The Results Are In - UPDATE

Since we've been home from Bulgaria Livi has been complaining of stomach aches. It did not alarm us at first since everything was such a huge adjustment for her. She did not have Mommy or Daddy for 16 days and we brought back a sister who takes up a lot of attention away from her. We figured that all the added stress was most likely the cause of her tummy aches or possibly just a way to get some extra attention from us.

Her complaints did not seem to be subsiding though so at the one month mark we took her to doctor. Our doctor is wonderful. He normalizes everything while at the same time checking everything out very thoroughly. He suggested it most likely was stress or attention seeking or that she possibly wasn't emptying herself thoroughly when she went to the bathroom. Apparently this is common in toddlers and I have noticed that Livi will clench, literally hold it in until she has to let out a little turd and get off the toilet as quickly as she can.

The doctor ordered a batch of blood work, urine and an x-ray. Livi did so good with all of them. It broke my heart when she just lay her head on my shoulder crying while the needle was in her arm drawing blood. Friday the doctor's secretary called us and told us Livi's results were in and he wanted to see us. 

My husband thinks I'm over reacting but I'm kind of freaking out about the results a bit. In my mind there are two possibilities. She could have a simple bladder infection or UTI which I am praying for! But, the more likely result is Celiac. If she has a UTI the doctor should have just ordered meds for her, right? Not made her wait the entire weekend. Celiac is known to sometimes need a trigger to become symptomatic. The stress of Mommy and Daddy being gone for so long could easily be the trigger. 

Celiac is in my family. 3 out of 4 women in my immediate family have it. I have it, maybe I haven't had my trigger yet because I have no symptoms. Livi has a very high probability of having it too. The doctor said she is likely to be to young to have anything show up in her blood work but with what he all tested her for I don't know what else it could be. 

I'm not on the Celiac diet because I have no symptoms but if Livi has it I will, of course, do it with her. I think that is part of why this is so devastating for me. I haven't accepted this for me, how am I going to accept this for her. It seems like such a difficult lifestyle change and especially so hard for a kid! 

Okay, I hope I'm over reacting. I just needed to get my thoughts out and this is where I do it. I will update this post tomorrow after the doctors appointment and hopefully let you all know that I worked myself up for nothing! Please pray that it really is nothing and she doesn't have Celiac. A friend, who has Celiac, reminded me that there are much worse diseases one could have. She is right. I'm so blessed to have two healthy girls. Even with Celiac, Livi will still be a very healthy little girl. I just want the best for my girls and hope that Livi does not have to be deprived of paska, cake, yummy bread and all that comes with the deliciousness of gluten. I'm hoping this for myself too! I don't want to give it up yet!

UPDATE - Livi's Celiac results were inconclusive due to her age. Her body does not make enough antibodies to measure yet. The doctor is not saying she doesn't have Celiac for sure but she isn't deficient in anything now and seems to be healthy otherwise. We can test her again when she is older if we'd like.

Livi's problem is that she is seriously backed up. She has clenched so much that her intestines are stretching, causing the stomach pain. This could easily have been caused by the stress of us being gone. I didn't notice anything because she was still having a bowel movements each day. Apparently, she wasn't having enough of a bm. She's also had a history of being constipated when she was a newborn. I had to give her suppositories. This time we are doing lactulose. Just a bit until she is all cleaned out, and seriously upping her fiber intake. She is going to HATE this post when she is older :)

I'm so thankful we don't have to go gluten free, yet anyway. Thank you for all your prayers and support and I'm so glad this is an easy fix! If she ever does get diagnosed or I go on the diet, I'll be calling on you gluten free friends!