Bringing Ari into the world felt like a miracle.

Parents Caprice and Marcus had been trying for so long, and had suffered loss after loss, with multiple miscarriages.

But baby Ari defied the odds.

“We started crying in the delivery room, 然后其他人也开始哭了——因为他们都知道我们的故事,” Caprice says.

Ari was born in late April, nearly five weeks early. She was tiny, but she was healthy — and she was theirs.

She was admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

晚期早产儿通常需要在新生儿重症监护室呆上一段时间，让他们的肺部变得更强壮, to gain weight and to show effective eating patterns.

“我们还会对这些婴儿进行至少五天的监测，以确保他们没有所谓的‘事件’,’” says neonatal hospitalist Candice Guevara, D.O., M.S.这是指婴儿的心率或氧气水平下降，或者呼吸暂停.”

婴儿阿里达到了她所有的里程碑，在新生儿重症监护室受到普遍的喜爱.

“The NICU was so good — very informative, taking such good care of her and loving on her,” Marcus says. “They’re very dedicated to what they do.”

在新生儿重症监护室呆了一个星期后，卡普里斯和马库斯终于可以把他们心爱的女婴带回家了. It felt almost too good to be true.

Frightful Event

Now home with their new baby, Caprice and Marcus were in a fast learning curve, 体验所有的压力和初为父母的喜悦.

But on Mother’s Day, something frightening happened with Ari.

马库斯在孩子打盹的时候去看她，发现她的嘴唇开始变蓝, as if she were struggling to breathe.

这对夫妇叫来了医护人员，卡普赖斯开始给阿里吸痰.

卡普里斯说:“她的唾液很浓，就像她无法清理自己的通道一样。. “She began spitting up out of her nose and mouth.”

阿里被紧急送往约翰霍普金斯儿童医院，住进了新生儿重症监护病房.

Why was Ari having trouble keeping her food down?

Often, newborns, especially preemies, need more time to develop the reflexes to “suck, swallow, and breathe” safely, without choking.

阿里在新生儿重症监护室的医生与一位经验丰富的语言治疗师进行了密切磋商(我们用来说话的肌肉最初是用来学习吞咽的)。, 她和阿里一起工作，并帮助家人确定适合她的最佳姿势和喂养技巧. 她的配方改变了，奶瓶和奶头的类型也改变了.

九天之后，阿里恢复得很好，可以回家了，她的父母密切地监视着她.

Reflux, where stomach acid moves back up from a baby’s stomach, 是几乎所有婴儿在发育食道和胃之间的肌肉时都会时不时经历的吗. 但是，什么是正常的反流，什么是严重到最终需要诊断和具体干预的程度是有一个范围的.

By early summer, Ari’s situation was becoming more apparent. Her parents, distraught by her choking and vomiting episodes, 把她送到约翰霍普金斯儿童医院的急救中心.

Pediatric emergency medicine physician Ebony Hunter, M.D. examined Ari.

“就反流而言，这对阿里来说是一个‘灌篮’，”亨特说. “他们的故事很经典——她在吃东西，她噎住了，喘着气，停止了呼吸. 早产婴儿会反流，但不会像阿里现在这样严重.”

Ari was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)并被送往医院，医院的胃肠科专家(G.I.) team came up with a treatment plan. Ari received medications to treat her GERD. 测试还显示，她对乳制品过敏，这可能会导致反流. 她的医生和护理团队对她的配方做了额外的改变，并开了一种增稠剂来帮助缓解反流.

On The Mend

阿里出院后的几个月里，她的病情持续好转. 她是一个快乐的孩子，正在成长，体重也在增加，现在她不再服用反流药物了.

“She is doing amazing! Her reflux is so much better,” Caprice says.

卡普赖斯说，记录孩子的饮食习惯和模式对她很有帮助, 如果她不确定什么，也可以拍张照片或录像给儿科医生看. She and Marcus are also careful to pace Ari’s eating, and to keep her upright for 20 to 30 minutes after she eats.

根据亨特的说法，父母可以预料到他们的孩子会有一些反流. But if they begin spitting up after almost every feeding, 如果他们的体重没有增加，特别是如果他们窒息了, 当他们吃东西或表现出呼吸困难的迹象时，他们会生气、拱起、哭泣, medical attention and interventions are key.

There’s not always a quick fix. 而婴儿有时会在2到3周龄时出现反流, they may not fully grow out of it until they are around 1 year.

“It’s one of those frustrating diagnosis,” Hunter says. “You really have to go at the baby’s pace. 如果你能在不做手术或极端干预的情况下治疗婴儿, and you can allow them to grow and get beyond this stage, that is ideal.”

阿里这些天有很多更令人兴奋的事情要做，而不是与反流作斗争. Her daddy is an R & B歌手和音乐家，她被证明是爸爸的女儿.

马库斯说:“前几天，她唱出了一个很棒的高音。. “I thought, ‘She is going to blow … She’s going to be a singer!’”