17 months later.....

I have not updated this in quite awhile. When I last wrote, I was going vegan , Coraline had weaned, and some of my anxiety had ceased. Since then we gave moved states to live on the beach, had another perfect baby girl, and finally got the teeth pulled in June (2015). I started this blog September 2013 when a dentist told us to pull immediately or a blood infection would kill my 2 year old. If you go back to that time you can tell how broken, depressed, angry and stressed I was. I did not sleep, I did not eat. I did not let my baby have bananas or sweet apples. I made her eat eggs in ghee and homemade yogurt that I couldn't even stomach myself. When we visited our family I had boxes full of medicines, toothpastes, homeopathic pills taking over our car. I had no joy left inside of me and even now I am struggling to get it back. I get asked for advice so often now and yet I will forever feel like a failure. Like I am not worthy to give the advice because it didn't work for us anyway. After it all I wish so much I could make that time of our life more carefree. Night after night I prayed and cried to God to heal her. I was angry at everyone around me. Embarrassed to go to playdates. Scared to give her any form of sugar what so ever. Even now at the age of 4 she is terrified of sugary stuff. In some ways it is great but in other ways it hurts so much. Is she so anxious because of me? If we did not go on this journey I would have never discovered GMOs, Weston Price, documentaries about our food and what the government is doing to it. I have made so many friends from this who went through the same thing. They are each so special to me and I could have never gone through this without them.

I am often emailed or messaged online for help with tooth decay. To be honest I do not feel like I am worthy to give advice. After all, my kid has 3 crowns and four missing teeth. When we meet other "crunchy" moms I always think how shitty they must think I am. How much sugar and crap I probably feed her. After all that did happen back in Tennessee, it's hard to let my guard down. The only advice I can give is not to repeat my mistakes. Don't over charge your credit card with a million supplements you can't afford. Yes, the fermented cod liver oil is amazing and certainly helps, but if you can't afford it it's okay! Get it another month and focus on good foods. MI paste really did help. The ingredients aren't wonderful but neither is surgery so you have to pick your battles. We use Xyliwhite toothpaste which has been great and smells wonderful. Earthpaste is good too but doesn't taste great. Xylitol mints are okay but not perfect for the gut. Coraline mostly bit hers so it wasn't even killing bacteria in her mouth. Bone broth and a good diet is key. Real whole foods. Meat, raw dairy, vegetables and fruit. They will tell you to limit fruit but in this world today we should be so grateful our children want fruit and not cheetos. Count your blessings. Allow certain foods for special occasions. It is okay. Enjoy their childhood while you can. We are still gluten free and will probably never go back. It has been an easy adjustment for us.

We made the decision to pull after Coraline bit into an apple and got an abscess. We treated it without antibiotics but it kept coming back. We spent hundreds, maybe even $1,000 on a holistic doctor and standard process supplements. I kept track of everything she ate, drank, and pooped for a month before the doctor told us he could no longer help us. I forced her to eat raw garlic and chew up disgusting tablets three times a day to help heal this. I did everything. everything. I did not want to get this surgery done. I was terrified. But even after giving her antibiotics the abscess kept coming back and she was hurting. For almost three months. It had to be done. It was probably a 30 minutes procedure. She drank an entire bottle of water then threw up three times and slept all day. She was fine the next day although upset about her teeth missing. She couldn't care less now. We see missing teeth and crowns everyday at the park, library, grocery store.

I am always here to help. I will tell you everything I know. I have read the books, blogs, forums, talked to Rami Bagel himself on his Facebook group.  I will do everything it takes to not go through this with our new baby but if we do, I have an amazing support system and all the information in the world to keep her healthy.