A Happy Grand RE-Opening and Baby Ashten Update!

 Ohhh my sweet, sweet fans! I have missed you all so much!! 

As many of you know, last December I suddenly closed my shop when my then 7 month old baby boy, Ashten, was hospitalized. Everything came crashing down around me, and I had to put my business on the back burner. Since then, so much has happened and I want to share with you all how he's doing!

First, a little background story.....

Ashten was born in April a healthy, happy 6 lb. baby boy--my little lamb. He is my third baby and is by far my easiest, most laid back child. I can honestly say that he fit right into our family from the very beginning. The minute he was born I fell in love, and fell hard! So when he was two months old and had a severe, anaphylactic reaction to dairy, of course we were all very concerned. I had to leave him for half a day with a friend, and I left pumped breast milk for him, but when they ran out of milk before I could return I asked her to feed him a bottle of formula. The formula caused his entire face to swell up, to the point where he couldn't even open his eyes! He had hives all over and had a slight fever. We rushed to the ER, they administered meds to stop the allergic reaction, and I went home and stopped eating dairy. All seemed fine, until we started noticing that he was no  longer growing as expected....

Ashten's face swells up if he has any dairy! 

At his 4 month check up, the doctor seemed concerned with his weight, but blamed it on breast feeding. Now, to paint a clear story, I am a HUGE advocate of breastfeeding and I successfully breastfed each of my children. I know that pediatricians mean the best, but as many nursing moms can attest, sometimes some of them seem to attack breastfeeding for the smallest of health related issues! When the pediatrician suggested supplementing with formula, I honestly thought she was nuts! Never mind the fact that the first and last time Ashten had formula his face blew up like a balloon. Instead of going home with a can of formula, I went home and did everything I could to beef up my milk supply. I drank more water, I nursed more frequently, I used a SNS system to supplement pumped milk, took fenugreek--you name it, I tried it. Ashten seemed happy as always so I felt like all was well, until at the 6 month check up we saw that he still was not gaining. 

At 6 months old, I introduced solids and boy, did Ashten eat! I felt assured that he would catch up now that he was getting even more nutrition from the baby food, and went on with my regular nursing schedule, thinking in my mind that maybe he would just be a skinny boy like his Daddy. We continued to feed him just like I've always fed my babies--I nursed minimum of 6 times per day, fed him three well-balanced meals with the solids, and scheduled a weight check for 7 months. When 7 months rolled around, we went in to see the pediatrician, and to my horror, he only weighed 10 1/2 pounds. I left the pediatrician's office devastated, with a can of formula in one hand and a piece of paper in the other that said "Failure to Thrive." I went home, curled up with my boy, and cried so hard. I was defeated; I felt like I had failed my son and I was to blame for him not growing like he should. To me, "Failure to Thrive" meant "Failure as a Mom." I felt awful.

A week later we went in to see the pediatrician again to see if he had gained any weight with the new supplements. By this point, I had begun keeping a food diary to show the doctors (and seriously, let's be honest--to show myself!) how much I was feeding him. Not including the breast milk, Ashten was getting anywhere from 600-800 calories per day! Out of desperation I made it my number one priority to ensure that he consumed adequate nutrition to grow. I stopped worrying about what types of foods he was getting, and instead looked at the back of all the labels to see how many calories he was getting. Green beans? Carrots? They're only about 45 calories per jar. So we didn't do those! Bananas, sweet potatoes, and pears on the other hand are 100 calories! We fed him anything and everything that had a higher calorie count that I could get my hands on (dairy free still of course). I was so determined to "fix" my baby...

At that checkup, Ashten had lost 8 ounces. OHH my gosh did I cry. I sat in the parking lot, crying like a baby, wondering what in the world was going wrong?! The pediatrician was concerned, and asked us to come back in 7-10 days to recheck him again. I went home, thought, held him, thought some more, and I couldn't take it anymore. I took Ashten to the Children's Hospital ER in Atlanta and took matters into my own hands. I wasn't going to wait another 7 days and watch  my baby wilt away like that. I was scared, I couldn't sleep, my stomach was constantly in knots thinking "what if?!" and I felt like that was the best option for him at the time. And boy was I right!

That was the first week in December, when Ashten was admitted. Immediately a whole team of pediatric specialists began to work with us to determine why Ashten was having so much trouble putting on and keeping on weight. For the first time since it all began, someone actually sat down and listened to me, the MOM, tell them everything I had done to help Ashten. No one blamed my milk supply--instead, they set me up with am AMAZING lactation consultant. They ordered a whole slew of tests for Ashten. They weighed him after every single feeding, trying to determine what was going on, how much he was taking in, etc. We went through 3 or 4 different feeding regimens and the doctors never stopped until they were sure he was gaining. They ran ultrasounds on his brain, determined that cognitively and neurologically he was perfectly fine. The ran stool samples, and made sure there weren't any issues there. He had blood work done, to test his thyroid, sugar levels, hormones, you name it. Even a CF test was preformed. Nothing came back positive....which is a good thing (but we still didn't have answers!). Ashten turned 8 months old in that hospital and we were there so long that I honestly was considering changing my mailing address LOL, but finally, he started to gain....

