Never a dull moment!

That could be the quote to my life! Never a dull moment, weather good or bad it is so very true!

Our 7 year old BELOVED pit bull Gia partially tore her ACL about three months ago. She just went on to tear it fully. She barely applies any pressure at all. She is on pain medication and we have decided due to her age, high energy and the fact she can't be confined, surgery is not an option.

As many of you may remember, the week Cara passed away my dear Charlie slipped a disk in his back and we decided to do emergency back surgery. It truly was a blessing because for the next three months I had something to focus on and throw my time energy, happiness and hope into. That hope faded as his disease progressed and I knew it was time to say goodbye. I love my animals. We tried everything for Charlie. Therapy, pills, holistic measures at home, braces and lazer treatment. In the end we really just have to keep in mind what kind of quality of life is it for an animal. Charlie was in constant pain. I miss Charlie constantly and it is over 3 years. Tears roll as I remember him as I type this. Gia on the other hand is in good spirits which is good. 

I just CANT chance going through that again. Not with a dog that has a 15% chance or re injuring the same leg and up to 60% chance of tearing the other knee. Before we make any life changing decisions we will be getting her fitted for a brace. It is super pricy but not near the 4,000$ it costs for a surgery. We are going to re evaluate her in 8 weeks and in that time hope her other knee does not blow out!

 

Whats going on over here? Lots of doctor appointment follow up's with myself. My vitamind D is low as usual, on RX for that. My cholesterol is super high with a total of 501 and a LDL of 424. AT LEAST my good cholesterol is good! I follow up with my cardiologist in a few weeks! I cant be put back on medication for it until I am finished breastfeeing! Yup still breast feeding! 7 weeks! She still drinks a bottle or two over night and maybe one of formula during the day. I am happy I am still keeping up with this! My insurance even covered and sent out to me a hospital grade pump! Awesome ness! 

Lots else going on! Emery is 2 months old and as adorable as ever! Carter is a FISH! Swims and goes under the water without floaties! He LOVES it! My brother got ENGAGED! Ring and all! 

Time is flying!

My baby girl is one month old! Before I get into what is going on with our little family I will share some pictures!

 

Emery is doing fantastic! She is such a good baby! Carter had major reflux and colic so it was hard to go anywhere or do much of anything with him! Emery sleeps from 1030-230 and then till 6. Such a blessing! Lets keep our fingers crossed she keeps this up! 

I want to touch on a subject that I feel amazing about. Breastfeeding. With Carter I never produced much and he never latched well. I lasted 6 weeks with mainly formula and small amounts of breast milk daily for him. With Emery, I am mainly pumping. For the first two weeks I did nurse her and since I knew I had to go back to work (which means pumping) and since I have an active two year old. It was too much to nurse and then pump right after. Since I am producing enough just by pumping alone I have just been pumping for her. Every two to three hours. She does get two bottles overnight so my husband can help with feedings. Other than that she is all breastmilk, and get this!? I have even started to freeze some so I can build up a supply when I head back to work! Its a lot of work but so so gratifying! I never thought it was for me, but I could not be happier! 

Emery did have her urologist appointment and we will be followed every few months. She has another ultrasound of her kidneys in September. There really is no plan of action. Its more of a sit and wait until she grows out of it type thing. I pray she does! She does have a grade 1 or 2 kidney reflux and this is one of the best case scenarios! Now to just keep her kidney infection free until she grows out of it (which most do by the time they are 5) What a long 5 years it will be. I will worry every time she has a fever she has an infection. The crappy part is every time she does have a fever they will more than likely want to see her and cath her for a clean catch to see if she does have an infection...sigh.

Isnt she a doll? On to my little big man! His therapy is going fantastic! She is saying tons of new words! Shark, cheese, and even putting two words together! Its great to see him communicate and nothing melts my heart more than a "Hey Momma!" He loves his little sister and is so compassionate towards her! Here they are for the 4th of July!

Having two kids is a ton easier than I thought! I actually just went to the beach the other day with BOTH of them! Without my husband! Two of my girlfriends were there with their kids but thats a huge accomplishment with a 1 month old! (Gosh is she already a month?) We are also going on our first family trip as for over labor day weekend! Excited about that!!

Emery!

Just wanted to share some pictures of Emery. She is beautiful! Also wanted to share that I am breastfeeding! This is major for me since Carter was in the NICU and it did not really work out for me. This time so far so good! We supplement once in a while but for two days straight she had maybe three formula bottles! We are doing good!

Of course I shared some pictures of big brother Carter who loves "Em" very much!

Hospital? Again...

Yes you read that correctly!

The morning of June 20 I noticed Emery felt warm. I took her temperature. 100.3. Not good. We headed straight to the doctor. MAN I LOVE MY INTUITION. There it was 100.4 rectally. Then came the words we have to send you over to the ER. I was alone with Emery. I started to cry. No! Why me? Why us? Have we not been through enough! Has my week hospital stay, my sons week NICU stay and my daughter's death not been enough?!

Right away we went to the hospital. THANK GOD my sister in law just HAPPENED to be in town helping us, and THANK GOD my brother had decided to take Carter and my sister in law to the zoo that day. IRONIC how things play out!

At the ER Emery, had a spinal tap, and numerous pokes and prods, chest xrays. Really anything you name it. It is pretty much protocol for any infant under 3 months of age. We had to step out of the room for the spinal tap, and I try not to think about if she was in pain, because I know it had to be done.

I was a MESS to say the least. Cried my eyes out. Its very hard to know your child at such a young age is ill and not know why. It was a very scary time for me and bought back a lot of memories.

They needed to run 48 hours worth of blood cultures to see if anything grew since they were not finding the root of her fever, and until then we were admitted to the Children's Ward and started right away on two different antibiotics for her fever. I stayed with her the first night and my husband stayed with her the second.

After the first day we were told her urine tested positive for a UTI infection. The next step we would take is to have a ultrasound done of her kidneys.  The ultrasound showed that her left kidney has MILD enlargement. With all her other symptoms, our peditrician is unfortunately pretty confident that she had Kidney Reflux Disease.

Kidney Reflux is where your pee can go back into kidney instead of out, causing of course bacterial infections. Kidney reflux disease has five stages. They are all treatable and worst case scenario surgery is required. They can also grow out of it. This would mean Emery will get frequent high fevers and infections and need to be on constant antibiotic. 

Our next step is to have a VCUG test done. It is done as a outpatient with a catheter after she has had no fever for 24 hours and negative culture, meaning the infection is gone. This will take place in a few days, as again she has to be fever free and no infection at the time of the test.  The test involves a catheter (hollow tube) is placed in the urethra (tube that drains urine from the bladder to the outside of the body) and the bladder is filled with a liquid dye. X-ray images will be taken as the bladder fills and empties. The images will show if there is any reverse flow of urine into the ureters and kidneys,' which can indicate that your child has vesicoureteral reflux. (And in Emery's case since we KNOW she has reflux...the severity of hers) I believe she can be sedated for this. I don't even want to think about the discomfort for her.

We will see a urologist as soon as we can of course.

This IS a condition that she can grow out of. She can also need surgery. It all depends on the results of the VCUG. It does not make this any easier. No one likes to have something medically wrong with their child or know they may be in pain. All we an do is hope this is mild and hope to be fever free for the next month so we steer clear of hospital.

This is a lot of information for us to take in. With me having just delivered and having blood pressure issues and with a two year old in speech therapy who will be starting school in September and hopefully potty training in August!  Its a lot! I hope we can get through these next few months with no ER visits for Emery!