Fretful Friday

Thank you so much for all the prayers for Faith Clare. We are managing pretty well considering I got sick with strep throat on Sunday (my birthday!) and Dusty has been working like crazy!

So Faith Clare was scheduled on Friday at 1:30PM for her Upper GI at our local hospital. I was told that morning by our pediatrician's nurse that she couldn't eat for 4 (yes FOUR) hours before the test so 9:30 was the cut-off. Of course I fed her AT 9:30 but was already resigned to the fact that she was going to be very hungry by the exam.

We showed up to the hospital about 1:20 and waited in registration... we waited and waited and waited. I was finally signing the financial responsibility and HIPPA papers at 1:50 and then they walked us down to radiology... Yes, us. Did I mention that I brought Deacon along and during his naptime?? We arrived at the radiology waiting room and waited some more. At this point both of the kids were doing pretty well, but I knew how fast things could fall apart and just spiral out of control! I was mentally preparing.

At 2:35 we got called back and they began explaining what would happen. Deacon had to wait with several techs outside of the room because of the "xray in progress". He wasn't too sure about it in the beginning but with a swift offer of a lollipop from one of them, he happily went out the door and was more than satisfied. The child in my arms however, was a far-cry from happy. It had been 5 1/2 hours since she had eaten, was laying naked on a table with a huge, gloved hand moving her around, a big contraption over her entire body, and her mama pinning her arms to the table. To say she was beside herself is a MAJOR understatement. She was absolutely BONKERS!

After several minutes of "pictures" on the table, the radiologist handed me a bottle with thick, strawberry-flavored, chalky barium. Honestly, it took a good 60-90 seconds for Faith Clare to even realize something was in her mouth because she was crying so hard. When she tasted the wet stuff in her mouth, she attacked the bottle (which is normally a struggle) and wasn't about to let go... Oh wait, until the doctor said... "I'm sorry, you're going to have to take that back out of her mouth and give her the pacifier for a minute until we get her positioned right for the images while she drinks." SERIOUSLY???? I looked at the tall man like he was out of his flippin' mind and he just looked back, nicely but indicating that, indeed, he meant what he said. I pulled the bottle out and tried the switcheroo with the pacifier. I'm sure my tiny daughter thought I was insane and trying to starve her... Back to the hysterical screaming.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity until he said I could give her the bottle back. She chugged and chugged that thick stuff... I thought it was going to be gone in an instant. They finished the xrays they needed and then told me I could take her off the table and continue feeding her out in the waiting room. Apparently I didn't realize how thick it was because I did continue feeding her... until she started gagging and choking that is. When I turned the bottle up I realized that entire time she had only taken a measly 2 ounces.

It was at this point that I came to understand that we would be spending all afternoon at the hospital. They told us that we had to wait for the barium to go through her large and small bowels to ensure everything was working properly. The tech mentioned "sometimes it can take up to 8 hours." WHAT??? Needless to say it was an extremely long afternoon.

From that point on we were called back every 30 minutes or so to continue taking pictures. Faith Clare was very upset through the afternoon due to her lack of "nutritional intake" so I was extremely thankful when they told me about 4:30 that I could nurse her. After that, she settled down, was much more content and we took the last pictures just before 5.

Throughout the entire ordeal I felt pretty neglectful of Deacon. I was trying to maintain Faith Clare's and my sanity and quite frankly I didn't realize we would be there for 4 hours. Besides him eating a package of peanut butter crackers, 2 packs of fruit snacks, the lollipop and some gum, he was AWESOME... In large part due to one tech who took special notice. This sweet girl dug up some crayons and a coloring book, played with Deacon and his cars, and even put him on her lap at her desk and pulled up Nickelodeon so he could watch show clips. I am so thankful for her... I'm not sure how I would have emerged from that hospital without her~ definitely more frazzled than I already was! Undoubtedly Miss Asia will be getting a BIG THANK YOU from our family at the hospital!

All this to say that Monday morning we received a phone call from the doctor's office stating that aside from the reflux that appeared on the xrays, everything else looked perfect. I am thankful that nothing major is going on and while we will go ahead and schedule an appointment with the Pedi GI at TCH... I'm starting to feel like this might be something she will have to grow out of. I guess I feel a little naive in all of this because Deacon was such a good, easy baby. Definitely just a little adjusting is all!

Thanks again for all the prayers and inquiries as to how she is doing. Each day and night is different, but regardless... to us, even with the crying, she is perfect! Just take a look at that sweet face... how can you be mad at that?

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."- Philippians 4:13