Reflux hospital scare

Well, we are finally home after 2 1/2 days in the hospital, and the scare of my life!

Friday evening I went to change Ben's diaper after tandem feeding. I didn't burp him because it sounded like a crazy poop and I didn't want him to get it all over himself. While on the changing table though, he started to stare off, go kinda limp, and turn blue around the mouth. I jiggled him to try to get him to shake it off, but he remained unresponsive so I immediately called 911 (thank god for mother's instinct!). While over the phone I gave him CPR and he slowly began to come out of it although he remained really lethargic so we went to the emergency room.

While he was being checked out in emergency he did it again! They gave him oxygen and his numbers came back up but he was completely exhausted. A few minutes later the two hovering, hushed-voiced doctors proclaimed to us that he had had a seizure and would require a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. They put him on adavan (sp?) to control any more seizures. They attempted the spinal but he wouldn't hold still. They tried again, and missed--he kept moving. They finally injected him with ketamine and were able to get a sample to check for infection, but he never went fully under the anesthesia (the little fighter). My poor, poor little guy...no baby should have to endure this.

So, to make a long story a little less long, all tests came back normal (no seizure, no infection, no virus, no heart problem). They are chalking it up to reflux. They kept him in the hospital for 2 days for observation and he's been perfect and happy since. Dh and I are still SO confused about all of this. We desperately want real answers and there aren't any. I am terrified to let little Ben out of my sight now, and am wondering if anyone has any insight or has had a similar experience. We're all home now and he's happy as a clam! I guess I just need to have faith that we'll take the proper reflux measures and that this was a one time incident.

Sorry--I know this is long, but I just needed to get it out. Thanks for reading and wish us luck that we figure this out.

 

Well, we are finally home after 2 1/2 days in the hospital, and the scare of my life!

Friday evening I went to change Ben's diaper after tandem feeding. I didn't burp him because it sounded like a crazy poop and I didn't want him to get it all over himself. While on the changing table though, he started to stare off, go kinda limp, and turn blue around the mouth. I jiggled him to try to get him to shake it off, but he remained unresponsive so I immediately called 911 (thank god for mother's instinct!). While over the phone I gave him CPR and he slowly began to come out of it although he remained really lethargic so we went to the emergency room.

While he was being checked out in emergency he did it again! They gave him oxygen and his numbers came back up but he was completely exhausted. A few minutes later the two hovering, hushed-voiced doctors proclaimed to us that he had had a seizure and would require a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. They put him on adavan (sp?) to control any more seizures. They attempted the spinal but he wouldn't hold still. They tried again, and missed--he kept moving. They finally injected him with ketamine and were able to get a sample to check for infection, but he never went fully under the anesthesia (the little fighter). My poor, poor little guy...no baby should have to endure this.

So, to make a long story a little less long, all tests came back normal (no seizure, no infection, no virus, no heart problem). They are chalking it up to reflux. They kept him in the hospital for 2 days for observation and he's been perfect and happy since. Dh and I are still SO confused about all of this. We desperately want real answers and there aren't any. I am terrified to let little Ben out of my sight now, and am wondering if anyone has any insight or has had a similar experience. We're all home now and he's happy as a clam! I guess I just need to have faith that we'll take the proper reflux measures and that this was a one time incident.

Sorry--I know this is long, but I just needed to get it out. Thanks for reading and wish us luck that we figure this out.

 

Wow you are the first person I have heard that happen to other than ourselves. My ds came home on an apnia moniter since he was a 27 weeker. 6 days after he came home his moniter went off in the middle of the night. We freaked since he was not breathing well and getting blue, dh called an ambulance and off we went for a 4 day hospital stay. His was chalked up to reflux as well. It seems that when it came up it blocked his airway and he was choking on it. He was put on reglan and zantac which didnt help at all. He stayed on that moniter until he was 8 months old until he was switched to prilosec for his reflux, that fixed the problem for him.

My suggestion would be to see if his ped will put him on an apnea moniter to watch his breathing, that way it alarms if it happens again until you can get the reflux issues under control. Even if he isnt spitting up a ton it can still be silent reflux, which is something my ds still deals with at 3 years old. if the ped wont or cant put him on a moniter I would honestly suggest you get one of these angelcare moniters http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?p...rentPage=family Its expensive but worth it. If you have your babies sleeping in the same crib you will need to seperate them to make sure you dont pick up the wrong baby breathing. Peace of mind is worth the money

Anyways I so know where you are coming from and Im sorry you had to go through such a scare.

 

OMG what a scary thing for you to have gone through! Im glad that he is ok and that he is home from the hospital x

 

Wow Tracy, how scary. Good job keeping your wits about you and calling 911!

