So we had to take Carys to the dr yesterday (thank goodness for weekend hours). She had been coughing this really sharp cough and gagging a lot! Not being able to catch her breath and it was really scary. She actually had an episode at the doctor's office which I was glad happened so that they could see what I was talking about. They gave her a steroid medicine for croup and she is also now on Zantac for acid reflux. If this doesn't work then they said they will do an upper GI. Goodness! I'm not sure how long it takes for the Zantac to work, but it seems she isn't coughing as much today which is good. Knock on wood!!
How long has she been coughing? Does she spit up a lot? I didn't realize you had been dealing with reflux as well. I'm guessing this has been a bad problem for many weeks if they want to do an upper GI, but I have to say, as a mom of a reflux baby, that it seems really extreme to jump to an upper GI if Zantac doesn't work, especially if the ped thought it might be croup.
I have posted about Scarlett's reflux before, but in case you are interested in another opinion before resorting to an upper GI, I'll tell you her story. Feel free to totally disregard it if it doesn't apply to you, but hearing stories of other people's kids helped me realize it was in fact reflux with Scarlett and to try meds.
Scarlett's initial symptoms were a constant cough, wet burps, gagging in her sleep, constant spitting up, projectile vomiting, very frequent hiccups, crying excessively all day, but particularly surrounding feedings. She would pull off, arch her back, and scream while nursing. I couldn't get her to latch on and stay on there cause she was constantly screaming. She would also only eat small meals (I guess cause her body knew she'd throw up more if she ate too much at once), so she was nursing roughly every 45 minutes all day long. She couldn't lay flat on her back at all, without screaming in pain. Oh, and her breath constantly smelled of vomit. She was generally a miserable baby. And having had 2 other kids who did their share of crying as newborns, I knew this was excessive and abnormal. And so was the projectile vomiting. My son spit up a lot, but this was way different. And all of those symptoms were present by 1 month old. Well before then actually, but at her 1 month visit to the ped, they were in full force.
So we started Zantac at her 1 month checkup and were on it a full week with very little difference. The ped then had us try Prevacid and 3 days later we had a new baby. She was happy, no more full days of screaming, she finally slept for more than 10 minutes at a clip, and in her own bed, not upright, wasn't pulling off and screaming during feedings, started spacing out feedings and taking in more at a meal. She still hiccuped, threw up, coughed, gagged, and spit up a lot, but she didn't seem as bothered by it anymore, or at least she wasn't reacting with screams. She literally went from crying all day to smiling all day.
Her Zantac dose had been .9mL twice a day and the Prevacid dose is 1/4 30mg tablet twice a day. If the Prevacid hadn't worked, next step was to do a 1/2 tablet in the morning and 1/4 tablet at night. If that still didn't have an effect we would have gone to different medicines. One option was a combo of Zantac and Prevacid, another was to try Prilosec. I am not sure where we were going to go from there since the Prevacid worked, but testing had never been mentioned so I am assuming it was a ways off.
Additionally, I cut all dairy out of my diet when we started the Prevacid. It was just based on the suggestion of a friend initially, but when we saw such an improvement I wasn't sure if it was the Prevacid or the dairy so I just stuck with both. I have since tried twice to reintroduce dairy and Scarlett spent the next couple of days throwing up more than usual and crying a lot. Same effect if I skip a dose of the medicine (we were hoping to wean her off), and in fact we just went up to 1/2 tablet in the morning and 1/4 at night as she was starting to get a bit fussy when she'd cough or spit up.
But if the Zantac doesn't work and you are nursing, I'd suggest doing a trial of dairy-free, or see what food you eat the most or a lot of and cut that out for a week. If you're doing formula, ask about trying a soy formula, or the next step after that would be the everything-free formulas like Nutramigen or Alimentum. If there isn't an allergy issue, there are also formulas like Enfamil A.R., which has rice cereal in it to thicken it, which can help reduce spit up. If you are nursing and want to pump, you can talk with your ped about adding rice cereal. Mine had suggested that as a next step as well, but we didn't have to try that (thank gosh as I am really not a pumper!).
Anyway, please don't think I am trying to tell you what to do or anything like that, but if you are having reflux issues, and looking for advice on what to do if the Zantac doesn't work, then maybe this will be helpful.
Also, some other moms on this thread have had reflux issues and have done some of the things I mentioned, but haven't personally tried. Maybe check with them on their experiences as well.
ETA: One other thing, reflux meds won't take away the reflux symptoms really, they only take away the pain associated with the reflux.
Isabelle spits up frequently though, and I hate letting her clothes sit nasty, so it was very convenient having laundry right there in our room. 
Natalie LOVES (!!!!!) her routine and so do I. Maybe when she is two but I am thinking more like 3. There are some places we are planning on going next year, but they are all car trips. She does great in the car. We are going to go to the Hyatt Hill Country, a great place for kiddo's. I can't wait to take her to Disney, but I think we are going to wait until she is a wee bit older.
Time has gone by so quickly. She is an only child so it is very easy for me to keep her schedule. We do travel once a month to my parents, it is a 3 hour car ride, and she does great. But even there, we try to keep her on schedule. Not in a drill sgt. way, but in keeping with a routine sort of way.
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