Giggle Proof

I told you she giggled and here is a little proof. We got a snippet of one on video.

VCUG Scan

Today Abigail had her voiding cystourethrography or VCUG scan to see if she has Vesicoureteral Reflux or VUR. To do the scan they put in a catheter and then fill it with a liquid that shows on xray. They fill her bladder and wait until she empties it to see where the liquid goes. The point of the scan was to see if she was refluxing urine back up into her kidneys which could be the source of her UTI a few weeks ago.

I did not see any reflux happening, but I am not a doctor. The RN that did the scan said that if she was refluxing we would see a dark line go up to her kidneys and make a flower pattern. No dark lines went anywhere but out her catheter.

The only thing that I think might be a problem is that when she does urinate she doesn't empty her bladder. She goes and stops, goes and stops. But maybe that might be caused from the catheter.

She was such a trooper. Little punkin was smiling and talking to the nurse while she was getting the catheter. The nurse said that almost never happens and thanked Abigail for being such a sweetie.

In order to get a good scan they had to strap her with her arms up above her head and her legs down. She did not enjoy that part one bit, but once she was done being strapped she was fine. Of course I was right there and she was holding onto my fingers. At least she had lots of stickers to look at while they scanned her.

After the scan was done, they pulled out her catheter. She wanted nothing to do with the RN after that and wanted out of the hospital ASAP. It must have hurt coming out. She was fussy for awhile after that.

This is a picture of what she looked like strapped to the board.



I noticed that it looked like she had a smiley face on the scanned image. It was her spine and intestines of course! The RN got a kick out of that.

The conclusion might be - she received a UTI from bacteria in her stool. At least I hope that is all it was.

Three months and counting

Abigail turned three months old yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!


Abigail continues to become more active and engaged in our every day activities. She is talking to us all the time and we treasure those moments where she is giving all her attention.

I go back to work on Monday and dread the time that I will be away from her. I am hoping that the pictures and videos can help me feel connected while I am gone.

We are getting ready to leave for her VCUG scan now. More to come later.

KB

Sweet music to my ears

Abigail giggled for the first time today, not once, not twice but three times. It was the cutest thing I have ever heard!

I was in changing her, which she always likes, and I was getting her into her jammies when she giggled at me. I screamed with delight as I ran into the living room (no worries about her rolling off the changing table yet)to get Gabe. He came back into her room and she giggled again! That made me cry because I knew I didn't imagine it. And then she did it again, just to show off.

It was awesome. She is growing up so fast!

I love this face

It makes me happy to see her smiling again. I love her smile.

Immunization time

Abigail had her 2 month immunizations this morning...although two weeks behind schedule.

She is my hero. One tough little cookie. She was all smiles right before the 3 pokes. One big cry and lots of pouty lip was all there was to it.

Such was such a trooper.

A bump in the road

Last Wednesday Betty and I took Abigail to the doctor because her urine was smelled really strong, like ammonia. Doctor said that she was probably dehydrated and for us to give her Pedialite. We also switched her formula to one specific for Acid Reflux (it is thickened with rice starch to help it stay down). He said there was a possibility of a urinary tract infection or UTI. But it is hard to diagnose because if she cries or is fussy we check her diaper...so if there is pee we assume that that is the cause for the crying.

I took Betty to the airport on Saturday and came home, exhausted, so Abigail and I took a nap. When we awoke from the nap she was BURNING hot. I took a rectal temp and she was at 104.5!! WHAT? I fed her and took her rectal temp again, 102.5! Oh no! At her age anything above 100.4 is considered a fever and justifies a trip to the ER.

I packed an overnight bag because I had the feeling that she was going to end up getting admitted.

Well I was right unfortunately. If you have to look on the positive side, at least it happened on a weekend when it was less busy, and that Gabe was able to stay with us too. It would have been more difficult had he not been able to do that.

She did have a UTI and we ended up having to stay until Monday afternoon. She had to have the IV put in through a vein on her head. The ER nurse couldn't find a good vein in her hands or feet and I just couldn't bear the thought of them poking at her over and over to find a vein, so I said "she has two good veins on her head if you want to use one of those."

The nurse later thanked me for being so calm (I guess she figured that because I didn't cry and freak out?) and for offering a head IV. She said it made it much easier for them to get the IV going. Apparently that is the last resort for them most of the time because parents are usually really upset by seeing an IV in their child's head. I figured, you gotta do what you gotta do, and it was better than her getting poked multiple times. Poor baby.

They gave her IV antibiotics and fluid to hydrate her and to get her temp to come down. She had an ultrasound done of her kidneys and bladder to check for any anomalies, which there were none found. She still needs to have a VSUG test done, which does a reflux scan of her kidneys to make sure that no urine is going back up into her kidneys, causing infection.

I don't think they will find anything. My gut feeling on this is that she got an infection from the three blow outs she had that went out the front, completely covering her little vagina with poo. There just wasn't any way that I thought that would end up being a good thing.

We are thankful to be back home again. I celebrated by baking an apple pie. I am also thankful that I work at the Children's Hospital, so we both knew our way around and we felt 1000% confident in the care that she was receiving. The team of nurses on the pediatric unit are GREAT!

Poor little baby. She is ten weeks old today, and missed her two month vaccination because she was hospitalized. We are going back to the doctor tomorrow morning for a follow up and to hopefully get those vaccines.

Thanks for all the prayers and support.