Sick Babies

Unfortunately things didn't quite go to plan with the girls from 2 - 3 months of age. First they were diagnosed with silent reflux. I always thought reflux just meant your baby threw up a lot but that just isn't true! Their painful condition made their little lives (and ours!) very tough for about 3 weeks while we figured out what was wrong and the right dose of medicine. Trying to console babies that are in so much pain they won't eat or sleep is truly soul destroying :( :(. Once the medicine kicked in things improved dramatically but they were still very unsettled. They would cry for about 4 hours each per day. They wouldn't cry at the same time either so I listening to about 6 hours of crying every day.

Then we had our first trip to the hospital emergency centre. I suspected Phoebe had dehydration because she wasn't interested in food and started to vomit quite a bit. At the time the Dr couldn't see anything wrong with her and told me it must be "a phase" and sent me home. It turned out that she (and Sophia) were starting to get sick with RSV. We realised this a week later when Phoebe developed a wheezy cough which quickly progressed to full blown bronchialitis which required hospital admission. She needed oxygen therapy and continuous tube feeding. Sophia joined her in hospital 2 days later. Every day we would take turns in holding them upright on our chests to help them breathe. After 8 days in hospital they both went home.

Although it was horrible to see them so sick and miserable, the hospital was a nice holiday for me with everything provided and lovely night nurses willing to look after them while I got 7 hours sleep! This allowed me to get over a few illnesses of my own. The girls managed to give the paediatrician the virus and were very "challenging" for the hospital nurses! On one hand it made me feel better that trained professionals couldn't even keep them happy but on the other hand it didn't help me with coming up with a way to do it! The paediatrician suspected that they had an immature digestive system which caused them tummy problems that interfered with feeding and sleeping.