merry christmas!

Ethan is rolling over!

Im about a week late on this but Ethan started rolling over last sunday! He loves it! Everytime he rolls he smiles..its just too darn cute! He is starting to sleep better through the night,but were still not a full night sleeper yet.

Thursday we went to the eye dr to make sure the cpap and oxygen didnt harm his eyes,and after a very tramatic experience we found out it didnt! We will go back when Ethan turns 6 months just to double check.

Other than that I dont really have anything to report.I am extremely tired and I start back to work this coming Fri. :( Oh Ethan has physical Therapy on mon,so Ill update then!

Reflux

Thursday Ethan's ped called me to see how he was doing with his reflux medications. I told them he was still throwing up way too much and as of that morning he could not hold down a bottle at all. Of course they had me bring him in right away. When we get there they listened to his tummy and chest for a good while then they measured his head and looked at me and said "you need to go to the hospital right now" they werent sure what was going on with him. The Dr at this point said it was either going to be because of ACM II or a muscle in his tummy. She called our neuro to see if he thought it was ACM II and he said he didnt think that the head growth was too alarming and he didnt think the vomiting was being caused by it either. (his head circ. grew 1cm in 4days) The neuro said we would just push his appt for the mri forward so we can get a better idea of things sooner (I have yet to hear when it is going to be now,it was going to be 01-04) So we were off to the hospital. I was terrified bc the dr (ped) told me that if it was the muscle in his tummy or it was ACM II they would do surgery right away. I got ahold of Greg and him and my mother in law met me and Ethan at the hospital. I must add this little part..though it is not as important as the story itself..it goes to show why I HATE Gaston Memorial hospital and why I drive 1 hr 15min to Presbyterian! The dr had called Gaston and set up x-rays,ultrasounds,and for this tube thing to be placed down his throat. I was told "go in the birthing center and the receptionist will tell you where to go if you just tell them Ethans there for radiology" Ok easy enough right...WRONG! I walk in and immediatly get screamed at by this old man who "No one under 18,get him out of here" I screamed back "hes the patient" like seriously you couldnt have politetly asked if hes the patient? So I just walked past the guy and kept going! I get to reception, tell them he has a appt in radiology. They send me to the 3rd floor (btw the birth place is seperate from the actual hospital though they are conected by a breezeway) so I got to the 3rd floor and ask the guy at the desk if he can point me to radiology.He sasys "you cant have that baby here, no one under 18 is allowed" I respond "I know sir,hes the patient" the guy then tells me to go to the main building and go to the 2nd floor and down the hall on the left" I thank him and go where he told me.Now Im in the er. AARGGHH! So I ask someone in there how I get to radiology and they say go to the 1st floor and down the hall on the left. So thats where I go next (let me make sure you know here the dr is telling me how urgent this is and Im freaking out) I finally get in radiology and they scream at me because Ethan wasnt admited at the reception desk in the birth place. I explain exactly what happened. And the lady sighed and said hold on and she made a phone call. She tells the person on the phone "this lady claims she wasnt told she and to be admited what do I make her do" She then puts the phone down and says to be "go get him admited" I got pissed and said "what the hell is wrong with everyone in this damn hospital.My dr said its urgent for him to get this done and no one gives a shit your all just throwing me around" she looks at me and says "go to admitting" AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! So i go to admitting, I was there 45min no lie! Then I finally get back to radiology and they took us straight back bc "its urgent" ASSES!!! why was it not so urgent till now? So everything was done..I had to hold Ethan down while they did it which was horrible. Then we were sent to the waiting area for the results. Found out it is just severe reflux! They had called my ped to let her know and she wanted to talk to me on the phone, she told me to give him the same amount of meds for the reflux and to add 1 1/4tsp of rice cereal to every 1oz of formula.

Ethans vomiting has finally gotten better, hes still doing it some but not nearly as bad. Yesterday turned into a ruff day with him, he refused to sleep more than 15min at a time. And it only got worse with him not sleeping, not taking a bottle,crying, and screaming as the day went on. Last night Greg watched him for awhile so I could lay down, and Ethan screamed like he was being killed for 3hrs straight. There was no break in it, no matter what Greg did it didnt work.I finally gave up on trying to get some sleep and came back to the living room to help Greg. Then around 930ish Greg said "lets try a regular bottle without rice" So we did, and he ate the whole thing in 3mins. I went and inspected the other bottles we had been trying to give him..its very hard for the milk to come out bc of how thick it is. I think that was the whole prob all day...now I feel like crap bc I know how hungry he had to have been to have gotten that upset for that long.

