Charlie's Story

The following was written by me, to tell Charlie's story, not only to see the path he has been down, but to help heal myself. It is written in third person, as I was trying to avoid judging myself.

Charlie is the 3rd child of a couple who has been married for 12 years. He was conceived prior to their 10th wedding anniversary, and was a surprise. Mom was in school, and both parents had planned no more children. Initially, his entry was met with surprise and fear, but as the parents had time to adjust, his development was met with increasing excitement and planning.

The pregnancy was difficult for mom. Early pregnancy had trepidation about a genetic problem, which was not brought to fruition. Mid-pregnancy brought sacro-ileac pain, and later pregnancy brought contractions and an irritable uterus. Late in the pregnancy, mom developed symptoms of candida, but did not know what it was. Mom was not allowed to return to school while still pregnant, and Charlie arrived 5 weeks early.

Initially, he had difficulty breathing, and was lacking a suck-swallow-breath reflex. Breathing alone was enough work. Early labor was slow, later labor was faster. He had a small dip in heart rate during delivery. He was 7 pounds even and dropped slightly more than a pound during his first couple of weeks of life. The first 2 weeks were marked by a bad yeast infection on his skin and mom's breasts that took diflucan and creams to clear up.

Breast feeding was nearly impossible, his first nourishment being from a bottle, he did not seem to understand what breasts were for. Mom pumped for him almost immediately, even though he was too sick to eat. Over the next few weeks mom worked diligently with several lactation consultants and at home with kangaroo care trying to get Charlie to nurse. Mom became sad and disappointed, and a medication coupled with her history of breast reduction caused her milk supply to plummet.

Over time, Charlie started showing symptoms of allergies to his formula that he was being supplemented with. Dairy didn't work, neither did lactose free, and partially hydrolyzed. Eventually, the demands of pump-feed the baby-wash bottles-kangaroo care-pump, school, the need for sleep, repeated very large and painful plugged ducts, the constant recolonization of yeast, and loss of supply led mom to discontinue pumping and dry her milk supply.

As Charlie got older, his parents could not afford enough formula to get through the month. This formula cost was more than $10 per day. They attempted soy formulas, then later soy milk, rice milk, and almond milk. Over time it became quite clear that he was reacting to all of these substances, and only would be comfortable and sleep when just his main formula was given. Solids were introduced around 6.5 months, mom was careful to watch for allergic responses, none were noted.

Finally, mom finished school and was allowed some time to work in his health. Currently he is getting a few sips of water kefir daily and probiotics in his formula. He also gets some nourishing infusions diluted by half with apple juice about every other day. He is dairy free(except for butter), soy free, almond free, and only gets a few bites here and there of whole rice, but not rice milk. He seems to also react to the food additive carrageenan. His favorite foods are eggs, applesauce, bananas, sweet potato fries, arrowroot cookies, canned peaches, steamed carrots, canned corn, and dried currants. Mom tries to introduce other proteins but he often spits them out. Currently he is taking 3 types of enzymes once a day.

After a recent visit with a feeding specialist, a consult with the nutritionist, and a pediatrician, his formula is being changed to an elemental formula for those children with severe food allergies, malabsorption, and eosinophilic esophangitis. It is planned in the near future that he will see a GI specialist and an allergist. There is a concern that he may have environmental allergies contributing to his problems. There is also a worry that he may have some malabsoption going on, and the desire to make sure he does not have eosinophilic esophangitis.

Mom knows that the road to healing is long. This path has taken 15 months, and it may take that long or longer to get back. However, she has some grief, and feels some responsibility for his health, despite the fact that she knows in her head she did the best she could at the time.

Physically, Charlie is doing well. He is meeting most of his developmental milestones. He doesn't have any obvious constant words, and exposure to one of his allergies will set him back a day or two. Despite that, he is a sturdy, loving, lovable, cheerful, busy fellow who enjoys nothing more than a climb on the dining room table with his favorite teddy and truck.

Charlie and the hat (and Dada, too)

Mama finished Charlie's hat to match his pants (oops, forgot to take a picture of the pants. Oh, well it will have to wait until tomorrow).

Charlie had to try it on. Yes, I know the ends aren't woven in yet.

But, you know, when you are 8 months old there are always more things to do.

Like trying to crawl AND practicing your vowels.

And playing with balls.

And trying to crawl again.

Then you wonder...how do I get rid of this thing?

And life is good.

'Til you see Dada wearing your hat. Why is he wearing my hat? (Mama says he's just goofy.)

And back to the ball again.

So proud of himself.

The Garden

I don't pretend to be a master gardener. In fact, I'm not even sure you can call me an amatuer. Beginner is more like it. True, I did garden with my family as a child. But picking up rocks, and allowed weeds does not make one a gardener.

