Mac's Food Aversion

The Latest

2011-12-05T15:52:00.001-08:00

McKenna is not experiencing puberty, according to her eleven-year-old check-up which she got recently. She will have to go for a bone density test and depending on those results, may be referred to an endicrinologist.

Backslide

2011-02-23T19:54:00.001-08:00

A lot of you know that my birth daughter McKenna, 10 1/2, has had a feeding tube since 2 for her food aversion she was born with and has been in several feeding programs all to no avail. Well, for the last several months she has been in a program at Cook Children's, one that has been successful, the first one that had been successful out of all the ones she had been in. Anyway, I got an email today from her adoptive mom that now this program has stopped working for her for some reason but we don't know why.

Articles

2011-02-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

Interesting article about Effexor and pregnancy:

http://uniteforlife.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/713/

Latest News from The Adoptive Mom

2010-12-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hi. Slow on the eating. Happily for me....Larry has to take her to the psychiatrist on Friday. She has been wanting to meet “Dad” and we were just never off at the same time. He’s a little nervous. Ha.

McKenna had a play date with Catherine and her mom texted me that McKenna ate some of their triple chocolate ice cream dessert. She was thrilled! She still prefers to eat chicken noodle soup and the banana yogurt. Those are her comfort foods I guess. She will also chew up froot loops, fish crackers, saltines, etc...just very small amounts.

Latest from the adoptive mom

2010-10-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

"It’s going well....just slowly. She actually does better in the doctor’s office vs home. She is trying LOTS of stuff........everything has a strong taste to her since she’s been eating mainly chicken noodle soup and vanilla pudding. She HATES apple juice, grape juice, but does like weak unsweetened tea! She’s eating lots of those Gerber snacks that almost dissolve in her mouth. She is eating lots of fruit loops and fish crackers."

Update

2010-09-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

From the adoptive mom of my little girl:
We have to get up 30 minutes early as the psychiatrist wants her to “eat” breakfast....so we get up at 6:20 and she “tastes” cereal or yogurt. She’s doing really really well....eating 2 pieces of Gerber puff cereal at a time!!!!! And gets fruit loops really soggy and eats one of those at a time. Plus she’s supposed to be trying a different drink every day......She’s liking the yogurt and I got a ton of Gerber snacks to try...they’re pretty mild tasting.

McKenna's First Breakthrough!!!!!

2010-09-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

From the adoptive mom of my little girl re: today's dr. visit:
"It went really, really well! They spent the first 45 minutes in her office, then called me in so I could see McKenna eat 2 pieces of cereal and drink some tea! I cried. So happy. We have been trying a different liquid every day.....ie apple juice, capri sun, choc milk, flat sprite, anything she wants to try plus different broths.....still likes chicken noodle best. She MIGHT have somewhat gotten over her fear of swallowing and hopefully she ‘s on the right track now....she wanted some goldfish for dinner and I already packed her lunch for tomorrow with the cereal she actually swallowed...it’s gerber graduates puffed apple/strawberry cereal. She asked me tonight when we said her prayers why I cried at the doctor’s office. I told her I was just so proud of how hard she is working. Larry has always told her she could have a new bedroom set when she starts eating...she’s so happy with her “new” bedroom that now she wants a “big screen tv” instead.....probably will happen for Christmas."

Placement Day Anniversary

2010-08-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

Today is ten years ago that McKenna went home with her adoptive parents.

Latest News

2010-08-18T01:14:00.001-07:00

I got to see McKenna today. Jon met her for the first time as a friend since she doesn't know about the birds and bees yet so we couldn't say "This is your biological dad." It went very well, way better than I thought.
She's also made some progress with the new psychiatrist at Cook Children's regarding her feeding problem and the goal is to have her eating by Dec.
She brought me flowers that she picked out herself and they are nice. I gave her her birthday gifts and we took pics as usual and Jon was happy with how the visit went.
Now she wants to take jazz dance class but still likes tap and ballet also.

2010-07-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

From the adoptive mom of McKenna today:
Had the appointment with the psychiatrist today and McKenna starts meeting with her next week. She suggested twice a week. I said , no once a week is all we can afford right now at $50 a pop! She seems really nice and excited to work with McKenna. She says my goals for McKenna of eating by mouth and getting the g-tube out are not necessarily going to be McKenna’s goals:( They will set the goals after meeting next week and some of their talks might be confidential and she won’t be able to report everything to me(!) I know there’s confidentiality but she’s 9 years old. This psychiatrist doesn’t use play therapy like in the past, but she says McKenna is old enough for other things and they will play a lot of board games while talking. It will be interesting to see what happens. Mac is very very smart and outgoing and hopefully one day everything will just click.

