We got there and checked in. I gotta say, Children's Hospital has it going on. Everything was so set up and so organized. All I had to do was take a piece of paper that they sent me in the mail and scan it on the computer and make sure all of our information was correct and wait for them to call our name. They finally did about 10 minutes of sitting there in the LARGE waiting room and I had to fill out just a couple of pages and that was it. Anyways, we talked to a nurse for a little bit and they sprayed something up Carter's nose to numb from his nose all the way down to his voice box. The doctor came in and asked me a couple of questions and took a look at Carter's ears and throat and listened to his lungs. He said his ears looked great and that we might not ever have to deal with infections. Then we went into a different room where they were going to look inside him. A really sweet nurse came in with a sheet that she wrapped around Carter's arms and held his head and they assured me that nothing was going to hurt Carter. He hates being held down so he screamed the whole time. Another nurse took a very small camera that was attached to a very long wire thingy. They stuck it up his nose and pushed it down. The doctor and I were looking at the screen and seeing everything as it went down and he was telling me everything that he saw. Come to find out he has very swollen adenoids which is why he has a hard time breathing out of his nose. The back of his throat was blood red and swollen which is caused by acid reflux coming up when he lays down to sleep....which explains his horrible sleeping hobbits and why he only sleeps good in his swing or car seat (elevated). I sure hope the medicine works because he is about 2-3 lbs away from being too heavy for his swing. He was very surprised when I told him that Carter has spit up maybe 5 times his whole life because usually babies with reflux spit up a whole lot. But he said that it just gets to the back of his throat and goes back down and it is very painful and burns very bad. Lastly, the flap that covers his voice box is very immature and loose so the liquids that he drinks goes in there and that is what has made him sound so congested all of the time. The voice box flap with correct itself. All of that also explains why he gets high fever so often.
As of right now no surgery is required. We have to give him 2 different kinds of medicine, along with his fluoride drops, twice a day until we go back in 3 months. This should be reeeaaaalll fun. One is a nasal spray that will shrink his adenoids and the other it a liquid that is taken by mouth that will help with his reflux. He said that we should tell a difference in 1-2 weeks. If the meds don't work then we will talk about surgery to take the adenoids out. The bad thing is, the nasal spray is not covered on our insurance and it is 150 bucks a pop!! If it works, though, it will be so worth it. He also said that once we get all of this straightened up then I will have a totally different baby...a lot healthier and happy and a baby that will sleep ALL NIGHT. Nick and I won't know what to think. He said that Carter was not sleeping near enough for his age but he is growing and developing perfectly.
A couple things that I have thought about over and over and over since his appointment. Nick and I were told 100 times from lots of different people to just let him cry it out when he gets up to cry during the night because that was the only way he was going to learn to sleep all night. I am not downing the people that told me that because I thought the same thing and I thought it was very good advice, but you just don't know how bad I feel knowing that he was screaming because he was really hurting. He just wanted his parents to make the pain go away and we just left him in his room crying by himself. I had myself a break down last night, in my shower, thinking about it because we let him cry it out several nights. Poor baby. I don't know why in the world he was so happy to see me the next morning, but he was. I know he does not understand or remember crying it out all night...or maybe he does. But I wish we were all like that.....easy to forgive the ones we love. I know I could learn from that lesson. The next thing I thought of....Carter's health issues might sound like a big deal but after seeing all of the other children there, I welcome this and I am thankful for it. Carter's little problem is nothing compared. All of the sick children in the world will forever be in my prayers every night along with their parents. It just made me sit back and realize how blessed I really am.
On a better note, I bought myself a little happy yesterday. Since Carter is learning to walk and falling more, Nick and I decided to get a bigger rug for our living room to soften his fall. I went to Garden Ridge and I was kinda overwhelmed because they only have 21592359723597 rugs to choose from. I looked at about a million of them and I came across one that just jumped out at me and told me to take it home. I knew it was the one. I don't know why either because it is so not my usual style. I have more of a simple style and this rug is just the opposite of simple. I guess I just got a wild hair. But I love it and I think it looks great in my living room. I really don't think Nick is too happy about it, though. I also bought pillows for our couches to match.
And here is my sweet boy being good eating his snacks while Mommy shops
When we got home Carter was so glad to see all of his toys. He was so sick of being held, or in his stroller and car seat. We let him run naked for a little bit before his bath. He LOVES to be naked. That how he would like to be 24/7 if we let him.
Sorry Carter is sick, but hope the medicine works! Did your regular doctor refer you to Children's?? Will is still not sleeping through the night and seems to have the same symptoms, but also had ear infections probably once ever 2 weeks along with spitting up constantly. I am wondering if we need to try to get him in at Children's. So glad I read this!
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