GI - Round 2

Things have been crazy around here and I never got around to updating the blog regarding all of Anthony's tests.  Everything came back normal.  The doctor didn't see anything alarming during the endoscopy, and his biopsies and pH monitor were fine as well.  So no allergic condition and no reflux.  We're grateful that he doesn't have any major problems, but it's frustrating to not have any answers.  So we just continue to plug along and do the best we can.  Sometimes he eats fine, but many times he puts up a fight when it's time to eat.  He does awesome with cereal and baby food, so here's to hoping he outgrows all of this eventually.
The title of this post is GI - Round 2, because Aryanna, not wanting to be left out, has decided to join the put-up-a-fight-to-eat club too.  For about the past month she has started vomiting (of the projectile, through the nose, massive amount, freak out variety) more again.  It has been at least once every day or every other day.  Sometimes she just spits up a little and it doesn't bother her, but when it's a big one she is totally traumatized.  About a month ago she started freaking out whenever it was time to eat.  We made a couple of adjustments that helped some, but the last couple of times the nurse has come (she comes every 2 weeks) she has only gained an ounce or two over a 2 week period (they're supposed to gain half an ounce a day).  So we decided it was time to get her into the GI as well.  We decided to go to a different doctor since we weren't thrilled with Anthony's GI's bedside manner ("His oral aversion doesn't seem that bad.  He will suck my finger." "Uh, glad it's not horrible, but I'm pretty sure he can't drink any milk from your finger.")  So Friday we took Aryanna to her GI and he gave us what I think will be some good solutions, but we also weren't impressed with his bedside manner.  He doubled her dose of Prilosec and apparently Prilosec doesn't work with spit-up formula so we're trying just 26 calorie Neosure now.  Really wish our pediatrician would have caught that one when she prescribed it.  Anyway, hopefully the increased dosage will help.  He also ordered an upper GI study for this Tuesday to make sure her stomach is in the right place - apparently that can cause vomiting as well.  So hopefully we have some solutions for her, but we left disappointed with how we were treated again.  We tell the doctors how much they eat in a day, and they say "Oh, that's decent.  Not wonderful, but not awful either - no big deal." What they don't realize is the battles we go through to get them to eat at all.  We tell them about the crying, batting the bottle, refusing to eat but it just feels like it's all about the numbers for them.  If they're not losing weight then it's fine.  The same goes for the vomiting.  Aryanna's doctor told us "All babies spit up."  I know that.  When she spits up it's not a big deal, when she vomits up an entire feeding almost every day and totally freaks out, that's a bigger deal.  He basically told us the only way he would believe that it's a lot is if we catch her vomit in a towel and weigh it (seriously?!) or if she vomits after every feeding.  (Again, we explained we do a lot of things to prevent her from vomiting - holding her upright after her feedings and never laying her flat until it's been at least 3 hours since she ate.  I can about guarantee she would vomit after every feeding if we didn't take those precautions).  I understand that after we rule out any bigger issues there may not be a lot they can do for the reflux besides upping her dosage or trying a different med, but having our concerns heard and at least being treated like a parent that knows their child would be nice.
So, as you can tell, we're frustrated, we're tired and we hate seeing our kiddos go through this.  Through this lenten season we're praying for complete healing for Anthony and Aryanna and their feeding issues - would you join us in that prayer as well?