Prayers for Health

Yesterday was a rough day for us.

We had Madi's routine pediatrician visit at 10:30am.  On the way to the visit Matt and I spent the car ride betting on Madilynn's weight.  I thought it would be 13lb 8oz, he said that she had to be over 14lbs.  To our surprise her weight checked in at 12lb 11oz. 

At her 4 1/2 month visit (Nov 24) she weighed 12lbs.  This means that Madi only gained 11 ounces in 6 weeks. 

Madi has had weight issues since she was born.  She was a small baby to begin with (5lb 6oz at birth) and when we left the hospital she only weighed 4lb 14oz.  We woke her up every 2 hours during the day and night to feed her, just to make sure she would gain that extra weight she needed.  By August 28th when we were leaving the NICU, Madi weighed in at 9lb 2oz. 

Her weight struggled after that.  She gained until 10lb 6oz, but has struggled since.  In the last 3 months she has barely put on 2lbs.  We kept brushing her weight issues off with excuses (we stopped breastfeeding, she didn't like the bottle, she had daycare anxiety, she had reflux) but the last 6 weeks have been non-stop eating.  She takes in about 24-32 ounces of formula a day (480-640 calories) plus baby food and juices.  With the amount of formula she is taking in, she should be gaining weight steadily and she isn't.

After we left Dr. C's office yesterday we got a phone call from a good friend, Chelsea.  Her boss, Dr. V wanted to see us and he wanted to see us now.  We got there and met with him around 3pm.  He is an amazing doctor.  He took the time to explain each detail of her charts to us.  He showed us why there was concern. 

We were immediately sent to North Cypress Hospital to do testing.  Madi had to go through 4 shots, 2 (IV in the arm) blood draws, an EKG and an x-ray on her chest.  She is scheduled to go to Texas Children's Hospital on Thursday for a sweat test. 

We are in a waiting period right now.  Dr. V said it could be a wide variety of issues causing her calories to be absorbed too quickly.  A brief list of the ''possible causes'' ranged from a brain/skull disorder called microcephaly, crainiosynostosis -- a heart defect or tumor -- a digestive issues/blockage -- a metabolic disease -- a surplus or too little of an enzyme.  I'm sure that there were more, but I really can't remember them right now.  The worst ones always stick with you.

We are going to be going through a world of testing the next few week to try and narrow down the possible causes.  Please pray for Madi and for our family.  We need help.