Jay & Jax Updates

Today I had to take both boys to the doctor. Primarily for Jayden's planned 3 year old well child check-up with a secondary check on some GI issues for Jaxson.

Ever since Jaxson weaned himself from the breast at 4 months old, he's had issues with constipation. We've tried everything!! When he was a baby, he was having episodes almost every month or two. There's nothing more wrenching than watching your baby writhe around in pain while you helplessly try to find a magic cure-all for his/her pain. It's absolutely terrible. We tried Miralax, assorted juices, enemas, laxatives, etc. Everything you can think of. Then we decided to take him off of regular cow's milk and switch to soy. That worked for a while and then soy gave him diarrhea, so we switched to almond milk. Everything was temporary. Just when we thought something was working, he'd have another episode and throw our thinking off.

Over the last 3-4 days, Jaxson has been unable to have a bowel movement. He'd have a like a skid mark here or there in his diaper, but no real poos. Just last week, he had diarrhea so bad it was leaking out of his diaper and running down his legs. I mean...one extreme to another. It's like some magic equation of trying to figure out how to get this kid to poop normal. It started getting really bad on Saturday... his belly was bloated, he was semi-lethargic, and he'd whimper and whine because of the pain. He'd try to go and... nothing. Yesterday, my mom came over to watch the boys while Aaron and I went shopping for our new minivan (that will be another story once we actually find one we want to purchase which we may have, but car sales are a b*tch to say the least...). The next thing I know, I have a barrage of phone calls from my mom and my MIL who was summoned over to help out an ailing Jaxson. Later that afternoon I got home and both grandmas were terribly worried, telling Aaron and I horror stories about family history of colon issues, GI issues, allergies, etc. Moms are good at worrying excessively and it was obvious that both were extremely stressed out and worried about Jaxson's condition, especially since Aaron had spent a lot of time at Children's Hospital as a child due to various ailments and my own grandmother died from a bowel/intestinal obstruction which caused septic shock. I even remember a conversation I'd had on the day that she passed with the nurse that the pain from the intestinal issues is one of the most painful ways to go. Imagining my not-even-two-year-old going through something similar on repeated occasions made me feel ill. While I seemed cool and collected on the outside, I was also internally freaking out. Despite telling them that I'd called the doctor Saturday night and would ask again at today's appointment, we all just had a nagging feeling something just wasn't right. It wasn't normal. He just wanted to be held, wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, and had a slight fever. Not long after my MIL and mom had left to go home, Jaxson started having more episodes. An "episode" for Jaxson consists of becoming completely rigid, falling to the ground while curling up into a fetal position, crying and screaming. Hearing my child wail back at me, "Mama! Mama! It hurts! It hurts!" is enough to make me want to cry, scoop him up in my arms, and tap him with a magic wand to make it go away. But it doesn't work that way. Everything we'd been told to try would take days to help him pass the blockage. Days. How could I let him suffer like that for days?

Finally after having fits every 15-20 minutes for close to 2 hours and numerous calls to the doctor in addition to 16 ounces of prune & apple juice mixed with Miralax, he had one last fit (followed by spontaneous, flood gate vomiting down both him and my husband 15 minutes later). Let's just say that it isn't "normal" and it's just not okay for your child to strain so hard to poop that he turns bright red, breaks out in a sweat all over his body, and vomits while crying for his mama. I scooped him up and rocked him... his body just so exhausted from something as simple as going to the bathroom. I'll tell you, though, that I've never been so relieved to see poop in my life. I won't describe what it looked like, how much there was or anything like that, but suffice it to say that it wasn't "normal". After another call to worried grandmas (who were both in tears) and the doctor we were assured that despite what seemed really severe, he'd finally gotten over the worst and didn't need an ER visit, but needed prompt follow up in the morning. So, this morning we took him in and I demanded that something needed to be done. This whole "slow transit constipation" thing is complete crap (no pun intended). It may be normal for kids to be constipated occasionally, but at this point we were all in agreement that there's nothing "normal" about the severity of Jaxson's condition, especially the fact that he can now physically tell us that he's in pain. So, we now have a referral to a GI specialist at Children's Hospital in Seattle. We are waiting for the referral to be approved so that we can set up an appointment soon. As for today, he's finally over this hurdle and back to his regular self. We've been told to cut all dairy from his diet (he's not going to like giving up cheese), keep him on apple juice & prune juice, and try to increase fiber wherever we can to keep recurrences down to a minimum. I just pray that they can figure out what it is that's causing this and what we can do to fix it. To think this could be a lifelong problem for our little boy is just so sad...

On a lighter note, we had Jayden checked for his normal 3 year visit and, as usual, the kid is a tank!! They checked all his vitals (he got his blood pressure taken for the first time and was not too excited about it until they did it to me first... then he thought that it was pretty cool). All is good on that front. He's a normal, healthy 3 year old! Yay! :) Next hurdle is, hopefully, potty training. I got the A-okay to start bribing him with candy so he will go in the toilet. I've tried everything else and except for the occasional decision to run to the potty, he seems to be content to do his business in a diaper. Ugh.

Anyway, here are Jayden's 3 year stats:
Weight: 39 pounds (95th percentile)
Height: 42.5 inches (99th percentile)

...yes, you read that right. My just turned 3 year old is almost 3 feet & 7 inches tall. He's completely outgrown all 3T clothing and is in 4T and 5T depending on style/brand. And just because I've been asked this all of 50 times in the last week... YES, I swear on my life that he truly is only 3 years old. I'd know. I gave birth to him. :)