One whole year!!!

Tomorrow the not so little anymore miss Iyla turns ONE!!! It has been another crazy year in our lives. One with many downs but also many ups.

This time last year i was still pregnant and looking forward to the day i would get induced so that my pregnancy would be over and i could start to feel a little better. I was very over feeling sick from high blood pressure and also the constant debilitating migraines. I was also very excited to meet my little girl!! We knew that we had a high chance of allergies or FPIES again but we never expected that the NAET treatment that worked for Abbey wouldn't work for Iyla. We really had our hopes up that even if there was issues they could be addressed and we would be able to enjoy a 'normal' baby.

Our first night in hospital was already rough. She screamed until 5am. She was already spitting up lots and very gassy and was constantly gagging and choking. It was scary but the midwives told me it was normal. I hoped they were right and it wasn't a sign of things to come. Things didn't really improve and when she was 5 days old and pooped neon green poo full of mucous i knew. I remember my heart wanting to break into pieces. Not again!! But then i thought that i would take her straight to my chiro to try NAET with her and that hopefully we could get everything sorted out and i would be able to continue breastfeeding and she wouldn't have to deal with the allergies. We tried for a good few months without any success. It was so hard. especially after having all that hope. We were all shattered.

But now as i look back over the past year, yes it has been extremely difficult, yes it has tested and tried us and more ways then we could have thought possible and yes we have often wanted to run away from it all. But there have been so many good times too. Iyla truly is an amazingly beautiful little girl. When she isn't reacting she is the easiest, happiest and most easy going baby you could come across. She brings so much joy to our lives and so much love to our family. I know i couldn't imagine life without her. I hate watching all the pain she goes through but each food trial that is a pass is so exciting!! We are truly blessed!! I look forward to the day she outgrows FPIES but up until then we will do our best to stay strong for her.

I want to also thank everyone for following our story so far and for all the thoughts and prayers. It helps so much not to feel alone and isolated. 

Here is a photo of her enjoying CAKE!! yes CAKE for her photo shoot! It's made from self raising flour, her formula and a little sugar. (Sugar is protein free so an automatic pass) 

Another pass and the start of a new trial

I thought i better write an update to let you all know that honeydew melon is also a pass for the gorgeous little miss Iyla! 4 safe foods now!! So exciting! :)

Yesterday we started a potato trial. Again she has horrible mucous filled poo and she only slept half an hour all day today but apart from that she was mainly happy. We'll just have to see how she goes and hope it's like the other foods and this is just an adjustment period.

Over the past few weeks i have had so many comments from people thinking she has suddenly outgrown all her allergies and that is why she is having so many passes with foods now. I thought i would clarify that NO she has not yet outgrown all her allergies but it is quite possible that because she is nearing her first birthday that her stomach has matured just that little bit more and that is why it is finally starting to tolerate some foods. Which is GREAT! Don't get me wrong, but life with these allergies is nowhere near over yet and it is still a daily struggle to keep her from picking up crumbs and a guessing game when she does have a reaction to what could have caused it. Even with all these passes she has still had reactions in the past few weeks too. It's definitely not over yet!

I did some test baking today and used the recipe for the pancakes i've been making her (flour, neocate formula and sugar) to make a cupcake and i'm excited to say it worked!!! I will use pure icing sugar (it can't be regular as they add corn to it to stop it from clumping up) and water to make some icing and then she can have a special treat on her birthday. It's going to be very exciting seeing her enjoy something so yummy!! :)

Honeydew melon trial

We are on day 6 of a honeydew melon trial and it seems to be going well. The start was confusing again but that just seems to be her thing lately. The symptoms were all over the place with some really bad days and some really good days so we have pushed through. A few more days and we can hopefully call it a pass!! All these passes are getting so exciting!! :)
Here is a couple of photos of her eating lunch today. She had pancakes and a piece of melon and was scoffing herself!! :)

Wheat is SAFE!!!

I'm excited to say that wheat is another food we can add to Iyla's safe list!! It was another very confusing trial with lots of random symptoms. There was random big vomits, some sleepless nights, a few gross mucousy poos, a few days of extreme grumpiness and some days of lots of spit up. But with it being all over the place and her having perfectly happy and normal days in between we pushed through slowly and all of a sudden all the problems went away and she has been eating full servings of vita-brits for the last two days and this morning i made her pancakes for breakfast! She LOVED them!!
Wheat opens up so many possibilities!! I'm so excited!!

Lamb = SAFE!!!

I'm ready to do a happy dance!! Iyla has her second safe food!! So exciting! We are on day 8 of lamb today and she hasn't had any reaction to it what so ever! We usually do 10 day trials but because there are no issues i increased the amount she was eating sooner then i normally would and she is having full servings. She is loving it! I gave her a diced piece just cooked in the oven yesterday instead of pureed and she thought that was great to chew on.

Tomorrow i have decided to start a wheat trial. Her dietician wants us to trial quinoa but after doing the muscle testing for wheat and it being fine i think we'll try that first. If it doesn't work we'll trial quinoa instead. 

 Enjoying using the lamb to help with teething

A new trial finally!!!

It's been a long wait to finally be able to start a new food trial with Iyla. She has been reaction free for 6 days now and is back to her happy gorgeous amazing little self. We waited a little longer still as Abbey had a stomach bug over the weekend and we wanted to make sure Iyla wasn't going to get it and then confuse the trial. But it seems that no one else in the family is going to get it thankfully. Lets hope it's not one of those ones that takes a long time to pass from person to person.
But anyway i fed Iyla a little bit of pureed boiled grass-fed lamb mixed with her broccoli this morning. I don't think she even realised it was any different. It's been 2hrs now and so far all is good (except refusing her morning bottle) so we will see how it pans out. Will be so nice if we can add another food to her diet!

Reaction after reaction...

Over the past 2 weeks little miss Iyla has been getting into everything and finding all sorts of things to eat. Including grass, toilet freshener, more spiders, dinner dropped on the floor, her cousins juice and more. It has resulted in a reaction every few days. Usually not bad but enough to cause serious tummy pains, horrible reflux, sleepless nights and diarrhoea. The diarrhoea after her toilet freshener was the nicest smelling poop i've ever experienced :).
Because of all these reactions we are having to put a hold on her lamb trial. Hopefully we can manage to keep her reaction free for a few days so we can actually start. Thankfully broccoli is still safe and she is still loving it!