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From: Sara
Date: 11 Jul 2007
Time: 00:03:26 -0500
Remote Name: 69.107.73.118
Astrid had her follow up evaluation from the NICU at Good Samaritan Hospital. I was a little frazzled and worried when I left there today but Eric says that it's all 'horseshit' and Grandma ‘A’ concurs. It makes me feel better, but I still worry and wonder if Astrid will be okay. So here's the scenario: I go in, get settled, and the before the therapist says too much to me, she says that Astrid is falling off the growth chart; she is taking a dip in her growth and I NEED to see the nutritionist before I leave the hospital. What the F***? She tells me that she is too little, too thin and that she is off the charts. She had been making progress over this past year in her growth (it was her own growth chart) but now she is failing to keep up with her growing. I know she is small!! I know that she is below the average!! Instead of reading the cover page of Astrid's report, perhaps they should go back to page one back from January 6, 2005; they should read that she is SGA, that she was 610 grams, that she is rare in her condition. It made me feel like I, as a mother am depriving her of nutrition and of good health. I'm not feeling pity here, but a little frustrated and angry that these nurses/therapist are telling me this after 2.5 years of me keeping her healthy and doing everything that I can do to make sure that she survives. I am going to get all the negative progress out of the way before I begin the positive report from the hospital. The therapist also told me that she is communicating like a 12-18 month old. She is only speaking at a 12-18 month old level and I as a parent NEED to 'up the anti'. I need to learn how to teach her how to speak clearly and concisely. Astrid was not communicating clearly in the evaluation session because she was distracted by the toys and wanting to be the center of attention. This too, was evaluated as immaturity and attention deficit. Well, in her defense, I felt myself drifting off and losing attention while I was trying to focus on Astrid and listen to all this shit. She was being a little rambunctious, but there is a lot going on in the room. The session made me feel like I have a disobedient and mentally challenged kid. So ... I had my consultation with the nutritionist and I cannot help but be irritated by the crap that I was told. I was told that she needs more calories. She NEEDS to have a fortifier in her milk to give her more calories so that she can grow. She NEEDS to have butter and cream and cheeses and oil and 'fried this' and 'saucy that' in her diet. Bullshit!! The Greenwood family doesn't eat that kind of crappy food. The nutritionist says that there isn't anything wrong with fried fatty foods dripping with butter and mayonnaise and cream and cheese and topped off with whipped cream and a cherry on top. YUK!! What I interpreted from this conversation is that there is nothing wrong with eating like a pig and absolutely nothing wrong with being an obese child. What would I be teaching my kid by feeding her this crap! What is wrong with the nutritious diet she has right now? She eats really well. I challenged the doc and told her that I didn't agree with the diet. I told her that I want her to grow up but not out!! Her response back to me was that she is too thin and NEEDS to put fat on her body. I look at Astrid and she looks great to me. She isn't starving. She gets a well-rounded diet, and snacks and eats throughout the day. Oh ... forgot to mention that in addition to the milk that she's drinking, I should include milk shakes into her diet. What!?! I just don't get it. Anyway ... on a positive note, she is advanced in her 'problem solving'. She can stack and put things together. She self corrects herself and she is very precise in her motor skills. She did puzzles and mental games and building exercises, and did them surprisingly fast. She was on target with her imaginary play and ability to empathize. I was told that she is very coordinated (according to her jumping ability and stair climbing and ability to walk frontward’s and backwards while carrying objects and doing other tasks). What does this all mean to me ... Not much. I know that she has excellent manipulation skills and coordination and that she can out-jump any kid her age and above. I know that she's small, just by looking at her alongside another kid her age. Her language is a little slow to progress but she's getting there and has made some serious improvement over the months. There is nothing that she DOESN'T understand but has a feisty nature and is 'selective' in her responses. To me she is just fine. Eric and I agreed that the fatty diet is gross and disgusting. We tried to feed her blue cheese dressing with her turkey and carrots tonight. Her face says it all ... 'YUK'! Sorry doc, I just can’t do that to my girl. The literature given to me has been taken out with tonight’s trash (of course it’s in the recycle bin).