Olivia's Medical Update!

This week we spent quite a bit of time at the hospital or the doctors office. A while back we were referred to a pediatric endocrinologist (children's doctors who examine failure to thrive) it was a three month wait to see this lady, and we finally got in. The doctor met with Olivia and I for about an hour and then ordered some tests at the hospital to see if we can figure out why Olivia is so small. Especially in relation to her other two siblings (both in the 75th percentile of growth).

• We did chromosome testing--so looking at Olivia's DNA to see if there is something genetically programming her to be small (like if you are meant to be a dwarf etc..). It came back fine.
• We did an allergy test to see if her failure to thrive was the result of some kind of food or pollen or whatever...she came back clean.
• We did her third Celiac test (one positive and one negative so far....got a second negative, so we are putting that hypothesis to rest).
• We did a lumbar scan (on her back spine) to see if there was something off contributing her her constipation...still can't figure out the "cause" of Olivia's constipation/ inability to correctly digest food. Which is probably contributing to her overall growth. Her lumbar scan came back fine.
• Last of all we did a bone density scan- to figure out what age her body has developed too and then compare it to what age she actually is. She came back with a bone density scan of a 6 year old (and she just turned 8) so she is two years behind in growth....which I knew because I HAVE a 6 year old and they are the same size :-)

Next we talked about options. Now that Olivia has made it onto the growth charts (3rd percentile) she no longer qualifies for growth hormone shots. Usually you give these before a child has her period because once she has her period her bones will fuse together and she will no longer continue to grow.

The other option we discussed was giving her a hormone to delay her period so she has more time to grow. They said because Olivia is at the bone age of a 6 year old, she should experience menses two years after her peers. They said it would probably be around 15-16 year old. IF she makes it that long, the maximum height she will be is 5'3"....which is what I reached at 11 years old (when I had my period). This sounds good to me except menses is somewhat hereditary, and since I had my period at 11 years old, if Olivia were to do that she would be under 5 feet tall.

The plan would be to take Olivia's blood every 6 months, and once she is about to have her period introduce this hormone to postpone it so she has longer to grow. It sounded fine to me, until I met someone who had it done and once their period was postponed it just never started....which for my friend means she can't have kids....this girl had stuff done in the 80's when they were still experimenting with it. BUT I am wondering which option is worse

(1) Possibly be under 5' your whole life--If your parents choose to let nature take its course.

(2) Be shorter than your peers your whole adolescence and then have your period delayed for a few years.....So you can reach 5'3" ....Your still in a training bra when your learning to drive... and might not ever get your period...or be able to have kids.

(3) Try to find a doctor who will give you a hormone shot NOW so you can catch up to everyone, and develop normally with everyone else.

We do have one question about growth hormone shots; When they said we don't qualify we are wondering if this means we can still pay for them as this country has socialized medicine and a lot of medical help is around qualifying. If we pay out of pocket (insurance wont cover it if you don't qualify) it would be about $1,000/ shot and the shots are needed once a week :) In addition, we hardly know anything about the risks or side effects of growth hormone shots so it is hard to make a decision when we can't get info about etc...

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

Olivia's 8 year old Photo shoot!

Happy Birthday Olivia, 8 years old is SO BIG! Don't grow up too fast! We love you so much, you are beautiful!

Sand Angels

Happy Birthday Olivia, we LOVE you so much!1

Happy Birthday Olivia- 8 years old!

This year for Olivia's birthday we had a reverse surprise party. Basically instead of the birthday girl being surprised we instead surprised all her guests. Saturday morning we woke up all the kids with a video camera starting at 6:00am and told them in was Olivia's birthday and to help us wake up the other party guests and get in the car. We picked up all the girls in the class (12) and then took everyone to our house for games, breakfast, and to watch re-runs of everyone waking up! It was hilarious!!

Olivia had been up since 5:30am so she was wired!

Playing pin the tale on the donkey!

Blowing out the candles

Olivia is such a HAM!

In addition to her party, while we were in Melbouren on Olivia's actual birthday, Olivia got her ears pierced. We made her wait until she was 8 and then said she could decide for herself. She had been waiting for close to 2 years and has asked me every day while getting ready for school "how much longer until I can have earrings?" or say something like "don't you think my outfit would be complete with earrings?"

