That ultra-sensitive formula that I mentioned in my earlier post? The one that was supposed to help? No. Not a chance. In fact, Emmersen worsened overnight on it. Her screaming attacks intensified, as did her vomiting. We attempted to keep her on it over the weekend, but by Monday morning, she was in bad shape (as were we!). I called her new GI-specialist in tears and explained how the weekend went and told them we were not going to continue the formula and begged for an alternative. The nurse calmed me down and informed me that most likely the doctor would recommend that Emmersen be admitted to the hospital for further testing and an impedence study. She explained that this study would monitor Em's reflux and help them determine how often it's occuring and if it's acidic or not. From there, they could create a better treatment plan. Emmersen was scheduled for the hospital on Friday morning and then to be discharged the following morning.
We arrived at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria at 8:30am as directed. Emme had her last bottle around 2am and wasn't allowed to have anything further until after her procedure. She did pretty well until we had to sit and wait through registration and then to be called back to the procedure room. Hunger started getting the best of her, but they quickly started working with us, explaining how things would proceed. That's when my tears started flowing. The nurse was kind but very blunt (which I appreciated) in sharing with us how Emmersen would not be in pain, but she would be extremely uncomfortable when they placed a wire sensor up her nose and down her throat, coming to a stop just above her stomach opening. The wire has sensors on the end of it that measures whether the reflux is acidic, how high up in the esophagus it travels, and the frequency of it. The wire that comes out of the nose is connected to a black box with buttons on it. Each time Emmersen had an "episode", or outward symptoms, we were to press the corresponding button- pain, vomiting, or coughing. They also gave us the option to be in the room while the wire was placed. I immediately answered, "Yes!" I couldn't imagine sending her off by herself. Again, they warned that she would scream and cry and that many parents regretted going in. I didn't care. I had to be there.
Off we went. I had no idea what to expect but envisioned the worst. And even that didn't prepare me. I had to lay Emmersen down on a table under a huge hospital light and step back. She was NOT sedated but merely held down by a nurse while the doctor performed this procedure. The sound that came from her tiny body rocked me to my core. A parent's instinct is to throttle any person that brings pain to her child, yet here, we had to stand and watch. I wanted to throw this doctor across the room, grab my baby, and run. Aaron and I both stood by and cried with her, because at that point, there was nothing else we could do. After what seemed like an eternity, it was over. We were able to scoop her up and snuggle her. She was trembling and breathing rapidly. They ushered us back to a recovery area where we waited for her hospital room. We waited for 5 hours before they finally decided to inform us that the hospital was overbooked and they didn't have a room for us. And then they sent us home. 
They sent us home, 45 minutes away, with a baby that had a wire coming out of her nose and a box attached, and splints on her arms to prevent her from pulling it out. They sent us home with these instructions: a.) don't let her pull the wire out, b.) head to your local ER if she should pull it out or choke, c.) come back in the morning and the on-call nurse will remove the wire. Ah, ok?
Fortunately, our night was fairly uneventful. Changing her clothes was a little tricky and Avery was fascinated by the black box. I can't even tell you how many times we hit the buttons on that box. Each time she cried, acted as if she was in pain, coughed, vomited- we hit the buttons. What a night. This morning we traveled back to the hospital where they removed her wire. We were in and out in 10 minutes. So here we are back home and waiting for those results to come in, which they promised in a couple days. While we wait for those, Emmersen also has to have X-rays of her GI-tract to be sure that her organs formed properly. Both results coupled together, should give us the answers we're looking for. We hope.
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