Tough Couple of Days

Monday October 22nd was a rough day. Hudson spent most of the day screaming and upset. He didn't sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time and I felt pretty helpless. I could tell Hudson was upset, but I had no idea why or how to fix it. That night, Nic brought me home flowers and a very sweet card. It was such a thoughtful thing to do and really made my rough day so much better. 

That night while Nic was giving Hudson his medicine he seemed to choke on it. It was as if he had inhaled it and he started gasping for air. He did this for about five minutes, while we frantically ran around the house trying to get Hudson into the car so we could take him to the emergency room. As we were running down the stairs and Hudson's eyes were growing wider with fear, Nic and I decided I should call 911. They put me through to a paramedic who asked if Hudson was turning blue. I answered no and realized he must be getting some air if he wasn't blue. As I was telling him we could probably drive to the ER instead of sending an ambulance, Hudson suddenly stopped gasping for air. Just like that, he seemed fine. It was obviously a relief, but I was still concerned with why it happened in the first place. I e-mailed our pediatrician right away and was a bit shaken up the rest of the night. 

The next day we went in to our pediatrician as a result of the scare the night before. They weighed Hudson (he weighed 12 pounds 12 ounces) and checked his stool again (he still had traces of blood in it). We had my least favorite pediatrician again and she asked me in an accusatory manner if I was following the diet, then asked what specifically I was eating as if I must be eating and/or drinking things I shouldn't be. I was a bit annoyed. I am not an idiot. I know how to read labels and I have been so committed to this diet! She also asked if anyone was pressuring me to continue to breastfeed and gave me a sample of formula "just in case" I wanted to try it. (I told her I was the one who cared so much about breastfeeding). She pretty much implied that since my diet didn't seem to be working I was strongly encouraged to switch to formula. :( I asked if there was any test we could do to determine what Hudson is allergic to (I had read about a blood test on-line). It was really hard to follow a diet eliminating all allergens and if I could narrow it down, it sure would help. She gave me a prescription to get the blood test for Hudson. She also looked at his throat and said it looked red. She said he had reflux, but his medicine was the accurate dosage for his size and she didn't want to change it. She did suggest we go see an ear, nose throat specialist to rule out any serious respiratory issues because of the gagging incident. 

When I got into the car, I read the ingredient list on the formula and noticed that the second ingredient was soy! I was so annoyed! Here I am killing myself to eliminate dairy, soy, eggs, wheat and nuts from my diet, then I get accused of not following the diet and I'm encouraged to give my son formula with SOY as one of the main ingredients!! I don't think so! I did some reading on the internet when I got home and found out that most doctors encourage moms to switch to formula when their diet doesn't eliminate the blood in the stool. So they switch to formula and it doesn't fix anything, the babies still have blood in their stool. Plus everything I read says breast feeding is still better and easier on the digestive system than the gentlest formula. 

We went straight from the doctor to the lab for Hudson's blood draw. I kind of assumed they could just do a heel prick, but discovered that they had to actually draw blood from his arm like they do when adults get blood drawn. I had to sit in a chair and hold Hudson while the nurse did the blood draw. I tried not to look, but I knew as soon as the needle went in because Hudson started screaming. It was horrible. I started tearing up, but tried to stay focused on holding him still. I looked over and she kept moving the needle all around (she couldn't find a vein!). She finally pulled the needle out and told me to try and calm him down before she tried his other arm. She must have seen the look on my face because she suggested that I go to another center where they have a bed and the nurse specializes in infants. Hello?!! Could she not have suggested that before she tortured my poor son!!

I got my screaming little boy into the car and drove to the next facility. Luckily, driving calmed him down. I was pretty freaked out from the previous experience, but the nurse was great. She asked another nurse and myself to help. We put Hudson on the bed and she spent quite a bit of time feeling around for a vein and even practiced with another nurse to get the timing right. She got the needle in without a tear, but she still couldn't find a vein. She tried for a bit, but as soon as she noticed he was getting upset she started to pull the needle out. Just as she was pulling the needle out, she found a vein (thank goodness! because I certainly didn't want to have to endure this torture again!). Hudson started crying, but at that point I was more determined to not put him through this again than to get upset over him being upset. As soon as she finished I picked him up and comforted him. 

By the time I got home, Hudson and I were both exhausted!! It had been such a long, horrible day!!