Getting ready!

After walking around Melbourne for an hour we finally found a place that could pierce her ears.

Cleaning

The dot!

And DONE! They did both ears at the same time and she didn't move an inch! What a brave girl!

Next door was Diva (Mary picked out some earrings for her, as did I and Stan!)

So grown up!! Happy Birthday Olivia- We love you so much!

Holiday in Melbourne--Part 2

Our second week in Melbourne we were back at the Westin.

The hotel was tucked into the street (I like how fancy the alleyway was...although my kids were freaked out by the naked people up top...)

This time our view was on the other side of the Cathedral overlooking Federation Square!

Swimming in the pool at the hotel. We went every day!

Here we are looking at the National Opal Museum. I learned that 80% of the worlds opals come from Australia. White opals are found both outside and inside of Australia, but black opals are unique to Australia. I also learned how to tell if an opal is fake and what makes an opal rare!

Here is opal in a rock

Here we are in an alleyway in the city! Melbourne is famous for its street art. Something I learned that is unique to Melbourne is that all the street performers have to audition and get a license to preform. Only a limited number of performers are allowed, so you quite often get older well dressed men playing their violins instead of grunge people rocking out on a drum set. It makes for a very artsy experience!

Although heavily tagged the alleyway was extremely CLEAN!? Appreciate art of all kinds right?

And next to the alley way--a bunch of posh boutiques!

Getting some ice cream on Olivia's birthday!

Notice anything new? Happy Birthday Olivia!

Hanging out in Williamstown (a suburb 15 minutes outside of Melbourne) with some friends from my high school- Candace & Wes Anderson

The local botanical gardens

Here we are looking at the biggest stain glass ceiling in Australia.

After two weeks, we flew back to Sydney for (1) Olivia's birthday party on Saturday and (2) School on Monday! Good bye Melbourne!!

Phillip Island

Instead of staying in town for the National Footy Final we decided to rent a car and get out of the city for the weekend. We drove 2 hours south/east to Phillip Island, and rented a beach cottage on the water. The kids were ELATED to find a double bunk bed in one of the rooms! On our first day we went fishing...in a stocked lake :-)

Daddy teaching the kids how to cast a fishing pole.

I thought it was incredibly ironic that I was fishing in this lake for Rainbow Trout (which the lake specifically advertised they had imported from North America)... I think every lake I had ever fished in during my childhood in Montana had this fish!
These guys made good money as there was no catch and release allowed. Every fish you caught you bought for $18.00/kilo (after the $30.00 entrance fee) and if you wanted to pay extra they would cook the fish for you so you could eat it. I felt like a complete sucker since this experience was more or less free in Montana!

Mary caught a BIG fish!! :-)

She was so excited!

Olivia catching her fish...in the kid pond it took about 5 minutes!

Making the fish kiss....

Cooking the fish up (we ate it then and there because we weren't sure what to do with two fish we had to buy wrapped up in newspaper while staying in a hotel).

After fishing we went to the Nobbies. You are supposed to be able to get up close and personal to the seals who come up on the rocks. Sadly it was blocked off because the seagulls were nesting and all the baby chicks were hatching! The nests were all over the cliffs, it was like something off of National Geographic!

After the Nobbies we went over to Penguin Island, where you can sit on these steps and wait until night fall to watch the penguin come up from the ocean. They are fairy penguins, so super tiny and once they come in with the tide they run across the beach into their nesting grounds. We were not allowed to take pictures because the flash scares the penguins but here we are waiting for the sun to set!

After the penguin parade we got to walk back to the car. There were penguins EVERYWHERE. Hence the sign below :-)

The next day we went to a farm. The farm was on it's own little island called Churchill Island. It was amazing to be in the country completely surrounded by water! SO BEAUTIFUL! Here we are feeding the horses. You could just walk around and do whatever you wanted, I loved it!

Milking a cow!

Climbing some trees...

After the farm we started driving back to the city and stopped along the coast. Here we are at Cape woolamia.

The dunes were pretty big so the kids were climbing on them and sliding down!

Other than Tasmania, this is as far south as Australia goes...the cold waters are famous for Great White Sharks!