Monday, March 19, 2012

GAPS Update: Stages 1, 3, and 4.

Wow, has it been a crazy week in the kitchen! I am having a lot of fun, though, as we figure this GAPS thing out together.  I joined a "GAPS Support" Yahoo group this week, and it has been a wealth of information (as well as a good opportunity to see where others are on this journey.

We were not able to get duck eggs at the market last week, but they said they would have some for us this week (most likely).  If not, I may just get brave and trial actual egg yolk on Joshua's wrist.  Either way, we will definitely be moving him into stage 2 by the middle of this week.  He is doing great on stage 1, so it is time to move on to the next round.

We have seen some interesting signs of healing in Joshua.  For one thing, for the first time in several months (and since he was measured at 30.25" AGAIN at the doc's office 4 weeks ago), Joshua has grown!  He is now 31" even.  Praise the Lord!  He grew 3/4" in just a few weeks!  And he no longer wakes in the night unless he has had a diaper leak (the problem here is that he is now soaking his diaper every night).  Apparently polyuresis (excessive urination) is a sign of the detoxing/cleansing process his body is going through.  So he is still waking up every night, just no longer waking up for no apparent reason.

It has not been a perfect GAPS experience for him, he did manage to get into some of his cousins' chocolate graham crackers.  I do not know how much he got, but when I found him he had a thin chocolate ring around his mouth, and a bit on the inside.  However, in the past when he has gotten into those (or their chocolate animal crackers) his eczema flairs up and he has horrific diarrhea (sorry if it is TMI, but this is a GAPS blog, after all) which makes his whole bottom break out in a rash. Not pleasant.  This time, he was certainly cranky all day after eating them (which has also happened in the past), but his eczema is no worse and he did not have any diarrhea at all (in fact, we are on practically 2 straight weeks of solid, normal BMs, and this is a miracle for him)!  So, he still appears to be somewhat allergic to the wheat, but less allergic than he was, for sure.  I am very curious to see what his most recent blood test tells us, 1 week after him having been on GAPS.

The only difficulty with Joshua is that, as of today, he seems pretty bored with his food.  He will not eat any meats or veggies unless they are pureed, and we have been varying the puree quite a bit each day, but he is not as interested in it, all the same.  He showed interest in what I was eating today, but it was scrambled egg w/mashed avocado, so I could not share it with him (yet).  I did offer him a piece of my sauerkraut, but he was not interested in that.  So I think I am going to just start offering some of the unpureed soup along with the puree at meal times, to see if we can get him eating what we are eating, anyway.  Pray for us in all of that, please.

Jeff is moving through stage 2 and into 3.  He is handling the peanut pancakes pretty well and is pretty grateful for the added variety in his diet.  Personally, I cannot wait until he's on 4, because I am not going to roast or grill meat for myself, I need someone else to feed who is on stage 4 with me.  But actually, I will be moving to stage 5 within the next few days.  Hooray, salad!

Jeff and I are both losing weight, which is a nice perk to all of this, even if it was not the point.  Yesterday I fit into some shorts that I have not been able to wear since before Joshua!  Wooo!  Talk about a celebration!  As far as Joshua and gaining weight, he actually lost a tiny bit in the beginning (about half a pound)but has been pretty steady since then (and he grew taller!).  We are hoping that as we add on more foods he will start to gain more. Not only that, but Joshua's demeanor has already improved considerably (less fits.  We do know that he is in that place between 1 and 2 that means lots of tantrums, but he was throwing some that were concerning me and those ones are consistently decreasing in number.

I am glad to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for myself (Full GAPS), and cannot wait until Jeff and Joshua are there with me.  Thanks for your prayers, and keep 'em coming.  We still have a long road ahead of us, but it has been a good experience so far!

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