 

What a horrible thing to have happened to your poor baby!! I am praying it was a one time only type of incident. How scary!!

 

How scary!! I'm so glad everything worked out okay! I would recommend getting an upper GI done to officially diagnose the reflux if you haven't already. You don't want that to happen again and if he's not on meds for reflux, you can start them to help. I hope you're able to get some sleep...after something like that I don't know if I'd be able to!

 

Good for you and your motherly instinct!! I had to perform CPR on my little guy in Dec. Scarey! He also has reflux. He sleeps elevated in his bed. Seems to work so far!

 

Same thing happened to my daughter! My PT was over with my daughter when she turned blue and went limp. Luckily we were able to arouse her,then I immediately called the doctor. They didn't call me back for THREE days. Needless to say, I fired my doctor!!!! They even lied in my chart and said they called me and told me to bring her in. I think I would have if they would have told me to. DAH!!! The only reason I didn't take her into the ER was because I thought I needed an ER referral. Oh...this wasn't the only time this happened either. She did it several times. I had her sleep right next to me as I was so scared she would stop breathing during the night.

Anyway, she was put on breastmilk with cereal. It IMMEDIATELY went away and we haven't had any other problems with turning blue since we did the cereal as she has reflux. Yep...dreaded reflux.

 

We also had that same scare with Eli when he was around 2mos old. It was evening time and he was going through one of his Colic fits. My dad was walking him around the house to soothe him and he layed him down for a minute to pick something up. Right as he layed him down he started to reflux(spit up) and let out a big scream at the same time. He started turning blue, unrepsonsive and my dad came running through the house with him. We got him breathing again and called 911. The Paramedics checked him out and his O2 levels and he was fine by this time. They told us if it happened again to flip him over our arm and beat on his back(lightly) to clear his airways. Or use the nasal aspirator in his airways(be careful with this). We went out the VERY next day and bought 2 Angel Care Monitors b/c I couldn't sleep for fear he would do it in his sleep.

 

Wow, this is way more common (although a long way from common) than I thought. I thought we were the only ones also. The day we came home from the hospital it happened, and then again at the doctors the next day. We went back to the hospital for a sleep study (and all other tests). He came home on an apnea monitor but it never went off for real. It did allow me to sleep at night, though. My specialist at the hospital thought since all test results were negative that maybe he just thought he was breathing amniotic fluid and the oxygen wasn't being circulated by breathing. But the nurse mentioned reflux causing this. I did notice a pattern with the blueness and refluxing, but it went away after 2 weeks. He still has reflux, though.

 

Thank God that your little one is doing so much better!! I can't even imagine what a frightening experience this must have been for you and your family! Thank God for your quick thinking as well! That's great everyone is home and doing well.

 

Thank you all so much for your responses. I'm certainly not happy to know that anyone else has had to endure this, but I'm really comforted by the fact that we are not alone in having this experience. We're going to the ped today, and you better believe I'm asking for a monitor! If not, we'll look into the angel care monitor. I just need the peace of mind (last night I checked on him constantly until I passed out and went to sleep--at one point I even woke him up, oops).

Thanks again for everyone's support!

 

Before you ask for an apnea monitor (those are HORRIBLE!!!) they are loud, the wires come off and can go off extremely loud just for a misconnection. Ask for an o2 Sat monitor. It is MARVELOUS!!! It connects to the toe and you can actually hear his heart rate (or you can mute it) and the alarm is loud enough to wake you up but not OMG loud.

My ds has done this twice. We did cpr on him both times as well. I go nuts being afraid to leave him. I just about 2 weeks ago took him off his monitor at night. His episodes happened at 6 mos old and 13 mos old. He is on prevacid and zantac. He has another issue which is a narrow airway which is why his gets so bad. Colds bring out the worst of reflux as well.

If you have any questions about the sat monitor pm me and I would be glad to share what I know bc it is a HUGE blessing to us!!!

I am so glad your baby is okay and wtg mom on knowing what to do!!!

 

We had a reflux scare too. My DD stopped breathing/turned blue the week after we brought her home. She stayed 3 days at the children's hospital and they chalked it up to reflux and though I was suspicious and completely paranoid... luckily it's never happened again. We didn't use the monitor, but I was a nervous wreck.

I'm so happy you baby is fine... what an ordeal you've been through. Just know it's going to take you awhile to get over the scare and if you need someone to listen to you and not think you are being paranoid, I'd be happy to! Are you going to raise his mattress or have him sleep in a bouncy seat or swing? Elevation while sleeping is important for reflux babies!

XOXO,
Colette