Chef Cirlot's Abby-Safe Temptations

I have had quite a few questions about what things I can eat, so I just thought I would share a few photos of some foods that have turned out quite nicely. All of these are first-time shots, so please forgive their imperfections. I just wanted to prove that you can still eat quite happily on a restricted diet- creativity and seriously novice cooking skills are all that is required.

Flourless PB Cookies
(My husband who hates PB Cookies adores these... so yummy!)

Gluten-free Pizza
(It would have been beautiful if only I owned a rolling pin)

Delightfully Delicious M&M Cake
(I made this one with rice milk and just let Bryan eat the M&Ms- the frosting and cake itself are so good that the M&Ms pale in comparison anyways. I served this at a church fellowship and no one guessed that it was dairy free.)

An Answered Prayer

I just got off of the phone with Abby's GI doctor, and he agreed that we could cancel all of the tests that were scheduled for this Wednesday. Since last Monday, I have completely taken gluten and peanut butter out of my diet, and Abby has been doing great. She has progressively gotten better every day and has had three days in a row now where she has hardly spit up at all. We took her off of her Prevacid for over a week now and have not noticed a difference at all. It looks like the food allergies were just mimicking acid reflux- it may never have been that at all. Praise God for many answered prayers! At this point, I will just stay on the dairy/soy/gluten/peanut free diet, and we will watch and see how she does and follow-up with the doctor again in a few weeks. If it turns out to be necessary, we can always reschedule the tests. Yay for a happy, healthy little girl for a few days now! How wonderful would it be if all of Abby's tummy issues were resolved now? Let's pray that is the case.

Abby's Visit with the GI Specialist

Everything went really well at the doctor's apt today. The doctor who saw us was a specialist in cases like this and has often worked with babies like Abby before. He did a really thorough medical history and tested her stool for blood. The doctor confirmed the diagnosis of a milk-soy protein allergy and said that he is not even completely sure she has acid reflux. It is possible that she is simply allergic to something else still (which we have been suspicious of). From this point, he wants to run 3 more diagnostic tests to see what we need to do next. She's scheduled to have an endoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy to take biopsies in her intestines to make sure these "flareups" are not causing any serious damage. If they're not, we just know I need to keep doing what we are doing and that the allergy is not severe enough to eliminate anything else from my diet. If there is inflammation or damage, I have to go on an even stricter diet to try to narrow down the allergen, which includes eliminating dairy/soy/wheat/eggs/nuts/shellfish for 2 weeks then slowly reintroducing them back in. The last test that we will have done( which will be on the same day as the other tests) is they will stick a tube down Abby's nose and into her stomach for 24 hours to measure the acidity of her stomach acid when she is not on her medicine. If her stomach acid is normal, we'll know acid reflux is not the problem. If it is too acidic, we'll know for sure how much medicine she needs from that point on. He's also going to do a blood test to make sure that the Prevacid dose she is on now is safe and has not had any negative side effects in her system. All of this is scheduled to happen on May 20th. We're thankful that we should have definite answers soon, but a little nervous that this is the only way we can find out what is going on. We'll just pray that everything will go smoothly and that Abby will be safe with the endoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. Thanks for wanting to keep up with what is going on.

Fasting from Self

We always knew Abby was special, even when she was in my womb. We had no idea that she would have this. MPSI (Milk Soy Protein Intolerance)- the official diagnosis for Abby's allergy to dairy and soy proteins. Did you know that only 0.5-2% of all babies have a milk protein allergy? Only 50% of those have a soy protein allergy as well. Abby apparently is one of those rare children that has both.

It's been a long journey trying to figure out how to eat on this new diet and how to plan out enough calories and nutrients to keep my milk supply up and going for our very hungry little girl. Almost everything has either milk or soy in it- they are "hidden" on the labels under numerous names, such as sodium caseinate or lactoalbumin. They are there all of the same.

Eliminating both from my diet along with tomatoes has helped Abby's reflux and vomiting episodes tremendously. However, we relapsed the past few weeks, and I couldn't figure out why. Two days ago I discovered the culprit... oreos. I had misread the label and had thought they were milk-free. I was wrong. For the past few weeks, I have meticulously followed this crazy diet while splurging unknowingly on a milk-laden product. So stupid- so frustrating- it definitely has been a setback with Abby's tummy. Since I stopped eating them, Abby's reflux and vomiting has been slowly decreasing again and her eczema is clearing up as well. Gotta love how the tiniest details matter so much now.

So for the next 2 weeks until Abby sees a new GI specialist, I'm on a super strict dairy and soy free diet. No more cool whip, margarine, or milk-baked goodies... looks like more new recipes for this family!

What I am learning from this so far-

• Self control is HARD. I really love Abby, but even while knowing how much dairy and soy products make her sick, ice cream is still tempting (no- I haven't intentionally fudged in this area yet- there are days I want to)
  
• I love my daughter, but self-sacrifice doesn't come naturally. I can only be unselfish by God's grace- even in an area as silly as my diet.
• As Americans- food controls our lives way too much. I think about all of the Christians around the world who are just thankful that God has provided something for them to eat- I expect it to taste amazing too.
  
• I'm a chocoholic- I didn't know that until now. I literally crave chocolate bars at the weirdest hours. If only I could hunger for God's Word like that...
• Abby's hopefully temporary allergy is a way that God is refining my soul... I still have a lot of "nasty" to get burned off. Maybe, by God's grace, I will end up being much less selfish and much more disciplined.
  

In every trial, I will choose to rejoice when I feel discouraged or overwhelmed. My God is great- He can help me overcome any difficulty- trivial or serious.

My Lifeline- Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength.