Last month, when she was infected with her 10th UTI, she was finally able to see her primary care physician. We belong to one of those pediatric clinics that employ at least a dozen doctors, and unless you have an appointment booked way in advance, you better pray your lucky stars that you actually get to see the one you want. Well, it never happened that way. Every time (almost) she saw a different doc and we had to re-invent the wheel. Finally, last month, she got to see her doc. And thank the Lord for him. Stuff started to get done for her and she was referred to a pediatric urologist in Denver. She had that appointment yesterday. Unfortunately, for her, she had to endure yet another renal ultra sound and a horrible VCUG (uncomfortable and invasive for an adult.....much less a teeny four year old girl). The good news? No kidney damage, no urinary tract damage. Just a simple case of a vicious cycle of constipation, fear of potty, constipation blocking her bladder, fear again, more constipation causing the UTIs and on and on and on. The doctor yesterday gave us wonderful tips, advice, words of wisdom and (drum roll please....) a medicine that will prevent her from getting UTIs. Huh. What a concept. I believe I recall requesting this medication for her over a year ago after UTI number 3 or 4. I feel optimistic for the first time since this battle began. I feel hopeful and I feel in control of the situation. When you don't know what you're dealing with or what steps to take to make it better, its rather hard to feel in control; thus leaving the control in the hands of a very stubborn, willful and feisty four year old!!
My little girl is back. Her smile, her laugh, the spring in her step, her squeals of joy and the sparkle in her beautiful eyes. It is wonderful to see her be four again and not riddled with the misery of UTIs and constipation. She pooped twice in the potty today! Hallelujah! She did have a couple of accidents, but in her defense, she wasn't near a potty and given the fact that her doctor doubled her dose of Miralax, she's had some umm...diarrhea. But she is trying, which is more than I could've said a week ago! Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts for my little darling girl. Don't stop now, though. This isn't a quick fix. She has to re-establish good habits and abandon bad habits that have taken her a long time to learn. She now has to un-learn them. And we have until next August when she goes to Kindergarten. (Lord willing, it will happen before January when she wants to enroll in a new pre-school that doesn't put up with un-potty-trained kids).
Another battle that we have dealt with for a long time is bedtime. For both of my girls. (The big ones that is). When I was a young, naive Mom, I had this goofy and ridiculous desire to cuddle my babies until they fell asleep and then place their sleepy little bodies in their beds. What I didn't realize at that time, was that meant that they would then expect that from me when they were 1, 2, 3, 4.....and beyond. Little did I know that my enjoyment of cuddling my babies to sleep was going to wreak havoc on future bedtime. I just recently (we're talking 5 months ago, maybe) got my children to actually learn to go to bed....in their own beds.....without me cuddling them until they go to sleep. Talk about a wonderful release of stress for me. I dreaded bedtime every day of my life.
It was going well until about two weeks ago when all of a sudden Feisty decided to revert back and decide she didn't like sleeping in her own bed. Inevitably every night, five minutes after she was in bed, I would hear, "Mommy?!" Dread filled me everytime I heard that because I knew what was coming next. "I'm scared. I want to sleep in your bed tonight." Besides the fact that I did not want to re-introduce that bad habit, I do all my school work in my room. Which requires light. And my computer. Several nights in a row, I had to forego doing my school work because my little girl was crashed out in my bed. Simply telling her that there was nothing to be scared of and that mommy is in the next room did nothing for her. Didn't matter.
One night, about a week ago, when I felt that this new problem( rather old problem re-visited) was here to stay, I had a stroke of genius as I walked up the stairs to, once again, beg my daughter to stay in her own bed. For mommy's sake, please!! She wanted some apple juice to drink. I got her some juice, and when I got into her room, I informed her very confidently that the juice I was presenting her with was "sweet dream juice". "This juice, if you drink it all" (which was also laced with her required stool softener), I told her, "will give you only sweet dreams. Keep it by you all night and if you get scared, take a drink." I got a huge smile from her. VICTORY!! It worked. Wow. An idea all my own. Not one given to me by another parent, my mother, a parenting book or a (former) sister-in-law across the street. An idea all my own. She drank it all down (which accomplished two goals; sleep and poop), and as I walked out of the room, she informed me, "Mommy! Now I'm dreaming about flowers!" I could barely contain my gleeful laugh! Woo-hoo!
It is now imperative that I have on stock at all times "sweet dream juice" (i.e. Tree Top Apple Juice.....Kroger brand will suffice). One night I ran out. I panicked slightly, and informed her that we ran out of sweet dream juice, so tonight, sweet dream milk would have to do. And it did. And it has worked every night since.