2010-05-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=125324657488986&ref=ts

My Experience with Effexor and Pregnancy

2010-05-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/3017470/my_experience_with_effexor_and_pregnancy.html?cat=71

The Cause of McKenna's Food Aversion

2010-04-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, today I found out the reason McKenna has her food aversion is because I took Effexor while pregnant though my dr. said it was safe.
Turns out that the drug co. did not disclose that one of the results of using that drug while pregnant was tube feeding for the fetus.
Quite a shock!

2010-04-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

My interview in Psychology Today:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/adoption-stories/201004/one-womans-truth-placing-her-baby-adoption

2009-04-13T16:37:00.001-07:00

My E book on Adoption:
Contact | FAQ | Publish & Sell | Getting Your Books/Ebooks | Wholesale Orders | Search | Home

Title: MacKenzie's Hope
Author: Terri Rimmer
Format: PDF (ebook)
Pages: 238

Ebook: $10.00

Category: Family
About the Book
Free Excerpt From The Book (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

MacKenzie's Hope is the true story of one birth mom's experience placing her child in a semi-open adoption while living in a maternity home in Fort Worth, TX. The story takes place in the year 2000 and includes a childhood background of the author/birth mom detailing her many obstacles throughout life such as alcoholism, depression, sexual and physical abuse, sex addiction, and bipolar disorder. While the story is at times tragic it is also the portrait of a woman who will not and does not give up despite what others tell her throughout her life.

The story begins when Tara, the birth mom finds out she is pregnant for the first time at the age of 34. For 14 years she did not think she was physically capable of having children so this pregnancy news was a huge shock and not happy news given the birth mom's mental and physical conditions. The birth mom is in constant conflict, which she later resolves, between society's expectations of her as a mother preparing to have a child and her own resolve to give her child the home she deserves. Tara deals continuously with guilt, shame, remorse, and regret before, during, and after her decision to place her only child for adoption, however she does come to terms with her commitment eventually after a series of painful and intense self-discoveries on her path to peace and happiness.

The book gives the reader a rare look at what it is like to make an adoption decision from the birth mom's standpoint and also includes the experiences of the adoptive parents, the birth mom's siblings, adoptive parents - families, and other adoptive children, the birth father, biological grandparents, relatives, and house parents who work in the maternity home. The story is one of rich detail and imagery captured from the eyes of the birth mom and her emotions, experiences, and memories coupled with the communications from her significant others which include a close relationship with the adoptive parents she later chooses for her child.

About the Author
Terri Rimmer has 21 years of journalism experience, having worked for ten newspapers and some magazines. In 2003 her life story was published online at Adoption Week E-Magazine's website and in 2002 she received a grant from the PEN American Writer's Fund in New York City.

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Diary of a Birth Mom in an Open Adoption

2009-04-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

http://adoption.about.com/od/birthfirstmothers/a/diarybirthmom_5.htm

Diary of a Birth Mom - May 2000

2009-04-09T22:48:00.002-07:00

http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/diary-of-a-birth-mom-reader-submission-5.html

Diary of a Birth Mom Part 9

2009-04-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/482497/diary_of_a_birth_mom_part_9.html?cat=25

Part 2 of Birth Mom Journal

2009-04-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.adopting.org/adoptions/diary-of-a-birth-mom-reader-submission-8.html

My E Book

2009-04-09T22:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.booklocker.com/books/2040.html

My Adoption Journal

2009-04-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

http://adoption.about.com/od/birthfirstmothers/a/diaryofmother.htm

My Biography

2009-04-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

http://adoption.about.com/od/guestarticleindex/p/terririmmer.htm

Food Aversion Program

2009-04-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/567133/baylor_all_saints_our_childrens_house.html?cat=5

Article I wrote about McKenna's food aversion

2009-04-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/11498/food_aversion_what_to_do_when_your.html?cat=25

Introduction

2009-04-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

I started this blog to bring awareness of the problem of food aversion, which my 8 1/2-year-old birth daughter, McKenna has suffered from since birth. She has been in numerous programs - the best of the best - all to no avail so she still has to use a feeding tube three times a day.
Despite having researched this problem since her infancy I still find no resources, and, amazingly enough, no one interested in researching or looking into this medical mystery.
I have contacted various TV talk and meidcal shows - not to exploit her - but just to try to bring the problem to someone's attention.
Incredibly, no doctors have ever heard of the problem, not even most pediatricians.
So, this blog serves but one purpose. Not to have readers gawk at pix of my daughter at the age she is now, nor to exploit her condition in any way, shape, or form, but only to educate and write my story from beginning to end in increments in hopes that someone out there in the medical field can finally help my daughter.
Despite her medical problem, she is a happy, healthy, vibrant, outgoing, popular, smart, and fearless child.
To look at her you would never know anything is wrong.
I love her abundantly, from the moon and beyond and I will not give up as long as there is a breath in my body of trying to find some help for her.