The Visit

We took Lauren to the specialist today. Where do I begin...I will start with the plan. For the next four weeks, Lauren will be on a special diet. We have to start her on milk of magnesia until her stools become watery, then we start her on miralax (which she will be on until we see the doctor again in four weeks). We also need to take her off of the soy milk, benefiber, mineral oil, and apple juice. She will be on a liquid diet for the most part and I have to keep a poop diary to keep track of when she poops and if there is any blood in the stools. The goal is to have this regimin stop the bleeding, but if it doesn't, she will have to have a barium enema. It doesn't look like she will have to have a scope done at this point, but I'm hoping that she won't have to have the enema done. The doctor was really awesome and very informative. We discussed different things that could be causing this, such as Cystic Fibrosis and Hershbaumers(?), which Lauren has a slim chance of having these, so they want to cover all bases and make sure she doesn't have them. I wanted to cry when she mentioned these things, but I held it off. The doctor also told us that the reason why Lauren likes to hide when she poops is because she is trying to not poop because at some point she had a traumatic poop experience that she doesn't want to repeat, which is why we are trying to clean out her bowels and keep the stools as soft as possible. The doctor checked Lauren's bowels and said they felt good and there was no blockage. She also did a rectal exam, which Lauren tolerated very well, what a trooper! She said that Lauren's rectum was good, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens over the next four weeks.

State of the Household: Part 3

So here is the latest news: I have a phone interview tomorrow with the clinic that I used to work for in Minnesota. I just got off the phone with the HR Director a few minutes ago and it looks very promising. I am very excited to see if this leads us back to the frozen tundra. Kevin hasn't been able to finish up his resume since his assistant quit a few weeks ago and the company isn't going to hire a replacement, so Kevin is extremely busy. It is so frustrating to see him so worn out when he gets home. If I do get this job, then we are looking at being in Minnesota in September, just in time to see the leaves change. I have already been looking at apartments out there to see what is available, so that we can get a head start once we get out there. I will keep you posted...

2 Months

Well Claire had her 2 month check up today and she is a whopping 12 lbs. 11 oz. and 23 1/4 in. long. She is in the 95th percentile! That's our little pork chop! She is doing really well and she has slept through the night for two nights now. It would be nice if it lasted, but I just take it one night at a time. Claire has also started to suck on her hands, fingers, thumb (whatever she can get in her mouth). I'm hoping we won't have another thumb sucker, so we'll see what she does.

I have a question for you teachers out there. What can I do to help Curtis learn his numbers and letters? I have been trying to work with him on those and he can sing the ABC song and count, but trying to get him to recognize what the numbers and letters look like is a different story. I need to find ways to make it fun for him or he won't even bother trying to learn it. So please send me your suggestions.

I talked to Lauren's pediatrician about her upcoming appointment with the GI and he told me that they won't do the scope on the first visit, so I'm not sure what we will find out on the 31st. I will keep you all posted on how things go with her.

It's Our Anniversary

Aahh tomorrow marks our seventh wedding anniversary. Can you believe it!?! Seven years has gone by so fast (for me at least, Kevin says it feels more like ten). A lot has happened to us in seven years. I got out of the Navy, we moved to Minnesota, got pregnant, lost the baby, got pregnant again, had a beautiful baby boy, moved back to California, got pregnant, had a beautiful baby girl, got pregnant again and had another beautiful baby girl. Boy, we sure have been busy!! I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us. Maybe a move back to Minnesota? We'll just have to wait and see...Anyway, tomorrow Kevin and I will celebrate by going out to dinner, alone, to Angelo's and Vinci's, the place that started it all. Those of you that were in our wedding party, that's where we had the rehersal dinner. It has great atmosphere and food. So here is to seven years of wedded bliss with the greatest man God has brought into my life.

Finally!

Wow! It's been awhile since I've posted, but the kids keep me super busy so I don't have a whole lot of free time. We finally got Lauren's referral so she will be seeing the pediatric gastroenterologist on the 31st at our children's hospital. I'm relieved and a little scared to say the least. I'm hoping that we will find out what's causing her bleeding and the prolapse so that we can fix it, but I'm also afraid that they might find something bad or nothing at all. We have been dealing with this for eight months now and every time Lauren has a poopy diaper, I dread taking her diaper off because I don't know if there is going to be blood in there or if the prolapse is going to rear it's ugly head. It shouldn't be like this and I am so frustrated that the problem hasn't been resolved. Hopefully we will get some answers on the 31st.

In other news, Claire has started smiling and she smiles a lot! She is one happy baby and she is getting chubby. I weighed her two weeks ago and she was 11 lbs. so it will be interesting to see what her weight is at her two month check up. Her night sleeping has gotten much better, so she is only waking up once during the night. She is very alert during the day and loves to be entertained. She has a very similar personality to Curtis, so it will be interesting to see what she's like as she gets older. I can't wait...Anyway, that's all the scoop for now. Have a wonderful week.