When did she start doing that?

Today Mackenzie and I were at a baby shower for my co-worker. As always Z was the perfect child very quiet and playing by herself. I sat down on the carpet with Z as presents were being opened. There were a few folding chairs behind us. I moved her out of my way as I turned to grab a coaster, next thing I knew she was on top of the chair! I asked "how did she get up there?" And my friend responded "she climbed"...my response..."crap".

That was the first time she had ever done that. In the past few weeks she learned to stand on and jump from her kid chair (thanks Alexa for teaching her that). We bought her a trampoline (similar to the old school round ones, but this has a handle for her to hold); it took her 2 days to figure out how to get off it without falling. She sits down at the edge, swings her legs over and then bounces up to her feet. This is now her most favorite thing in the house. She always runs over to it and starts climbing and bouncing.

I'm not nervous for the climbing, but for the falling. Our dining room chairs are the pup height, and we have 2 bar stools at the breakfast bar. I'm more afraid that she's going to try to climb on them and they will fall over on top of my small fragile precious baby.

Dancing Machine!

Watch out world!

Medical update...

Mackenzie...
She is finally getting over her multiple colds. She has been sick since Christmas. Every time she was feeling better she'd get a new cold. We think she's lost a pound or so from the lack of appetite and vomiting. But she's turned a corner and is feeling much better.

Her appetite is back, little to no reflux, and things on moving on the south end. I consulted with her GI, and we decided to cancel her endoscopy procedure at the end of the month. We'll check back with him at our mid-February appointment. She seems to be improving.

She's also walking around, climbing onto everything, and starting to say some words. Everyday there is something new. It's so exciting!

Krista...
As for myself, I have been dealing with liver problems again. This all started back in college when I was 20. A few times a year I get a liver function test to monitor my levels. When I became pregnant, my liver tests went back to normal and stayed normal until Mackenzie turned one.

Unfortunately I had high results again at my check up in November. They preceded the test with an ultrasound where they found the texture of my liver to be coarse (indicating some type of liver disease). My GI had a number of blood tests done and ordered a liver biopsy for the most accurate diagnosis.

The blood tests came back normal, and the liver biopsy was painful. Thankfully it is not cirrhosis and not cancer. My official diagnosis is steatohepatitis (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) with some deterioration of the liver cells. I have yet to meet with my GI to discuss our treatment plan, but I have done some research. Basically this is a slow progressing disease, that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. The only treatment for cirrhosis is a liver transplant.

Losing weight MAY help slow the progression of the steatohepatitis, but it's not a guarantee. Not the news I wanted to hear, but at least I have an answer and know what I'm facing. I have an appointment with my GI on February 1st to discuss.

Where oh where to begin...

My tough little cheerio...

These cheerios are stuck to the snot on her face...LOL

Mackenzie has been sick for the past few weeks. We took her to the pediatrician last night just to make sure it was nothing more serious. Of course she was the only child in the waiting room who was happy and giggling. She has some sinus and chest congestion hanging around and her nose is very runny, but nothing bad enough to justify giving her special medicine.


Jaws of life...

If you didn't already know, Mackenzie bit my face. It sounds worse than it is, but it hurt like hell. I was laying on the couch and she came over to me for some attention. I leaned over to kiss her and she latched on to the skin on my left brow. She would let go! I was screaming and Brian had to come over to get her. I'm pretty sure she mistook it for kissing, but I'm sure she also wanted some attention. She definitely left a mark on my face and I ended up with bruising and swelling. Take a look. Honestly I'm a little afraid of her and those sharp little teeth.


Part 1 of Medical Testing...

Mackenzie's Pediatric GI, Dr. Abdullah, is running an entire workup on Mackenzie. We want to figure out why she is still spitting up/refluxing and underweight. If we can figure out why, then we can provide the proper treatment.

On New Years Eve she completed the Barium Swallow (aka upper GI). Unfortunately they had to insert a feeding tube in order to get the barium solution into her tummy. I couldn't watch, but she did really well. After that they took xrays every 20-40 minutes to see how the solution progressed through her digestive system. Everything was normal...which is good, but now they want to do another set of tests (Part 2).

On January 28 she will be having an endoscopy, rectal biopsy and pH probe inserted into her tummy. They will have to put her to sleep for the procedure. The rectal biopsy is to test for Hirschsprung's disease; a problem with the nerves in the colon. Click here for more info on Hirschsprung's disease. They are also inserting a pH probe into her tummy through her nose. We are then sent home with a receiver and we push the button every time she has reflux for 24 hours. They will take it out the next day to extract the readings from the probe. I'm not exactly sure of the significance, but it's kind of neat.

Now that took the merry out of Christmas...

On December 23rd we had Mackenzie's follow-up appointment with the GI at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. Z weighed in at 21 lbs 2 oz, and is now in the 3rd percentile (that's an improvement). She is slowly gaining weight, but is continuing to be constipated.

For the past two months she has been vomiting AND spitting up. Her acid reflux is not getting any better and we've had no luck with the two medications we've tried (she spits them up, or won't take it at all).

Dr. Abdullah (our pediatric GI) wants to run an entire work up of tests. First we're going to increase her laxative medication until she has the runs, and then we'll slowly decrease until we find the proper dosage to keep her regular.

On Thursday she is going to have a Barium Swallow (aka upper GI series). This should show us how her food is going down.

If further testing is needed, she will need to have an Endoscopy. Because she is so young, they'll have to put her to sleep for this procedure. It would be an outpatient surgery. During the surgery they would also take a rectal biopsy to test for rectal disorders (possible cause to the constipation).

In addition they would place a probe in her throat for 24 hours. During this time we would push a button every time she has reflux so the monitor can record the episode. I'm really not sure how that would work on a 19 month old. She HATES things going near her nose. I can clean her ears, but NOT her nose.

How do we feel about all this? Of course we don't want her to have any unecessary testing done, but we also don't want to keep her on medications that are not working. We're glad they're finally wanting to run tests instead of continuing the "wait and see" route we've been on. Mostly it's hard to judge our true feelings because Mackenzie is so happy and cheerful at all times. Her personality gives no insight to her feeding issues.

Christmas went well. We saw lots of family and she was given lots of presents. She really wasn't in to opening the presents, but I think that was mostly because she was tired and/or overwhelmed by it all. For me it was hard to completely enjoy the holidays when you have all this on the back of your mind.

By the way...Z finally got her orthotic braces for her ankles the week of Christmas. They're pink, white and purple. Unfortunately we had to buy new shoes to fit them. Her foot is a size 6, but the orthotics are a size 7-7.5. We got her some purple converse low tops that look adorable on her. I need to take a photo, but since her shoes are now 1.5 sizes too big for her feet she looks like Bozo the Clown when she walks around...it's so cute!

They really are helping too! The day after Christmas she stood by herself and bent down to pick something up without losing her balance for the first time. We're so proud!

We have a walker!

I'm officially calling Mackenzie a walker. She still crawls around, and she actually likes to walk on her knees, but at least half the time she is walking around on her own.

And speaking of walking, she is being casted for her ankle orthotics today. I'm not sure how it works, and I'm not sure when we'll get them. Hopefully sooner than later so she doesn't develop more bad habits with walking on the inside of her ankles.

Thanksgiving was overflowing with Filipinos as usual. We had a HUGE Filipino family reunion at Uncle Dan's home in Bellevue. I think there were about 45 people who came. The little girls had a blast playing on the stairs, blowing bubbles and watching 'Finding Nemo'. I wish they could see each other more often.