test #1

today was test #1 of 2 for the dude.  the upper gi series.

i was pretty worried about how well today was going to go.  first up, not letting the dude eat anything after he ate lunch (11am or so).  all he could drink was water.  i had to pick him up at 1, so i was hoping he would nap for most of the time and he wouldn't have to think about eating.  yeah, no luck!  he fell asleep at school at 940 and woke up around 11.  so when i got there at 1 (while all the other kids were sleeping), graham was laying on his back playing with ms. patricia.  he looked so happy and i hated the thought of taking him away from this and subjecting him to the hospital, barium and xray machine.  i reminded myself....this is necessary.

so off we went.  we arrived at the hospital and got right into registration.  'okay ma'am, all i'm going to need now is your orders for the upper gi.'  D'OH!  yeah, it was at home in my purse because the night before i had transferred everything from my purse to my diaper bag since i knew i didn't want to be left ill prepared for any of the dude's surprises!  luckily the pulmonologist office is literally right across the street from the hospital and a nurse was kind enough to fax over an order for the test.  yeah..not feeling so great about this whole thing since our day just seems to be off.

we only had to wait in the waiting room for about 10 minutes and got brought back to a pediatric xray room...the same one we were in back in august!!  the dude was VERY interested in the IV pole and wanted to push it around everywhere.  the doctor arrived 10 minutes later and was ready to start.  no turning back now!!

the nurse had mixed a bottle for graham, half and half with milk and barium.  i was worried the dude wasn't going to drink from the bottle since he hasn't in so long, and also because of the taste of the barium.  NOPE!  i think he was so thirsty and hungry he would've eaten anything at that point.  we laid him down on the xray table, laid him on his side and on his back while the doctor watched the path of the barium through the screen.  i had to hold graham's shoulders and squeeze the bottle for an even flow, so it was cool to watch the screen and see exactly how the dude was digesting everything.

RESULTS:

everything looked as it should be.  the only thing the doctor noticed was slight reflux, which could be contributing to the dude's wheezing and coughing, but it wasn't significant enough that it would be the sole cause.

NEXT STEPS:

the hospital will send the results to the pulmonologist and we'll go over them when we go to our next check-up on february 3rd.  we also have one more test to get done before then, the sweat test.  that one will be on january 10th in the morning.  the results for that should be pretty quick as well, so we'll definitely keep everyone posted.

THANK YOU...

for everyone's thoughts and well wishes.  they really do help us stay positive through everything.  luckily there are no needles involved in any of these tests, so it makes things much easier!

we <3 all of you!

guess what?!!!

we're breaking out of this joint!

 

 okay, well we're not really breaking out, we're getting discharged!!!  woo hoo!! almost a full 24 hours at the hospital, but not quite!

diagnosis:

bronchiolitis (again!) and the start of ear infections in both ears!!

treatment:

albuterol every three hours until our follow-up with the peds office on monday

pulmacort (inhaled steriod) twice a day

oral steroid twice a day until sunday

antibiotics once a day for 9 more days

OMG!  sounds like we're going to have our hands full this weekend with treatments!  looks like not a lot of sleep for us either....again!  but hey, as long as it gets the dude feeling and breathing better i'll do it!!

future:

sounds like we'll be using the pulmacort twice a day for awhile now as a preventative measure.  we also need to try and figure out what is causing these episodes, which leads me to the fact that we will most likely be seeing a pulmonologist once the dude gets better to discuss prevention, treatments, etc. 

pediatrics wing

welcome to our room!   

i'm thankful that i don't have any updates from last night after being brought up to our very spacious room in the pediatrics wing (i'm standing in the corner where the full size pull out couch is that i 'slept' on).  the dude's oxygen absorption levels stayed at 90% or above all night, which meant he didn't need oxygen at all overnight.  woo hoo!!

he got one neb treatment right after he fell asleep (which was at 12:30am!!!), and then another one around 4:30am.  he slept through both, but was awake around 7 and was nothing but his normal cheery self!  

since he had the monitor taped to his toe measuring his oxygen levels, we couldn't do much exploring when he woke up.  he didn't seem to mind watching cartoons and having breakfast in bed though!

from what i understand, we'll continue with the neb treatments until the doctor comes to see us.  hopefully we'll be able to go home today!!!

wednesday adventures

we started off in the right direction.  it had been a long night of neb treatments every three hours, but grady and i took turns and it seemed to pay off.  the dude was sounding better, not 100%, but better than the day before.  we went in for our check-up and dr. rodriguez agreed he sounded better, but had a long way to go before he was completely better.  like 4 weeks or so to go!!!  oi vey!  

she liked that he was sounding better and told us we could continue the pulmacort and oral steroids, but to try and give the albuterol every 4-6 hours now instead of every 3. 

morning and afternoon passes.  still had to give neb treatments every 3 hours as the dude would start to sound worse at the 3 hour mark.  then finally, at 6pm, only 2 hours after his last treatment, he was sounding worse again and i could see a little retraction again.  not good!  so i call the doctor and ask if i could bring him in for them to check him out, just to make sure he's okay.

we head to the doctor, dr. fernandez looks and listens to him and says the dreaded words "you need to head to the ER!!!!"  mwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  they give the dude another neb treatment to hold him over until we get to the ER, then we get in the car and head over.

by 7 we're back in the pediatrics triage room and the doctor was super nice.  she agreed with everything our doctors had told us to do previously with medications and treatments, and was glad i thought to bring him back in to be checked.  they gave him another type of neb treatment (not albuterol, but can't remember the name of the medicine) and it REALLY helped clear him up.  the doctor wanted me to feed him and try to get him to fall asleep though so she could observe him a little more.

