Spit Happens

Another week in Ryan's life and a new set of unique challenges! While Ryan was doing so well with his weight gain, there was a new issue brewing. Turns out he is a big time spitter! During the first two weeks of his life he did not spit up at all. In the back of my head I was thinking that he would be one of those babies that just never really spit up. Last week he really proved me wrong! After a bottle he spit up what seemed like the entire contents of the feeding (and then some!). We didn't think a whole lot of it, just changed his clothes and went on with the day. then it happened again a few hours later. I'm not talking about a little bit of spit either...I know that that is normal. I'm talking the entire contents of his bottle. I thought there might be something in my milk that didn't agree with him, or perhaps we didn't sanitize his bottle well enough and he got some kind of bug. I was afraid to feed him for fear of it happening again! We moved on and wondered if it would. It did- once the next day, once the next, etc. In addition to the spitting up he had a lot of gagging and hiccups at various times throughout the day. We called the pediatrician, and she said as long as he continued to have dirty diapers we should feel comfortable about him getting enough nutrition. So we continued on, suspecting acid reflux and being very careful with each feeding to ensure that it would stay down (stressful!). Some did, some didn't, and we started to seriously question if Ryan was gaining any weight at all with all of this nourishment escaping him on such a regular basis. So we scheduled a weight check for yesterday and it turned out that he only gained 2 ounces in one week (the goal for a baby this age is an ounce per day). We were crushed to say the least. We have been so diligent about his feeding schedule in hopes that his weight would be on track. He is not fussy, thank goodness, but I imagine he is in some discomfort with all of the gagging and spitting. He seems to be doing well otherwise, alert when he should be and still sleeping like a champ. What a little trooper he is. We are baffled! Dr. Murphy ordered a barium swallow at at the hospital for tomorrow to verify that it is acid reflux and to see if there is anything else wrong with Ryan's digestive system. Then we will go from there.
As of today, he has already had his major episode (and hopefully only). He does much better when we hold him for at least an hour after a feeding, so that is where most of our time is going these days. Right now it is 2:15 and I am finally going to take a shower! That is with Keith off today and helping out!
There is medication that babies can take to help with reflux and there is also special formula that we can give him to help. We will see! As parents, Keith and I feel so helpless and sad to see our boy struggling in any way. Please say a prayer for Ry that the reflux will resolve itself and he will continue to grow and thrive!