About Emery

Emery joined our family on June 10, 2013 after a perfect pregnancy and a text book labor and delivery. From the moment Emery entered the world, she has filled our home with joy an laughter. We often said for the first six months of her life that she was, "the easiest baby ever." She slept well, she ate well and most importantly, she loves to smile. She shared her first grin with us on the fourth of July and hasn't stopped smiling since. Even during acute FPIES reactions, we can often get a grin out of our happy little lady. We could never adequately express just how much we love her and how grateful we are to have her in our family.

Emery was exclusively breast-fed until she was six months old.  On December 8, 2013, we introduced Emery to solid foods. I started her with oatmeal mixed with breast milk. Soon after Emery began having horrible diarrhea. It was filled with mucus and she would fill diapers up to 10 times a day. At that time it never occurred to me that it might be a result of the solid foods she was receiving.  I just figured it was a virus that one of her sisters has passed on to her. When I mentioned it to her pediatrician at her six month check up I was told not to worry and that it was normal for breast-fed babies. I still felt a bit uneasy about it, but I trusted our pediatrician and let it go. Around Christmas time Emery came down with croup.  She had no interest in eating solid foods, so we stopped offering them completely for a week or two. The diarrhea stopped.

On January 2, 2014 we left on a road trip to visit family. On January 4, we had planned a girls night with all of my sisters in law. In an effort to make sure that Emery wouldn't need to nurse while I was away, we started solids again. We fed her oatmeal and sweet potatoes- she gobbled them right up.  Later that night we experienced our first acute FPIES reaction, though we didn't know what it was then.

Mark went upstairs to check on her after hearing weird noises on the baby monitor.  She was covered in vomit. We took her out of bed and began to clean her up. As we stripped her of her clothing she continued to vomit. This wasn't spitting up, no this was 100% forceful, violent, throwing up.  We sat on the bathroom floor, holding a small cup in front of her, until she vomited to bile and then just dry-heaved. After about an hour she fell asleep in our arms, dressed in just a towel. (At the time, we thought she was just very tired from the late hour and from the vomiting.  Looking back, we probably should have taken Emery to the ER, but we had no idea what was going on.) Too scared to sleep, I stayed up with her until 3am or so, when I finally felt confident the vomiting was over.

The next day, Emery was back to her happy, normal self. We chalked the episode up to a 24 hour bug and decided to let her tummy rest for the next few days. On January 7th we again offered her solid foods. We gave her sweet potatoes since she seemed to have enjoyed them so much a few days earlier.  Later that night, we again went upstairs to find her covered in vomit.  The hours following mirrored the previous episode perfectly only this time Emery was more out of it.  Scared, we found an emergency room in the area that would take our insurance. But after a couple of hours Emery perked up and even nursed, just like normal.

It was on that night that I googled "6 month old violently vomiting" and came across FPIES for the very first time in a baby center message board. I stayed up late so I could monitor Emery and read everything I could about FPIES. As I read about the symptoms, I felt like somebody was watching Emery and writing down exactly what happened. I was already near positive of the beast we were dealing with. Sweet potatoes became Emery's first food on her trigger list.

We didn't offer Emery solid foods again until we returned home from vacation. Anxious to get our now 7 month old going on something besides breast milk, we offered her peaches and oatmeal thinking her only allergy was to sweet potatoes. I still kick myself for giving her oatmeal that night. Within a few hours, Emery woke up violently vomiting.  My heart broke.  My suspicions of FPIES were confirmed 100%, though we did not have a doctor's diagnosis yet. That night was the worst of the three and we did end up in the ER. It was there that our journey with FPIES really began.

Before Emery was born, we had narrowed girl names down to three- Norah, Blakeley or Emery.  We ultimately decided on Emery because we loved it's meaning- "strong" or "strength." Now that meaning has even greater importance to us. Emery is stronger than FPIES and there is no doubt she will overcome this illness and all the trials it is sure to bring.