So Many Doctor's Appointments....

Rhys Man,
*Let me apologize in advance that Cameron has started calling you "Rhys Man Police Man" and now it is rubbing off on me and Daddy!

You made it to Wednesday's doctor's appointment on time at 8:00, but only because Daddy left Mommy and Cameron behind!  I dropped her off at school and met him there as fast as I could.  Of course there was tons of paperwork to fill out anyway.... We met with Dr. B, your GI doctor, and she was pleased to see that you weighed a full 7 pounds.  The lighting in our exam room was a little dark and made you look even more jaundiced, but we assured her that your color was getting better and that you seem to be doing great.  She got all caught up on our time at home and encouraged us on some easy things to try to make your feedings better.  We have now switched to Dr. Brown's bottles after using the generic ones from the hospital, our new Tommy Tippee bottles (too fast of a flow for you) and our old Avent bottles (gave you too much gas).  Hopefully you will stick with these and be happy!

We also started you on an acid reflux medicine just in case that was part of the problem.  Sometimes you would fuss and arch your back while eating, but you don't spit up a whole lot.  Now you have three different medicines that you are taking at all hours of the day.  You still eat every four hours, which makes for a long day.  For some reason, the 4:00 am feeding is the worst!  You eat well but never seem to want to go back to sleep.  I think when I do finally go back to work, I just might be a zombie until at least 10:00 or when I get some serious caffeine.

Then Thursday, we headed to the Methodist Hospital to do a swallow study based on Dr. B's recommendation.  She wanted to make sure that everything was going down the right way and to see exactly how you are eating.  It was very interesting to watch, but the appointment was a little stressful for Mommy.  Since you have eat well for the test, Mommy had to hold off on feeding you ahead of time.  We got there close to 8:00 (who makes it anywhere on time with a new baby?!?) and waited to get you registered.  Around 8:45 when all our paperwork was done, the receptionist tells me that our appointment time was listed as 11:00 in their system.  Of course, their system also had all of our address and insurance information wrong too, so I think there was a big mix-up.  I told them there was no way we were going to last until 11:00, so they found a way to work us in at 9:30.  Which meant that we sat in the waiting room for almost 90 minutes and you barely made a sound.  You were so good!

The test was pretty quick.  They put barium in your bottle which shows up black on an x-ray.  You were using two tongue movements to get one good swallow, which means that you were working too hard to get your food down.  That is why you get tired and take a long time to finish, but it also means that you start to burn calories before you even finish eating them.  We are going to get a thickener for your formula to see if it will help you take one big swallow at a time.

Then Friday, we went for your one month checkup at our regular pediatrician.  We came with an entire folder full of your discharge records from the hospital and all your recent lab results.  We were pleased to hear that your bilirubin is down to 3.9 and your liver enzymes were either holding steady or improving.  Your platelet count is completely healthy and you had even grown another 3/4 of an inch and gained 2 oz.  The doctor got all caught up on your status and said we have plenty of great doctors on your case, so we just need to come back every two weeks to have your weight checked if we haven't already done so at the GI doc.

This Monday, we head to Houston to see the liver specialist at the clinic at Texas Children's Hospital.  We are very thankful to have friends helping us with Cameron so she can stay here at go to school as usual.  We pray that it will be a short visit and that they confirm you are on the right track to everything getting 100% better.  It's your first road trip!  Hopefully the next one will be for a fun reason...

Love,
Mama