The pediatric nephrologist met with me and E today. She is fairly certain that he has multicystic dysplastic kidney. It turns out that this is a better diagnosis compared to polycystic kidney disease, which has more complications. (So let's count all the things E's kidney has been so far: horseshoe kidney, polycystic kidney, and now multicystic dysplastic kidney.) Still, I think this final diagnosis is most likely to be correct. The doctor is a specialist and has seen these things so many times that I trust her. We still need to have some tests done over the next few weeks to be totally sure. The link above talks about the tests he will have done for his kidney. I am not sure if we will opt to have it taken out, or just watch it until it dissolves. Either way, I am anxious to have answers.
Fortunately, all the tests will be finished by the time he is supposed to have cleft lip surgery. I do not like having things up in the air. I am looking forward to having a specific diagnosis and a plan of attack. Then we can focus on the cleft surgeries and getting E recovered. A bright spot: he was weighed today and has passed the 9 pound mark. (This is comforting considering that he needs to weigh at least 10 pounds to have his first cleft surgery in March.)
A side note: I was heartened today talking to Dr. Hsieh (the pediatric nephrologist) when she commended my willingness to pump and give E breastmilk. She says that it is the best thing for his kidneys since they are somewhat compromised. It turns out that he would need special formula if I decided to stop pumping. I have to admit that I have had a hard couple of days with the pumping. It just takes so damn long. Just in case you are wondering, do not add up the number of minutes per day you pump if you are ever in my situation. The answer is 2.5 hours. Every day. Blech. But these are the things we do for our children, no?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Success
Every day for the past week, E has had at least one massive spit up per day. We're talking ALL of the food he just ate: back up the hatch. Sigh. But today we took our time and burped every 5 minutes during a feeding and voila! Hooray for chubby babies!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Weight Check
Little E is not looking chubby, but is nonetheless chubbing out. Last week he had only gained 2 ounces, but this week: 8 ounces! So he now officially weighs more than when he was born: 8 pounds 4.5 ounces. I am so glad that he is the eatinest man, mostly because it justifies something I am about to admit: I let him sleep too long at night, in spite of being told specifically not to by his doctor, and the nurse at the surgeons office. They both said to only let him go 3 hours between feedings at night. I pretty much disregarded that and would wake him up only after about 4.5 hours instead.
Plus, I took it to the next level last night and let him go as long as he wanted, mostly out of curiosity. He went 6 hours between feedings! I was actually rested! Then he went another 5 hours between the next feedings. I am so proud of that little guy :)
Here is my justification: "Babywise" is a book that both my sister and a friend have recommended. It says to let babies go as long as they want at night, in order to train them when nighttime is, and also to naturally regulate feeding. Take that medical professionals! My baby is still gaining weight, and I am NOT a zombie. Hallelujah.
In addition, E is apparently 1.75 inches longer than when he was born. He is only 2 weeks, 3 days old. I find this length to be a little too impressive and do not fully trust the accuracy of measuring a wiggly baby on thin paper at the doctor's office.
These are all the updates I can think of right now. Next Tuesday is the kidney day, and hopefully that will go well. I am worrying less and less as I see this little healthy man grow. I feel peaceful inside, in spite of everything. That's saying a lot after the last couple of weeks, not to mention the couple of months before that. I blame yoga and meditation for my well being.
In other news, I am feeling well. I cannot wait to bust out the new running stroller in a couple weeks. For now I am relegated to taking walks, but it is a start. I am anxious to lose this baby weight, and I had barely gotten into running when I got pregnant with E last year. Wish me luck!
Plus, I took it to the next level last night and let him go as long as he wanted, mostly out of curiosity. He went 6 hours between feedings! I was actually rested! Then he went another 5 hours between the next feedings. I am so proud of that little guy :)
Here is my justification: "Babywise" is a book that both my sister and a friend have recommended. It says to let babies go as long as they want at night, in order to train them when nighttime is, and also to naturally regulate feeding. Take that medical professionals! My baby is still gaining weight, and I am NOT a zombie. Hallelujah.
In addition, E is apparently 1.75 inches longer than when he was born. He is only 2 weeks, 3 days old. I find this length to be a little too impressive and do not fully trust the accuracy of measuring a wiggly baby on thin paper at the doctor's office.
These are all the updates I can think of right now. Next Tuesday is the kidney day, and hopefully that will go well. I am worrying less and less as I see this little healthy man grow. I feel peaceful inside, in spite of everything. That's saying a lot after the last couple of weeks, not to mention the couple of months before that. I blame yoga and meditation for my well being.
