January Update

Happy January!
Hope you are surviving the cold. Ellie is well decked out for the winter weather. I'm very lucky that Ellie allows us to put hats on her. And, how cute is this freakin' hat?!?

Anyways, January has been a very busy month for us. On January 8th, Artie took Ellie to her plastic surgeon to talk about a February surgery. Well, he decided that he needed to do an emergency surgery for her hemangioma and set it for January 12th. It went well, relatively speaking. She did look like she lost in a bar fight. But, the swelling went down relatively quickly. Notice the purple marker on her forehead? Yeah, that's so the doctor can identify where the hemangioma is in the operating room. Really? You need that kind of identify? Hmmmm, anyways.


Another thing that kept us jumping is that Ellie has not wanted to eat. . .AGAIN! At the tail end of December, Ellie started to gag herself when she would eat at the high chair. So, we thought it was a fluke thing. Maybe she didn't want the carrots or something. We would feed her, then she would put her fingers down her throat and throw up everything she ate. It was odd----she would take about 6-8 bites of food, then stick her hand in her mouth and toss everything back up. For every meal. Artie and I would say, "NO" when she would do it. Once night, she just started bawling at this. And, Ellie never cries. No major temper tantrums (I guess she's saving those for when she is 2). I can count on one hand the times she cried with tears streaming down her face. Well, this was one of those times. Yes, I was heartbroken; I started crying. :(
Well, I didn't see anything for bulimic babies online, so we took her to the pediatrician. Our doctor said it wasn't normal, so we had to go back to the feeding team at Children's.

Ellie's occupational therapist told us to ignore it when Ellie starts to gag herself. Just pull her hand out of her mouth and keep feeding her. And, if she throws up, place a towel over it and give her one more bite. That way, she doesn't associate the high chair with not feeling comfortable. BUT, our super smart girl learned how to throw up without the use of her hands. Oy! The OT also said her zombie stare that she does in the high chair is something she has learned. She knows that when she gets tired, we take her out of the high chair. Ellie's OT also recommended we stop feeding her right before we know she's going to throw up. Now, I'm worried that I am underfeeding her. But, the behavior modifications seem to be helping.

Ellie's GI was not concerned about Gaggy McVomit. She said that Ellie was still in a healthy band for her weight. But, she wanted to do an upper GI study just to make sure that Ellie's plumbing was working correctly. She also upped her Prevacid dosage. The study went well. The doctor didn't see anything that was obstructing Ellie's ability to eat. Of course, getting Ellie to take the barium. . . yeah, that was another story. She had a meltdown at the table! They were thisclose to inserting a feeding line into her so she would take the barium, but they finally got enough for the doctor to see the digestive track. She does have a hole between her stomach and esophagus, which is what causes the acid reflux. But, we all knew that.

I will say that (knock on wood), she hasn't vomited for a while (5 days). Any minor victory is a success in my book.

Other than Ellie's surgery and eating issues, January was uneventful. I cannot believe my 11 month old will have her first birthday in a month! When I look at how tiny she was at birth and how big she is now, I'm stunned! She's well into 12 month clothes (some are even 18 months!). She weighs about 20 lbs and is 30 inches long. We thought she'd be walking before her birthday, but she's just happy crawling for now.