that little girl is choking!

so, you've all noticed by now that nina chokes constantly when she drinks, right? she's always done it and always recovers, so nick and i just kind of ignore it. i remember one time in target, she was drinking from her sippy cup and started choking loudly (and turning bright red, par for the course) and some old ladies got all worried. i felt like a bad parent because we were just ignoring it, we are so used to it. somehow the old ladies didn't think "she does this all the time" made our ignoring it ok. ah well.

anyway, my cousin jenny, a pediatric ICU nurse, also thought the choking was worrisome and suggested we take her to the pediatrician to get it evaluated. it had never occurred to me that someone could actually DO something about the choking. brilliant!

i called the pediatrician's office this morning and they said bring her in at 10. we didn't see her usual doctor but saw another one, dr. ho, who is the attending at the clinic. she said there are a few possibilities: the two most likely are reflux and some kind of swallowing disorder. she said a barium swallow test would tell us more (that's when she swallows some barium-containing drink and they x-ray the process so they can see exactly what's going on). she said it sounds like reflux to her. so i asked if we could just treat her for reflux and if she gets better, not have to do the swallow test. she said absolutely. so, we got a prescription for kiddy zanax and will start her on that post-haste. actually, not that fast, when we get the new insurance cards in the mail either this week or next. she's been living with this for 3.5 years, another week wont hurt i figure... however, dr. ho does want her on the zantac (not zanax, thanks leigh!) because she said if it is reflux, the constant stomach acid refluxing could injure her esophagus. we have a follow-up in a month, and if the choking stops we'll know it was the reflux. if it doesn't, she'll have to go for that swallow test after all.

however, in other good news, her heart murmur has disappeared! this means that it was indeed one of those transient, innocent childhood ones and we don't have to see the cardiologist. i was hoping this would happen! hooray!