The morning started out seeing Dr. Fox's nurse practitioner to get orders for the thyroid tests that she is to have done this week. (the levels were a little off last week after the surgery and the U didn't give us written orders, which is a little frusterating, so we had to go to a pointless Dr. visit just to get someone to sign a piece of paper to get the blood test done) That appt. went fine and down to the hospital we went to get blood drawn.
We were taken to the lab and I let the secretary know that she was 4 months old and is VERY hard to get blood drawn from. The secretary assured me that the woman that was working was very good and thought she'd do fine. (I should have known better and just walked out then). So she took us back and three pokes later no blood. Atleast Addie was being a champ and wasn't even crying! They couldn't just do a heel poke because two of the tests that were ordered from the endocrinologist at the U needed 2ml of blood...so they needed to get a vein. So they called a nurse from the NICU over and said she'll definetely be able to get it....yeah, right....two more pokes and still no blood and by this time Addie was SCREAMING! So I asked if we could just do the basic thyroid test minus the other two that needed all the blood and they said fine and just did the heel poke and the blood came fine. What would you do in this situation? I think Zac was about ready to pick up Addie and run, but it's so hard because you want them to get the blood and to know what her thyroid levels are...I just don't understand why they didn't call the NICU nurse FIRST when I TOLD them she was hard to draw!!!!!!! I'm thinking next time around we will be VERY assertive and let them know about our dear one's tiny veins. I just don't understand why they have to TRY first before they realize that the parents knew what they were talking about!!!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!(sorry, needed to vent)
Next we had our appt with Dr. Mark. He didn't understand why the endocrinologist would have ordered the other two tests anyways, so he was fine with just getting the regular thryoid tests done minus the other two. He checked out Addie and was very pleased. His exact words were, "this baby does NOT look like she just had surgery 2 weeks ago!". She is doing really well. We are cutting the lasix down to one dose a day. Staying on the blood pressure meds for another couple of weeks and then will go off of that as well. We were able to go almost the entire day without tylenol. Addie had a dose at 6am and then didn't have it again until 6:30 tonight. So I'd say that's pretty good! Dr. Mark also said we could start doing tummy time again. When we got home I put her on her tummy and she didn't seem too interested in lifting that head up, but I'm not sure I would either just yet...but we'll keep working on it! We also asked about the sleeping issue and he said that was very common after the surgery and it will work itself out over the next couple of days. (I had also talked to Cynthia and she said Ben had went through the same thing)...so that was good to know it wasn't something to worry about....
As far as sleeping..last night was better. Only up once at 3:30am.....and the best part of that is Zac had today and the rest of the week off....so he got up with her!!! It was great! Love you honey! I honestly think she is trying to catch up on the lost calories from the 4 days she went without eating in the hospital. So we'll see how tonight goes....she's sound asleep now!
Since Zac is off we're going to head back to IL to visit the family and let grandma babysit so Zac and I can have a nice date night! I love going home to my parents as it is so nice just to have those extra set of hands to help take care of Addie, and I know they love it. It's pretty cute to see my mom poke her head in our room in the mornings to see if Addie is awake so she can take her and hold her....and the best part is that means sleeping in for Zac and I!!! Thanks mom!
So...time to get some laundry done and packed for our journey to IL!
Hey - you all have a GREAT date night!! You definitely deserve it! I hate that they had to poke her so many times. I don't know - I just don't think there's anything worse than seeing the docs/nurses prod on your child. By now, you've got to feel like you've ran a marathon :)
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean when it comes to hard blood sticks and people not believing you! We went through alot, often 5 and 6 sticks and alot of fishing each time before I learned to say, "You got one chance." We did get one nurse back in C-U who could get her by try 2, and we just asked for her each time. If she wasn't there, we didn't do the draw. Then, I found that the phlebotomists at Children's could get her on the first time every time with no crying, so we just did the 3 hour drive when we needed blood. After several months of that, we finally just moved here! What we've done for this kid! :o)
ReplyDeleteHi Erin, I know what you mean, too, it will take a bit, but you will find your voice and be assertive when you need to. I was writing the story of when I first found my voice, but it turned into a blog post, so I cut and pasted it back to Penny's blog. lol. Just know that you have to do what is best for your daughter!
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