leah update--how she's doing now...

i had several people ask me how leah is doing after her last trip to the ER, and how her breathing problems at night are, so i thought i'd write a quick update...

with the first trip to the ER for her waking up several times panicking and arching her back, we were told that the doctors wanted to order an EEG to make sure that it wasn't seizures. i really felt it was unnecessary, because i had already had a kid who has seizures, and this looked nothing like them. i know seizures can come in different shapes and sizes, but still. i watched her very closely each time she would do this and really, she just seemed like something was making her very uncomfortable.

while in the hospital i asked the doctor about the possibility of reflux. they said it definitely could be a possibility, and said they would have to schedule out a couple of weeks for a reflux test. since caleb was on reflux medicine, i knew that it is a very mild prescription that has little side effects, and also knew that within a couple of days i would be able to tell if that were the problem or not.

so i pushed to have them write a prescription, got it filled, and started her on it immediately.

within two days, she stopped waking up at night. there was no more panicky episodes, and she started taking longer naps in the day time.

i spoke with her pediatrician about this and said that i didn't feel like an EEG was necessary. he said that we should still do it, "just in case." luckily for me, the EEG couldn't be scheduled until a month away. i figured that would give me time to really watch her, and consider my options.

3 weeks later...

since the problem had clearly gone away, it was the day before the EEG and they had a 24 hour cancellation policy. i talked with ben about what our decision would be and how we both felt about it. i was grateful that we both felt the same way.

and picked up the phone to cancel the EEG.

so that's what we did, and i feel completely at peace about it.

like i said on the episode, if i had felt any reason to do the EEG, i would have definitely done it. there's no long-lasting effects from an EEG, it just makes for a long day and a lot of crying and discomfort on the one getting the test done. not to mention, after the little suctions with wires are glued to the baby's head and are then removed, they take hair with them! so more bald patches for little leah.

i'm totally kidding here, i wasn't worried about that at all.

anyway, she has been perfect since then. like i said, she sleeps better, longer, and is more content with this reflux medicine. reflux doesn't always mean spitting up (because she doesn't unless she is completely overstuffed) but can just mean that there is extra acidity in the baby's stomach that causes discomfort each time they eat.

so there you go!

she is 5 months old now and such a happy baby.

and we all know that

happy baby = happy mom!