She's Just Amazing

Natalie never ceases to amaze me. We made a round trip to Anchorage yesterday for doctor's appointments and managed to squeeze a cardiology appointment in for Natalie. We were up and leaving the house at 5 AM and saw the beautiful sunrise in our rearview mirror.

I am just convinced that Dr. B. must have oxygen or nitric oxide pumped into his office through the venting system. Natalie's oxygen sats were 82%! What?! And of course she was very pink and happy. Her pulse was 100 and BP was 90/40. (Most of you could care less, but some of the details are just my journaling.) We talked about Natalie's recent illness and came to the conclusion that her sats were probably low because of the infection. Of course with a pulse of 150, her little half-a-heart was using up a lot of O's.

Natalie did have blood drawn to check her hemaglobin levels. The best that I can explain it is that with blue-blood kids, they have to make a lot of extra red blood cells to compensate for the mixed blood physiology. If her little body wasn't getting enough iron or wasn't able to compensate for the increased amount of red blood cells that it had to make, it would make a lot of immature red blood cells. They are small and will easily stick together, not being able to pick up as much oxygen. If the body is not having to make them too quickly and has the iron to make them, they have enough time to grow nice and big-able to carry lots of oxygen. They also aren't as sticky. So, we went down to the lab to get blood drawn.

Natalie has gotten her Synagis shots every month, but this was a little different. I don't sugar coat anything with her and tell her when an "owie" is coming. We walked into the lab and looked at all the pretty pictures of flowers. I sat in the chair with her on my lap. When she saw the white-coated lady getting out the tournaquette, I could see her little brain start turning. I told her that she was going to get a little owie. She looked again at the lady and buried her little curley head in my chest. It was a soft cry because she knew what was coming. I held her tight and put her arm out to let the lady get the blood. The cries got louder, but she didn't fight it or throw a fit. She did so good. I was so proud of her.

It doesn't get any easier for her mommy. I always wonder what's going through her head now that she understands more. She always knows what produces the "owies" and knows that they are for her. It's as though she accepts them as being part of her life. When her Synagis supplies would arrive, she knew exactly what was in the Fed-ex box. After her shots, she always wanted to look at the needles and syringes. I've caught her up on the counter picking up her used syringes to check them out. In fact, she started calling the syringes that I use to measure out her liquid enalapril "owies." I had to explain that they wouldn't give her owies-they didn't have the needles.

Natalie's latest interest has been the DVD's that have been made about her time in the hospital and her first year. She is constantly asking me to watch "Happy Baby" as she calls them. One DVD has a short clip of her at three months old after she had been brought back to the Ronald McDonald House the first time. She has the biggest smile on her face with the NG tube coming out of her nose. She doesn't make much noise but acts like she is mouthing sounds. (I don't think she had found her voice yet.) Her eyes are wide and sparkling. (Still on Ativan.) Yes, it brings back many memories and emotions for me. Natalie loves to watch them over and over. All the pictures are there-the sad ones with all the tubes-and the happy ones with her first smiles and accomplishments. She loves them all. Natalie's world revolves around Natalie! What more can I say, she is TWO.

(I got a call today that the lab tests showed nice big red blood cells!)

Scarlatina/Scarlet Fever

While I was single parenting it when Tim was in Canada for a week, Natalie decided to come down with Scarlatina. She had experienced a fever ten days earlier, but I didn't get the correlation until later. She had been waking up crying in the middle of the night, but wouldn't ever tell me what was going on. Her volcabulary is still limited so there are many times that she has to show me what she is talking about or just point. Two different nights, I gave her ibuprofen and then she slept through the rest of the night. I knew that she didn't feel very good, but couldn't put my finger on the problem. I was getting worried when she said her legs were "heavy" when she was walking up the stairs.

(The flash really washed out the red effect of the rash. It looked a lot worse in person.)

Sunday she started having a moderate fever (over 101F) and came down with a rash on her arms and torso. The little red-raised bumps were pin-like. I figured they would go away like any other viral rash that kiddos get at this age. But Natalie started complaining about her hands and her belly hurting her. Her heart rate was in the 150's -160's and her respirations were around 60 per minute. She was looking bluer than her norm. She just wasn't herself. So I got a friend to watch the other three kids and took Natalie to the urgent care center our in town.

The doctor thought it looked like Scarlatina even though Natalie's throat didn't look like the typical strep throat. Scarletina is caused by the group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus bacteria. This was conciderably worrisome to me because this bacteria can settle in heart valves and cause serious problems-not something that we need to be dealing with.

So we left urgent care Sunday night with some Augmentin and started the first dose.

Her rash progressively got worse-which I expected. Poor girl had what looked like a terrible case of eczema all over her arms and legs. The rash left her torso and settled into her hands and feet by Tuesday. It was dark red and felt like sandpaper. She itched really bad. I treated that mostly with topical hydrocortisone and Benadryl.

Thursday, Natalie woke up with hives all over her face and the left side of her body. Talk about itching...she was just a trooper and didn't complain, but I could see her constantly scratching her arms and legs. Back to the clinic we went and her Augmentin was changed to Azithromycin. That one did the trick and now she is back to her normal active self. (She's getting into everything and irritating her sisters.)

During our trip to the clinic, we found out that Natalie's pulse ox was down to 72-73%. It had been awhile since I had taken her pulse ox and was a little surprised that it was so low. That would explain why she's been huffing and puffing more lately when she does anything strenuous. It's time for a cardiologist visit so we'll see what the next step is then.

Growing Boy's Point of View

Hi! I'm five months old now. My sister, Jessica, thought I needed a flower in my swing with me since it was Spring. I enjoy swinging. Daddy likes putting me in my swing to make me take my nap. I also have my blue bear blanket with me in this picture. His ears are getting a little worn from all my chewing. Mommy keeps looking in my mouth. She says something about looking for teeth...don't know about those, but the chewing sure feels good.

Someday I'll grow into Daddy's hat.

Mommy says she'll get me my own hat this summer so I don't get my ears sunburned. All my thick and long hair has been rubbed off, plus Mommy gave me a trim around the ears. My hair is pretty short now. It's so blonde that you can hardly see it.

I can't believe Momma had to put this picture in here. Sometimes it makes me so mad when I have to be on the floor doing my push-ups. I've gotten a lot better at it though and actually have enjoyed playing on my tummy.

Here's a picture of my wake-up play-partner. I've decided that 7 AM is the ideal time to get started with my day. Jessie is usually up early too and comes in and plays with me in the morning while mommy is taking a shower. I'm a happy waker-upper and welcome the play time. Mommy likes having me diverted awhile too. She says, "That's what siblings are for."

I've started sitting up a little at a time now. I'm still wobbly and need help, but I like the change of view.

I like to sit at the table with my family when they are eating. Being left in my swing or playing on the floor is not my idea of togetherness. I've got a lot to learn about living and don't like to be left out.

Mommy says that I'm getting bigger, but she hasn't weighed and measured me lately. Maybe she'll have some stats soon.