GI 2nd Opinion and More

Wednesday I took Ella for a second opinion at the other Pediatric Gastroentronolgy clinic in town.  I had asked around about the doctors at the "other" clinic to learn about them and find out who might not treat Ella as a "textbook" SBS case.

Dr. C came into the exam room, we discussed her history at length and then he started discussing her feeding issues/oral aversion.   While she eats by mouth, we also use the tube.  He wants to build on her desire to eat by mouth and discussed the number of SBS babies they see from NICU through tube removal (right in their office).

He asked about reflux and vomiting.  Of course I'm very proud that Ella has never vomited (okay, 1 time EVER, quite minimally). She doesn't have reflux.  It's pretty unheard of.

Dr. C discussed 'silent' reflux where it doesn't come all the way back up but it does reflux from the stomach.  Between her prematurity, SBS & tube, those are all triggers for reflux.  We could admit her, do an invasive esophageal procedure to investigate... or we can try her on a reflux medication and see if her oral intake improves.

He also didn't impose limits on how much of her veggies she can take by mouth.  He even said some fruits would be beneficial, the ones that are heavy in pectin (lower in Fructose) such as Bananas, Apples and Pears.  He also said she could start on proteins too.  Of course we would be conservative in adding these in... rather than the standard of adding a new food every 3 days, perhaps every week instead.

The nutritionist at the office also gave us a Jr. level, vanilla flavored formula (same formula she is on now) to try out to see if she has more of a desire to eat more with a sweeter formula.

There was a lot more to the appointment but those are the quick highlights.  I really liked that Dr. C was focused on Ella's eating rather than overly cautious over her (well adapting) intestines.

My only "complaint" was that he advised we try these modifications and follow up in 1-2 months.  The first follow-up appointment available was 2 months exactly.

I hate to leave Dr. R, but Dr. C seems to be more of what Ella & I need in a GI.

In other news...

We have been out & about quite a bit.  Ella did graduate to a convertible car seat!  Uncle Jeffy came over and installed her swing on our porch.

We went to a Kindermusik session on Friday (felt like a playdate, although our first playdate so how would I really know what a playdate really is?). It was a bit overstimulating for Ella but she did recover well.

We went to an Intro to Music Therapy session at the Imaginon Saturday.  I'm glad we did because Music Therapy & Kindermusik are very different things and I believe Music Therapy is exactly what I've been looking for for Ella.

We went to the zoo with several other SMC mom's and kids on Sunday.  It was a 90 minute drive (the first time in her new car seat), we spent about 3 hours at the zoo and drove the 90 minutes home - so a 6 hour excursion!  That's our biggest adventure so far!

August 2012 - NICU Car Seat Test (what an amazing milestone! We waited so long for our car seat test!)

May 2013 - about 5 days before we said Bye-Bye to the Infant Seat

First time in my new Big Girl (still rear facing) seat! Let's go to the zoo!!

Wiped out.  In the zoo parking lot, Mama could barely buckle me back up.

Elephants at the zoo

I will add some photos/videos of PT/OT when I get a chance to go through them.  I've been trying to take more photos/video of our sessions. 

Time for bed.