Jackson's Visit with the GI Specialist

We went to the GI specialist last Friday. After waiting for over and hour and a half, we met with the doctor. Some things really are worth the wait. Dr. Gold was so nice and sympathetic to what we have been going through with Jackson. He has GERD, and his daughter has it as well. He told me that he held her upright in his arms almost every night of her first year of life. He also told me that I had reason to be concerned about Jackson. Since I have a history of stomach problems, including acid reflux, he decided that further testing would be a good idea. It was not what I wanted to hear. I really hoped that he would tell me that Jackson was just a high needs baby and that I just needed to deal with the crying and fussiness. Further testing suddenly meant more worry - worry that something more serious is wrong and worry that I will be putting him through unnecessary and uncomfortable testing.



At the moment, I have Jackson scheduled for an Upper GI and something called a Swallow Test. But, after thinking about it for several days, I am going to cancel the Upper GI on Monday. The test requires that Jackson have a completely empty stomach, ingest Barium, and be given multiple x-rays. This means that he will be starving and miserable before and during the test. Not to mention that he might not even take the Barium because he is such a picky bottle baby. I just don't feel right about putting him through this stress. Of course I am nervous about this decision because it goes against the advice of the doctor. I have to go with my mommy instincts, and right now, they are telling me that it is not the time to do this test. I will revisit it later because I do want to make sure that he has not inherited any of the lovely problems that I have. But for the moment, he seems to be doing very well with his increased dose of Prevacid. If we can control the reflux with medicine, I would like to wait until he is a bit older before he is put through this test. Please pray that I have made the right decision for our baby boy.