Ooh...The Mystery May Have Been Solved!

Hallelujah..we think we may have figured out the mystery of the retching and gagging. We hope!

Jen and Kalista went to the GI clinic yesterday for Kalista's quarterly visit to ensure that her g-tube and site are doing well. It was also an appointment to address her retching and gagging. From what was discussed and from our understanding, there are two causes: (1) aspiration and (2) pressure on the sphincter muscle between the esophagus and the stomach. Because Kalista never really eats by mouth and from her previous swallow study months ago, we know she doesn't aspirate food or fluids. This means it's a volume and pressure issue on the sphincter.


If you can remember, Kalista caught the stomach flu in February and all she was on for a few days was Pedialyte. She did not gag at all for those four days because evidently, water and clear fluids are cleared from the stomach to the intestines rapidly. This leads the GI clinic to think it may be the formula or milk that it not clearing the stomach fast enough and causing Kalista to accumulate too much food in her stomach. Can you imagine a buffet for every meal? Poor thing...she just can't accommodate all that yummy food!




After this appointment, it was decided that we need to change the formula Kalista is getting, since Similac Advance is not broken down enough compared to breastmilk. Because Similac Advance is a "large food molecule" and breastmilk is a "small food molecule", Kalista is having trouble breaking down the larger food molecules and it ends up staying in the stomach for a longer period of time. We hope this alternative formula is not some crazy expensive stuff that we need to sell an organ for....we like having all our body parts.


The other question we brought up was: what is the impact of fortifying Kalista's feedings with rice cereal, since it bulks up each meal and slows down the mobility of the food? To test this theory, Jen decided to do a mini experiment and took away the rice cereal for Kalista's feeds today. What did we find out???....drum roll please........NO GAGGING or RETCHING! Isn't that awesome?!?! The only issue now is that we are missing a bulk of calories and will have to bring it up when we see Kalista's nutritionist in two weeks. We'll see if this is a repeat performance tomorrow and keep you updated.


On a different note:
One of our favorite photographers, Peter Lik, is debuting his collection and the stories behind them on The Weather Channel. It is called "From The Edge", airing every Thursday, 8- 8:30 pm PST. We just finished watching the replay of the first episode and wanted to share. If you have a chance to sneak a peek into one of his galleries, his photographs are amazing!!! We have been to four of his galleries and all of them are a breathtaking. We have visited the one in La Jolla (San Diego), Lahaina, Maui, Honolulu, Oahu and the one in Las Vegas. "Island Hideaway" is one of our favorites since it reminds of our kayaking adventure the day after our wedding, right off of Lanikai Beach in Oahu.

The Retching Is Back...Why?????

We had a great weekend shopping trip at the outlets. We were on a search to find Kalista a new sweatshirt since she has outgrown the two we have for her. Can you believe she fit the 3-6 month size for this long? After searching, Matt found a winner...it's a super cute hoodie sweatshirt with little butterflies and flowers on it. Kalista will have to model it for everyone. She also got some really cute Puma crib sneakers that we will have to show you all. So adorable when she has them on! Okay...enough about our shopping adventure.

It's like a never-ending battle. The awful retching is back.

We were so happy since we thought it went away for good and then....it came back again over the past week or so. Luckily, it doesn't happen as frequently as before, but it is so painful to watch her turn a nasty shade of red-purple as she dry heaves. With our detective skills, we have noticed it comes on at the beginning of almost every feeding and potentially at the end. We have tried every trick under the sun and can't seem to find a way to avoid it. We tried venting her before her feed and after..sometimes in the middle to get out the excess gas she has stored up in her tummy. We tried water before the feed in case the milk was shocking her stomach. We tried giving her a little milk and then stop and let her adjust for a few minutes before continuing in spurts. It is so frustrating since we can't figure out the cause or a remedy. We thought Kalista might be lactose intolerant, like her parents, but it doesn't matter if she's getting milk or soy. Hmmm...I hope our GI appointment at the end of the month with give us some answers.


On the brighter side, Kalista has graduated into her big girl seat (as you can see in the picture above). The toddler seat (Thanks Martinez family!) is a really cushy and posh seat. Kinda wish they made those for adults in cars...oh wait...maybe they have. All in all, Kalista loves her new seat since she can admire the world through the car's moon-roof much better.