Doctors, Doctors, and more doctors!

Poor Peyton, he has been to the doctor a lot lately, and I wanted to give an update on how much he has grown and how his kidneys and bladder are doing.

First of all, I took Peyton in for his 18 month check up on Friday the 29th, which he actually is 19 1/2 months old...whoops, but here are his stats:

He weighs 28.5 pounds and is in the 75 percentile for weight (I would have sworn he broke the 30 lb mark by now!)

He is 35 inches tall and is still in the 95 percentile for height. (Darn it, just 1 more inch to go to be 3 feet)

His checkup went well and the doctor said that he was amazed that Peyton talked as much and as well as he did. He was also impressed that Peyton was already sleeping in his toddler bed. Oh and the good thing about this appointment was that Peyton didn't have to have any shots!

Urologist Appointment on September 2nd:

First, I should fill in those who don't know about Peyton's kidneys or bladder or just a reminder for those who did know. (but mostly so that I don't forget this info. Like I would, there were some pretty traumatic moments for me, the mom. ie. The IV)

When I was pregnant with Peyton, they did an ultrasound on me and found that Peyton's kidneys were enlarged and that once he was born they would do an ultrasound on Peyton to see what was going on. Well the left one was still enlarged when he was born, but the right had returned to normal size. So they did a VCUG which is a test where they insert a catheter into Peyton's bladder to see if any of his urine was backing up to the kidneys. So his left kidney was swollen and the right side of his bladder was refluxing urine back up to the kidneys. The pediatrician said that the kidneys could have a "kink" in the tube or some sort of a blockage and that we should just wait and see it it straightened out or fixed itself. The bladder was the problem though. Basically with urine going the wrong way, it could cause the kidneys to work extra to try to keep the urine in the bladder and that he could get lots of urinary tract infections, so Peyton went on an antibiotic.

When Peyton was 3 months old, we went to the children's hospital in Winston-Salem and they tried to do a nuclear scan on Peyton's kidneys. They had to do an IV and the poor little guy inherited my awful veins. They stuck him 8 times, before we said enough! They rescheduled him for when he was 6 months old and after 7 sticks, they finally got a successful IV. They did the test and it showed that his kidneys were working really well, and that only the right had a little bit of decreased output. So after a trip to see his urologist, he said that Peyton could just continue on his antibiotic and then we would see him in one year, which leads me to our visit this week.

I took Peyton in for his tests by myself this time. (I think I forgot to mention that Craig came along for the last traumatic hospital tests.) He had to have an ultrasound and a VCUG (the catheter in the bladder). The ultrasound went pretty well. We did it at the children's hospital so they had cartoons playing and I could lay on the bed with Peyton and keep him calm.

Then came the VCUG. It was horrible! Peyton had to be stripped down naked and strapped to a table with his arms up above his head basically strapped to his head. They had him covered up, but he was not comfortable. They put the catheter in and then I had to leave the room. Poor thing. Peyton cried the entire time. Basically they fill up his bladder to capacity and then he pees it all out.

After the test we went to the urologist office and immediately Peyton started grabbing his diaper and crying and saying owie! He is too little to make things up, so I knew he was in pain. Poor thing. Well, the tests showed that the kidneys continue to look good and the bladder reflux is now 3-4/5 instead of 4-5/5 on the right. He now has reflux on the left, but it is really minimal at 1-2/5. So, Peyton gets to continue his awful medicine for another year until we repeat these tests again. The urologist said that it might take until he is 5 years old to grow out of this or they will have to do surgery.

I know that his problems aren't serious, so I don't think about it very much, but when this time of year comes around, I really feel bad for the little guy.

Oh, and this wasn't the worst part yet. So every 3-4 minutes for the rest of the day (the test was at 1:00), Peyton would grab his diaper and start crying. I felt so bad. His little pee-pee was so swollen and sore, he couldn't pee. I didn't change a wet diaper all afternoon. Well, I figured if he slept all night, that he would have to wake up with a wet diaper, because he couldn't possibly hold it all night long. Well, he woke up the next morning screaming in pain and doubled over. He could barely walk. I checked his diaper and it was dry! His bladder was as hard as a rock. I called the pediatricians office and talked to one of the doctors and she said to put him in a warm bath so that he could pee in there. That worked although Peyton cried the entire time. After a little Motrin to help with the swelling, he started to pee better and felt much better. We had to quadruple his antibiotics for the next several days to make sure he doesn't get an infection, but I think he is on the mend.

I think what happened is that his little prostate got inflamed when they put the catheter in. Think old man, who can't pee because of an enlarged prostate. Peyton really couldn't pee. Poor guy!

So, this leads me to yesterday's appointment:

This is to see how many actually read to the bottom of this ginormous post.

I went to the doctor yesterday and took Peyton with me. He got a little bit nervous until he realized that I was the one that the doctors were paying attention to. Plus it helped that they gave him a sucker and a sticker and doted all over him!!

Well, I have some news that I have been holding on to. Drum roll...

I am expecting our second child in March. March 15th to be exact! Yeah, we are so excited. I have been pretty sick, and that is my excuse for not being a good blogger lately, but really I didn't have too many good days at the beginning of this pregnancy, but hallelujah!!! I am feeling better. At least 75% better. Smells still bother me, but I am sure that will continue for a while.

There you go, you are all updated on at least Peyton and myself. Craig is just working a ton of hours and Peyton is lucky to see him before bedtime.