I am going today to find cereal nipples..I know they exist somewhere bc I remember seeing them. I am already using high flow 6month nipples but they still arent good enough obviously. I also am having my mother and father in law watch Ethan for awhile today so I can sleep! I havent gotten actual sleep in a long time..I always get 1-3hrs here and there but I am give out physically and mentally. I am to the point I dont want to stand up bc I feel weak and my body aches.

Well gotta go tend to a screaming baby! Ill update again when i have a chance/

more pics

The past few days.

I feel like it never ends! We have been so busy it seems. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ethan slept just about all day long :) the 3 of us went to my dads and then my mother in laws and ate (Ethan slept in the car seat and only woke up 1 time lol) Greg and I got stuffed full of good food and the best part is I didn't have to cook! I made my Grandmom's broccoli casserole and thats it..Lisa and Karen made everything else.

Friday..the day went pretty well, I got up at 3am to go shopping on the dreadful black friday with my sis and got some great deals! For $113 I got: 6 pairs of pants, 8 shirts, 6 dvds, 1 video game, 3 toys, 1 mixer,and 1 chopper machine! After shopping I came home and took a nap then got up with Ethan so Greg could go out for awhile...thats when the fun began. Ethan decided to have a meltdown that I thought would never end. He screamed like I have never heard before and wouldn't stop. Nothing worked.I changed him,tried to feed him,gave him a paci,put him in the swing,rocked him,walked with him,layed him down,just held him..ect. After over 2hrs of nonstop screaming and crying and his alarm going off 18x's I took him down to dads. Amanda tried to calm him and couldn't get him calm either.I called the Dr to see what she thought and she had me check his back and other things and she was at a loss too. She told me if it didnt stop soon to take him to the er to have him checked.At this point dad and Lisa got home and Lisa held him,and guess what? The little butt took a bottle for her,got quiet and went to sleep. Wouldnt ya know. The dr called back to check on him and told me to bring him into the office first thing sat morning.

Sat, we go to the dr office only to find out the poor little guy has acid reflux and thats what was causing the prob the night before. They put him on meds for it ($40 meds OUCH!!) and told me to bring him back on mon so they can make sure its working ok.They also said that he has a yeast infection from the thrush. They said it can travel through his urine and cause it, so I got this cream stuff I have to put on him till it is gone (which it almost is.) After the dr office I took Ethan with me to walmart to fill his prescriptions and while there Ethan took his first ever pic with Santa!! It was so funny. Ethan had just woke up,I handed him to Santa and they clicked the pic then Ethan screamed..at least the camera guy was quick! Later Sat afternoon I went Christmas shopping with dad and Lisa and got lots of good stuff for Ethan!

Sun we stayed at home all day and had a nice lazy day!

Mon, we went back to the dr and he said that Ethan seems to be doing very well on the reflux meds so he will keep him on the one they just prescribed. (Good thing bc i cant afford to buy more right now at that price!) The dr also told me that he will be on this reflux meds until he is 1yr old.

Today I took Ethan to get pics made and they were precious but EXPENSIVE!!! I had a coupon for $10 for one pose and just a few pics of it..so I bought that..otherwise the cheapest package is $100.WOW who woulda thought. I will get my pics in 2 weeks so Ill post it then..I may buy the rest of them in a week or two..Im not sure if i can afford to though. I also had to go for my 6 week post partum appt. today. I have healed very well. They did a ultrasound on my back to look at the nerves and said that severe nerve damage was done when they did the spinal ( I coulda told ya that with all the pain Ive been having since.and as much digging and resticking as they did) they told me I could go to the anestesiologist and have him refer me to a neurosurgeon to talk about surgery or I could just take meds to tolerate pain..I chose meds!! I dont have time to have a surgery and recover..nor do I want to. Im still amazed that they can see nerves with a us..I didnt think they could.But I do remember them doing a us on my leg a few yrs back to see my veins and such so I guess they can see that too?

Well, it is 1am and Ethan is finally asleep, so I am gonna try to catch a hr or so before he wakes back up! Wish me luck!!!