the Stomach Story, Part 1

After getting a few questions about my surgery, I thought I'd explain the whole thing.  And since I can be a bit wordy, I thought I'd post it on our highly neglected blog rather than some giant Facebook status update.  To be honest, Josh has been running the blog for the past couple years because blog and I weren't seeing eye to eye.

I think I've always some some stomach issues.  I haven't been able to burp for as long as I can remember.  In college, I started having more indigestion and heartburn and was told to do 2-week treatments of over the counter medicine such as Prilosec.  This worked for quite some time and would keep things chugging along.  I would probably do a two-week treatment once a month.

After we were married 8 years ago, my symptoms continued to get worse so I was told to take Prilosec daily.  This went on for several years until I was pregnant with Jolie about 5 years ago.  Pregnancy was absolutely horrible for me.  I had horrible nausea and lots of swelling and the worst heartburn.  In fact, I started all this before I even had a positive pregnancy test!  My OB prescribed Zofran for the nausea and it was my life saver.  I was also told to increase my Prilosec to twice a day.  After the first trimester, symptoms did not improve--in fact, they continued to get worse.  I would wake up with what I thought was 'vomit' in my mouth and freak out that I was throwing up. I was given the standard heartburn recommendations to sleep elevated, on my left side, don't eat late at night, etc.  Eventually my OB realized how much heartburn medication I was taking and wanted me to see a gastroenterology specialist.

The GI doctor said it was probably all from my pregnancy and it should get better after I deliver.  He did switch my medication to something a little safer for the baby, Kapidex twice a day and Carafate in the evenings.   People say your baby will have lots of hair if you have heartburn, so I was expecting a monkey!  However our little Jolie arrived on February 26, 2010 and was bald and could be and stayed that way for over a year!

After Jolie was born, things did improve quite a bit.  Not completely, but I was able to cut back some of my medications.  I began taking 20mg of Protonix once a day.  I was still limited to laying on my left side, but it was manageable because with a newborn, any sleep is wonderful!