Friday

Today we went to Aaron's school for lunch. Kara found a teeny shopping cart in Aunt Nicole's classroom and decided that Baby Sophie needed to go in it. It was SO cute watching her push it around.

After school, Aaron and I had our annual eye exams. Kara LOVED watching every test and liked trying on the little kid glasses. I think she liked the Disney ones better than the Barbie ones. She will have her first eye exam in June. She helped both of us pick out new sunglasses.

She seems to be doing just fine in all respects. Other than waking up too early ready to start her day. I am seriously wondering if all of the UTIs were from a blockage of some sort in her urethra. Ever since the catheter on Monday she has peed through her diaper, pjs and sheet during the night. Even when we have put in 2 diaper doublers to soak up more. Hmmmm. I guess we will just have to wait and see if she gets another infection...

Great News!!!

Today I took Kara to her regular pediatrician and Kara does have thrush. I got the medicine for it and luckily it hadn't gotten too bad. Also, the doctor had already gotten the reports from the tests on Monday. The radiologist's report was quite a bit different than what we were expecting. He reported a MILD case of reflux on both sides and labeled it a ONE out of five. Not a 3 or 4 out of five like the technician was telling us. OH MY GOSH! We are so relieved. Our doctor said that since we are so 'on top of things' and catch Kara's UTIs before she even has a fever or any real signs she doesn't want to just put her on antibiotics until the condition hopefully corrects itself. She said to keep doing what we have been doing and get her back to their office the minute we suspect anything. It really meant a lot to me that she respects/trusts me enough as Kara's mom to take care of this. So, for now, we do nothing. We wait and pray that she just grows out of it without too many more UTIs in the process. Obviously, if she has a lot they will have to put her on the antibiotics long term and do more tests. Right now she is peacefully sleeping in her cozy crib, with new pjs on, clean bedding, and her favorite nighttime cd playing. All is right in her world.

Our Brave Little Girl

Today was Kara's kidney ultrasound and VCUG. She was SO good. She had no food or water for over 5 hours and completely missed her morning nap. She just quietly laid still for the whole ultrasound. They did one kidney at a time and then her bladder taking about 30 or so pictures. Then it came to the other part that we have been dreading for weeks. After waiting in the waiting room for what seemed like hours we were called in. She got cute robes to wear and was pretty interested in the whole x-ray process. She was so still. Then they had to insert a catheter. They said it would be harder on us than on her but I know it wasn't. It took 3 tries and she jerked and screamed her head off. She had it in her for about 45 minutes while they filled her bladder with dye. We watched and waited to see if the dye was going to reflux back up into the ureters or as far as the kidneys (which would be really bad.) We had our fingers and toes crossed that there would be no reflux. Unfortunately, one side started to go up into the ureter. Then a few minutes later the other side started to as well. I was so sad but at least we have some answers. Out of a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the worst) she was about a 3-4 on one side and 4 on the other. It did go back into her kidneys. The technician said she had seen worse--but what is she supposed to say?! I am so sad that she had to go through that and now we have to take more steps to keep her from getting recurring infections and kidney damage. The reports will be written up and sent to our doctor within a few days and then we will go from there. I am, of course, going to request a urologist instead of just letting our regular pediatrician handle it (if she even does that.) I am glad we are getting this all figured out while she is so young and hopefully it will correct itself over time. All I know is is that we have several more catheters, ultrasounds and antibiotics in her future. This makes me sad. I don't want her to have to go through this. Teething her 1-year molars and possibly having 'thrush' now from her last round of antibiotics is enough stress for all us.

February Fun!

We went to our friends' son's birthday party at a place called Scooter's Jungle. It was really cool. Kara was the youngest one there (except the 8-day-old newborn) but she had a great time. She is definitely a thrill seeker and loved the huge slide.

An update on health issues at our house--since Kara has had 3 urinary tract infections in the past 8 months her doctor wants to have a kidney ultrasound done (VCUG) to make sure there isn't any kidney damage being done. Only 8% of girls under the age of 5 get ONE UTI. Three is not good. It is most likely (hopefully) a reflux of urine back into the kidneys that 30-50% of kids grow out of. She will probably be put on a low dose antibiotic for awhile and monitored closely. Her ultrasound is scheduled for Feb. 16. The will have to insert a catheter and fill her bladder full of dye to see if it is going back up into the kidneys. She will not be sedated and I will have to hold her arms. They said it will be harder on me than her but I am completely dreading it. She is pulling both of my arms off of the keyboard right now so I must go read her a book.