A Hard Road

I hesitated to title this post "A Hard Road" because all trials are relative. There are much much harder things. But still, things have been a bit hard lately. And it may get harder, we'll see. I haven't written much about Lainey's health, but I figured I better write about it because it has been a big part of our lives lately. This blog is sort of a journal/scrapbook for our family and this is part of our story.

The first 5 or so months of Lainey's life she struggled big time with tummy issues. She has a milk protein allergy and reflux. It took us months to realize all her crying was something more than just newborn fussiness. Then it took a while to experiment with reflux medicine and cutting out varying levels of dairy before finally realizing that I could have absolutely none whatsoever. We switched her to formula and by 6 months old there was a drastic difference in how she seemed to be feeling. It was a huge answer to prayer that her tummy was finally feeling better. Then last week one of her therapists pointed out that she had signs that she was still struggling with severe reflux. So she is back on medicine again.

A little before 4 months old we took her to the doctor because her eyes were not aligned. We had noticed this for a while, but sort of just assumed it was a newborn thing and would fix itself eventually. Then after some research we realized they should be aligned at that point, so we took her in. We learned she has strabismus, and will need surgery to correct it. Her surgery will be coming up soon. We are hoping one surgery will correct it, but it is likely that she will need more.

I won't go into too much detail on other issues because 1) we don't know much at this point and 2) privacy issues. I often wonder how much I should write on this blog about the girls concerning things they might feel uncomfortable with later. Would Lainey want her medical history described in detail on the Internet? It's hard to know where to draw the line. But, suffice to say that we have seen the pediatrician many times, ophthalmologists, audiologist, neurologists, gastroenterologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and more appointments to come. The last few weeks I have been feeling like it is my full time job to schedule and attend appointments.

As a parent you want everything to be perfect for your child. Nothing worrisome. So it is hard knowing something is going on but not knowing how serious it is. The unknown is definitely scary. We love Lainey with all our hearts and want the best for her. We constantly pray for her and pray for our own hearts as well that we would not be anxious during this time. God is drawing us nearer to him as we have to trust the path he is leading us down. And for that I am thankful.