a bit while I did something in the kitchen. Not even a minute later, Joe hollers to me, "What is Ryder doing!!!!??" I go over to see what he meant and I busted out laughing. Ryder had obviously watched me put the cleaner in the toilet and knew what to do next because he had gone under the sink and busted out the toilet bowl brush and was scrubbing away. Of course, he wanted to do it himself and got mad when I tried to take it away. So I let him do it and he actually did a pretty dang good job! (I will also mention that we did wash his hands after this, don't worry). Now...if only I could teach him how to clean the shower....

And I love this picture below. It was from when we had the snow storm the other week. Ryder is such a Daddy's boy, and mimics everything his Daddy does. I just love how I happened to catch Ryder "looking up" to his Daddy :) So sweet!

And tonight Joe's brother, Logan and his wife Amy came over for dinner. If you remember from previous posts, we are three days apart in our due dates. Those are some big bellies!!!

Another new stage we've hit?? Terrible Toddler at Dinner Phase. Dinner is no longer fun like it used to be when Ryder was entertaining, funny, sweet, and most importantly...ate whatever we put in front of him. Now we throw tantrums, scream, cry, and throw shit because my big headed, sassy child is starting to assert his independence. But he unfortunately lacks the proper verbal skills to tell us what exactly is causing him to be so upset. But I think if he could verbalize what he wanted, it would be something along the lines of, "why don't you fools go shove that chicken and veggies where the sun doesn't shine and then go and get me some cereal or crackers or some other sort of bread/carb because there is no way in Hell I am going to eat what you just put in front of me." Yeah. It's super fun.

SIX MORE DAYS till we're a family of four!

38 weeks belly picture/maternity leave!!

One week from tomorrow is our scheduled c-section! WOW--crazy to think about for sure. Today I had my weekly OB appointment and I mentioned to the doctor my latest issue. Now I want to preface that normally when I go to the OB, they ask how you're feeling, if you're having tightening, if you're having issues going to the bathroom, etc etc. And typically I respond with my usual, "no problems. Things are fine, and I'm feeling well relative to being this big and pregnant." I mean, OB appointments aren't a therapy session where you get a chance to bitch and moan about all your aches, pains, issues with peeing yourself occasionally, and how you can't sleep, the list goes on and on and on. That kind of stuff happens to everyone, and those kind of complaints are saved for your loving husband (sorry Joe..the pregnancy complaints are almost over!)

ANYWAYS, off on a tangent here for a second...so last Friday at work, I jumped out of my chair at one point and literally felt the baby drop. I no longer have had rib pain, I can breath better, and I had a bigger space between my boobs and my big belly. So that's a great thing, right?!! Well I found the alternative to carrying a baby higher...incredible discomfort in the groin. Now some of you already know (whether you like it or not!) that I have been having some varicose vein issues that have decided to show up in some unwanted places....use your imagination if you will.... So that's already uncomfortable when I'm on my feet for extended periods of time. BUT, since the baby has dropped it's been a whole new level of groin pain to add to the mix. When I'm on my feet for longer periods of time, I get these waves of pressure that shoot down my groin and into my thigh that feels like I have vice grips on my femoral arteries. I literally have to sit down because it takes my breath away it hurts so bad sometimes. SUPER FUN!!!!

So when I mentioned this to the OB (I'm thinking...this cannot be normal--as I never had this with Ryder) she just smiled and said that yes, it's unfortunately normal when a woman carries a baby as low as I am. Basically her head is sitting inside my pelvis and therefore is putting an incredible amount of pressure on my circulatory system in my legs---she can come out anytime now. She told me the best thing to do is to try not to do any strenuous activity and stay off my feet. Okay lady...I work 12 hour night shifts in an ICU...AND I have four more shifts to go before next week....that is just not an option. So after talking with my OB and then being encouraged by Joe...it didn't take much to twist my arm and I have officially started my maternity leave as of today. I feel like I'm kind of being a baby "quitting" a week early, but our family is just getting over a nasty cold and I'm feeling exhausted all the time too. So whatever. It is what it is, so what the hell?? Another week of maternity leave for me I guess!!

So here is a picture of me pregnant with Ryder:

And here is a picture of me pregnant this time around. Just like last time I posted a belly picture, it's crazy to see how differently I'm carrying this time versus last time. I'm so pointy like a football this time, weird!

Anyways, now that I finally am not so focused on having to work a bunch of night shifts and how sucky that is when you're at the end of your pregnancy, I can finally say I officially feel really excited to meet our little girl :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!