Monday, September 6, 2010

25%

My little heart baby, who didn't surpass his birth weight until he was 12 weeks old, whose very own cardiologist lovingly called him "chicken legs", is now sitting in the 25% for height AND weight. 31.5 pounds and 38". There is no doubt in our dietician's mind that Luke, heart defect or not, would be this exact same size. In her words, "Luke is boring." And everyone knows a boring heart kid is a good thing! I thank God every day that Luke is a good and consistent eater, that he enjoys food and that we have had Judy to walk us off panic ledges time and time again. I think I've said this before, but Rog and I give her tons of credit in helping us trust Luke, which in turn leads to him trusting us and his own body. We are even at a point where we can "make" Luke eat a few more bites. "Two more peaches and one more drink of milk. Then you can be excused." And because food hasn't been a power struggle between us, he'll do it.

I am not going to lie and say I don't still have tendencies to control what he eats, but as more time passes, the more I recognize that there is not a whole lot you can do to make a 3 year old eat if he doesn't want to. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done as Luke's mom — trust him and let go. Obviously, that doesn't mean I don't offer him "meaningful" food (high in calorie and content), and that doesn't mean I like it when he doesn't seem as hungry one day, but at the end of the day, Luke has proven he knows what he needs to grow and thrive.

In high school, I struggled with anorexia. Struggled to the point of 78 pounds. It is so God to use my history and all the tools I have learned in recovery to work hard to make sure Luke has as positive relationship with food as possible. Isn't that just like God? He continually layers His lessons on our hearts, so we don't forget. So we can practice. And I get lots of practice, considering Luke eats 3-5 times a day!

4 comments:

  1. That's wonderful news for Luke! Twenty five percent is AMAZING! I would LOVE for D to reach 25% someday!

    Eating is one of the most stressful things for us too. Derrick won't eat much more than a few bites and he's finished. Once he signs "all done," that's it. The food is thrown down or spit out. It's so frustrating! He's still in the 0 percentile, and has been since he was a couple of months old. I think I need some pointers from you...seriously! Anything!

    Yay for Luke!

    And yay for you too, Jesse! God always has such an incredible plan...how amazing that the difficult struggle you had gave you tools to help your little hero. The silver lining....

    Hugs!
    Shannon

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  2. It seems that eating is one of the only "controls" that kids have. My attention is spread around to four kids instead of one and so I think I don't worry as much about N. eating. We have been blessed with a pediatrician who believes in letting the kid tell you when you are hungry. I think one of the best things that I did when I brought N. home (with a g-tube on full feeds) from the hospital was get her to the point of being hungry. I had "permission" from the cardiologist and pediatrician to help her bottle feed and getting her hungry was the key. It worked.

    To this day she is still on the bottle of the graph, but all my kids are. They eat good food, are very active and are happy. Isn't that what matters anyway?

    And yes God is good to give us the opportunity to use our personal experiences to help others. (Thanks for sharing that little bit of info with us.)
    Angie

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  3. Yay! That is so fabulous! What a stud!!
    We have sadly been dropping from the 13th percentile to now being in the 5th percentile :( We have just started the unimaginable battle with rice cereal. I have never had a kid hate it this much!
    At what age did you start working with your dietician?

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