Everything is going pretty well at the moment, hooray! Rosa seems to have completely recovered from whatever it was thank goodness and we have just got back from a wonderful and refreshing camping weekend on Exmoor at Malmsmead. Absolutely stunning scenery and perfect weather, peace and nature and just time together with no lists or work or anything but what we fancied to do. Just what we all needed after the bumpy month or so we've just had, Rosa had a great time and slept beautifully and ate like a horse! We so love that she is a happy camper because she isn't always that keen on the outdoors as a rule, I don't think she'd be quite so keen if she had to stay in a tent without her mod cons, she does love squiggling on the sofa and a comfy dark bedroom (don't we all!). Soon though we will have a new van and we are getting very excited about the prospect of it, a bedroom for Rosa that doesn't involve transforming the cab, space for car seats in the back and a taller roof so maybe not so much doubling over......watch this space!
We finally got to meet Dr.Cox, Rosa's new paediatrician last Tuesday. I am delighted to report that we feel we have absolutely done the right thing to change. He seems like a very nice chap who is interested in Rosa, her condition and us all as a family. He spent about 45 minutes with us on Tuesday, asking lots of questions and coming up with a few ideas of his own. He said that he would like to see us again in 6 weeks so that he can 'get the flavour of Rosa' ! His suggestions were both regarding her problematic digestive system which was really positive for us as Dr.Arend always just dismissed it as colic, it isn't colic and probably never has been. Dr.Cox said that some people have trouble breaking down the complex sugars in things like onion and brassicas in the gut so they ferment and cause lots of gas. He suggested testing a poo sample to see if it had a lot of unbroken sugars in it. We were impressed by this suggestion as no-one else has ever come up with any very viable ideas about her poor tummy. He also suggested we get a dietician on Rosa's team as it would be interesting to keep a food diary and make sure she is getting everything she needs as well as noticing any patterns that emerge. Really constructive ideas we thought, and so positive that he is interested enough to think beyond ticking his Dr boxes. We finally managed to get her poo sample into the surgeryafter having kept it in the fridge overnight (she never poos in surgery hours!) so we'll see if anything comes from that. If it is about sugars I'm not sure what the next step would be but there may be a simple enzyme or something that we could give her to help things break down, we'll wait and see what the tests say.
On another tummy related note we have had her on the Buscopan (the hyoscine) for about 10 days now. After having tried a half tablet crushed in food (absolutely vile) and then a half tablet just on top of a spoonful of food (also vile) I managed to speak to Bruce Hughes, the Fremington Dr. who works at Little Bridge House. Contrary to what the duty Dr had told me he said it would be fine to give her a whole pill at a time, in fact she could have up to 3 a day. Since then we have been giving her one pill a day with her porridge in the morning and touch wood we have had no tummy badness at all, even despite the fact that she has the odd dribbly teethy day. We have decided we will give her two weeks and then stop and if she gets tummy trouble try giving her one straight away and see what happens.
Bump continues to grow at a rapid rate, my emotions continue to be churned around but of course having a happy Rosa makes life so much better. She has been on brilliant form the last couple of weeks apart from major chair/strap related meltdowns and the odd nappy change tantrum which is maybe to be expected, she is two after all! She has been eating like a horse, in fact we have been caught out a few times recently thinking it must be tummy ache or a burp and then later realising she was starving again! I'm so glad she has a good appetite, so many children with medical problems can't or won't eat and it must be such a horrible stress on top of everything else. Rosa does love her food and maybe if we crack this tummy problem she might be able to eat even more things! I think she is waking up, must be porridge time so I will save this and post it later. x