Ben has had a rough week. I have had a rough week. We have been rough on each other. Homeschooling the past 5 years has been rough. Ben's been a rough kid to parent since he was 1 year old. I've been a rough parent to have since he was 1 year old. See a pattern here? Times have been rough.
I put out a call for help on Facebook this week, and got some great advice. Some of the advice were things I've tried before, or things we've always done, or things that would never work for Ben. But still, I appreciate the willingness of people to just share their hearts and thoughts with me, and knowing that others out there struggle alongside us. That being said, my first plan of action is to make very clear the boundaries we have in this home, and commit to them. Secondly, I will not emotionally react to him. Third, we are overhauling our nutrition. And finally, which really should be first, I'm doing some deep talking with God (whom I have kind of been giving the cold shoulder to lately, due to some personal issues--blog post for another time). I figure that right now, God maybe doesn't want to hear from me about me, but maybe He'll listen when it comes to my son.
And, speaking of nutrition...our overhaul should help Miss Sophia too. Finally, after about 2 weeks of tummy issues, I got her in today to the same day clinic and thankfully, it was a pediatrician who saw her. After checking her pee (negative for UTI) and doing an abdomen x-ray, it was determined that she is severely constipated, with it mostly sitting in the left side of her descending colon. I know, what is it with my family and poo? Ben and Soph take after Aunt Heidi with the constipation route, Madeleine and I take after my side of the family with the IBS route, and Teddy...well, I don't have permission to share on his issues, but I think it's safe to say he's fairly normal. :)
Anyway, the doctor prescribed 2 enemas 12 hours apart, and a month long regime of stool softener. Poor Soph...she's been fretting all day, knowing that Momma has to do this dumb enema (and I think I should be honest here and say my tummy hasn't felt so good thinking about it...it's been 7 years since I last did one, and that was on a geriatric patient). So, from the time we leave the doctor's office, to about 9:30 tonight, she ends up going poo about 4 times. I figure there's no way I'm doing this if she's going on her own. We must avoid the trauma! I call one of my very best friends in the whole wide world who also happens to be a nurse (Tonya) and she says do it anyway, and we both agree on why it should still be done. But the poo is still coming. Eww. So, I call the on-call doctor, because I really want someone official to tell me I don't have to do it. She agrees that we should wait until morning to see what happens with this bout of diarrhea. I TOTALLY agree! I mean, yeah, I was ABSOLUTELY worried about her electrolytes and dehydration and all that. Really, I was. After she mentioned that and I realized a better mom would have thought of that BEFORE she thought of her uncomfortable feelings and poo leakage on her good towels.
So, that is where we sit. I was glad to hear a doctor affirm my position, that Sophia's tummy aches and constipation issues are NOT the same as Ben and Madeleine's, because of her appendix drama. I was also glad that something was wrong and we could fix it, as opposed to nothing being wrong and so we don't know how to make her feel better.
And I'm totally glad that I have friends and family who will pray for me and my kids, share with me, and love me (tantrums and all); and I'm glad that I have friends and family who will read this and say, "Really Stacie? An entry about poop? Isn't that a little much?" But you will still love me, because try as I might, I just don't know how to be anything but transparent and real. I mean, everybody poops, right? I'm just sayin'...
I put out a call for help on Facebook this week, and got some great advice. Some of the advice were things I've tried before, or things we've always done, or things that would never work for Ben. But still, I appreciate the willingness of people to just share their hearts and thoughts with me, and knowing that others out there struggle alongside us. That being said, my first plan of action is to make very clear the boundaries we have in this home, and commit to them. Secondly, I will not emotionally react to him. Third, we are overhauling our nutrition. And finally, which really should be first, I'm doing some deep talking with God (whom I have kind of been giving the cold shoulder to lately, due to some personal issues--blog post for another time). I figure that right now, God maybe doesn't want to hear from me about me, but maybe He'll listen when it comes to my son.
And, speaking of nutrition...our overhaul should help Miss Sophia too. Finally, after about 2 weeks of tummy issues, I got her in today to the same day clinic and thankfully, it was a pediatrician who saw her. After checking her pee (negative for UTI) and doing an abdomen x-ray, it was determined that she is severely constipated, with it mostly sitting in the left side of her descending colon. I know, what is it with my family and poo? Ben and Soph take after Aunt Heidi with the constipation route, Madeleine and I take after my side of the family with the IBS route, and Teddy...well, I don't have permission to share on his issues, but I think it's safe to say he's fairly normal. :)
Anyway, the doctor prescribed 2 enemas 12 hours apart, and a month long regime of stool softener. Poor Soph...she's been fretting all day, knowing that Momma has to do this dumb enema (and I think I should be honest here and say my tummy hasn't felt so good thinking about it...it's been 7 years since I last did one, and that was on a geriatric patient). So, from the time we leave the doctor's office, to about 9:30 tonight, she ends up going poo about 4 times. I figure there's no way I'm doing this if she's going on her own. We must avoid the trauma! I call one of my very best friends in the whole wide world who also happens to be a nurse (Tonya) and she says do it anyway, and we both agree on why it should still be done. But the poo is still coming. Eww. So, I call the on-call doctor, because I really want someone official to tell me I don't have to do it. She agrees that we should wait until morning to see what happens with this bout of diarrhea. I TOTALLY agree! I mean, yeah, I was ABSOLUTELY worried about her electrolytes and dehydration and all that. Really, I was. After she mentioned that and I realized a better mom would have thought of that BEFORE she thought of her uncomfortable feelings and poo leakage on her good towels.
So, that is where we sit. I was glad to hear a doctor affirm my position, that Sophia's tummy aches and constipation issues are NOT the same as Ben and Madeleine's, because of her appendix drama. I was also glad that something was wrong and we could fix it, as opposed to nothing being wrong and so we don't know how to make her feel better.
And I'm totally glad that I have friends and family who will pray for me and my kids, share with me, and love me (tantrums and all); and I'm glad that I have friends and family who will read this and say, "Really Stacie? An entry about poop? Isn't that a little much?" But you will still love me, because try as I might, I just don't know how to be anything but transparent and real. I mean, everybody poops, right? I'm just sayin'...
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