Health updates

The week of Christmas was a big week in our house for health updates for both kiddos.

Brayden:
Brayden has struggled with ear infections (again!) since Halloween.  We had our second follow up with the ENT since Halloween on Christmas Eve. At the last appointment in Novemeber, the doctor ended up removing one of his tubes as it was starting to come out so Brayden only has one tube remaining.  At our Christmas Eve appointment, we learned Brayden has fluid in the ear without the tube and thus didn't do super on his hearing test.  Not terrible but it definitely affected his hearing.  So, we talked the doctor about possibly getting Brayden his THIRD set of tubes! We ended up deciding to give him another month and a half and see how he was doing before we made a decision.  So, we go back mid February.  So ready for him to outgrow this issue which the doctor did say they usually outgrow it by age 3.

Kyle:
In early December, Kyle had his first fever. We went to the doctor and after a slew of tests and many pokes and prods including a catheter, we discovered that he had a UTI.  Since UTIs are really rare in boys, we were sent for additional tests.  Kyle got an ultrasound of his urinary tract and a VCUG, which is a test where dye is shot into the bladder via a catheter and watched on a xray machine to make sure that there are no signs of urinary reflux (meaning that fluid is going the wrong direction from the bladder back to the kidneys).  We found that he does not have urinary reflux but were told that his ultrasound showed an enlarged kidney.  They left us that message in the evening one night which of course sent my crazy mom emotions all over the place.  You never want to hear anything is wrong with your kids but particularly something with his vital organs.  So, the day after Christmas we had an appointment with a Pediatric Urologist to find out the next steps.  We had to meet with the nurse practitioner in order to get an appointment before the end of the year. She reviewed the ultrasound and informed us that enlarged kidneys are actually somewhat common in newborns and Kyle's is within the normal range.  She said the doctor would also review the scans to make sure there was nothing else abnormal but she thought everything looked good.  If that's the case, we just continue to monitor it and ensure that as he gets older it gets better.  We go back in late January for the next check-up so stay tuned!  Also, none of this seems to bother Kyle at all -- he is such a happy, smiley, giggly baby. :)