Yes 
this was my list of visits for my Bee this month. not the most typical of months, but not too different than our normal. at most visits, I inevitably have to answer the question of ‘are you mom?’ and every time (for medical appointments anyways) I have to respond I’m foster mom. for now, still. waiting in limbo every day. waiting for a court to decide if I should get the chance to legally, officially, forever be her mom (as I have been since she was 4 days old).
back to the 9 visits. my little girl has had a sordid eating history- she never took to baby foods, so I tried Baby Led Weaning, at which time she gagged and threw up pretty much every food I gave her. her weight has always been on the low end, although she’s always been staying within the limits of ‘her’ growth chart. even though I work for Early Intervention, I’d done everything I knew to do and still struggled with her eating anything.
finally (after multiple pediatrician visits where they waved off all my concerns), we saw an ENT and got allergy testing done (which showed a cat allergy, leading to having to say goodbye to my cat Chloe). then we got referred to a gastroenterologist/nutritionist (she still takes bottles for most of her calorie intake daily), a speech therapy evaluation for feeding, a new WIC office and the best appt. yet- an allergist. she’s a friend of a friend who has seen Bee since she was a baby at the daycare our kids both go to, and was the only person to say ‘babies shouldn’t have nasal allergies- come see me, I think it’s a chronic sinus infection’. one sinus X-ray later and we finally have a plan of action- which involves 1 nasal wash a day, 2 nasal sprays a day, 7 doses of medication for the next month (one being a steroid whose side effects of increased hunger and decreased sleep kicked in full gear at 3:30AM last night). the end hope is this treatment will clear up her poor clogged sinuses which have likely been this way since she was a little baby, and once she can breathe/smell/taste she’ll have more interest in real foods and will get off her expensive formula!
sorry for the ramble about my girl- it’s just been a month. it’s exhausting but always worth it- but I hope to remember this in the future someday when my girl is eating everything in sight, and also wanted to share because even if this isn’t your little one’s exact same struggle, know that you’re not alone if your child has any kind of challenge! I try not to sugarcoat our life and want people to know there’s always help out there for any problem you come across, and thank God I don’t have to go through this totally alone.
