Friday, August 6, 2010

Weighing the pros and cons

Today we had another GI appointment to check The Chubs' weight and from that, figure out our plan of attack.

I was happy to discover she had gained 1/2 oz a day since the last appointment and apparently has grown an entire inch since then as well (however the guy may have messed up because that seems a little extreme!). Feeling good about the progress we'd made (I say "we" because it takes an army to get this girl to eat and gain weight), we were placed in a room where we waited for the GI to come in and discuss our findings.

Last time we were at the GI, we were told by the nutritionist that her weight for height was actually fairly good and that she'd stayed on her own growth curve but was beginning to drop from her growth curve and that was why they were concerned. Today the chart showed she had caught up with her own curve, but this time it wasn't good enough for them. Now it is apparently very important that she does some major catch up growth and gets on the charts. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS! So what could've been a happy appointment turned into another "dire" situation where we apparently need to figure out how to get The Chubs onto the growth chart.

To say I'm frustrated is an understatement. They've scheduled a PH probe and an endoscope to see if she has esophagitis and to see how bad her reflux actually is and if it's being controlled by the medicine. I'm glad we'll get some results from that, but I'm getting so tired of her weight gain never being "enough" in the eyes of the doctors. She has always been 1st percentile, she has steadily maintained her growth curve. What if this is just who she is?

4 comments:

  1. Ellie, I agree. I have always kind of wondered that about the Chubs. She was a very small baby to begin with, due to being premature and IUGR. It just doesn't seem shocking to me that she's not some huge ogre of a baby now, you know? I always thought that the most important thing was following your own growth curve. I mean, obviously she has reflux & you want to make sure they have a handle on that so she's not in pain when she eats. I get that. But I just don't know how important it is to compare her to other children who weren't preemies or IUGR babies. I'm frustrated for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am frustrated for you too! Why can't they be encouraged by the growth she had? Did you tell them what they said last time? And if you did, what did they respond with?

    I STILL think you should focus on the good weight gain since the last appointment- that is good news and you worked hard for that! I hope the two procedures go smoothly for the Chubs.

    How is the EI going so far?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations with the lack of positive support in the Chub's weight gain. It is good that she is staying on track, even if it is her own track. I hope the next appointments go as smooth as possible with valuable information.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with Katie, I think you should focus on the weight gain and not always about the negatives.

    I hope the testing goes well for the Chubs and will tell you exactly what you need to know to make the progress even better.

    ReplyDelete