What a week!

Before I get into the details of this week; I’ll first say that Logan is now doing fine and on the mend. As I said in the last post, Logan came down with a cough/cold late on Thurs, 3/10.

Logan got a slight fever on Saturday. Sunday the fever spiked up to 101.5, so I called the consulting nurse who said to go in to urgent care. So, we spent 3:30-7:30pm at Bellevue urgent care on Sunday getting checked out. Luckily we only had to wait about 40 minutes to be seen. We were in the "pediatric line", so it went quicker. I heard others saying they had been waiting 2 hours. They took blood, urine, and a chest x-ray to rule out serious conditions. All was fine with those tests. He also did a nose culture which proved that he has a virus; RSV. So, he just needs to get over it with Tylenol, time, etc. We were to go back to urgent care if anything else came up like struggling to breath, which happened Monday afternoon.

So, I took Logan into Everett urgent care at about 6pm on Monday. He was seen right away. (It wasn’t that busy, but saying you have an infant with breathing problems gets you right in!) They got him some medicine, sprayed at his face in kind of a fog and then saline the same way. A lot of nurses, docs, a fireman, and paramedics were all in to see him. Then there was talk of transporting and admitting him. So, Logan and I got to ride in an ambulance (not for speed), to the hospital. The whole experience was kind of scary even though Logan was laying right there pretty content. I could see urgency in the nurses and docs. At some point the ambulance had been called because it was there and the paramedics ready for us. Bill came to be my support and help at the hospital, etc after Grandma & Grandpa came to pick up Shaun & Abby and to bring me an overnight bag since I left the house not knowing I would be gone overnight.

At the hospital, they had him hooked up to monitors and monitored him through the night and into the next afternoon. He had one point during the night where he needed oxygen for a couple of hours because his oxygen level was below 90%. He still had a fever and was very sleepy and not wanting to eat much. His breathing was doing fine on Tuesday, so the doc said that in order to go home he needed to prove that he is eating so we don’t have to worry about a dehydration issue. So, Logan had an assignment at 3:30 to eat 4 ounces of milk by 6pm (calculated by how much he usually eats when he is well). It didn’t matter if he ate it in little increments, just that he gets it all down in that time. Up until this point, he had only eaten about 3 ounces since the previous evening. He passed the test, so we got discharged about 6:30pm on Tuesday. The doc said to follow up with our regular pediatrician in 2-3 days.

During the night at the hospital, Bill made me get some rest. So I slept probably between 2am-6am. Bill ended up staying up the whole night. I made him go to sleep then, so he got about 3 hours of sleep starting at 7am.

Since Tuesday evening at the hospital, we have been feeding him my milk through bottles only so we can monitor how much he is eating to avoid getting dehydrated. He ate 20 ounces on Wednesday, which was our minimum goal. He is getting close to that today. He woke up Wednesday without a fever! So, we are finishing day 2 with no fever. His eating isn’t back to normal yet, but you can tell that he is feeling much better!

We had his follow up doc visit this afternoon with his regular pediatrician. It was pretty uneventful since he is on the mend. He just wants us to come back in a week to follow up again even though we will be back the next week for his 2 month check up.

RSV is a common virus that goes around every year. In little ones it can be more of an issue because it gets more into the chest. It peaks in 3-7 days and then can take 1-2 months to fully go away because of the healing needed. The doc said he will be contagious for a couple of weeks. It could have been caught from anywhere. The doc today said that premies and those born with heart or other issues get multiple shots throughout the season to prevent getting RSV.

Bill has come down with a cough and run down feeling the past 3 days, but has had no fever. I have had a scratchy throat for a couple of days, but feel fine otherwise. So, Logan has a cough and his appetite is not fully normal yet. We are praying for everyone to get healthy soon! Shaun is feeling fine! So, counting the 2 times last week we went in for appointments regarding the reflux/lactose issues, Logan has been to the doc 7 times in 9 days; yikes!

Test Results

Before reading this post, read the previous post if you haven’t done so already.

Reflux: Negative; he does not have it. The test went fine. Logan did really well. He laid on a table with an x-ray machine that the doc could move over him. The nurses and I kept him in position while I held the bottle for him to drink and the doc took pictures. On preliminary review when we were finished, the doc told me that everything looked good and all development looked good, that some came up only once and he couldn’t get it to happen again. That means he is fine in the reflux area. The nurse confirmed that today when she called after the doc did his extensive review of the pictures.

Lactose Intolerance: Test was positive, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he is lactose intolerant yet. They want to test it again in a few weeks. It could be an underdeveloped tolerance, which he could grow out of. So, the testing on this is still in progress. Meanwhile, I get to be lactose free! Basically, I can’t have anything that has lactose, whey or milk in it. I have never really looked at the ingredients of stuff I eat; it is a lot of work! That includes all dairy products and bread, unless specifically lactose free, plus a lot more stuff too. I got some lactose free milk; it isn’t that great and a lot more expensive, but at least I can have cereal with it.

In addition, Logan has come down with a cough/cold in the last day. Shaun was kind enough to share! Shaun has had a cough since Sunday and even had a fever Sunday-Tuesday. I really didn’t like how the cough was sounding on Logan mainly because he is so young, so we went to get him checked out today. He is fine, just needs to get over it. His lungs and everything were checked. So, hopefully he gets over it soon. Other than a little coughing and some congestion, Logan seems fine. He is eating and acting normal. Shaun still has a lingering cough, but is better.

Logan update at 6 weeks!

For the past couple of weeks Logan has been really fussy when eating and at times in between. I can hear big gurgling in his abdomen and even feel tiny bubbles. He cries out in pain during eating even though he is still hungry and tries to eat again. So, we went in to the doctor today to get checked out. He is having Logan tested for reflux and lactose intolerance.

The lactose intolerance test involves providing a stool sample. You might be wondering how this is done on a 6 week old? I was wondering the same thing. It is gathered by putting saran wrap in his diaper and then putting it in the container provided to take to the lab within 1 hour. Woo hoo! I also get to go on a lactose free diet right away to get that going if that is the problem. This will be interesting. I have only briefly looked over the chart of allowed and not allowed foods, but no chocolate caught my eye! Bummer. We also are giving him a little formula, so I bought some lactose free formula too.

The reflux test is tomorrow morning. This is called a "Barium Swallow" test. They watch him eat a certain type of food and see where it goes in his body. This will tell whether he has reflux or not. If he does, he will go on medication.

He weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces, which is the 88 percentile! In 4 weeks he gained 3 pounds, well 1 ounce shy of that. He is still getting in the food!

He is 23.5 inches long, which is the 90 percentile. In 4 weeks he grew 1.25 inches!

I will keep you blog readers posted!

Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken a few weeks ago! So, here they are!

Brothers!

Shaun at 3 years!

Logan at 3 weeks!