What a Week!

Lila has been sick, quite miserable, with a bad cold and croup. She has been on steriods and breathing treatments for a week now. We have been keeping the girls as far away from each other as possible because we are told that the common cold could still be life threatening for Emily. My hands are dry and cracked from all the times I have washed my hands and my washer and dryer hasn't had much of a break from all the sheets, blankets and clothes I have been washing trying to keep my house as clean as possible. I have even been changing my shirt each time I tend to Lila and then make it back to Emily... it's been a bit of a whirlwind and I thought we were just about over the worst until Wayne came down with a version of Lila's ailments and now we are starting all over again! So far Emily has not come down with anything. We are watching her closely and so is our ped. He even put her on an extra dose of vitamins for the next few weeks to boost her immune system as much as we can.

Emily had her two month check up last week. She still doesn't even register on the preemie scale for her weight which concerns the doc so we are adding more calories with the fortified milk to her bottle feeds hoping she can catch up soon. She currently weighs 5 lbs. 3 oz. at 2 1/2 months old, Only gaining 5 oz. in three weeks (she should be gaining a little more than an ounce a day). At Lila's recent 18 month appointment she weighed in at 20 lbs. 4 oz. still in the 1 percentile for her weight so it could be that Emily is following in her sisters footsteps! She also got her shots, six of them, and the lovely rotavirus drink that she spit out all over me! The shots were terrifying for all involved. The nurse wasn't sure if Emily was big enough to get them having no fat in her legs and little muscle. She double checked got the go ahead and proceeded with the shots. Emily screamed like never before, her little cries usually sound more like a kitten than a baby, and after the third stick turned from purple to white and then passed out on us. Of course I freaked out but the nurse KEPT GOING!! Emily wasn't moving or crying and after the sixth shot the nurse finally got concerned and geared up for infant CPR... At this point I'm no longer freaked out but completely hysterical. After a few seconds and several thumps to the bottom of her foot Emily started crying and I scooped her up in my arms. The nurse went out to find the doc and I started throwing all the things Lila had scattered around the room back into my diaper bag for a quick getaway. The doc convinced us stay for 15 minutes to make sure Emily was okay. A nurse had to come in every five minutes and thump the bottom of Emily's foot to stimulate crying. She never did get her color back and there was talk of sending us to the hospital for observation but in the end they granted my request to just take her home. By the time we left the ped.'s office Emily's legs were swollen to twice their size. I was told she was too small for home administered Tylenol but it seemed like all would be fine since she was sleeping at the time, little did I know two hours later would be a completely different story. Emily woke up later that day screaming. If I held her she screamed, if I put her down she screamed even louder. Her legs were continuing to swell and I felt helpless. I tried rocking her, walkig with her, bouncing, singing, you name it! I called the NICU they told me to call the doc right away. We ended up back in his office for Tylenol and observation. The doc couldn't have been more apologetic and even called later that day to make sure we were all alright! What a start to our weekend!!

There is some good news from last week... I had my appointment with the endocrinologist and after three hours in her office we decided to run more tests, schedule another biopsy, ultrasound guided this time and on both lobes to check both tumors, and canceled my surgery until we can get all these results! Needless to say I am so relieved! She couldn't promise surgery was not necessary and can't rule out cancer just yet but wanted to gather more information before sending me to surgery and removing my whole thyroid. For now I am happy to wait! Besides, things need to slow down around here before more chaos comes our way!