Heart Cathe Update

Emma did go to MUSC Children's Hospital in Charleston & had the cathe done, she did great. It only took them about 1 1/2 hours & she didn't have to stay overnight. She was discharged by 5pm the same day.

We did find out that Emma is going to need surgery in the next 2-4 weeks. The VSD's (holes in her heart) are pumping too much blood to the lungs & causing the lungs to have 4 times as much pressure as it normally would. So it is as if Emma is running a marathon 24 hours a day & that is why she is burning off so many calories, her little heart & lungs are working overtime.

So the surgery they have planned will be inserting a band around her pulminary artery to reduce the pressure to her lungs. This band is temporary while they wait & see if the VSD's in her heart close on their own. She will wear the band from a few months to up to her 1st birthday, it all depends on how she grows, gains weight & if/when the VSD's close.

Emma will be in the hosptial for about a week & the surgery will be done in Charleston at MUSC. They have one of the best Children's Hospitals in the country & the Pediatric Heart Center has some of the best technology available. The staff we encountered while we were there on Tuesday were outstanding & I know they will take good care of Emma.

Emma nappying yesterday with her Glow Seahorse, her favorite toy. It helps her go to sleep almost every night & she just love it.

3 months old, belated

Emma turned 3 months old this past Saturday & I decided I wanted to have professional pictures made, so that is what we did. She did great even though we were there for 2 hours & they took a ton of shoots. Overall we were pleased with the shoots they showed us & ended up spending more than we had planned but I love the poses we chose. They actually gave us a CD as a part of the package we bought & I will post our favorite.

Emma is now laughing out loud & Chris says she sounds like Woody Woodpecker but its really cute. She is kicking her little legs all the time & I wouldn't be surprised if she rolls over soon. Right now she is on the floor playing underneath her gym & she has almost done a complete 180 due to all the kicking she is doing.

This is our favorite. Look at that sweet little smile.

Weight Check

Yesterday Emma went & had another weight check & she is finally over the 10 lb mark. She came in at 10 lbs 4 oz, which is only a 4 oz gain in 9 days. We are all very glad she gained but it still isn't as much as she should have gained. Her pediatrician is really eager to hear what her heart cathe will reveal next week & if it comes back with no major abnormalities she plans on running additional tests to try to find the cause of her lack of gaining weight or even changing her formula again.

Emma update

I heard from Emma's Pediatrician yesterday & she has another change to her feedings, per the nutrionist. They are upping her calorie intake a little more & adding fat to her diet (a tsp of vegetable oil a day, believe it or not). We have another weight check next Wednesday & hopefully she will gain more than 2 ounces this time.

I also heard from MUSC Childrens Hospital today to schedule Emma's heart cathe. It will be Feb 10 & she will have to stay overnight for observation since she will have to be put to sleep for the procedure. So we will most likely head down the day before & then come home the day after. We are still trying to make sure insurance will cover the procedure & the Peds Cardiology dept at MUSC + Emma's Cardiologist are helping us figure all that out.

10 pounds

Emma had another weight check this morning & she finally weighs 10 lbs, but she should have gained more than 2 ounces in a week. Her pediatrician is going to contact the nurtionist about adding some additives to Emma's diet along with the higher calorie formula she is already eating.

We are also waiting on Emma's cardiologist to schedule a heart cathe for her. He has recommended that we go to MUSC Children's Hospital in Charleston, SC for the procedure & surgery if its needed. They have one of the best Children's Heart Centers in the country. We just need to make sure our insurance will cover for us to go there.

2 month checkup surprise

Wednesday was Emma's 2 month checkup at the Pediatrician & as all mothers know the first thing they do is get the child's weight. Emma's weight was 9 lb 14 oz, which didn't seem too bad to me but maybe a little low. So her doctor comes in the room & starts asks me how Emma was progressing developmentally & I told her fine. She smiles, coos, all the things she askes me Emma was right on track with, except for her weight. She said Emma had only gained 1 ounce in the last 12 days & her rate of weight gain was too low. She continued her exam & went to discuss the possibility of putting Emma in the hospital, I was shocked. She went & called Emma's Cardiologist & he agreed. So Emma & I went home packed our bags, waited on Chris to get home & we all headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 4pm & they took some blood from her to run labs almost right after we got there. They also scheduled a swallow test, a echo of her heart, a consult with a nutritionist & a possible CT scan. Her swallow test came back fairly normal with small signs of reflux but nothing out of the ordinary & the nutritionist put her on a higher calorie diet to hopefully start increasing her weight. Then she had an echo of her heart done, which she has had several of those already. Her cardiologist recommended they put her on, Lasix to remove any fluid that may be around her heart or lungs due to the VSD (holes in her heart). He said we would see an immediate difference if it was working. By the next day her heart rate & breathing had gotten slower & gained 2 ounces.

We came home on Saturday afternoon & it appears that her heart & lungs were working too hard & burning off too many calories. She will stay on the Lasix + the higher calorie diet for now but she will probably have to have a heart cathe done soon to get a better look at what is exactly going on. There was mention of possible surgery to repair the VSD in the future but her cardiologist only want to do surgery if absolutely neccessary. Emma has a weight check tomorrow & a follow up with her cardiologist on Thursday.

Colds & Crud

Emma & I came down with colds a few days ago & unfortunately mine has turned into the crud, as it always does. Thankfully Emma's hasn't gotten any worse & it still only a cold, she sounds so pitiful with her stuffy nose, but it doesn't seem to bother her very much. In fact Chris & Emma went to church this morning without me & I plan to go the urgent care this afternoon when it opens.

Crud update: I went to urgent care this afternoon & I do have an upper respiratory infection. The doctor didn't really want to give me any antibiotics, she thought it would pass on its own but she gave me a script for z-pac so I wouldn't have to come back if it took a turn for the worst. She also told me to get some mucinex, which I have never used but I hear it works pretty well. Hopefully I will be feeling better soon.