Dr. Updates

It was doctor marathon day for us! I'll just start from the beginning and try not to leave anything out. I can't remember what all I've shared here about everything (could be a lot or could be nothing) so I'll just try to explain everything.

We started the day at the Children's Hospital at 8:45 where Natalie had an Upper GI. She has been having issues with her reflux and her ped. suggested we see a specialist. The specialist we want to see in Houston will only see her after an Upper GI is done, to verify that there is indeed reflux, and also to see if there are any obstructions or anatomical problems causing the reflux. The nurses took Erica and Graham in the viewing room with them while I got to stay with Natalie. She wore a cute little kiddie hospital gown. They asked me if there was any chance I was pregnant. LORD I HOPE NOT. :) But really, no, there isn't. So I got suited up in a lead vest and stayed with her during the procedure. They asked her if she wanted chocolate or strawberry (wish they'd have had that when I had MINE done!!!), and she chose chocolate. So they added some Hershey's syrup to her Barium shake! They laid her up on the table and situated the xray machine over her. Then they showed her the screen and had her drink as much Barium as she could, as fast as she could. She liked watching it go into her stomach on the screen. You could tell she did NOT like it, but she was such a tropper and just kept chugging it. Once there was enough in there, they let her drink some water, which she much preferred. At this point, Graham was having a total meltdown in the other room. I told the nurse he was REALLY tired, and that if she held him close and tight with his paci, he'd probably go to sleep. It was like she'd never held a baby before in her life. He was NOT going to sleep the way SHE was holding him! lol So I asked Natalie if it was ok if I went in there with Graham for a minute, and she was fine. She was just laying there and the dr. and 2 other nurses were there talking with her too. They were just watching and waiting to see if reflux occurred. As soon as I took Graham and held him the way I'd told the nurse to do, he went right to sleep. I rocked him for a minute then laid him in the stroller. As soon as I walked back in to Natalie, they said that the reflux had just occurred, and so that was all the needed. The dr. did also say that her anatomy looked good, so there is nothing abnormal in there causing the reflux. So now, we can go see the specialist in Houston. When she was done, they let her pick out a stuffed fish from this drawer full of them. They were all handmade and very cute. She picked one with a McDonald's fabric. We left there at about 10:00, and our next appt. was for Graham at 11:20. Natalie had to fast for the procedure, so she was very hungry. I had packed some snacks for her, so she ate some goldfish until we could get some food. We stopped at the McDonald's that is near the dr's office, and I got the kids some nuggets and let them play for a little bit until we had to leave for the appt. Last night when I was changing Graham's diaper before bed, I got totally freaked out when it appeared to me that his testicles were... well... missing. His normally large sac was very small and seemed empty. I called Eric in a frenzy and he told me to take a picture and send it to him so I did. He said it was hard to tell from the pic, but that it had probably just shrunk because he was cold. I asked several of my friends who have boys, and got pretty much the same response from all of them. So I told myself, I must be crazy and they are probably right. Well, this morning when I checked, it was the same and I knew something was not right. So I made the dr. appt. for him. Our regular pediatrician wasn't in the office today, so we saw someone else. She checked him out and said that he has a "retractile testicle" (in the office, it was just the one, but since I've been back home, I can see it's actually both of them). That basically means that his testicles can spontaneously move back up into his groin. But you can manually find them and move them back down into the scrotum. And this is painless for him. They can also spontaneously move themselves back down into the scrotum, and basically go back and forth as they please lol. This does not cause a problem as of now. Most likely this will correct itself by the time he reaches puberty. But there is a chance that they can become ascended. Which means that they go back up into the groin, and cannot be manually moved back into the scrotum. And it would painful for him to try and move them manually. In that case, he would need surgery to have them moved back into the scrotum and sewn in place permanently. So basically I am to just keep an eye on them, and when I notice they are retracted, to try and see if I can manually move them back down. If there comes a time where it gets very swollen and/or painful, then he'll need to be seen asap. So, while it's nothing sever, my gut was right. Something was wrong. Mamas, follow your instincts. Ok, so that appt. went well enough. We got out of there around 12:00. I remembered to pack Graham's bottle, water, and formula, but forgot to pack extra bottle liners and I had thrown his away at the dr's office before I realized it. Luckily he wasn't starving yet, so we just went straight home and I fed him and laid him down for a short nap before my appt. And it was perfect timing too because I was afraid I was going to have to wake him up to leave, but he woke up just before I walked into this room. He is always so much happier when he wakes up on his own! Then we left and went to my appt. which was at 2:00. I needed to get labwork done to get my thyroid levels checked again with my new dr. It was easy enough, but it just took awhile to get in. Then, when I told them I needed a new prescription now because I was going to run out of meds before the labs came back, they had to find the dr. and get that called in. After we left there, I went by the mall to pick up my wedding ring, which I'd dropped off to be resized. It hasn't fit since I got pregnant with
Graham and I am so happy to be able to wear it again! After the mall, I went and picked up my prescription, then asked Natalie where she wanted to eat dinner (because I'd told her she could pick since she didn't get to eat breakfast lol). She said she wanted to go to the place where you can make a face on your pancake (i.e. IHOP). I was REALLY hoping she'd pick a drive thru, because I was soooo ready to just pick some food up, go home, put Graham to bed, and SIT DOWN AND RELAX. Panda Express was RIGHT THERE. With a little coaxing (and the promise of ice cream for dessert) I got her to agree to get Panda tonight as long as we went to IHOP tomorrow. :) I will try to remember my camera tomorrow and get pics of her pancake face creation! Once I got Graham in bed, I got to talk to Eric for a little while before he went out with his friends for the night. Must be nice, ha! Sure he gets to go out several nights a week, and all weekend long and be care free and live it up... but *I* get to get hugs and snuggles and wet kisses all.day.long. :) I'm one lucky mama! I'm about to get off here and research some cameras. Eric is closer to conceding the camera war! hehe