Four Month Liver Lab Results
Greetings to everyone.
Rebecca is recovering from her cold, and is on the upward swing. Thank You, Jesus! It was short-lived thanks to prayer, zinc, sleep, Thera-Flu, sleep, prayer, sleep. Xavier helped out during the worst part of the cold by sleeping longer and not being too fussy.
We wondered (after the fact, of course) the wisdom of getting Xavier's inoculations at a time when one parent had a compromised system. Was it good timing or poor timing?
Xavier has been a little sluggish since yesterday afternoon. This was expected due to his inoculations. He was in some pain yesterday, we think the sera sitting in his thighs and the lasting sting of the four pokes were the cause. When we laid him on his stomach or strapped him in to his swing (the belt crosses over the thigh area where the shots were given), he would scream a piercing, glass-shattering shriek! It was a definite new noise for him.
So, after consulting with his pediatrician, we introduced Xavier to Infant Ibuprofen. It may have helped. He got two doses six hours apart. After the second dose, he slept so deeply, Rebecca thought he might be dead! It was that sleep where the baby is limp and unresponsive and you can't wake him up easily. He was breathing well, but for a while Rebecca worried we should get him to an emergency center. Most likely he was so tired from a traumatic day (he is still quite tiny), five vaccinations, one blood draw and Ibuprofen.
He returned to normal today and has been alert and happy. In fact, he has been awake for hours and his current fussiness is due to his fighting going to sleep (that, and a little gas)!
We got the lab results for his liver today. His hematocrit number I don't have, except to report it has improved. His direct bilirubin measure is 1.1 (the last test was 1.5), also an improvement. This value still needs to drop much lower, but praise God, it's moving, and moving in the right direction!
Dr. Abbey will be examining his dosage of ursadall and will most likely increase the dosage. Xavier is growing, his liver is growing, so the dosage of ursadall may need to increase, for now. He may be on the ursadall another two months. Hopefully, at his six month checkup Xavier will no longer need it. (the ursadall augments his bile to help metabolize fat-soluble vitamins)
Awesome is our God!
4 Month Checkup
Hello to everyone!
Xavier had his four month checkup to today. Here are the status:
- Weight: 6 pounds, 12.4 ounces! (Glory to God!)
- Length: 19.5 inches. This is half an inch longer than his length measured two weeks ago
- Cranial circumference: 37.5 cm; this is 2 cm more than two weeks ago
- Oxygen saturation: 93% (and he was being squirmy during the measurement!)
As expected, blood was drawn to measure Xavier's liver statistics. This was done via a catheter in his right arm. Several vials were taken and Xavier did not like any of it one little bit. One nurse held his arm from moving while another nurse drew the vials while dad held Xavier's left arm and both legs. He complained with screams of protest the likes of which we had never heard before! Can you blame him? I have not seen him turn so red since the night of his delivery. (It might be a good thing I haven't learned to translate baby; the words he was using were certainly not kind).
Xavier also got his four month immunization boosters: four pokes and one oral. The pokes, the two nurses doing two shots at the same time to minimize Xavier's experience, went into his thighs. Each thigh got two pokes. It was a much different experience from the NICU nurses doing the same thing two months ago. Xavier has much more chub on his thighs, but that did not ease his complaining. And, he did not get any sugar water before the injections. What's up with that?!
Xavier will be on his high-calorie formula mixture for a while. We asked about going to a lower calorie mixture because it was such a big decision for the NICU doctors and dietitians (it took a week for them to decide to go to the 26 calorie we are using), we wanted to make sure we don't lose track of this and inadvertently program Xavier's body with a weight management problem later in life (which was the NICU doctors' concerns). His current mixture is doing him well. His is getting some chub, and he is growing. Dr. Abbey said he wants to see a little more chub on Xavier.
The introduction of solid food is probably four months away. Apparently, we have to use a "preemie" scale and add two months for solid food, but that may change as Xavier grows.
In the midst of this, Rebecca acquired a cold over the weekend. It was one of those blind-siding colds that overtakes you in a matter of hours. We're praying Xavier does not get it.
Mighty is our God, Who always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus!
When I was a Preemie...
Greetings to everyone. To those outside the Colorado area, hello from a soggy Colorado.
Please allow me to clear some confusion. In a previous post it was mentioned that Rebecca was returning to duty with the Wyoming ANG. That is true, she is returning to her once-a-month weekend status. She was not "activated" to be mobilized.
As it turns out, I-25 and the rain and the flooding prevented Rebecca from reporting on Friday. She had to turn around. Saturday proved even more impassable until the late afternoon. Sunday would have stranded Rebecca in Wyoming had she found a way to navigate her way north.
Wyoming command has given the weekenders not able to report in this past weekend until the end of September to make up the time. Rebecca, interestingly enough, does not need to make up the time; she already has more than enough hours for 2013 (The 2013 year ends, by the way, October 1st, then it's 2014 and a clean slate for hours; no carry-overs).
Even so, the plan is that Rebecca will head up for a day on Tuesday. She will use the time to get things set in order from her nearly six-month absence, and she will introduce herself to the new command. (A change of command took place near the end of July, and several things are different from what Rebecca knew last March).
This plan may be scuttled by the fact that yesterday Rebecca was overcome with a nasty upper-respiratory infection or something equally annoying. She has been bed-ridden since late Sunday afternoon. If she feels better Tuesday, she will make the trek north. If not, more sleep, Coldeez, Theraflu and chicken soup!
The weekend was not only about the historic rain and Rebecca not able to return to the Guard, but another milestone.
To finish the title of this entry: "I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I grew, I put away preemie things." (my apologies to Paul and 1 Cor 13:11).
As mentioned in an earlier entry, Xavier graduated from preemie nipples on his bottle to number 2 sized nipples, and what a difference it made in him keeping down is meals!
This past weekend also saw all of his preemie wardrobe swapped out for newborn sized clothing! Glory to God! (in the highest!) The only preemie item, which made Rebecca sad to put in the "discard" pile, which still fits Xavier is a little shirt with a monkey on it. Though he can still wear it, it does not cover his mid-rift.
The newborn clothing is still too big for him, but not by that much. There does not seem to be much in the way of transitional sizes in preemie to newborn clothing. In a couple of weeks, however, it will not matter. He will be fitting into newborn sizes comfortably.
What of the preemie pile of "discards" (which includes his original sleep sacks)? We intend to offer them to the NICU. Rebecca thinks it will be fun to bring Xavier in for a visit and to see if the NICU can use the items. What they can't use may find its way to "Once Upon a Child."
No more preemie nipples, no more preemie clothing. What more excitement can one baby and his family endure in a single weekend? The use and discarding of the last preemie-sized diaper in the arsenal, that's what! Xavier is now wearing newborn-sized diapers. He likes them. He likes them a lot, and so do his parents!
The diaper was the last item to go. Xavier is free of preemie things. He is growing, and growing quickly. Even Kathy, our real estate agent, commented yesterday how much he has grown these past two weeks.
How much has Xavier grown? We will know more tomorrow. He meets with his pediatrician, Dr. Abbey. He will be weighed, measured, probably have blood drawn for labs (to see if we can get him off his ursidall), and he will get his four month immunizations.
Awesome is our God! We thank you for your prayers!