A long Story... Short. ish.

You remember my Anna?

Well, a couple of months ago, around the time school started, she began complaining about stomach aches.
Now, I think I need to tell you that Anna can be a bit dramatic. And so, I assumed that she was mostly just tugging on my sympathy chains. Which wasn't working. I largely ignored her complaints. I did mention them to the pediatrician when we saw her in November. The pediatrician agreed that she was probably just being a girl. So when she complained I told her to go use the bathroom, or lie down...

Right before Christmas her stomach aches began increasing in intensity and frequency. We also noticed that her belly began to look big... as in bloated. After a brief conversation with my husband we decided to have her avoid dairy and we'd see where that led us. (You can see her big belly in the picture below).

So, we did have her avoid dairy... sorta. When it was too difficult to worry about, we told her just to eat it anyway. Terrible parents, I know, but we didn't see any improvement when she wasn't eating dairy anyway.
When we got home from our trip over the holidays, we made an appointment for Anna. But since it was a consult appointment instead of a sick visit, they didn't have any available spots for almost two weeks. We finally got in to see the pediatrician who took one look at her big belly and referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, and encouraged us to LAY OFF THE DAIRY.

So, we did. We removed all the major sources of dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, etc) and again we didn't really notice a difference. Last Monday (the 17th), we went to IKEA as a family. We always eat there, and especially because they were running a deal where whatever you spent on food would be deducted from your furniture purchase (score!). Matt went through the line and ordered four identical kids meals and food for the grown ups. We ate and went on our merry way. About two hours later, Anna started complaining that her belly was REALLY hurting her. I took a look and it was the biggest I had ever seen her belly bloat to.  Bad.

I racked my brain but couldn't come up with what she might have eaten to cause that!  She'd had a bagel with peanut butter and oranges for breakfast.  She'd had meatballs and fries for lunch.  There could have been traces of milk in the meatballs, but I didn't think they could have caused this much of a problem for her.

On the way home, I called a friend. I was talking about Anna's problem and suddenly it came to me: HOLY FREAKING CRAP.  Matt had purchased four identical kid's meals. With a CHOCOLATE MILK.  Which Anna didn't even blink about.  Suddenly, I ran my brain through the last week... she hadn't once complained about a stomach ache.

We saw the gastroenterologist last Thursday and Anna's scheduled for a Lactose Intolerance test this Thursday, as well as blood testing for other food intolerances/allergies.

Here's to some answers. If you have a moment, and could say a quick prayer in her behalf and in the behalf of the doctors that we'll be able to figure out what's ailing her quickly, that would be great. Thank you!