apparently, when little dudes (and dudettes) fall asleep the oxygen absorption level can sometimes drop.  and that's exactly what graham's did.  :(  it dropped pretty low, to like 86, and the doctor started him on oxygen right away.  i wasn't quite sure what to think because the dude was fast asleep and he looked normal.  i guess thoughts of 'how long has this been going on' were running through my head and i started to feel a little guilty.  oxygen definitely helped bring the absorption levels up, but unfortunately that meant we were going to have to be admitted to the hospital for overnight observation!

the dude has definitely been a trooper through everything so far.  couldn't have asked for a better boy!

this is the dude sleeping with just oxygen coming through his cool dragon mask!

day 2

proud daddy!

birth day!

words can't describe what an exciting and emotion filled day today was. you mom's out there know what i'm talking about. here is graham's birth story:

we arrived at the hospital at 7:30am to get the pitocin started. we were walked into our very nice labor and delivery room where we were greeted and treated by an awesome nurse, buffy. she helped me stay calm through a lot of what came next.

the pitocin started dripping and they were upping up my amount slowly but surely. contractions were definitely getting closer together and a little more intense, but never really seemed to hurt. just felt more like cramping. i kept waiting for 'the contraction!'

unfortunately though, i was not able to feel what 'the contraction' felt like. when i was upped to 12 on the pitocin drip the doctors noticed that graham's heart rate would drop significantly when i was peaking on my contraction. i have to admit, it worried me too. i wan't sure if it was just graham moving and loosing being tracked, or if his heart rate was really going that low.

not long after the readings were going low did the doctor come in and let me know what was going on...."your baby doesn't like the pitocin." hmmmm, so we had to have the possible c-section discussion with her. to see if things would get better before we jumped to that option the doctor halved the amount of pitocin i was getting. still the same deal. graham's heart rate would drop when i would have a contraction. so then they decided we would turn the pitocin off all together and see what that would do.

so going on hour 5 of being on pitocin, it was turned off and we waiting to see how he reacted. doctor came back a few minutes later and was like....."your baby really doesn't like pitocin. you haven't progressed at all dilating or effacing over these past hours and it's only going to get harder for you and the baby." at that point i knew what we were probably going to have to do.

the doctor explained to grady and i the situation and after realizing what was best for myself and the baby, we decided the c-section would be the best option so that i didn't end up needing an emergency c-section down the road.

everything started to move pretty quickly after that. the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me, the nursery nurse came in to talk to me, grady was given his OR garb, i gave grady a kiss and then buffy and i walked back to the OR. felt like the LONGEST walk i have ever taken!

it was really hard to not have grady with me when i was getting my spinal, but luckily i had buffy...the rockin nurse...to keep me as distracted as possible. the worst part of the whole thing i think was the pre-numbing shot before the actual spinal. everything after that was a piece of cake.

grady came back to the OR and not more than 10-15 minutes later there was lots of tugging on my abdomen and then a loud cry! our little graham was born!!!

he was taken to the warmer to my right so i could watch everything they were doing. grady was able to walk over and be with graham through most of his tests, clean-up. and then grady walked back to the nursery with graham while i got stitched up.

after that point i really don't remember much as they gave me some medicine to make me drowsy for the sewing up part. yeah...drowsy is an understatement. i was out like a light for about 10-15 minutes. probably a good thing though as i would have been a mess without grady and graham. i sat in the recovery bay for a good 30-40 minutes and then was wheeled into my post-partum room to be united with grady, grana, grampa and graham!

so a c-section was not my birth method of choice, but once i woke up in recovery and talked to my doctor i knew we made the right decision. turns out graham had his cord wrapped around his neck twice!! scary to think about, but that's why i told my doctor..."i trust you to inform me what the best decision to keep both of us safe is." thank you dr. mills!

and we're off!

it's that time! we're off to the hospital. we'll keep everyone as updated as possible. in the meantime, here is a little poem for our chickadude.

Cherish This Time


So your baby is here!

What joy and what pleasure!

Now your life is expanding,

To make room for this treasure.


A darling newcomer

To have and to hold--

His smiles are more precious

Than silver or gold.


He’ll demolish your schedule

Though he's helpless and small;

He’ll make his needs known,

And he'll rule over all.


See, a new parent’s work

Is just never quite done,

But you’ll never mind,

‘Cause it’s all so much fun.


When you hear his cute giggle

You’ll start "aahing" and "oohing,"

And he'll soon reply back

By "ga ga" and "goo gooing."


Those big innocent eyes

See a world strange and new;

To make sense of it all

He'll look only to you.


So cherish this time

Of miraculous things--

The excitement and wonder

That a new baby brings.


By Joanna Fuchs

the big day!

and away we go!! see you soon with a new addition to our family!!!

last pregnancy update!

i still can't believe that this time tomorrow we will be in the hospital having a baby!! it's been such an exciting past 39 weeks and i know that once the dude is born it will be the start to an exciting lifetime for both grady and i. we can't wait to welcome our new little man into our lives. he is going to be loved so much by us, family and friends. thank you to everyone for your love, support and well wishes through all of this! we couldn't have done it without you!

so as i sit here crying (yes, the hormones are killing me today!) here is the update from my very last weekly doctors visit:

- i've only gained 31 pounds. woot!!!

- measuring at 37"

- still at 2cm

- about 50% effaced

- weight projection of the dude from my doctor....around 8.5 lbs

and for tomorrow, here's the schedule:

- show up at the hospital at 7:30am

- have baby! :)