Our Brave Little Girl

Lately, Ang and I have been praising lil' Mia for being brave. Much of this began with our trip to LA, considering all the many strange places she had to sleep and how well she handled the trip. It may seem strange to tell a not-quite-6-month-old that she is brave, seeing as how she wouldn't understand any of it. I think it's quite fun, and if nothing else, she feels reinforcement just by our smiles and attitudes.

This is all a background to tell you of how incredibly brave our little one truly is. After about a week of Mia being really fussy and appearing to have some intermittent pain, Angela took Mia to the doctor last week. They found that Mia had lost about 10 ounces, and the doctor attributed the problem to reflux. So, for the last week, Mia has been taking baby Zantac.

Ang and Mia went back to the doctor today, and things haven't gotten much better. She lost a few more ounces, and has still been very fussy while eating. All in all, the doctor suspects that Mia may have celiac disease, which is even more plausible considering that Ang's mom has celiac.

Due to this suspicion, and also to get more general info, the doctor ordered Mia to have blood work done. Not just one or two - but 7 tests! I.e.- lots of blood. Well, Mia is right at the age where she can have her blood drawn from her arm, instead of her heel, and it would be difficult to get this much blood from the heel.

Thankfully, I wasn't present for this appointment, as even the nurse sniffled and had watery eyes because she had to poke such a little patient. Ang was strong (at least while in the office) and sang and comforted Mia so that she took it like a champ.

We adults cringe at the thought of being stuck with needles, but it takes a very brave little girl to have her blood drawn.