Flexibility

I have learned that flexibility is essential to our survival with this kiddo. I'm sure it's essential with any new baby but I feel it is especially with mine. This past week I put into practice this valuable lesson. Last Friday, Holt was scheduled to be circumcised in Dallas at a pediatric urology clinic. We have had the hardest time getting this done in Tyler because he was not born here and they won't touch him until he is at least 1 years old. Even then he would have to be admitted to the hospital and put to sleep to have the procedure. I would like to avoid the hospital as much as possible so I was not to keen on that idea.  Holly (the cardio NP) told me that they have many heart/NICU babies that this happens to and gave me name of this group. So I called them up and scheduled the procedure while it can still be done in the office. They do this in the office while he is under 10 pounds. Which is perfect for us because  at the time Holt was weighing in at 8 pounds 11 ounces.

Thursday afternoon I packed the car up and we headed to Dallas to spend the night with a dear friend of mine from college. Before I left I had noticed that Holt was sounding a little congested and wheezing a little bit but I just chalked it up to my paranoia and trucked on down the road. When we got to my friends house that afternoon I feed this lil guy and he threw up the whole bottle. Then of course I started to get worried! He was feeling warm and still breathing funny, but again I just thought I was being paranoid. We had a wonderful afternoon just catching up and letting our boys meet each other. That evening he threw up his 6 o'clock bottle and then again at 9 o'clock. He was feeling very warm so I took his temperature and it was 99.6. Which to any normal baby that is not that bad of a fever, but for a kiddo who just 2 weeks before started out with a low grade fever and with in 24 hours was hospitalized due to fever, well let's just say it had his mommy concerned. He was also showing some symptoms that they had told me to watch for, so I did as instructed and called the on call cardiologist. After explaining what was going on my instructions were to give him Tylenol and keep checking his temperature. If it went to 101.0 or greater then it was off to the emergency room at Medical City for us. Dr. Laird told us to call him in the morning and let him know how he was doing. That night was a long night for us, because my sweet baby just did not feel good. He slept very well all and most of the night until about 3 am. After feeding him I rocked him back to sleep and tried to put him in the pack-n-play, but he just did not want to be put down. So I held him for the remainder of the night.

The next morning I called Dr. Laird as soon as the office opened and told him not much had changed. I was told to come in as soon as I could get there to be checked out. So off to the dr. office we went. On the way I cancelled the appointment with the urologist, which is why we originally came down there. At that moment I realized that there is never going to be a dull moment with this child, and that's ok because I've never been one to take the easy road and I'm afraid my child is following suit. At the cardiologists we had an EKG and an Echo to rule out this was a heart problem. Praise the Lord it was just "normal baby stuff". We were given an excellent report! His heart function has improved more from the last echo we had done at the office on Aug. 1st and though his heart is still enlarged it is smaller in size. Praise the Lord for some good news! I will take a sick kid any day of the week as long as his heart is functioning properly. We were asked to stay in town for the weekend just in case we needed to be hospitalized if his fever got higher or his breathing worsened.  On a funny side note, Holt was wheezing and grunting and coughing all evening, night and morning but as soon as we got to the Dr's office, he was perfectly fine! I just laughed, because it would happen like that. I'm sure Dr. Laird thinks I need to spend a few days in the loony bin, or at least I felt that way. Sweet Holly (the NP) came into check on us before we left the office and she reassured me that they don't think I'm loony. I will forever be grateful for what she said to me. She told me that being a new mom in itself will make you feel like you're a little crazy but add something to it like a heart problem and it for sure make you feel like you're going insane. She reassured me that I am doing a great job and they are so very impressed with his progress and extremely pleased with where we are today. I am so thankful for her! I felt a little less loony after talking to her.

Before we left the office we were given symptoms to watch for and asked to hang around the metroplex for a couple of days to make sure he gets better before he head back to Tyler. And that is exactly what we did. Josh came in town after work on Friday and we stayed with our friends for the weekend. Though Holt did not feel good we had such a wonderful weekend! There is nothing like spending time with wonderful friends, it does wonders for the soul. Sunday afternoon we came back to Tyler. Holt hasn't run fever since Saturday evening and he is just a happy, healthy for now baby. My prayer now is that we can make it 3 weeks without getting sick. I've decided to take it one week at a time and consider it a small victory that 1. we weren't hospitalized again for the fever and 2. that we made it two weeks before we got sick again. So here's to making it 3 weeks.

As far as the circumcision, well my sweet boy weighs 9 pounds 1 ounce and if he keeps putting on the weight like he has been then he will be too big for the procedure in the office. I have rescheduled the appointment for September 4, when we go back to Dallas for another check up with the cardiologist.  If he is over 10 pounds then we will just have a consult at the urologist and wait until he is 4-6 months to have the procedure. And of course, we will have to be hospitalized for this procedure. If he is under 10 pounds then we can have the procedure done that day. I am not holding my breath that we will be under 10 pounds and I am not looking forward to another hospital stay,   I keep reminding myself that it could be worse. I am thankful we are where we are today. I know it is only by the grace of a mighty God that Holt is where he is today!

I have a motto that I try to live by and it applies so well for our tomorrows: "Blessed are the flexible for the will not break" So here's to flexibility!