Wednesday, July 11, 2007

a quickie

Just a quick update on Monday's cardiologist visit with Natalie! Everything went well. Natalie was pretty unhappy most of the time, but her daddy was wonderful with trying to keep her calm as much as possible. They did NOT have to sedate, thank god. We were just a little worried only because she's never been sedated before and we have clue how she would react to that..especially afterwards. But, it could still happen later on.. which is expected for wiggly babies. The nurse that completed the EKG was working on her very first day and for some reason upset Natalie pretty badly (lol- only because it probably upset the nurse more that she upset a baby pretty much for no reason). On a sidenote.. Natalie seems to have grown a HUUUUGE attachment to me (the mommy) more than anyone lately so she gets upset if I'm not the one holding her. James went through that but he seemed to cry for Ricky. It's a bit frustrating sometimes especially when we have another little one to take care of, but I know I'll look back on these days and miss them. Especially when Natalie's 13 and kicks me out of her room.
So, anywho, yeah..this was supposed to be a quick update. What happened? LOL
Natalie is doing very well. Pulsox/oxygen level was 84%, which is lower but she was very stressed. Same machine was tested on Ricky and he was 94%, so we weren't too concerned. The echocardiogram(TTE) showed no sign of the VSD closing any further, which is wonderful news! No real changes in anything. Only a small change in the closed tricuspid valve- as Dr.G put it there's a "small leaf that has formed". Which basically means a tiny tiny flap on the valve has opened (or could have always been there but never seen until now because it's so tiny). This is definitely not bad news. It doesn't mean that anything is trying to cure the condition since that's never possible unfortunately, but this opening could be the key to why Natalie has dealt with her condition beautifully and probably will continue to cope beautifully.
Tomorrow she has another weight and pulsox check at Dr.S the pediatrician. Oh and get this- Natalie has increased her feedings of formula to about 20 oz. per day!!!! A few days after worrying about her just taking 13 oz (and even having to coax her to eat that) for some reason her eating habits changed. It's like something just clicked! It could be that the Zantac for her reflux had finally kicked in. And also, another theory for the delay of eating normally is that once the Zantac even began to work, it was her natural response to be afraid of the bottle because she linked it to being in pain. So, we don't really even calculate (on paper anyhow) how much she eats anymore because she eats pretty normal. wooohoooo (that whole thing really had us stressed... lol) *breathing sigh of relief*

1 comment:

caesmom2002 said...

That's some of the most wonderful news I've heard all week!!! Great!! You two are amazing parents! And she knows that... So, that's why she's doing as remarkable as she is!