Dr.s appointment

So today was a little discouraging. I was so optimistic going to Nathan's appointment with Dr. Latchman, the pediatrician, but as always the news isn't what I was hoping for. It has been 3 months since our last appointment and it seemed like the Dr. was not as concerned about Nathan's weight gain as he initially was. I always hold my breath as I place Nathan on the scale, waiting for the numbers to appear. The scale has not been our friend over the past 18 months and today ended up being no different. And there it was- 17.5 lbs... not what I was hoping for, but at least it was a gain. I was really hoping that we would be able to change Nathan's car seat to forward facing instead of rear facing but he has to be at least 20 lbs before I can do that.

The pediatrician is quite puzzled as to why Nathan is not growing like he should. The severe dairy allergy has hindered his growth but having been off dairy for such a long time should not prevent Nathan from growing as he should. His gross motor skills are also underdeveloped for his age, which is why we are seeing a physiotherapist every 2-3 weeks. The therapist works with Nathan for an hour, trying new exercises with him on a mat. She shows me what I should be doing with him and gives me diagrams of exercises to practice at home. It wouldn't be to bad if Nathan was a willing participant but he is the total opposite. He seems to know exactly when it is exercise time and throws temper tantrums. This makes it frustrating for me and I don't end up spending the one on one time that is necessary if we want to see results. Although the therapist says she has seen that Nathan has learned a lot over the past 5 weeks, he still has along way to go.

Now back to our appointment today :) The pediatrician had sent us to a gastroenterologist last year, who did not seem to find anything wrong with Nathan. So after only 2 appointments with her, she told us to start Nathan slowly on dairy again and that we did not need to come back. (she actually told me that for most of her patients, her clinics were a waste of their time! I totally agreed, seeing as Nathan and I waited for that appointment for over 2 hours, just to have her tell me we didn't need to come anymore.) That was back in March or April. It took me a few month before I dared give Nathan anything with milk in it, but Chris would give him small pieces of cheese and such here and there. Everything seemed to sit fine with Nathan.... until he ate half of Chris' ice cream bar. The next day Nathan's diaper told me exactly what I needed to know... the allergy wasn't gone. But since the g.i. had said we didn't need to go back, I never called to inform her of what was happening. Today the pediatrician told me that since the allergy is still there, we will have to go back. I'm hoping that it won't take long to get an appointment, but most likely it will be several months before we can get in.

Dr. Latchman has also decided that it would be in Nathan's best interest to go to a genetic specialist. So now we have another specialist to see. I'm not sure what all will be involved with genetic testing, but I hope this will give us some answers. It has been a long 18 months of appointments with specialists and they don't seem to be ending anytime soon. But I must say I am thankful that we have these doctors and therapists available to us. God has given us the strength to make it this far and we pray that He will continue to give us the strength and wisdom we need to raise our son (and our unborn child) in the fear of His name. Please keep us in your prayers!