A cascade of prescriptions later . . .

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called to His purpose."

Romans 8: 28


First, I need to apologize. I am sorry there have not been any updates in over a week. Unfortunately I was sick for most of that time. I had a urinary track infection and bad diarrhea. One day I was running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. I know that is more information than anyone needs, but those who know me know I sometimes like to go for that ewwwwwwwwwwww factor. It is fun for me. An antibiotic and some Imodium AD and I am feeling better. Blasted conditions made me miss three days of work. Even worse I could hold or play with Laura. I just got to wave to her from a short distance.

Now for the really important things. Laura is doing great. Friday, Laura had an audiology exam. Everything seems to be OK. The Doctor and Audiologist were alittle confused about why E.C.I. would want a full work up on a 5 week old. Especially, since it would not add any information to what was learned in Laura's newborn screen. The audiologist said that this would normally be done around the 6 month time frame. They were going to contact E.C.I. and try to find out the reason for the screen. We have not heard back from either. I skipped the appointment because of my afore mentioned health issues.

Yesterday, we had 2 appointments for Laura. The first was with her pediatrician for a weigh in. Laura is coming in at 9 pounds and almost 8 ounces. She is growing and growing and growing. Tara and I are having a hard time wrapping our heads around the fact that Laura has put on nearly 2 1/2 pounds since she joined us in the out world. I swear, most of that weight is in her cheeks. Dr. Pielop did notice she had a yeast infection. He gave us a couple of prescriptions for Laura (one topical for her behind and liquid for inside her mouth). Lets hope they work.

Yesterday afternoon, we went back to TCH to meet with Laura's cardiologist. Here we waited forever. I do not understand how an office that stresses that you be on time for your appointment can make you wait for over an hour. It can drive me a little nuts. Sometimes Tara suffers the brunt of my frustration and boredom. She really is a trooper. I think I will keep her.

Once we got in things moved a little faster. Laura's cardiologist asked us how she was doing . We told him that her breathing was becoming more labored. When he checked her lungs he did not hear anything unusual. He did notice that her heart was beating a little faster than it should. This was expected given her heart condition. He said otherwise everything looked fine. We told him we seemed to get the feeding thing up and running one day (for a day she took more than 40 mL's at each feeding and had one feeding where she took over 55 mL). Then we dropped back down to about 20 mL on average. This was also expected, and is a sign that she is laboring more. At this point the doctor wrote a prescription for Lasiks. This should slow things down a little and hopefully get her back to feeding properly.

On the way our we saw Dr. Ayers. She is the specialist that diagnosed Laura's Heart problem. It was great to see her, and have her meet Laura for the first time.

The real scare happened today. To fill you in completely about what happened we must get in our time machine. Yesterday, between appointments Tara noticed a few drops of blood when she check Laura's NG tube placement. She called Dr. Pielop. They talked for a few minutes and decided to keep an eye on it. He said more than likely the NG tube had either given Laura a small nose bleed that had run to her stomach or the tube had irritated Laura's stomach. For the rest of the day everything seemed fine.

This morning at 4:30 (I still cannot believe I regularly and some what willingly get up that early, even if am grumpy) I checked the placement of Laura's tube in preparation for feeding her. I pulled .5mL of partially digested blood from Laura's stomach. This prompted a call to our pediatrician. He told us to take Laura to the Emergency Room at TCH. I did not go (because I did not want to miss another days work). It turns our that it was acid reflux, and that Laura has to much stomach acid. Tara and I are not sure who she get that from, as we both deal with it on a regular basis. Another prescription later, and she is doing fine. The doctor did tell us that we needed to keep Laura more upright when feeding her through the tube as well as for 30 minutes after. He also recommended raising her bed alittle higher. That last bit might have been the pharmacist over at Briargrove Pharmacy. I was very glad to get to get off of work a little early so I could hang out with Tara and Laura this afternoon.

I have never been a fan of not knowing. I do not like being in situations where I look like an idiot. Who does. But this morning was worse, while I was waiting for Tara to call me. Yes I was at work. Yes I did my work. But it was torture knowing there was something wrong with Laura, and there was nothing I could do about it. I know this is going to be a reoccurring situation, but that does not mean I have to like it. It really was not allot of fun.

In Less than 36 hours we now have 4 prescriptions for Laura. I do not think that I have ever had that many doctor ordered drugs to take at one time. Obviously that seems Like allot to me. So that is the catch up on Laura and what is going on. I hope everyone who reads this is doing well. I will have more later.