In other news, I am feeling well. I cannot wait to bust out the new running stroller in a couple weeks. For now I am relegated to taking walks, but it is a start. I am anxious to lose this baby weight, and I had barely gotten into running when I got pregnant with E last year. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Staying Alive
Do not worry, I am not dead. If you have tried calling and/or texting and/or emailing and/or sending me a present, and still have not heard back from me it is because I am sleeping. All the time. I basically walk from my bed in the baby's room to the kitchen to the breast pump and then back to bed. I watch various funny shows on Comedy Central in order to keep up morale in the middle of the night. Things are looking up though. On the weekends M plays with R a lot and I can sleep more and catch up for the upcoming week. I have even made it outside for a couple of walks with E. And to the grocery store at night, by myself, with loud music all the way! The small things matter right now.
Poor M, so bored in the house all day. :( However, I have nice friends who have taken him to play or to the zoo. Plus he has preschool, so he is not totally taken prisoner. M seems to really like E, which is great. He pats him on the head and asks "why does E have to drink milk?" and "why is he hungry again?" and "why does he have to have surgery?", etc. M has lots of why questions for most things most waking hours these days. The mind of a 3-year-old: entertaining.
E is doing well, eating more, sleeping well, etc. This Wednesday we will see if he has gained a few ounces. Last week he had only gone up 2 ounces from the week prior. Hopefully this week will show more of a change. I really need to take some pictures and send them out to all you friends.
Poor M, so bored in the house all day. :( However, I have nice friends who have taken him to play or to the zoo. Plus he has preschool, so he is not totally taken prisoner. M seems to really like E, which is great. He pats him on the head and asks "why does E have to drink milk?" and "why is he hungry again?" and "why does he have to have surgery?", etc. M has lots of why questions for most things most waking hours these days. The mind of a 3-year-old: entertaining.
E is doing well, eating more, sleeping well, etc. This Wednesday we will see if he has gained a few ounces. Last week he had only gone up 2 ounces from the week prior. Hopefully this week will show more of a change. I really need to take some pictures and send them out to all you friends.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
And, we're back!
First of all, it is pretty funny to read my last post. After all that fretting, my water broke Sunday morning and I went into the hospital. Gramma came over to hang with M, and R and I took off (no traffic! it was the weekend!). When I got there my water was really coming out, so I was a little teary-eyed looking for the right place to go, embarrassingly holding a towel down below. Plus, I had not felt E move in a while so I was anxious to get on a machine to check his heart rate. This all passed without incident. I was admitted lickety split due to the water breakage, his heart rate was fine, and they wheeled me into a delivery room. I saw the little warmer table and my heart melted. Hooray, E was finally coming out.
I was a little worried about this though: my labor pains were not that painful. So I think I would not have been at the hospital had my water not broken. The short version of my labor is this. I walked around for an hour and I was only to about a 3. They did not want to check me too often, since my water had broken and it can increase the rate of infection. So I laid down and they took my vitals and I had a slight fever. Then my fever went up and I did not feel so well. Instead of walking around I just laid there and slept until my contractions got worse. I got my epidural (not fun, but worth it), and my blood pressure dropped really low. They gave me epinephrine to get it back up again (not sure how I feel about this). I also got Pitocin to get things moving along (I was only a 6). I recovered, but then my fever went up as high as 103.2. I got antibiotics. They figured I had an infection after all. I got checked and was only a 6 again. I got threatened with a C-section by 8:15 that night if I didn't get to a 10 by then. I was not too happy at this point.
But then! I felt like I had to push. And then I REALLY wanted to push. They checked me an I was a 10! It was 7:45. That little E, toying with my emotions. So I pushed, but he was big. I had to get help from the vacuum and he finally popped out at 8:21pm. Whew. He also promptly pooped on the floor on the way over to the table. He yelled a lot louder than M. He weighed in at 8 pounds 3.8 ounces, 20 inches long. I got to hold him, but since he had a fever and a little trouble breathing, they took him to the nursery and watched him. He got shots and came back after a few hours. Our fevers broke, and they said they were mistaken about the infection. I guess the fever was just one of those things. Double whew! I could get that damn IV out of my arm.
There is more to the story after that, mostly involving E being a champ with the special bottle, me crying at the drop of a hat, or me fretting about pumping enough milk/E getting enough per feeding, or the testing of the kidneys*. However, we came home Tuesday night and E and I are rooming together for the next while. We have met with the pediatrician and the craniofacial surgeon. Both say he is eating well and should be fine. Onward and upward.
