HOME ONE YEAR AGO YESTERDAY

It's so hard to believe that we have been home one year with Sophie. It has been quite the year. Lots of adjustments to make for all of us. Sophie has done really well since she has been home. She has gone from a very sick little baby and many medical tests, to thriving and being a very happy little girl.A complete joy to having her in our lives. She really is a funny little girl. The changes in Sophie are amazing from the first day that we got that scared little baby layered in four layers of clothes. Since Sophie has been home she has had a few problems, one of them was constant blood in her stools. She was referred to a GI Dr down at Mass. General for Children. He is an amazing Dr. He was very persistent trying to find out why she kept having blood in her stool. After a sygmoid(sp?) oscopy, a Meckel's scan, many tests for her stool along the way and finally, in December 2012, she was going to go for a colonoscopy back down in Boston. While we were there they asked when the last time I saw blood in her stool and I told them that it was just before Thanksgiving. I told the Dr that she had a black stool one day and blood the next. He said that was a whole different ball game. Black means that it is coming for the stomach not the lower GI. They decided to do an endoscopy on her while they were going to do the colonoscopy. Thank goodness they did. He came out to us after they had finished with Sophie and said that they found out what was wrong with her, but don't worry it could be fixed. She ended up having 8, yes 8 ulcers in her stomach.It was caused by a bacteria called H-pylori. She needed to be treated aggressively. The ulcers could have bleed out at anytime. They proceeded to put her on a course of 4 meds. Two of which were antibiotics. She had to be on them for 14 days and the other med. for the whole month of Jan. She immediately started to feel better with in the first week of being on the meds. She started to eat more and was just over all a happier baby(if she could be any happier. This poor little thing was in pain that whole time we have had her. I could not imagine the pain the little girl had probably been in most of her little life. The Dr's said that they have never seen anything like this before and that it is very rare in the US to see this in children. The pictures of her stomach were amazing. It's no wonder that she is so tiny. Sophie came to us at 24 months weighing 16.5 pounds and was 29 inches. She has been slow with her growing since she has been hoe and is being watched.In one year she has only gained a little over 4 and a half pounds and has grown 3 inches. She is now 32 inches and weighs a little over 21 pounds. She is a peanut. She is barely getting into 12 months size clothes. Sophie came to us with giardia, scabies, she wouldn't eat anything but rice, cold water, a little yogurt and some congee. We now know why she wouldn't eat. We had early intervention coming weekly to work with her on eating and trying different textures. She definitely had some sensory issues going on with food. She was diagnosed with failure to thrive, she was severely malnourished. We can only imagine if she stayed in China. The Dr's said the same thing. She probably wouldn't have made it. She is definitely a little survivor. She will be getting re-scoped April 5th to see if the ulcers are all gone. On top of everything else, she has had a hard time fully bonding with me. It was very hard at first, but I needed to understand what she needed and what was comfortable for her. Erik was the only one that could put her to bed, get her in the middle of the night and get her out of her crib in the morning. She wanted nothing to do with me that centered around bedtime. She would have terrible night terrors. They have lessened with time and she will only get an occasional one now if she is over stimulated or tired. She is getting better with me and lets me put her down now and will sometimes let me get her in the night if she wakes up. She is totally a daddies girl. She has come a long way in one year. To see the changes in her are amazing. To see how such a little baby could survive all this, is beyond me. I am so proud of her. She is such a sweet little girl and has been through so much in her three little years of life. Emma loves her little sister most of the time and they do play together well when they both agree. She is protective of her when we are out of the house. It's so cute to see.They are both very strong willed little girls. I love seeing them together. There is so much more I can write and I will try to start catching up on my blog. It's long over due. We love her to the moon and back and couldn't imagine our life with out her in it. We are so very lucky to have her.