Update on Dr.'s Appointments

We'll start with the fun stuff first. Here are the girls in their Valentine shirts that daddy got for them. Rick is so sweet and just loves taking care of all his girls and making us feel special. He is the best daddy and husband, we are so blessed! He got a shirt for me too but umm, well, it was just a weeeee bit too tight. That's what happens when you get a shirt in the teeny-bop section of the store for an almost 31 year old with a post-pregnancy body. Fo sho right laydeez? FYI, along with Holla sometimes I kind of like saying fo sho, translated "for sure" for those of you who don't understand the lingo. Anyway, the best idea now days in clothing for me is to try and camouflage the muffin top as much as possible instead of drawing attention to it. Moms with muffin tops, are you with me here? So obviously I need to exchange my cute shirt for a bigger size. Thank you though babe, you are SO sweet and thoughtful! Also, Ella rolled over today for the first time from her tummy to her back! I know this might not be exciting to anyone else but it is extremely exciting for us. Yea Ella!

Okay, so the not so fun stuff is the information we learned from our doctor's appointments this past week. This post is a little lengthy, just a warning. Here we go, this past wednesday Ella had an Upper GI procedure done which, I'll spare you the details but just know that it was terrible. She would not drink the barium (shocker!) even though they wheeled in a tv with baby einstein playing for her and 5 nurses were standing around singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Negative, so they had to put a tube down her nose and into her stomach to get the barium in that way to do the x-rays. It was awful, she was screaming and crying the entire time and I was about to lose it myself. At least they got the images they needed but it was just not fun for any of us. On Thursday we had a follow-up appt. with the GI doctor to go over the pH probe, Upper GI results, etc. I was fully prepared that she was going to say that Ella had severe reflux, here's the new med and that's it. Not the case.

She did say yes, Ella does have significant reflux, here is the medication but that there are some other things wrong internally as well. I'll try to explain this as best as I can since I am so not medical and don't completely understand how everything works with the whole GI thing. Starting off, her small intestines and colon are malrotated which means they are in an abnormal position in her body. This more than likely happened in utero when everything was forming and apparently in every fetus there is a period of time when the intestines come out of the abdomen, rotate around and return back into the abdomen. With Ella, hers just did not complete that rotation and because of that they are not in the correct position. The doctor said that this is not that common but it is also not uncommon. Do you see a running theme here with sweet Ella on the not-so-common things happening to her? sheesh! Anyway, there are people walking around out there that have this same condition and never know it or know it and know how to deal with it. In my understanding, malrotation in itself may not necessarily be a problem but there can be complications that present themselves and then it can become a serious problem and surgery would have to be performed. Basically for Ella this is important information for us to know as far as her future health is concerned but nothing is going to be done or needs to be done at this point about it unless she really shows signs that something is going wrong. Time will tell but more than likely things will be fine.

Okay, I'm not done yet. In addition to the malrotated intestines Ella also has a hiatal hernia which is common and pretty much goes along with reflux. In addition to that she also has a tortuous esophagus which means her esophagus is curvy and wide as opposed to a normal esophagus that is straight and narrow. There you have it. I think I covered everything from our GI appointment. Needless to say, I burst into tears in the doctor's office because I was not prepared for all of this info so it was kind of a blow. No wonder this poor baby is having trouble eating! However, despite all of these things we do feel like once the reflux and esophagitis gets under control she will eat better. We are so blessed that Ella is such a happy baby even though she has been through so much. Things will get better but it is just going to take some time.

Last thing. On Friday we had an appointment with the Cranial Band people to get Ella's head evaluated for a band or helmet. Her head is flat on the right side because she has trouble looking to her left due to her shoulder problems. We try to position her as much as possible to relieve pressure on the right side but there is only so much you can do. So we had an evaluation and they said that on the scale she is in the severe range and is a good candidate for the band. She has plagiocephaly which is flattening of the head as well as brachycephaly in which the head forms in a wider, shorter shape. We realize that they have a product to sell and it is ultimately our decision on whether or not to get a band for her but we feel that it is important to have this taken care of so we are moving forward with it. The time table for how long you have to wear the band is different for every baby but it is usually around 6-8 weeks we were told and it must be worn 23 hours a day. We'll go back this week to have the mold made then it will be a week or two before they get it back to do a fitting. After that we'll have to go every week to make sure it is fitting right yadda yadda yadda. Awesome right? As if we really need one more issue to deal with. We just kind of laugh at this point because it really is amazing and what else can you do. Cry? I do enough of that already so I would rather laugh. Anyway, my friend Holly said she would buy a Bedazzler and we'll just slap some rhinestones on that bad boy and Ella will be good to go. So, get the creative juices flowing people, I need helmet decorating ideas. Send me your serious, funny, silly, whatever suggestions, we could use and appreciate the humor.

Okay, I'm sure there are other things I need to update about but this post is long enough so I'll stop for now. Thank you for all of your prayers this week for us. It was a hard week finding out all of this but we are glad we know more because it is just steps in the right direction to helping Ella get better. Much love, 10-4.