Poor baby

Last week was a rough one here at the Bernardo household. On Monday, Frank started acting very fussy and sleeping terrible at night. He would go down for a 4-hour stretch and then keep waking up every hour after that. He also was screaming in pain and crying, nearly inconsolable, for long periods during the day. I also noticed that he was doing crazy things in his crib after I put him down--he would crane his neck as far as possible to his right side, almost like he was trying to turn it around 180 degrees, and he would simultaneously make very scary noises like he was gasping for air. Sometimes he would also throw up while doing this. I knew that something was wrong, so I researched "neck arching" and found a few You Tube videos for Sandifer's Syndrome, which is a symptom of acid reflux. Once I watched the videos, I knew immediately that was what he had. I asked my mom and Frank to look at the videos and see if they agreed with me, and they both thought I was crazy and overreacting. But, they were not here with me & him, and I just knew that something was seriously wrong. Thankfully, I trusted my instincts! I made a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and the doctor agreed that it sounds like he has Sandifer's Syndrome and acid reflux. He prescribed Prevacid and we started giving it to him that night. For the first couple of days, it almost seemed like he was getting worse. I basically got no sleep from Tuesday-Friday. I was a walking zombie, and it was so sad to watch my baby writhing in pain. I had suspected that he may have acid reflux before, and I was so upset with myself for not taking him in sooner.

Finally, Frank came home on Friday night and he got a little taste of what I had been dealing with all week. But Friday night, Frank went back to his normal sleeping pattern--he slept from 9-2 and then 2:30 to 7:30. So he was definitely getting better! He continued to improve over the weekend and even slept for 7 hours straight on Saturday night and 8 hours straight on Sunday!!! We are so thankful that the medicine is working and that he has started to feel better. It is really hard to give a baby medicine. The Prevacid comes in the form of a solutab that is supposed to dissolve in his mouth, but he does not know how to do that, and we have to make sure he does not choke on it, so it is quite the adventure trying to get the full dose into his mouth...but we are getting better at it!

Frank was so helpful and sweet this weekend. He knew that I had a rough week, so he took over the middle of the night shift and got up with Frank at night. He also gave me the whole day off on Saturday and told me to go get out of the house and do whatever I wanted to. I went and got a new cell phone and got my hair done! It was a much-needed little break. Frank left again this morning, so I am on my own again this week. I am hoping that it will be much more pleasant than last week was!