*E does NOT have horseshoe kidney, but does have one polycystic kidney. His labs are not in the danger zone for kidney function, but are off enough that we may need to consider having the one kidney taken out. We go to a pediatric nephrologist next week to have another blood test to see how it is going. If it functions well enough, then he keeps it. If it functions marginally, then he may have an operation to help it function better. If it functions poorly, then it comes out. We are waiting and seeing on this. Hopefully not another surgery (fingers crossed.)
I was a little worried about this though: my labor pains were not that painful. So I think I would not have been at the hospital had my water not broken. The short version of my labor is this. I walked around for an hour and I was only to about a 3. They did not want to check me too often, since my water had broken and it can increase the rate of infection. So I laid down and they took my vitals and I had a slight fever. Then my fever went up and I did not feel so well. Instead of walking around I just laid there and slept until my contractions got worse. I got my epidural (not fun, but worth it), and my blood pressure dropped really low. They gave me epinephrine to get it back up again (not sure how I feel about this). I also got Pitocin to get things moving along (I was only a 6). I recovered, but then my fever went up as high as 103.2. I got antibiotics. They figured I had an infection after all. I got checked and was only a 6 again. I got threatened with a C-section by 8:15 that night if I didn't get to a 10 by then. I was not too happy at this point.
But then! I felt like I had to push. And then I REALLY wanted to push. They checked me an I was a 10! It was 7:45. That little E, toying with my emotions. So I pushed, but he was big. I had to get help from the vacuum and he finally popped out at 8:21pm. Whew. He also promptly pooped on the floor on the way over to the table. He yelled a lot louder than M. He weighed in at 8 pounds 3.8 ounces, 20 inches long. I got to hold him, but since he had a fever and a little trouble breathing, they took him to the nursery and watched him. He got shots and came back after a few hours. Our fevers broke, and they said they were mistaken about the infection. I guess the fever was just one of those things. Double whew! I could get that damn IV out of my arm.
There is more to the story after that, mostly involving E being a champ with the special bottle, me crying at the drop of a hat, or me fretting about pumping enough milk/E getting enough per feeding, or the testing of the kidneys*. However, we came home Tuesday night and E and I are rooming together for the next while. We have met with the pediatrician and the craniofacial surgeon. Both say he is eating well and should be fine. Onward and upward.
*E does NOT have horseshoe kidney, but does have one polycystic kidney. His labs are not in the danger zone for kidney function, but are off enough that we may need to consider having the one kidney taken out. We go to a pediatric nephrologist next week to have another blood test to see how it is going. If it functions well enough, then he keeps it. If it functions marginally, then he may have an operation to help it function better. If it functions poorly, then it comes out. We are waiting and seeing on this. Hopefully not another surgery (fingers crossed.)
Friday, January 02, 2009
The New Plan
I shall be induced on Thursday January 8th (Kristen's birthday!) at 7:30am by Dr. Urig. It's not the Dr. I would pick over everyone else at the practice (she is in on Monday: Dr. Mayer), but this one is my second choice and I am perfectly happy that he will be the one delivering the little guy. Dr. Urig is the one who called me after the fateful ultrasound in August when we were freaking out. He was so nice, and recommended the surgeon we are using for E's reconstructive surgeries. I have never forgotten that he took the time to call and see how we were doing with the news.
Unless of course E decides to throw a wrench in the plans and come on some other day, this will be the next week in progress. Hopefully he will come Monday if he decides to come out before Thursday. Either way I get a Dr. I want :)
I am not very excited to get induced. I just want my body to go into labor on its own. We are going to fast a pray a little over the next few days and see if that helps us along in the next few days. I am also going to try the breast pump again in a few days and see if it takes a little better this time. I will also try the raspberry leaf tea in the meantime to help prepare. Maybe I can avoid the Pitocin after all. As a last resort I may break down and take my herb drops (black cohosh and blue cohosh, etc.) Here we go!
Unless of course E decides to throw a wrench in the plans and come on some other day, this will be the next week in progress. Hopefully he will come Monday if he decides to come out before Thursday. Either way I get a Dr. I want :)
I am not very excited to get induced. I just want my body to go into labor on its own. We are going to fast a pray a little over the next few days and see if that helps us along in the next few days. I am also going to try the breast pump again in a few days and see if it takes a little better this time. I will also try the raspberry leaf tea in the meantime to help prepare. Maybe I can avoid the Pitocin after all. As a last resort I may break down and take my herb drops (black cohosh and blue cohosh, etc.) Here we go!
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