Children's Hospital

So we had Luca's appointment yesterday to get a VCUG at CHildren's. Basically it tests to see if he has reflux, where the urine goes from the kidneys to the bladder then back up to the kidneys. He doesnt' which is GREAT news!!

The test itself was very hard to watch. This time the catheter wasn’t bad, she got it inserted in 20 seconds! Basically he had to get strapped down on this long skinny board. His arms had to be at his side above his head and straight, which is awkward for a little baby. Then his head and arms were squished down in a foam head brace and strapped down with straps going across his forehead. Then his belly was strapped down and his legs were strapped down and together at the thighs. All the while he is completely naked. Of course he was crying at this point and I was trying to hold it together while holding his little hands through the straps at the end of the board. They inserted the die and an xray machine moved over him and up and down his body. Then he was rotated like a rotisserie chicken from side to side. It was so hard to not cry but I held it together like a big girl! Amauri kept dipping his binky in sugar water to try to calm him down and shake a toy above his head to distract him. It only took about 15-20 minutes, which was nice. And we got the results right then and there. Once it was over he started laughing and giggling and was a happy little boy again. The technician even gave him a toy b/c he’s so cute! (no I’m sure it’s not b/c every baby gets a toy… it was only b/c he was cute!:)

He did very well and I'm so proud of him. We are counting down to his 6 month bday when he can start on 'real' food. I'm pumping 24 hours a day to make enough bottles for daycare and it's getting a bit old. Here are some recent photos!

His new jumparoo. Doesn't touch the ground yet but he loves the toys on it!

Tummy time again!

Shower time with daddy!

Eating his feet! yum yum

Bath time!

5 month check up

Luca had his 5 month dr appointment yesterday. He got two shots and absolutely lost his mind with them. Normally he cries for just a minute, but he was super sleepy so it just royally ticked him off! He is in the 90th percentile in height and weight and 97th in head size (yes he has a big head, but it's only to house his big, super-intelligent brain)!

He has really bad eczema all over so the doctor wants me to go off dairy to see if that will help. Although I love cheese, literally it's my favorite food, I think I will be able to do it. We'll see. Had another rough night last night and I'm starting to get sick again, so this 3 day weekend will be great for us all.

Take care.

New Photos!

cheese...

Tummy time in front of the mirror...

Who's that good looking baby?

Twice as cute...

We have mirror and tummy time every night. These are just a few pics from them.

Another update

So we got the test results back from Luca's urine and he does have a urinary tract infection. (Most likely caused by his hydronephrosis... the kidney issue he was born with.) His doctor wants him to get another test done to make sure he doesn't have reflux, which is where the urine goes from the kidneys to bladder and then back to the kidneys. So he will go to Children's in two weeks to have a VCUG. Basically they will drain his bladder (another catheter for my poor baby) and then fill it with this liquid that they can see via xray. Then they take xrays of his bladder and watch the movement of the fluid to see if it's going both ways. It's a small procedure and he stays awake throughout it. Although I don't know if I can watch him get another catheter... it is horrible to watch.

He is also going on daily antibiotics to hopefully prevent another infection. He was up last night from 7pm to 2am screaming. We had gotten dressed at 2am to take him to the ER b/c we have never seen him so upset. Then just before we got out of the house, he pooed and felt better. The antiobiotics he's on are really doign a number on his tummy. He has his 5 month check up tomorrow, so we will update again then.

ER visit

Luca had his first trip to the emergency room on Friday night. I came home and he just seemed out of it and daycare had told Amauri he was really really fussy all day. His eyes were really glossy and I finally took his temp after dinner and it was 101.9. This isn't really high for an infant but because of his kidney condition the doctor had told us if he ever reached 101 to get him to a hospital asap. So packed him in the car and drove him to the ER. After getting checked by the nurses and stripped down to cool off, we got put in a room and waited for the doctor. He didn't think Luca had anything wrong (basically the worry is a urinary tract infection) but he was going to test his urine to be safe.

My poor little baby had a catheter put up his you-know-what in order to get the urine sample. The nurse was learning and so it took like 4 minutes! I have never seen Luca so red in the face and upset. I almost started crying with him. Turns out he didn't actually have an infection but has many clumps of white blood cells which I guess is not good. So the doctor is treating it aggressively like an infection. Luca got a shot of antibiotics there and will be on them for the next 14 days.

His fever finally stopped yesterday and has been relatively ok since then. We have his 5 month appointment on Wednesday so will update you all again then. And I promise to put some photos up sometime this year.

update

Ok so long time no blog... sorry. Work is hectic and I'm too tired at night. So since my last blog, Luca got his first cold and then gave it to us. I swear it put us on our death bed. I don't know what kind of germs he had but they were leathal to us. We are all better now though, which is nice. He has discovered his feet and tries desparetly to get them into his mouth. It is the cutest thing to watch. He hasn't figured out how to grab them yet (he's not really into using his arms or hands) so he just brings them up with his tummy muscles, opens his mouth and hopes his foot will fall in. We do lots of tummy time every night on the floor in front of a mirror. He hasn't really tried to roll over yet, shows no interest in it, but he does love the mirror. He will be 5 months next week which is crazy to think about! As soon as he hits 6 months we'll start him in swimming lessons. He's already been in a pool and loves it!