Rock ON!!
And oh yeah....the twins? They are ten months old today. Their birthday is in two months!! What?! Wasn't it just a week or two ago that I was sitting in the hospital on bed rest?! Almost a year. And what a year it has been! They are 14.5 and 13 lbs respectively. Both have their bottom two teeth, Kate is cutting her top two, and both are thisclose to crawling. Time to dig out the baby gates! I almost have toddler twins! UFF DA!!
13 comments:
WOO HOO on all counts! God is good - in providing good doctors, good medicine, and good ideas!
I'm so, so glad you got some medicine for sweet little Feisty and that she's finally feeling better!! Woo-Hoo!!
And hooray for sweet dreams juice! I'm going to file that one away for future reference. Brilliant!
Amazing those little girls are almost a year old. Are you planning a big birthday bash? What a year it's been for you!
Hoping and praying that Feisty is well on her way to being potty trained and NO MORE CONSTIPATION & UTI'S!!
Now that sweet dreams juice was a stroke of genius! You go girl!
Happy Sunday. :o)
Love and hugs,
Diane
Visiting once again from your mom's...and I am SO glad to hear this good news about Fiesty! Your mom had asked us to pray for her...and having two little girls myself, my heart just went out to her and all the things she had to deal with recently...that one medical test sounds like NO fun at all! But so glad the results are good...and yay for sweet dream juice!
Blessings,
~Tammy
You go girl!! You are doing such a good job Kristen. I am so thankful they have some answers for you for Feisty. That "unknown zone" is just horrible. I'm sure she'll be ready for school.
I think I was like her when I was little - about going to bed. I can still remember how I dreaded bedtime and hated the dark. It's so hard to know what's going on in those little fertile imaginations.
Your solution is absolutely brilliant.
I promise to keep you girls in my prayers - including your sweet Mom. You are heading for that place of "greater blessing" Beth Moore talks about. The Lord has a good plan Kristen.
What a wonderful relief it must be to have some answers to the numerous questions with Fiesty. I am so thrilled it has worked out -- finally.
Dream Juice???? Do you think you could market that for all of us???
I couldn't even begin to tell you how many years we had kids in our bed. It was just so much easier to leave them there rather than move them all night.
Toddler twins? Oh dear. That will be a challenge. That first year always goes so quickly.
I am so glad to hear that Feisty is doing better and she has medicine now to prevent those UTIs!
Great job coming up with "sweet dream juice and milk"! I'm glad your older girls are able to go to bed on their own now and you can study and work when they are asleep.
Doing the Happy Dance! So glad to hear that there is some resoltion to Feisty's chronic UTI's. How sweet it must be to have some resolution, for both of you!
Glad the Sweet Dream juice is workign so well. We eventually were able to switch to water. Now we are able to keep bottled water (recycled and use them several times) and he is happy, at 7 years old, to get a bottle out each night as he heads off to bed. Sometimes he drinks it, sometimes not, but it has to be there! Kids are such a joy, even on those occasions when you have to look deep to find it.
Oh Kristen, such wonderful news about Feisty and although she has a ways to go to relearn good habits, at least she is on her way!!! It just maddens me, though, that all those doctors gave her the run around for so long...as you say, thank God she finally got to see her own doctor and that he could get the ball rolling in the right direction.
Hey, good for you for thinking up of that Dream Juice! hehe Hope it keeps on working:-)
Hard to believe the twins will be a year old soon, just doesn't seem possible! Sigh, the time certainly has been flying by. Another thing that's unbelievable is what you have gone through within that year!! xoxo
Huzzah for poop and healthy kidneys and sweet dream juice!
Way to go girl! Maybe you could market that Sweet Dream Juice for all those other mothers out there that need some bedtime help! So happy that Feisty has found some answers and relief!!!!The dear girl has been through enough! No it doesn't seem possible that it's been almost a year since the twins were born. We were all praying for them when they were still in your belly. So glad they are doing so well!!!
WOW! Glad I finally came by to catch up on things.
HOORAY for Feisty and the pooping issues. We just recently had some constipation/fear issues with our 3 year old. Not fun. I can not even begin to imagine what that poor little girl (and YOU!) have had to deal with over the past year with all of her UTI's -- on top of everything else that's been going on! I am just so happy that there has finally been a solution, and that things are on an up-swing.
And that sweet dreams juice? BRILLIANT!! I love it when ideas just suddenly come to us...and they are SUCCESSFUL!!
God is good! Great ideas and solutions... plus you will never have to go through the sleeping thing with the twins. We live and learn!
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