Vale's ER visit

So Vale has had some trouble lately!  

No fun for babies! (or mommies for that matter)

He's had some trouble pooping which isn't totally abnormal for a baby.

He's breastfed only (we tried to give him some rice cereal but that def didn't take) so he still has the liquid diet poopie diapers.

Well, he pooped on the morning of April 14th and then didn't poop again until the 23rd.  That's 9 days... and he only pooped because I called the doc and told him and he told me to give him 3oz of prune juice.

So we did that and within 45 minutes he pooped a TON.

But then he didn't poop on Tues... or Wed... or Thurs... or Fri... so we gave him the prune juice again Wed, Thurs and Fri.

That is the background to the main event. :)

Friday was a bit of a rough day for Vale!

Friday we went to the Zoo in the morning, swimming in the afternoon and out for my birthday in the evening, so a pretty full day.

Vale ate at 7:00AM, then 10 as usual but then didn't want to eat again until 2:30.  He didn't really want to eat then either and only at for about 5 minutes.  Then at 4:00PM I fed him again and he had about 4-5oz of milk.

I changed his diaper a little before 6 and tried to give him some prune juice (cause he hadn't pooped) but he was just really tired.  

He went to sleep around 6:15ish and slept and slept and slept.

At 1AM I went in to check on him and figured I'd feed him cause he hadn't eaten since 4PM and I assumed he would wake up shortly feisty mad and hungry.

I went to change his diaper to wake him up and he had a completely dry diaper.  That was disturbing knowing that he know has PKD.

As I was pondering that, I started to try and feed him and he wanted nothing to do with it.  I ended up just expressing milk into his mouth and he was turning away.

I decided to call the pediatrician office to talk to the doc on call and he said to take him right to the Emergency Room.

I didn't want to take him to the regular ER because of the recent discovered cysts, I didn't know if that would have anything to do with what was going on, so I took him to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

The doctor did an internal exam to check his rectum for a blockage which I thought would loosen him up and make him explode but it didn't.

So they took some x-ray's of his belly and there were no blockages evident there either.

They took blood and found no red flags to indicate things weren't functioning properly but wanted to start an IV to give him some fluids.  They couldn't get a vein. :(

The nurse tried on his left hand and the vein collapsed.

The same nurse tried on his left foot and the vein collapsed.

They then went and got the IV nurse and she started it on his right foot.

That. Was. Aweful.

Poor kid screamed and cried more than I've ever heard him do before.

He had no tears and his mouth was incredibly dry.

The doctor said that he was dehydrated and he needed fluids badly.

Through all this, he still had no interest in eating and wasn't peeing.

They pumped him full of fluids and wanted to make sure he was going to pee.

He did pee once they 'forced' fluids into him.

They said that once he was re-hydrated he would probably be interested in eating again.

He was.

They sent us home and told us to give him a glycerine suppository if he didn't poop on his own soon.

They told us to come back if he didn't pee again in the next 8 hours or if he didn't have interest in eating by the evening.

We got home at 10:30AM on Saturday.

As soon as we got home, Vale wanted to EAT!  He was HUNGRY! :) YEAH!

As he was eating, he pooped!  Yeah! :)

He is now much happier and has been eating all day.

He needed to be hydrated and the ER doc said it was a good thing that we brought him in.

Dehydration is very very bad for your kidneys!!!  

We do not want a repeat of this event!!! 

The doctor said that we can give him up to 5oz of water a day at this age so we should take advantage of that.

The doc thinks this 'episode' had nothing to do with his PKD so that's good.

The doctor didn't know what is causing the constipation but said to use the suppositories if needed.

He thinks the back-up led to the lack of appetite,

which in turn caused the dehydration.

We are thanking the Lord that this was not more serious and baby Vale is ok.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Vale's Dr. Apt

We took Vale to the doctor on Thursday and he was:

 16 lbs 6 oz

 25.5 inches long

17 head circumference

He is average for everything and growing just fine.

