More GI Stuff

So, we saw Mia's GI doctor today and got the results from her stomach emptying test. She does empty slower than we do, she empties 1/3 less than what we do in a given time period. This explains why she doesn't eat as much since she probably feels full more often than we do. She also has some reflux, there were 3 episodes during the 90 minute test. This explains why she has episodes of throwing up, or at least why she did in the past. There are some surgical procedures to correct both of these issues, but at this point there isn't a need since she is gaining weight (praise God she is now 26 pounds!) and the vomiting only happens very rarely. But, if these were to become issues as she gets older, there are some options for her.

We then talked about Calvin because I have been concerned about him having reflux for awhile now. He agrees with me and thinks Calvin does have reflux based on some of the things I have mentioned, but still thinks he has some time to outgrow it. Although most babies have outgrown it by his age, he says to wait until he's about a year to reassess. There is some medicine we could try for it, but I opted to wait a little bit to see how he does on his own.

One thing about Calvin that I've noticed lately is that at night he always sleeps on his tummy. Ever since he could flip over, he's been doing it on his own. He's been a horrible napper in the day, napping at most for 30 minutes, unless I nap with him or hold him and so it hit me the other day to try putting him on his tummy for his nap. Apparently that's it. He'll now take an hour and half nap in his crib. I've read that babies with reflux sleep better on their tummies and so this makes alot of sense.

Just yesterday Calvin started getting up on all fours. He hasn't gotten into sitting himself yet, so I think we have a little time until he's crawling, but we are definitely getting closer and it will probably happen real soon.

Four Generations!

When we were in North Dakota before Easter, we took another four generation picture of Mia, myself, my mom, and my grandma. We did this right after Mia was born, it's just neat that we got to do it again. So, here is the updated picture along with a few others from our trip.

Happy Mother's Day!

From our home to yours, Happy Mother's Day!

GI Stuff

So, we saw Mia's GI surgeon yesterday. Her anus has narrowed, so we are now going to start doing some dilations again to stretch her anus to the proper size. This wasn't a fun task when we did it before, so I'm not looking forward to doing it again. He also was concerned that she might be constipated, so we had an xray done for that. I just spoke with him on the phone this morning and she is constipated, so we are going to start her on some miralax and see if we can't get her to have more regular bowel movements with the help of the miralax. This is actually really good news, I know you don't want to hear that your child is constipated, but if this is what it takes to get her to have regular bowel movements, we are so hopeful. Please pray with us that this would be the answer and that things would start to improve.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

When did it become May? I can't believe it's here already. Lots of different news to report from our home. This morning I weighed Mia and she's up to 25 1/2 pounds! Praise God! The only thing I can think that is doing this is the pediasure she's now drinking, so we are going to stick to that and hopefully she'll keep gaining weight.

We had a trip to LA today that ended up being a very long day. The doctor was behind several hours so there was quite a bit of waiting before our appointment. Anyway, we saw Mia's craniofacial doctor and the good news is that he doesn't think Mia will need a cosmetic surgery for her head shape. We were leaning that direction anyway, so it was really nice to have him reaffirm what we felt about her head. It's good enough. And since he doesn't think she'll need that, we are officially done seeing him for Mia. Yay, 1 less doctor on our list...maybe...

So, he immediately checked out Calvin's head when we got there and there is a slight concern there. His sagital suture may be fused slightly early causing his head to be more elongated than it should be. His gut feeling is that there isn't a problem, but he wants us to have his neurosurgeon look at it and give us his opinion. There is a slight ridge running the length of his head, but it is so subtle and he believes that it would be more pronounced at this point if it were a problem, but just to be safe he wants us to see the neurosurgeon. So, you can pray that there wouldn't be an issue, we are scheduled to see him next week Thursday when we have to be in LA anyway for another appointment for Mia.

Tomorrow we go back to LA again for another appointment with Mia's GI surgeon. I will be so glad when we don't have to go so much. But, both of my little ones have become very good travelers and the trip is usually very smooth. :)