In past years, I've failed miserably, mostly probably because I forget to water. I'm slightly lazy, and always a very busy person. This year I've read Supersize Me and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and others, and have realized how little I want to be dependent on the food giants with their GM foods. So we frequent family farms that use heirloom seeds, and buy my own seeds from http://www.rareseeds.com/.

This year I think I have so much more invested in my garden than years past. With three children to feed and care for, and concern about what goes in their bodies, I am working harder. But I only have 2 garden spaces. Half of our back yard is overran with Japanese Knot Weed, an invasive and non-native plant brought to the US in the 1970's for "decoration". Between the knot weed, jewel weed, nipplewort, baby oaks, morning glorys, and blackberries, I have my work cut out for me!

Last year, before I found out I was pregnant, and in my early pregnancy, I had pulled up quite a few of the strawberries in the garden pictured above, and tried to plant some seeds. Unfortunately, my same old habits took over, plus the additional "burden" of pregnancy, and I just was not able to physically continue taking care of it.

By this spring, my little garden was again overrun by jewel weed, nipplewort, baby oaks, blackberries, and strawberries (sometimes considered a weed in Oregon, they are pretty invasive). The last few weeks we have worked to clear out that little garden. This is square foot gardening to the max!

In this small space of 5x8 or 5x10 I have planted popcorn, lettuce and chard, 2 kinds of carrots, 2 kinds of beans, a row of broccoli, some cucumbers (I'll train them to go up the fence), and a dozen onion starts.

Of course, this is not enough food to keep us all winter, but I do have a baby to take care of, a house, and soon school again. It will be enough to supplement our budget, and fun for the kids to go pick dinner!

Whats for Dinner? Menu Plan Monday June 29 - July 5th

Some part of me is being VERY resistant to menu planning. I have no idea why. :) However, it will save me some grief, so I'm going to try. I'm thinking we need to have beans every week. It'll be healthful and save some money. So Thursday is either Chili if I have TVP or Barley, Black bean, and corn burritos (recipezaar 357938). I might have to make tortillas, though.

The Barley, Black bean, and corn burritos are out, we had them for Sunday dinner. There is enough for leftovers or lunch. But I found Hermana Juans Easy Pinto Bean Soup. That ought to be good. http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/2008/11/hermano-juans-easy-pinto-bean-soup.html

I've been thinking about Food Stamp Challenges. Some are done for finacial reasons, others seem like they might be a personal test. Whatever the reason, it's interesting (and educational!) to see what people come up with. We are on our own personal Food Stamp Challenge, but really on foodstamps. My decision to start menu planning came from the fact that misplanning during the month of June meant we just didn't quite have enough to make it through the month. Our family gets $2.67 per person per day. I also have to buy at least 2 cans of formula a month to supplement our WIC. Not very much money, and easy to mismanage on that tight of a budget. I hope to do better this month!

Ta-ra ta-ra! Now, for the menu plan!

Monday June 29 - Hermano Juan's Easy Pinto Bean Soup

Tuesday June 30 - Dinner at mom's

Wednesday July 1st - Ladybug's birthday, she requested Salmon croquettes. In her honor we are also having Devil's Food cake with cherry frosting.

Thursday July 2nd - Chili or ???

Friday July 3rd - spaghetti

Saturday July 4th - cookout somewhere :) Maybe in honor of MY birthday, I'll bring Simply Sweet Home's Patriotic Cupcakes. http://simplysweethome.blogspot.com/2009/06/patriotic-cupakes.html

Sunday July 5th - My birthday!

See I'm an Organizing Junkie for more meal plans! www.orgjunkie.com

Growth

I realized today that I've changed. Matured. Learned to appreciate things more. Able to give and receive compliments so much easier. Appreciate the little things easier.

What was it that brought these changes? Three years of school? Charlie? Being over 30?

I don't know.

Tonight I got to ride MIL's horse. What a beautiful experience! Difficult, but beautiful. She's done a good job training the horse. It was hard work, though, the horse thought she'd see what she could get away with, and I had to keep working working working to get her to behave.

10 years ago I might have been frustrated that I didn't get it all right. Now, I'm just thrilled to have gotten something right.

Thanks for the lessons. I've needed them.

A new project...

...as if I don't have enough.

Let me just say I LOVE knitting for Charlie. So far I haven't knitted for anyone else, but I bet I'll like it, too.

I have a sweater that is ready to start for him, but this one http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=223 It's such a beautiful baby vest, but I think I'll have to adjust it (as in try to size up) because Charlie is just so big. And I don't have any beautiful tweed for him. It'll be on my wish list.