Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Mummy’s entry – Little Miss Consti

Lilypie 2nd Birthday Ticker

My baby girl has taken over one of my nicknames, Consti (given by a friend who has seen me suffering from my constipation problem). And now Rye Li is suffering the same fate as well.

All this while, occasionally, she will have one of these episodes whereby she will cry while poo-ing. I guess she doesn’t drink as much as she should. At times, she will even bleed from this ordeal.

I was attending training over the weekend and Rye Li’s papa was looking after her during the day while I was away. I had 10 missed calls from him during the training on the first day. I called him back and found out that in the last half an hour, she was crying in pain trying to poo but could not. She was breaking out in cold sweat and shivering as well and he asked me what to do…I told him to give her as much water as he could. He said he could see the poo coming out and wanted to take it out himself but couldn’t and somehow Rye Li managed to hold it back in after some time. He told me to get “Enema” (the liquid that you insert into the anus) which was suggested by my cousin (while he couldn’t reached me, he called my sister, my cousin and also his mom). I also told him to give her yoghurt, bananas and honey water in between.

After training, I decided to go to the pharmacy and get the Enema but was interrupted by hubby to say she’s going through another ‘round’ and asked me to come home straight away. By the time I got home, she managed to hold it in again. I saw that her whole hair was wet and thought that hubby had given her bath but he said that it was from her breaking out in cold sweat! So you can pretty much imagine her ordeal.

We went out to the pharmacy that evening to get the Enema and my mistake was not to use it on her straightaway. You see, it said not to be given to kids below 6 years of age unless prescribed by the doctor. I was apprehensive with this but that night, she had another ‘round’ again and this time, I experienced what hubby went through twice that day (and he was right, this is the worst so far we have ever experienced from her constipation issues).

She just stood still and started shaking and crying at the same time. You can see from her face (which went all red) that she was straining to withstand the urge and pain to poo. I hold her on to me and went “nnggh-nnggh” to encourage her to poo but she couldn’t. I took off her diaper and asked hubby to bring the Enema but it was too late. Her poo was already slightly out and there was no way I could put the tip of the Enema into her. My instinct just told me to dig her poo out with the Enema tip. I only managed to get a little bit out and it was really hard. I tried again to insert the Enema but couldn’t really get into her with the poo in the way. After several more minutes, I just turned her over her potty and tried to hold on to her legs. It was difficult to put her into a “poo-ing’ position because she was so tensed from the pain, she stretched her legs out straight. I should have put her in that position earlier on as her poo did come out and big it was. Another big piece came out and we noticed that it was kind of hard too.

I guess it was such a relief to us three then and we didn’t thought that there were anymore.

The next day, when I came back home from my training in the evening, hubby said that she did not eat much nor drank any milk that day. I gave her some yoghurt, some bread, cheese and banana.

That night, another ‘round’ came and she reacted the same way again, all tensed up, shaking and crying in pain. This time, when she managed to hold it back in, I took the opportunity to insert the Enema. She cried and resisted while I was doing this but I managed to get most of the Enema in and I immediately hold her over her potty. A minute later with her screaming in pain, I could see some of the liquid dropping into her potty and then her poo finally came out – 2 huge long ones, the second one being ‘softer’ and she was also bleeding from this ordeal.

All three of us were actually traumatized by this. I realized then why hubby panicked earlier on; anyone would seeing her in that condition. This actually reminded me of my own labour and I guess I can relate to how hubby felt when he was with me in my labour – HELPLESS!!!. I could only comfort her with touch and words; I gave her loads of kisses and hugs after that.

I took her to her doctor the next morning just to make sure her bum is alright from all that torture. True enough, it is cracked a little and her doctor recommended that I put Vaseline to help with the healing and of course, to put her on lactose (Duphalac) for the time being till she’s comfortable with poo-ing again.
She has lost weight for that 2 days since her appetite is not that good either. She is 8.69 kgs (she was 8.7kgs over a month ago), at least she has grown 1cm taller since then; she’s now 72.5cm in height. I’m not sure because of her lack of appetite or from her visit to her doctor at the hospital (there was quite a number of sick children at the waiting area), she now has a cold and her appetite has gotten worst as well. Sigh!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Poor little Rye Li. Have you tried to give her drink prune juice? That helps a little. Must start to train her to drink liquid lor. Belle doesn't drink a lot of liquid too but I'll try to give liquid to her in her favourite sippy/straw cup. She's more willing to drink from her Dora Dora cup. Get Rye Li a sippy cup she likes (like her fav cartoon character), mebbe she will be more willing to drink from it.

Anonymous said...

My poor little Rye Li, I wish I were there to share your pain :(. But you make sure you be a good girl and try to eat all the fruits and veggies mommy give you, they will help you poo for sure!

ah mai

KittyCat said...

Poor Ryeli! Yeah, as Vien says above, try to use colorful cup to encourage her to drink more fluids. Or try yoghurt drinks like Vitagen and Calci-yum (not Yakult coz sugar-loaded)

Btw, when Lucas got constipated, I did research and found that:
a) foods that cause constipation i.e. solidify - carrots, bananas and anything carbo
b) foods that ease constipation i.e. liquify - prunes, apples, pears, protein like fish/chicken and plain H2O =)

That's why when we have diarrhea, docs usually advise against fruits but encourage stuff like bread/rice/crackers. I remember that I was on carbs only when I was having diarrhea during pregnancy...

I was as bad as Rye Li as a kid coz I didn't drink a lot of water but hubby changed all that. Try it...