My Colitis Kid

So, I just want to warn you before you start reading this post that I will talk a lot about poop. I've never been one to talk about bodily functions until I had a kid then I somehow ended up Googling pictures of poop. It was a fast leap from 0 to 60. I digress...

From Day 1 Cali has been GASSY (she'll hate me for the over share one day, I'm sure). Her gas, however, didn't seem to bother her so I just laughed nervously hoping no one would think it was me. 

Yes.

It was that bad. 

But then around Week 2 of her life my poor, sweet, angel would suddenly scream for no reason. It terrified me. It took me all of 24 hours to realize that the screaming was followed by a very loud ...poot?... and then quiet until another episode. After putting 2 and 2 together I sought the help of my dear frenemy Google. Google and I have a love/hate relationship because while it once led me to believe that my pregnancy was instead a brain tumor, it also helped me figure out what to do about Cali's sensitive tummy. After reading everything I could find I decided to start an elimination diet. I suppose that's one was to lose the baby weight. Two weeks into the diet I discovered that dairy and tree nuts were the culprit for my kid's horrendous gas pains. Problem solved.

 My dad trying to burp her during one of her episodes.

Or, I thought.

When Cali was about a month old I noticed her poops turned green. 

*Back to Google*

I tried everything. Another elimination diet, correcting hindmilk/foremilk imbalance, laying on my back to ease an overactive letdown, etc. Nothing worked. Her poops stayed green. However, she was gaining weight properly and seemed happy so I sat back and hoped it would pass.

Fast forward about 2 weeks to when I got the scare. of. my. life.

I went to change her diaper and there was blood in it. 

Naturally, I panicked.

No. That's putting it lightly.

I PANICKED.

I told T and we took her to the Pediatrician pronto. She explained that it was probably a fissure (WARNING. DO NOT Google that) and it would go away in about a week. 2 tops. So we went back home and I tried to wait patiently, all the while giving my child's most intimate parts a thorough exam every diaper change. 

***I could post a picture of her bloody diaper here because, yes, I have one but I'll spare you***

Fast forward another 2 weeks. Still blood.

At her 2 month checkup I let the Ped know that she still had bloody stools. She agreed that if it was a fissure (you didn't Google that, right???) it should've gone away by then and so it had to be something else. She didn't seem worried enough to satisfy me but since Cali didn't appear to be in pain, was still gaining weight, and there were no other symptoms, I had no choice but to go along with her plan. We decided that I would take a sample of her poop (Yes. You read that right) and send it to the lab to be examined. 

So we went home with a biohazard bag in tow to catch some poo. The guy at the lab told me to put plastic wrap in my child's diaper to catch a sample. People, if you ever have to take a sample of your kid's crap DO NOT DO THIS. It went everywhere. I was cleaning up runny, newborn, crap for an entire day. Off my clothes, off the carpet, off of her, off our dog. It was gross and I almost puked but decided I was already cleaning up crap, I didn't want to clean up puke as well.

Anyways, after dealing with that ridiculous nonsense, I was getting Cali ready for bed that night and I opened up her diaper to what looked like a friggin crime scene. Bloody diarrhea. Everywhere. 

We took her to the E.R.

After xrays, ultrasounds, tears (from both of us), IV's, blood work, more tears, stool samples, lab work, and even more tears, we were told that nothing major was wrong with her and her insides looked to be fine. Aside from excess gas in her stomach (which we already knew because she's gassy), she seemed to be fine and they sent us home. 

The next day I called the Ped back because no one seemed to be worried enough about blood coming out of my child's rear-end. I bullied begged her enough that she eventually promised to call a GI specialist and get back to me. 

We'll skip forward a couple of stressful days and we were finally told that she had Colitis and I needed to eliminate soy, gluten, dairy, and eggs. 

 Goodbye dear friends.

I had done the elimination diet but had only eliminated one food at a time. Obviously it was more than one that was causing the problem hence why we were still getting bloody diapers.

Let's recap: I now cannot eat tree nuts, soy, eggs, dairy, or gluten. So, basically, I can have meat, veggies, and avocados. Lots and lots of avocados. They're my one bright spot in the diet...

Anyways, it's hard and at times frustrating but so very worth it for her. I'll go more into why I chose to breastfeed through all of this but that's another post for another day. For now I live off of berries and grass and find a sick joy in every bloodless, yellow, diaper that I change.