What do YOU do while you wait to see the doctor?

What do YOU do while you wait in the doc's office?

Of course....I played with my camera.

Jack colored a picture.

Evan layed on the bed not knowing he was getting ready to see a urologist.

"Mommy won't put her camera down will she?"

And Ryan was at his buddy's house having a goodtime. Thanks gooddog!


We went to a pediatric urologist for a consultation on Tuesday for Evan. He has very mild hypospadius so he has to have his circumcision done by a specialist. His hypospadius will also be taken care when the circumcision takes place at a day surgery clinic at Brenner's.

The nutritionist came out to see Evan on Wednesday and he is up to 11 lbs 6 ounces now.

Evan's MRI

On Tuesday, July 8th-Evan had an MRI done to check on his enlarged ventricles to make sure we were not dealing with hydrocephalus again.

What a disaster of a day.

It is always a long day when we go to DUKE.

We were told to be there at 1130 for a noon MRI. We were not called back until 1230. Mind you....Evan must fast for this test. He had only a bottle of water at around 8am. His last bottle of formula was 8pm the night before. Needless to say he was a bit cranky.

They did not give him anesthesia until after 1. It was almost 2 when they took us into the MRI room...and guess what? Evan woke up and we had to leave the MRI room to try some different anesthesia. They said that they would have to give him an I.V. and that would be very difficult because of his size. They told us that he probably wasn't settling down because he was too hungry. (You think?) Anyways...they said we could reschedule, try the I.V. or feed him.

We opted to feed him and he did go to sleep...so we walked him back down the hall to the MRI room. Finally....the MRI was complete by 3pm.

Our doctor's appt was at 2pm. After the MRI..we headed upstairs to see the doc and surprisingly we got right in. He said that the ventricles are still mildly enlarged and that could still be because he was premature. He can see the floor of the aqueduct which he said is a good thing. He does not believe that we are dealing with hydrocephalus but would like to keep in eye on him for awhile. We will be following up with our pediatrician. We will just have to wait and see...watch for signs and symptoms.

Our next appt. will be at Wake for a urologist and plastic surgery in the next couple of weeks. We also have a genetics appt soon.

Medical Update for Evan

Evan had a doctor's appointment yesterday.

He is now 10 lbs 12.5 ounces.

What a chunk!

The doctor is referring us to Wake Forest to get a band for his head because he has plagiocephaly. We have to be cleared from hydrocephalus first. He has an MRI on July 8th. If he does not have hydrocephalus we can go get a band to help shape his head. If he does have hydrocephalus he would need a shunt and he could not have the band on his head too.

Our doc has also referred us to a pediatric urologist for his circumcision. Poor guy can't get a break.

It is so hard to believe that he is 7 months old already. WOW!

He had to have 3 shots. His big brothers were there to hold his hands through the traumatic event.

Here is the crew at the doc's office

(obviously before the nurse came in and tortured him)

Here is a photo Chad took a week or so ago...and you can see Evan's head shape in it.

What a BIG boy!

Evan had a weight check yesterday. He was 9 lbs 15.5 ounces. WOW! He had a follow up at the eye doctor yesterday as well. Preemies have risk of retinopathy of prematurity. He had a good follow up. He has been cleared from having that. He had his pupils dilated hence the funky sunglasses. We are still closely watching for symptoms of hydrocephalus. He will have an MRI on July 8th unless symptoms present before that date. He seems to be developing fine. Evan does have plagiocephaly which may be treated with a helmet if he does not have hydrocephalus.

Another update-I hesitate to let everyone know this because I don't want to jinx it...but he has been sleeping like a baby for 5-6 weeks. He has become a very predictable baby and he is so much happier. He goes to bed between 7-8pm and he gets up at about 7 am. What a dream! He likes to be home for naps though which makes it hard to be flexible with our days...which if you know me...you know I like to be flexible with our schedule. When we come home at naptime in the afternoon.....it is nice that 2 out of the 3 boys actually sleep.

Unhappy Camper

This pic is of a happy camper yesterday. I couldn't get a good pic today because he was unhappy. You get 4 shots and see how happy you are. We went for a weight check and he got 4 of his immunizations. He weighs 8 lbs 1 ounce. The doc figured it out to be a gain of .77 of an ounce/day. She wants me to continue with 3 bottles a day in addition to nursing. I was exclusively nursing and then the doc wanted me to add one bottle a day of my milk plus 2 tsp. of neosure to add calories. This past week, I've had to up that to 3 bottles a day. When you want to keep your milk supply up-it is hard to give 3 bottles a day. I am very discouraged because I don't think I will be nursing very much longer. I do not pump anymore. I stopped that in February and gave the pump back to the hospital. It was difficult to pump and nurse. It seemed like that was all I did. My 4 and 2 year old seemed to be at their worst when I was "busy." I do have plenty of milk supply in my freezer from when he was in the NICU and I had to pump. They say breastmilk is the best but I feel inadequate when the doc wants to add all this other stuff to it. I know that he needs calories. I am not going to deny him his calories. I'm trying not to take this personally but I am having a hard time. I have the thoughts, "I can't provide my baby with what he needs-what is wrong with me?"

I also am so worried that he has a form of dwarfism. We were told when he was inutero that he had short longbones. That could be a sign of Down's or dwarfism. They ruled Down's out when they did a chromosomal study while he was in the NICU. They have not ruled out dwarfism. We are supposed to see a geneticist soon.

Please pray that I continue to give my worries up to God. It is always a struggle. Some days I feel good and it is easier to give my worries to God but then days like today-I really struggle. I am so worried.

Slow down!

Life is precious and I was convicted this week to slow down and enjoy life and not fret over the little things.

I haven't posted for a week because our computer went crazy and come to find out it is just the monitor...thank goodness! My dad is letting us borrow a really old monitor until we get a new one. I've got alot of catching up to do with my posts because we have been very busy and I have some medical updates for Evan.

The nutritionist came out Monday to weigh him and he was 7 lbs 6 ozs. Evan has been gaining approx. 20 grams a day which is what he is supposed to gain but she said that he is technically "faling to thrive." I asked her if she thinks we are dealing with dwarfism since the docs had mentioned that when he was inutero. She said, "to be honest with you I think there is some kind of syndrome going on because of his facial features and his shortened limbs." She wants to get the geneticist involved. That scared me so I contacted my pediatrician. She is still seeing preemie issues. She thinks it is too early to tell but thinks it is a good idea to talk to the geneticist. His weight was also different just 2 hours after the nutritionist weighed him at my house. He was 7 lbs 11.5 ozs. Evan had a follow up appt at Duke on Tuesday in regards to the CT scan that was taken 6 weeks ago. The neurosurgeon doesn't think we will be dealing with hydrocephalus. He wants an MRI done in 3 months. Evan weighed 7lbs 13 ounces on Tues. Our pediatrician wants to see Evan next Wednesday for another weight check.

Monday, when I was told that Evan might have "some syndrome" is when our computer went on the blink. Nothing seemed to go right that day. I was convicted many times that day. I was doing alot of complaing about little things going ary and I just needed to stop and Praise God for my friends and family and how much we are blessed.

He's come a long way!

30 Nov 2007-Evan is 4 days old and weighs under 2 lbs. Notice he is wearing Daddy's wedding ring as a bracelet.


28 March 2008-Evan is 4 months old and about 8 lbs.

Evan has a cold

Can you even believe it? RSV season is officially over on 15 March and on 11 March, Evan gets a cold. He is coughing alot. Hopefully he won't have it for long. I'm tired of the sickness going around.