The dieticians and lactation specialists and the GI's and pediatricians all decided that Ashten's best bet was to be put on a special formula, called Alimentum, that is already broken down for him. You see, because of the issues with the dairy, his intestines had become so inflamed that they were attacking anything and everything I put into him. That was why, despite all the nursing and baby food I was giving him, he wasn't gaining--his body simply could not break anything down. The new formula is hydrolyzed and hypoallergenic, meaning it's already broken down and is the least likely to cause any adverse affects on his system. They instructed me to prepare it super concentrated at 24k cal concentration (we use 3 scoops instead of 2 scoops of formula) and they told me to add 5mL canola oil per bottle for even more calories. They also put him on a feeding tube to ensure he got enough during the night, to make sure he didn't lose any more weight. I was exhausted, I was emotionally overwhelmed, but so happy to go home with my baby! 

Here are photos of Ashten at CHOA. He's always so happy which is crazy considering everything he had to go through while we were there! The nurses LOVED him because he was always smiling! 

Dr. Daigle holding Ashten. We LOVE her! 

Big Brother holding Ashten 

At 8 months old, he still couldn't sit up, but he was trying!

They placed the NG tube to ensure he got
as much food as possible throughout the night.

Since we have been home, we have been to doctor after doctor, follow up after follow up, still trying to pin point the cause for all of Ashten's digestive issues. He's had a ton of blood work done, chromosome abnormality tests, stool samples literally every other week, ultra sounds, scans, you name it. Although he continues to gain weight, he's still not completely okay. We're still trying to figure out how to get him all better and to determine what's making him so sick. Last week, we had to go back to the ER for severe,  non stop diarrhea and a horrible rash. The doctor now thinks he may not be able to absorb fats and has changed his diet again to hopefully accommodate that. And today, Ashten had his first (and hopefully ONLY) surgery to try to diagnose any problems from the inside. I can't tell you how scary, and incredibly draining, this whole ordeal has been for me as a Mom and for my entire family. I can only imagine how mothers of terminally ill children must feel--the thoughts that go through your head... I can't even describe how it feels. I am so anxious and hopeful that Ashten will be better soon, and that everything will get back on track. This entire thing has really given me a perspective on life as a mom, on priorities, and on life in general. I am so thankful that God gave me this sweet, loving little boy to nurture and cherish and love with my whole heart-- he is truly such a miracle and such a huge blessing. I love that boy so much! 

Now that it's time to get things a little closer to normal, I have decided to reopen my shop. Honestly, we need it. I never knew when I started my little biz that it would come in so handy down the road, but now that the medical expenses (OH. my god. Let's change the subject there lol!), feeding costs (that formula is $15 a day for us!! yikes!), and all the other bills have started to come in my family and I have agreed that it's time to reopen so we can get our lives back on track. It's funny how God puts opportunities and talents in your life and you may not think there is a meaningful purpose at first, but there truly is! I am so grateful that I have such a successful at-home business that I can utilize to support my family, all the while staying home and enjoying my children. I missed my crocheting and I can't wait to get back to it! I hope you guys missed me too ;) 

|I want to take the time to thank each and every one of you who sent me emails, convos, notes, texts, etc to check in on us. Thank you all for praying. From the bottom of my tired little heart, thank you. I can't say that enough! The support and thoughtfulness from everyone over the past several weeks has been so incredibly inspiring and I appreciate you all so much. I could not get through this crazy emotional roller coaster ride alone and I'm so happy to have so many people praying for my boy--you are all huge blessings! I also want to thank my friends, family, and everyone at home who has helped me through everything. My sister, Jessica, for answering emails so that I could focus on getting Ashten better. My mom and my mother-in-law, for watching my two older children while we were in the hospital. My friends, who are so awesome and there are so many of you it would be hard to name them all, but you guys have been so supportive as well. Most of all, I want to thank my husband, who has been my rock, my shoulder to cry on, and who has made sure that I was taken care of when I was too tired to think about my own needs. Thank you all, so, so much. I couldn't ask for better people in my life!

So here's to a great, happy, Grand RE-Opening, and fast health and recovery to my littlest one! I am so excited to get my toes wet again and get back into the swing on things! I can't wait :) 

Much, much love--

Sam & The HHC Family 

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www.happyhooks88.etsy.com

SHOP SCHEDULE:

REOPENING: 

Thursday, 2/14/13 

**enter coupon code "LOVEASHTEN" at checkout to save 10% off your order**

SHOP CLOSES 

once I have reached 15 open orders, 

to maintain a faster turnaround time, 

and will reopen when all outstanding orders are complete.

**I will maintain this schedule from here on out**