Thankful Tuesdays: Stuck

This little boy has been severely constipated.  We've noticed a trend the past few months where he'll start holding his poop in whenever we have someone visiting or when there are changes in routines.  We had one extremely bad case after Baby J came along and the in-laws visited, where things got so bad that he was throwing up after meals as he was so full of poop.  That round, we had to use the Fleet enema in desperation since he manages to always push out suppositories, and nothing seemed to work.  After all the poop was cleared, I managed to get him to poop regularly again (so we've concluded that Baby J wasn't the reason for all the poop holding).  Then the in-laws flew down for Baby J's first month celebration, and the constipation started again.  This round we realized that the boy just cannot go when his grandparents are around.  He would be crouching every time he had the urge to go, but would absolutely refuse to go to the potty, however, if my in-laws went out, he would go when the urge hit.

Thanks to all the poop holding, the boy got pretty clogged up, and I had to resort to hiding inside his room with him with the potty after meals and during tea time (when it was likely that he would get the urge to poop).  That helped somewhat, but the poop was now very hard and difficult to push out, in spite of all the fibre, fluids, probiotics and lactulose we've been giving him.  Things reached such a state yesterday that he had many unsuccessful attempts to poop, and was obviously in alot of discomfort.  In the end we reluctantly had to use Fleet on him again at night.  He went twice, and everything came out.  Including everything in his tummy, which he threw up (he was so clogged we think his tummy couldn't empty properly).  There was vomit everywhere, on me, on the hubby, all over the floor. 

I must admit the little boy's poop problems have been getting me down.  I am really tired, and my heart breaks to see him so uncomfortable.  Each round of constipation would mean his appetite plummets, and he no longer is willing to feed himself.  Mealtime becomes a whole circus act again.  We have to feed him, while telling stories or reading, and he fidgets and climbs up and down because he is uncomfortable.  Then he becomes a lot more defiant as well, and needs to be chased to go to the table for meals, to do things etc.

Some friends have suggested that the little boy just has to adapt and get used to the presence of others at home.  But while I know the little boy has to learn to cope with changes, he is still a 3 year old after all, and toddlers sometimes do have to battle their fears, unreasonable those fears may be.  So meanwhile, we're just trying to help him deal with the anxiety by letting him go in his room with the door shut.  Its really not the grandparents fault, and Junior J really loves playing with them since they dote on him a lot.  Its just one of those weird toddler things, and hopefully things will improve this week since his gut has been cleared (my MIL will be around for another week).  And I really hope we'll be able to figure out how to manage this problem, and that this phase will pass soon, as the in-laws will be coming down again soon in January.  Have any of your kids have such a problem before?  It really has been quite a headache to manage:      

Then to top it off, we've been facing many hiccups for the move next year, many which could have been prevented.  The language requirements for the hubby to work there seem to keep changing, and many admin procedures are now slowly being sorted out, even when the hubby went down earlier this year to try to get  everything in place.  Communication is difficult, phone calls don't seem to be effective, and emails don't get answered until a long time later.  So now we are left with a big question mark, and it may be a closed door to us after all.  This has meant the hubby has to scramble to find alternatives, and with that comes a whole load of other things that need to be done, like sitting for language tests, applying for this and that.

So I must admit I am finding it very hard to be thankful at the moment, and I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel to write my list today.  So here it is... I am still grateful that:

:: We are healthy.  I recovered pretty quickly from my cold, and at least everyone isn't down with some bug.  And Baby J is still steadily putting on weight and is almost hitting 5 kg.

:: My in-laws are so willing to help out, and that they really love the two little boys a lot.

:: We are blessed with wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who constantly keep us in prayer.

:: We can sometimes have nice lunches out as a family and enjoy yummy food, without having to spend hours at the stove preparing it.

Flowers at PS Cafe. I love it when you get fresh blooms at the table!

Perhaps God is reminding us through this period of time that we must keep trusting Him, and that "Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain" (Psalms 127:1).  So I guess we'll keep praying and hoping, and trusting.  

What are you thankful for this week?