How many times have you been told to trust your gut?  Of those hundreds of times, how many times was your gut right?  Now think about WHO has given this advice to you the most.  I bet a good amount of you would, without any hesitation, say your mom.  I know I would.  I’m going to let you in on a little, not so secret, secret…mom knows all.  Especially when it comes to gut feelings and intuitions.

I have always followed my gut, whether it was good or bad.  The times when it was almost a painful feeling were the times when I know I was right in doing so. The first one that comes to mind was when I was in college.  I started at UNC Wilmington, and transferred to UNC (we have a family history there, so it was kind of expected that I go).  My parents drove me and my stuff down from Long Island in two cars, moved me into my off campus apartment, and then it happened.  My gut kicked in big time.  I ignored it, thinking it was just nerves and that I was out of my element.

To make a long and emotionally painful story short, I left after just one week!  My gut was yelling at me! I honestly think that it has to do with my husband, David.  He played football at UNC, as did my dad and his dad.  My dad had always wanted me to meet David, but I wanted nothing to do with a football player, and I was sure he had a big neck.  Let me remind you that this was before Google…if I were able to check him out like we can now, I would have jumped at the chance to meet him!

Anyway…I think that David and I would have met, and it might have not worked out.  We would have missed our chance on the life we have now.  I believe that timing is just about everything, and we met at the perfect time (thanks to the set up by our parents!).  I wouldn’t change this life for anything!

Ok, back to the mother’s intuition.  I wrote about how my gut was telling me there was something going on with Logan, even when no one could find anything specific.  I even felt that from the moment I held her.  That intuition led to a diagnosis.  And it just keeps getting stronger.

For a little over a year I was certain that Logan had reflux.  Every doctor and specialist we saw said that she didn’t have the typical signs, that it was probably a food allergy or just in my head.  I followed their advice with cutting things out of her diet, which did not make one ounce of difference.  I kept telling them that I knew it was reflux!  I cannot tell you how frustrating it is when a doctor does not take you seriously.  No one even wanted to try medication.

Finally we got in to see the feeding team at UNC.  I was told by our speech therapist that they have a more outside the box approach to diagnosing reflux.  Plus, they would help with what I call, her lazy chewing 🙂

Within 10 minutes of me explaining my concerns regarding the reflux, they agreed 100 % that I was right.  What?!  Someone was actually trusting what I’m saying about my own child?  Amazing.  They explained that reflux can:

• hinder trunk rotation (that’s rotating your torso from side to side)
• can make a child not want to crawl
• it can affect what and how much a child drinks (Logan does not drink much at all, and doesn’t like drinking thin liquids)
• it can affect the desire to eat, hence the lazy chewing.  Why would you want to do something that you know will hurt?
• and, reflux paired with constipation is an uncomfortable situation to be in, resulting in meltdowns…for her and me!

David and I looked at each other while they were explaining this, and we both felt like a big weight was lifted off of all of us.    She was prescribed some medication, and within a week we noticed improvements in all areas I listed above!  Yessssss!

It just so happened that two weeks later we had our long awaited appointment with the top GI doctor at UNC.   It could not have come at a better time.  Logan was in rare form, screaming for days!  He was lucky enough to witness this, and agreed that something could be going on in her GI tract.  He wasn’t 100% on board that it was reflux though.  I asked him to do a specific swallow study, and he looked at me like I had 3 heads.  He asked me how I knew about that.  Well sir, when you have the most amazing group of parents on your side, and you talk with them before you go into any appointment, you learn some things.  These PTHS parents are a force to be reckoned with, and know more than most doctors we have seen!  He suggested we do a full GI scope…an endoscopy and a colonoscopy.

Prepping for this procedure was a beast!!!  Logan couldn’t eat anything for 24 hours.  She could only drink clear fluids, including chicken broth.  I thought she was going to be a mess since she couldn’t eat, but she was surprisingly happy!  Another clue perhaps?  Well, she had to drink 3 ounces of magnesium citrate every few hours.  Did I mention that she doesn’t drink much throughout the day?  It tasted awful, even with juice.  I had to pin her down and syringe it down her throat.  By the second round she figured out how to close up her throat and spit it all out.  It wold take me 30 minutes to get down 3 ounces.  And boy was I sweating!  Did I mention how strong she is?  Luckily the boys were on their best behavior and playing with each other while I had to do this.  Ugh, there has to be a better way.

The day of the procedure Logan was doing great.  We even got in earlier than expected.  We had her pre-op appointment, and weren’t scheduled to come back for 2 hours.  So, we left, got some coffee, and decided to take a drive with her favorite music.  We were about 20 minutes away and I got a call saying that they were ready for her!  What?!  The angels were on our side…we hit every green light, got a parking spot as soon as we entered the garage, and were whisked away within no time.  Logan was so exhausted that she fell asleep while waiting for them to come wheel her back!

All went well with the procedure.  We met with the doctor right after and he showed us the images from the scope (we later showed Jack, and he was amazed by it!).  All was clear!  There was nothing abnormal about her system, physically.  They took some biopsies to check for the reflux and things like Crohn’s disease.  Well, a week later the results came back.

The only thing they found was…..REFLUX!!!! I wanted to call every doctor that told me it wasn’t and rub it in their face.  I was happy to actually confirm it, but I was furious and heartbroken that this is something that could have been treated long, long ago.

Since being on a new medication (thanks to the PTHS parents who told me which brands worked and didn’t work for their child) Logan has been fantastic!  Her overall body movement is better, she is drinking more, her chewing is improving, and best of all…she is happier!

So, the moral of this long post is to trust your gut.  Especially the mommy intuition!  You know your child better than anyone.  Don’t let anyone else tell you different.  And always, always listen to YOUR mother.  Especially when she tells you to trust your gut 😉

I’d love to hear about your stories of mother’s intuition!

Save