Renal Results
Greetings to everyone.
Xavier had his renal followup today at a Children's Hospital clinic, oddly enough, only a few miles north of the Southern Outpost. Usually, appointments with Children's requires Xavier to be brought to the Aurora facility, so having the location so close to home was a nice change of pace for Rebecca.
Speaking of Rebecca, even though the location was much closer and less traffic to suffer through, still she had to jump-start herself with coffee to get Xavier there on time. This past weekend was her drill weekend, and she came home Sunday tired. She has been fatigued and tired for the past several days. We think her still-hectic schedule has finally caught up with her.
The reason for Xavier's followup was to check on a sonic shadow the renologist could not explain on a sonogram Xavier had while in the NICU. The results from today's exam were as expected: negative. The shadow was gone and Xavier's kidneys look fine.
Xavier had a good experience with the doctors today; he didn't have to give any fluids, especially blood! He lay on the bed in only his diaper (one of his favorite states of dress) and shamelessly flirted with the sonographer. He has become a world-class flirt, too!
Once again, we thank Father for His goodness! We also thank all who pray and have prayed for Xavier.
A Trip to the Geneticist
Greetings to everyone.
Xavier had a visit with a geneticist today. This was a followup from a visit neither Rebecca nor I knew Xavier had while he was in the NICU. This followup visit was to help further a study in understanding complicated pregnancies.
The visit lasted more than an hour. Most of the interview was asking Rebecca for family medical history on both her side of the family and on my side. Xavier spent the time shamelessly flirting with the doctor. Happy, he talked with little coos and other endearing sounds.
After the interview, Xavier participated by donating two vials of blood to the study. That ended his happiness for a time! As always, he soon forgot about the discomfort of the blood draw. I asked Rebecca if she bargained for Xavier's blood; I thought we might be able to get two cans of formula per vial (hey, those cans are pricy; there is a reason they are called "white gold").
Rebecca and I met up for lunch at the SmashBurger across from Children's where she filled me in on the appointment. Xavier slept through most of the lunch, even though is was noisier than we like it to be.
We did get some updated stats from the visit.
- Weight (completely naked, not even a diaper): 9 pounds, 11 ounces
- Length: 22 inches
Happy Thanksgiving!
Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
We certainly have much to give God thanks! We began the day with attending church. Afterward, we spent some time at home prepping our part of the food for the celebration with friends.
Xavier was alert during most of his first Thanksgiving feast. There was a lot going on, and he had an adoring fan club touching and petting him throughout most of the afternoon: four girls ages six through twelve hovered around him frequently.
There was disappointment we did not allow any of them to hold Xavier (and some of them were trying hard to broker deals!). Though Xavier is healthy and strong, and we believe not in danger of many of the issues which beset preemies, still Rebecca and I are reluctant to expose him to a lot of handling. We still have the NICU training in our thoughts, and the testimonies and advice of many parents who raised preemies. These parents have many tales of woe from being too free with passing their children around, or exposing them to so many people at one time.
Xavier had more than enough stimulation this afternoon, putting him off his food and his sleep. This led him to grow cranky, and Rebecca and I had to call it a day. We still had a :45 minute drive to get home, and Xavier fussed all the way.
After some time getting him to settle, he ate a full bottle (finally), and went to sleep (eventually).