 

We also found out that it looks like he has esotropia in his right eye which is a form of strabismus (meaning he's a bit cross-eyed in his one eye).  So that might mean baby glasses or at worst, surgery when he's older.  There is a chance it could correct itself so we're hoping for that. :)

From that appointment, the doctor sent us to get Vale's kidneys an ultrasound and they found one large cyst on his left kidney, so Vale definitely has PKD.  We were hoping that because Connor has it, and the chances are 50/50 that Vale would not have it but that's not the case.  I suppose you can flip a quarter twice and get heads both times, huh.

Vale has one very large cyst on the top of his left kidney.  It's measuring around 11mm and his kidney is only around 4 cm so it's cover about 1/4th of his kidney.

We need to get a blood test and urine sample so we can see his creatine levels and BUN number to check his kidney function.

We will be going to the specialist with Connor on May 3rd so hopefully they can see Vale at that time as well.

 

We love our little guy!  He's so full of personality and mischief.  We know that Lord will take care of Him just like he does Connor.

Your prayers are appreciated as we go through the process of figuring out what the right decisions for Vale will be.

Connor's Birthday Outfit

So when Connor turned 2 I figured it was time for him to pick out his own clothes for the day!

I was wrong.

He picked out a wooly red vest and his cowboy boots... and that's all.

I asked him if he wanted pants and he said 'nope'.

I asked him if he wanted a shirt and he said 'nope'.

He then proceeded to model for the camera his birthday outfit with some killer male model looks...

I love him so much and he makes me laugh every day.

Connor is 2!

Connor turned two last week!  That's CRAZY!

It does NOT seem like two years since we received the wonderful joy of meeting our first baby boy.

He is so smart, love and energetic, I love it!

We started off the day with cereal, eggs and toast!  That's what he wanted! (I was glad he didn't say candy or cake... :))

 There is a big gap in the day right here because these pictures deserve a whole new post... This was Connor dressing himself for his birthday.  :)

 Vale was adorable all day in his cute little duds... Connor was wearing this outfit when he was 9 months old... just sayin... :)

 We went to chuck e cheese and it's a good thing that's what we had planned because it was POURING rain.

Connor's favorite Aunt Michelle came too!!  She held an overwhelmed and dazed Vale for a good bit of the time.

Connor had so much fun playing all the games!

He horse raced like a champ!  I mean he is the right size to be a jockey... just sayin... :)

He would get so excited when the ball would roll up into the gutter... :)  At least they gave him 2 pity tickets every time... :)

Jammin out on the guitar with dad...

He loves to play basketball!

He loved pushing all the buttons and putting the coins in the slot to make the machines run.

He got a sucker that he enjoyed thoroughly.

Vale was absolutely captivated by the big puppets on stage.  hahaha it was really funny!

He got a huge balloon bouquet (which he's still playing with a week later)... There were bouncy balls, whistles and lollipops in the bucket at the bottom.

He got a box from EP with STEELERS stuff in it!! :)

He had cake for lunch and dinner... sigh... oh to be two... :)

I think all in all he had a good day! :)

The California Train Museum

Today we went to the train museum for Vale's 5 month birthday!

Brennan and Connor rode in stroller and LOVED looking at all the trains!

Connor was interested in learning... :)

This was the only way to get a group shot! :)

I asked Connor which one he liked best and this is the look he gave me :)

They had this room up at the top of the museum with all these train tables.  The boys had a BLAST!

He loved the trains!

Lauren and Brennan were watching an electric train from inside a bubble!

For the most part, the boys played very well together.

Fairytale Town

Yesterday morning we went to a little place here in Sacramento called Fairytale Town.

It was so fun with two toddlers!

This was from the fairy tale about the old woman who lived in a shoe.
There was a slide in the middle and the boys loved it!

Sheep!

Getting a drink out of a hippo's head... :)

Jimmy helping the boys look at the donkey.

He's a tractor driver!

Robin Hood and 'Little' John... :)

Billy Goats... 

so wait, which boy is older?? :)

Ridin' in Cinderella's coach.

Ew!  Climbin' on icky toes!

He was like, 'why is this bunny so big?'

Sweet boys :) 

It was so hard to get them to keep their heads in the holes and look at me!

Brennan on the pirate ship... Connor LOVED the pirate ship but he was being disciplined for not sharing with other kids... sigh... love two year olds!

This was a really cool place!!  We'll probably go again next time we come visit.