Thursday, March 1, 2012

are you a medical professional?

Oh boy. What a busy, busy day of appointments. Well really we only had 2 but they were pretty much back to back with just enough time for a quick stop at home for a feeding. And then the 2nd appointment lasted far longer than I imagined it would.
We started our morning off at a weight check with the pedicitrician's office.  I was nervous because even though I think it looks like she is growing with Avery's puking and recent decision to forgo a nighttime feeding for sleeping through the night, I was worried she wouldn't have gained "enough." Well she weighed in at a whooping 9lbs 7 ounces! And for the first time since she was born she is on the growth chart for her adjusted age. Before she always fell below the 5th percentile and today when I calculated it she is in the 5-10%. She is no where near being on the charts for her actual age, but they have told us it could take up to 3 years for her to catch up.  And this means I won't have to wake her up to take an extra feed at night--bonus for both of us.
After her weight check Avery had an appointment with a pediatric nephrologist for her kidney stones.  He asked a TON of questions and about 10 questions in he asks me "are you a medical professional? A doctor, nurse or something?" Before I could answer his nurse informed him that "no, she's just a mommy who had a baby in the NICU for a long time."  I have become very knowledgeable in all things preemie not because I have to but because I want to make sure I know what is going on as much as possible. 
So back to the nephrologist, his plan is to monitor the stones to make sure they don't grow and become a reoccuring thing. He said often times doctors treat the stones and not the baby, and it should be the other way around. That being said treating the baby means labs, analysis, and ultrasound follow ups. So we are currently in the process of doing a urine sample collection. We, as in, me. And Avery. Have you ever tried to collect urine from an infant? It is about as easy as it sounds.  They have these bag things that you put in her diaper but our first attempt just leaked out and that was the one the nurse installed. This could be interesting.
She also had to give a blood sample.  After being pricked and proded in both arms they finally just did a heel prick to get the blood sample. Turns out when Avery is stuck with a needle she cries, and when she cries her veins shrink and blood flow decreases. Add on top of this scar tissue from previous IV lines, trying to get blood out of her tiny veins is virtually impossible. It is so hard to watch.
So now we are home and both just woke up from a nap, ate dinner and are settling in to watch the American Idol results show.  This is the life...

Life is good.


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