On my love of cheese

Cheese is on the top of the list of my favorite foods.  Last Wednesday, I gave up dairy products to see if it would help Natalie.  I’m not being rigid about it and searching for hidden dairy content yet but have quit all milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, cottage cheese- basically all obvious dairy foods.  Sunday, the 26th, Natalie had a 20 minute screaming session where she woke up from a nap inconsolable.  She was in obvious pain.  We eventually were able to help her poop with a suppository and then a bath finally helped her calm down more.  I’d  been wondering about dairy but since her only symptoms have been constipation and foul gas, I wasn’t sure if I needed to.  After that episode, though, I was willing to try anything.  For the last 2 months, she has only been able to poop 2 times a week at the most.  I stopped dairy Wednesday, June 29th, and she went Friday, Saturday and Monday all on her own!  Tomorrow is David’s birthday and he has requested a cream sauce pasta for the main course and ice cream cake for dessert.  I might just pump and dump since it’s his birthday but it does make me realize, we might need to change eating habits for the long term.  Though it’s not a choice I would make for myself, I’m ecstatic that it might be helping Natalie.


In my internet search for something to help Natalie’s constipation, I stumbled upon a web site called Einstein Syndrome.  It’s a site started by a mother of a 17 year old Down’s Syndrome daughter.  It has a TON of information.  For the little bit of time I’ve been able to search her articles, it seems she and many others have used the site to collect information of different therapies over the years.  The premise of the name ‘Einstein Syndrome’ comes from an article of the same name written by the web site developer, Miriam Kauk.  She states that “I am convinced that the biggest handicap Down syndrome children have is the low expectations of their parents.”   There’s so much to look at but, right now, I’m most interested in something called Targeted Nutritional Intervention.  It seems to say that Natalie’s extra chromosome causes several chemical processes to go haywire.   Different vitamins, enzymes, and antioxidants can help improve growth, and even keep brain cells from dying.  I’m hoping to have a list of questions ready to ask our pediatrician and geneticist at our appointments next week.  When I first found this information, I was upset that my lack of time to research the information was shortening my daughter’s life.  I’m constantly reminded that I AM NOT THAT POWERFUL (Mary Ann Nelson- you probably never knew how that advice you gave me about a problem Julia had many years ago, would help me so many years later)!  God is the author of all Natalie’s days and is in control of her life.

I just finished filling a shadow box that a friend gave me for Natalie’s baptism.  I decided to make a quilling picture defining what her name means.  I’d looked it up before but I think this version is so much more in depth.  We thought ‘Natalie’ meant ‘born on Christmas Day.’  This week I found it meant ‘birth’ or ‘birthday'.  I also looked up the Webster version of ‘Grace.’  On her picture I put….

Natalie Grace

a birth of blessing,

favor, elegance, & beauty

I’m praying that every day for her…..

Amy