Brynlee's Medical Update

Brynlee has been experiencing some medical "issues" for quite some time now. She has had blood in her stool since she was about 2 months old. It isnt an every day thing, and it started out just little eraser size chunks (sorry for the graphic description). This was about the time I started putting her on the potty.  While I never noticed it in her diaper I recall seeing it many many times when she went on the potty, but i didnt keep track of how often it was. I didnt bring this to anyones attention, even Marcus' until she was about 3 1/2 months old. At that point I still wasnt quite sure if it was blood or not.  I continued to monitor it and then one day it was WAY more than usual, and it really alarmed me. I decided to bring her in to the doctor. The diagnosis was an anal fissure. I was never quite pleased with that diagnosis. And the next time it happened I examined the poo more.....gross I know! But i came to the conclusion that the blood was not with her poo it was IN her poo!  There is a big difference! I decided that I needed to bring in a sample for the doctors to see. So I waited.......until one day we were at the allergy doctor getting our shots. Brynlee was acting super strange and i decided to put her on the potty, which by the way I think is SUPER disgusting to put her on public pottys at this age, but she wanted to go and wouldnt go in her diaper! I noticed that there were a few BIG chunks when she went so I acted quick. My mom had the big girls out in the waiting room. I called her and asked her to come in the bathroom. I told her i needed to get the poo and blood out of the potty to bring to the pediatrician. She said she would rather be on "poo fishing duty" than keep the girls for me. So I gladly went and collected some supplies and she began fishing. We brought the sample to the doctor where it was confirmed blood. They sent me home with a proper collection kit and asked that I get a "clean" sample for testing. And also suggested that I remove dairy from my diet because she was fitting all the signs of having issues digesting dairy through my breastmilk.  So for the next 3 days I had to put her on the little potty so that I could catch everything, and I was officially gluten AND dairy free!

Finally Brynlee gave us 2 samples in one day and I saved them both. Since she gave them to us on a Saturday of a holiday weekend I had to keep that in my frig until Tuesday! double gross! I brought it to the doctor and also had an appointment to see the doctor. But this time her doctor was out of the office so we saw a different doc. She assured me that the blood was NOT coming from the fissure and that she wanted to run more tests. They attempted to draw blood from her but were unable to find her vein so I was sent to another location to have the blood drawn. About a week later we recieved the results back and her blood was negative for ALL allergies and her poo tests came back completely normal. The only thing that was slightly alarming was her hematocrit level. But since it was still within the "normal" limits (the very lowest number in the normal range) they said it was ok. I still continued to monitor the poo and they told me I could start eating dairy again. Then they referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist. When I called for an appointment the earliest they could get me in was 7 weeks. I was NOT pleased with that, so I called my pediatrician and they were able to expedite the process and get me in the very next Monday! Amazing how those things work out! We saw that doctor and got a better diagnosis of Allergic Colitis. At first I wasnt too keen on this diagnosis. But the more I thought about it I think I wasnt happy with the way it was presented to us. Here's what went down: we were brought to our room where the nurse asked lots of questions about her symptoms and dates and things of that nature. She feverishly wrote down everything in Bryn's chart and left the room. About 10 minutes later the doctor walks in carrying a piece of paper and begins to talk to us. Within the first 3 minutes he says "I think she has allergic colitis" and hands me the paper he brought in. I felt like he made the diagnosis without even looking at her or talking to me personally. But whatever, maybe this is so common and so trivial that it didnt require more of his time. To me this was a big deal! My infant daughter has had blood in her stool for 4 months! I took the info he gave us and went home to digest everything. He also told us this is something she will outgrow and that it doesnt mean that she will have allergies in the future. He assured me that she has a mild case and that I dont need to do anything to alter my diet/lifestyle as of yet. He said if the symptoms worsen then we will begin exploring options then.  And you know what......she hasnt had A SINGLE DROP of blood in her stool since! How crazy is that? So now she is medically cleared to start solids and we have been full force ahead trying and experimenting with all different kinds of food. Turns out she is much like her sisters in that she is NOT a fan of typical pureed baby food. She much prefers regular table food.  I am hoping that we have all blood issues behind us now! And I just want to know why kids start so early scaring the S**T out of thir parents?