You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it
Mothers have an instinct to feed their children. I know so many Mom's who stress over what their kids are eating and how much. We worry about ingredients and balanced meals, we fight the wanting candy or cookies, we puree veggies to sneak into foods, we disguise healthy foods in shakes or popcicles. It is just in our nature to nourish our children so that they can grow and thrive. So what happens when this doesn't happen, what happens when as a parent, you can't get your little one to eat?
You try even more things, you resort to medications to help with motility, to help increase appetitite to help the belly pain stop. And when that doesn't work... you finally give in to more testing, and you cry. Jack has always had a hard time in the digestive world due to his exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Since he was 12 months old he has had to take replacement digestive enzymes to digest his food. These must be taken before he eats anything. What a pain this must be for a kid, especially when they have to wait to eat or drink to get their medication first. The good thing is that he really doesn't ever remember any other way.
Jack has always struggled with his weight due to not being able to absorb fats or carbohydrates on his own. He has struggled with episodic vomiting, reflux and eosinophilic-esophagitis in addition to the pancreatic insufficiency. We are at a point now where we've been unable to maintain his weight and Michael and I have devised any way possible to do this. We supplement with Pediasure 1.5 which provides him with 700 calories a day which has been our saving grace but he is even refusing that now along with nightly vomiting which is causing damage all on its own.
Tomorrow we will get admitted into Arnold Palmer Hospital for a series of testing to hopefully find an answer for our little guys belly pain. A big thank you ahead of time for those amazing friends helping us out with the girls and for everyone's continued prayers for Jack and for our family.
