Bitter Sweet

Wow, I can’t believe it has been over two months since I last posted.  The Lenten season and Easter kept us extremely busy.  We enjoyed the penitential preparation for the death and resurrection of our Lord even though this year it seemed as if, not only us, but everyone we knew had some sort of extra suffering during this time.  Perhaps God allowed these adversities to happen to those of us He knew would offer it up as reparation for the sins of the world or, for all one knows, He allowed it because we needed it more than others for our own purification.   It is very likely that because of these trials I am now very delighted to be celebrating the Easter Season…

This past two months has also been full of new knowledge and revelations.  I will try as best I can to convey this without writing too much.  Back in February I went to visit a friend who had recently had a baby.  Her little one was having some difficulties, “colicky”, fussy  and what seemed like thrush-aka-candida.  This friend is not only very knowledgeable but a chiropractor and midwife. (This is how I met her.  She was my chiropractor while I was pregnant with Lucy and I was very blessed to have her attend Lucy’s birth.)  She asked me to watch her little one nurse.  I noticed right away that she wouldn’t put her upper lip out.  We tried pulling it out but it instantly went back in.  Thank God that this friend is VERY well connected with some very wonderful people that eventually helped her figure out what was going on.  To make a long story short she had ankyloglossia or tongue tie.  She didn’t have the typical kind where the tongue is attached to the floor of the mouth but instead her maxillary frenum that attached the upper lip to the gum extended too far making it difficult for her to move her lip out properly during nursing.  She ended up flying to New York and had a simple laser procedure and she began to nurse perfectly immediately.  You can read the whole story here, here and here.

Why am I sharing this friends story with you, you ask???  Well, it was not until I read her second blog post on the subject while in the hospital about an hour after helping a friend to achieve a VBAC.  After having been up all night, tired, drained, excited and hungry it hit me.  I guess all of those things can make for a good ah-ha moment.  I read it and immediately thought LUCY!!!  LUCY…It all come flooding back to me.  When she was a newborn her jaw clicked when she nursed, she made a chucking sound, she was MEGA fussy, allergies, etc.  I say she cried for 6 months straight and I’m not kidding.  She wouldn’t take the plug as I wrote in an earlier post, “we pushed the plug on her like the corner drug dealer”.  My friend remembers too.  She remembers adjusting her jaw, working on her sacrum because all of the intestinal distress from swallowing too much air caused her to not have a bowel movement for days on end.  The strange thing is that Lucy is my fifth child.  I had successfully nursed four children before her and noticed nothing wrong with her latch, accept the sounds she made.  I now know her big beautiful lips (she gets those from her dad, mine are paper thin) gave the illusion that she had proper lip flare while nursing.  Even in utero they were big.  I remember commenting on them in this sonogram picture:

Anyways, I got home after this ah-ha moment and tried to catch up on some much needed sleep and the next day proceeded to have all of my kids lift their lips up for me.  In my lack of sleep state I forgot it was April Fools day and the older kids were extremely reluctant and kept asking if this was some sort of April Fools joke.  After much sincere convincing they raised their lips.  My older three have a slight frenum but the younger two, the only two with allergies, were much worse, with Lucy’s being much more severe than Miles.  I couldn’t believe it!!  Miles’ and Lucy’s were actually torn away from the gum line near the teeth.

A few weeks later, I was perusing through iphoto and ran across the following picture.  I’m still in shock.  I took the picture of Lucy’s broken tooth when it abscessed and didn’t pay a bit of attention to her lip.  I have looked at the photo so many times before never questioning the frenum.  It’s amazing how blind we are until we have the knowledge to understand or look for something.  It makes me wonder what else am I missing.  What don’t I know that I need to know in this life…and how can I learn it?  This is probably one of the reasons I am particularly drawn to non fiction books and documentaries.  Unfortunately, I’m certain my brain won’t hold all of it.

I have spent many days pondering this.  Wondering, what if?  If only?  But it’s too late for that and it won’t do any good now.  I am convinced that this is the first thing that started Lucy down this path of unexpected turmoil.  A piece of skin no more than centimeters long.  Who knew it could cause so much trouble?  It all started with the improper latch, swallowing air, not being able to nurse effectively, not getting enough hind milk, intestinal distress, severe allergies.  The clicking jaw most likely weakened that whole area making her susceptible to the super bacteria that caused the infection of her mastoid, which in turn led to her blood clots and follow up MRI that she had the intubation trauma with.  It is my belief that this intubation trauma was the straw that broke the camels back or jaw so to speak.  I don’t believe it was THE cause of her ankylosis of the TMJ.  I think it was the last of many tragically, perfectly coordinated events that led to Lucy’s jaw deciding to grow so much extra bone.  Alas, these are all hindsight observations, hence “Bitter Sweet”.

The “sweet” part is knowing and we all know “knowing is half the battle” right?  If we have more children I will know to look for this.  I am telling you so you can tell everyone you know.  I will know when my children start to have children.  If I can prevent anyone from experiencing the hellish, crying period with an infant we did it will all be worth it.  Deep down I know that God knows I am the type of person who can handle this and that I will spend my time informing as many people as I can.  Sometimes, though, I don’t feel like I can “handle” this and wish He didn’t think I could either!!

My friend is the same way.  Her and her husband have scheduled to have the Dr. from New York come down and give a seminar open to the public but with continuing education credits for professionals entitled “Breastfeeding Should Be Pleasurable and Fun”.  It will be Saturday May 14 from 9:00 am -12:00 at the North Richland Hills Library.  If you know a Dentist, Physician, Lactation Consultant, Doula, Midwife, Speech Pathologist, anyone with breastfeeding problems or parents of infants please let then know about this.  Full details can be found and forwarded to friends here.

Once again, thank you for your continued prayers.  Please pray especially for us next week as we meet with the surgeon to ask all of our questions about the jaw replacement surgery and the cost of it all.  Please feel free to send me ideas of questions I should ask.  On a happy note, Lucy has been telling me lately that she is ready to get her jaw fixed.  On many occasions she has emphatically proclaimed “We need to get this jaw fixed, it’s just going to keep getting smaller and smaller, we need to hurry up!!”.  Your fervent prayers for her, no doubt, have contributed to this attitude of  haste and sometimes excitement at the prospect of having jaw replacement surgery by a four year old.  God is good!

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Katie Guy