It's always something...

You all are going to be tired of reading our not so good news and prayer requests, but we have more...
Just when we thought we were out of the woods, we got some results back from some follow-up tests Katie had done. After Katie was born, they looked into many things, both because TEF kids can have many other defects, and because she was premature. She didn't have any of the other defects associated with TEF, but there were a few things they were keeping an eye on due to her prematurity. They discovered some things with Katie's head and kidneys, both of which were very common, and both of which typically resolve themselves. Her head had a grade 1 bleed, which is not bad and pretty common in preemies, and they say many full-term babies could be born with them as well, and no one would ever know. This type of bleed typically resolves itself and goes away. For her kidneys she had mild hydronephorsis (not sure on the spelling) of one of them, meaning one kidney was a big larger. Again, they weren't too worried about this, and Katie's system is working just fine and everything passes through her system. Well, she did have to have follow-up ultrasounds last week just to follow this stuff.

I haven't heard anything yet on her kidneys, and really am not too worried about they seem to work just fine. However, the head ultrasound indicated that she has large ventricles (the area that hold the spinal fluid). Her pediatrician said the reports from radiology were pretty vague, and he had several people look at them before calling me, and called some other specialists as well. Basically, the report was very vague, and we don't really know if this is a problem or not, so we need to get a head MRI done. They said it very well could be a normal variance, which is of course what we are praying and believing for. But because she already has the one defect, we can't ignore it and really need to look at it more closely. The doctor wouldn't give me any info as to what it could mean if it's not a normal variance. In looking things up and talking to some people, it seems that it could basically mean too much fluid results in pressure on the brain, and when that happens it's typically necessary to get a shunt put in to drain the pressure to prevent problems. I don't know much else. I don't know if this is something that develops, and that's why we didn't see if on the previous ultrasounds, and I don't know if it's related to the grade one bleed. I think I'm just in for a wait for a while, because right now the MRI is scheduled for next week, and it sounds like it will be a week and a half or so before I will know the results. Her pediatrician was very good about making sure the MRI was necessary before calling me, since it requires her to be under anesthesia. So of course, I am nervous, but trying very hard not to think about it, and to just believe it is all withing normal ranges. So please keep us in your prayers once again, and hopefully this will be the last time. Sorry to always be bringing rough news.

I know I seldom post good things, but we really are enjoying every day with Katie. She's growing so fast. She's got to be between 7 1/2 and 8 pounds now, and it's crazy how fast she grows. She's hit the stage where she's a bit fussy sometimes now because she's awake more, but doesn't really play yet. But she smiles a bit more and enjoys being on the ground to move around a lot. She's rolled from her stomach to her back twice, mostly because she hates tummy time:) And she's just now waking up, so I need to go. Thanks for your continued prayers. This is another big one.