Wednesday, May 1, 2013

We have a diagnosis!

A self-diagnosis but one nonetheless... Topical Steroid Addiction. Keegan is going through withdrawal... poor kid. Thanks to a blog I found (Loren & her son Kline), I have my answer.
klinestopicalsteroidhell.blogspot.com

And, here's the website for the topical steroid addiction network:
www.itsan.org

Poor kid may take over a year to heal from this, but the cure: time.
These are pictures 8 weeks into topical steroid withdrawal.

We also are doing the GAPS diet, and are on stage 4. The goal is to heal his gut so it's not leaky anymore, and he can eventually tolerate more foods. Keegan is currently eating:
- bone broth
- boiled/roasted/sauteed veggies
- ground turkey, ground beef, lamb, salmon, lox
- avocado
- sunflower seed butter made into pancakes with squash and flax seeds
- juices made from apples, cucumber, zucchini, and spinach


























Saturday, January 12, 2013

Vegan Sweet Potato Poblano Lasagna


Recipe adapted from comowater.com
http://comowater.com/almond-milk/sweet-potato-poblano-lasagna/
Sweet Potato-Poblano Lasagna
Ingredients:
1/2 red onion–thinly sliced
2 poblano chiles–thinly sliced & divided
2 cloves garlic–minced
Large handful of baby spinach - stems removed
1/2 box no boil lasagna noodles
1 large sweet potato–cooked and mashed
2 tablespoons Earth Balance soy-free margarine
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups rice milk
7 tablespoons nutritional yeast 
olive oil
salt
dash thyme
dash nutmeg
dash chili powder
Method:
• Preheat oven to 350
• Bake sweet potato until soft. When cool enough to handle, mash and set aside.
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to medium sized sauté pan and heat over medium low. Add onion and poblano. Saute for 10 minutes. Add garlic. Saute until onion, chile, and garlic are soft. Set aside.
• Melt Earth Balance in large saucepan over medium low heat. When completely melted, stir in flour until the flour is completely incorporated. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in rice milk until completely blended. Add seasonings. Whisk occasionally until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in nutritional yeast. Keep sauce over low heat.
• Add 1/4 cup of sauce to mashed sweet potato. Mix completely.
• Grease 9″ x 9″ baking dish. Ladle sauce onto the bottom of the baking dish just to coat. * Layer: Noodles, 1/2 sweet potato mixture, sauce to cover completely, 1/2 onion mixture, layer of spinach, sauce to cover completely, noodles, sauce, rest of onion mixture, layer of spinach, noodles, rest of sweet potato mixture, noodles. Pour remaining sauce over the top noodle layer.
• Bake, covered in preheated over for approximately 20-25 minutes. Uncover, bake for additional 10-15 minutes. Broil for a couple minutes on top if desired.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Malia and her skin

I thought I would keep up on this blog to track the progress that we are making with Malia's skin issues. Poor baby has been suffering from dry skin and eczema from about 3 weeks old. Poor girl is miserable and itchy ALL the time...

9/7/12 - I noticed that on top of her itchy eczema issues, Malia was getting seeping, wet, red, irritated, smelly skin in all the folds (neck, armpits, back of knees). I researched that this is something called intertrigo, and there are a number of ways to get rid of it. I tried so many of them, and the only thing that worked was Desitin diaper cream. However, the skin would get back again when I stopped using the Desitin.

9/12/12 - We took Malia to the pediatrician, because she has been constantly fussy, to a point where she would seem to have everything she needed, but would scream and scream and scream. Also, her skin was very dry and seemed to be itching her. Doctor said all this skin was eczema, even in the folds.
The doctor prescribed steroid cream to apply 2x a day for 2 weeks. 
He also prescribed a reflux medication, but we wouldn't see any results from that for at least a week. 
It only took one application of the steroid cream for Malia's skin to be cleared up completely. She was a happy baby the next day, which would have been too early for the reflux meds to kick in. So, I connected the fussiness to her skin being itchy, not reflux. I kept at it for 2 weeks, and as soon as I stopped putting on the steroids, her skin became flared up and itchy again (and the fussiness returned). 

10/2/12 - We took Malia to a natural path doctor, one of who's specialty is with infants and skin issues.
I am confident that this will work, as I truly believe that eczema is caused by something internally, so it needs to be fixed with diet and supplements. Dr. Caitlin gave me the following regimen, to do for 3 weeks. We will evaluate her skin at that point and decide how to move forward.

For Malia:
- 3 tablets of homeopathic sulphur - ONE time (did that tonight)
- 1000 IU of Vitamin D drops daily
- powder infant probiotic 2x daily
- baths every day or every other day with no soap, then smear with vaseline over entire body.
For me:
- Evening Primrose capsules, 2 caps, 2x daily
- Probiotic, 2 caps, 2x daily
- Dairy free diet
- a lot less caffeine and more water

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Monday, April 9, 2012

Need baby girl name help!!

Any suggestions on baby girl names would be much appreciated! :)
We like names that are not too common, but that have been around for a while, nothing brand new...

March 16th - 26 weeks

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

It's a ...



GIRL!!!!
Keegan is going to have a little sister. :)
20 week appointment was today, and baby girl looks healthy and measuring right on schedule.