our beautiful babies & emma's CBC
I might be slightly, just a tiny bit biased when it comes to our kids, but I think they are pretty darn cute. I love watching them grow and be the cute, fun little people that they are. Here are some random photos from this week:
BELOW: We were at our neighbors garage sale, and Rhys had to wear this helmet. She wanted it on, then off, then on, then off, then on...and she would act so cool while she wore it. Like she thought she looked so pretty. It might have had something to do with our neighbor telling her how beautiful she looked in it...hehe. We're pretty sure she's going to want to wear it with her prom dress when she's a teen. Yes. She likes it THAT much. hehe.
CBC
So, to the not as fun part, Emma had her blood work done on Tuesday.
I had to take all the kidlets with me. They did really good. Violet sat by Emma and tried to comfort her with hugs while she was getting her blood taken. Emma didn't want to give them her arm, so we had to force it, which I hate doing. They got it in one poke. Emma was very, very upset (screaming at them, crying).
WBC: 2.0 (ref range is 4.5-11.0)
HGB 10 (12-16) - androgens help this blood line the most
HCT 28.10 (36-46)
Platelets 39 (130-400)
ANC 650
Her platelets are considered "critically low". Her ANC is her immune system. Easiest way to describe it is that it's her body's ability to fight infection. Under 1500 (some places say under 2000) is abnormal. Under 1000 means you have a higher chance of infection. Under 500 is severely low. Emma is 650. So, her immune system is pretty wimpy right now. It's usually pretty wimpy (800-900), but it's extra wimpy now.
The doctor said to be really careful of germs. If she runs a fever of 101.5, we need to call & probably admit her. It's hard to not feel really frustrated. We so badly want her to have a normal life, but right now, we have to be so careful. Also means the other kids have to be really careful. Luckily we've had awesome neighbors who have done whatever they can to make sure our kids have a social life.
I asked the doctor about Emma's cellularity going up to 80% and why we aren't seeing an increase in Emma's blood counts. Honestly I can't remember his answer. He went to a place with his explanation that I was completely unfamiliar with medically (yes, that apparently still happens with FA!), and the kids were getting really impatient and continually interrupting, so I need to ask again. Whatever it was, it had something to do with how FA kids don't make a certain something and even with the higher cellularity, they still don't make it, so that's why there isn't the increase.
ELLA's POKE
After Emma's poke, it was Ella's turn. If you remember, or didn't know, the first time they tested Ella, the lab messed up and did the wrong test completely. No blood was leftover, so they asked us to come back to retest her. I'm not mad at anyone, I know mistakes happen, but the situation has been very frustrating. I hate hate HATE having our babies poked, and to do it again because of an error was really frustrating.
So, they took this sweet baby, who was cooing and smiling at everyone, and tried to find her tiny little vein:
Which made her do this...(in case I've confused you, these aren't photos from the doctor visit):
The doctor walked in just as the phlebotomist was finding a vein. He offered to do it, so she let him. The hematologists seem to be better with the hard pokes. Anyway, so after my usual threat of physical harm if he didn't get the poke, he missed. And then he dug...a lot. We determined that his fear of me kicking him in the head might have lead to him missing the vein. (He's like 6' 3"...about a foot taller than me). So, after a ridiculous amount of digging, and him threatening to send me out of the room (teasing...because he better be teasing....), he decided to stop and try again. He knew he had one more try and then we were done. I'm not interested in little baby being used as a pin cushion.
She screamed so hard and so sad. I really, really can't stand it.
He did end up getting it with the second poke and a lot of digging. He got it, then it would stop flowing. Then he'd have to dig and find it again. It would flow, then stop. Then he'd have to dig. Then find it and it's flow then stop. We tried holding her still, but she was fighting so hard, it made her tiny vein move and mess up the blood draw. Finally they got 2 cc's of blood. That's all they needed! So, let's hope they get the right test done this time because I don't think I'll be agreeing to bring her in again.
For those concerned, the doctor did survive. hehe. He has a great sense of humor, so it was funny...minus the blood draw part. He told me that Dr L is afraid to come and poke our babies because of me. I laughed, and he told me he was serious. Then I thought through the past four babies, and Dr L has never done blood work on them. Oh, yeah. The power of the ninja mom.
I love this photo. Rhys is the sweetest big baby sister ever.
I'll write more on this later, but it's pretty for sure we'll be getting the new house. We will probably be moving in in 1.5 weeks. Yippee! Of course, there's always the chance something freakishly bizarre will happen (like the world exploding) in which case, we probably wouldn't get the house.
Okay, I'm not really making sense, am I? I'm about to fall asleep. I think I should go.
I hope you are all doing well! I'll post house photos soon.
Take care,
Teresa
BELOW: We were at our neighbors garage sale, and Rhys had to wear this helmet. She wanted it on, then off, then on, then off, then on...and she would act so cool while she wore it. Like she thought she looked so pretty. It might have had something to do with our neighbor telling her how beautiful she looked in it...hehe. We're pretty sure she's going to want to wear it with her prom dress when she's a teen. Yes. She likes it THAT much. hehe.
CBC
So, to the not as fun part, Emma had her blood work done on Tuesday.
I had to take all the kidlets with me. They did really good. Violet sat by Emma and tried to comfort her with hugs while she was getting her blood taken. Emma didn't want to give them her arm, so we had to force it, which I hate doing. They got it in one poke. Emma was very, very upset (screaming at them, crying).
WBC: 2.0 (ref range is 4.5-11.0)
HGB 10 (12-16) - androgens help this blood line the most
HCT 28.10 (36-46)
Platelets 39 (130-400)
ANC 650
Her platelets are considered "critically low". Her ANC is her immune system. Easiest way to describe it is that it's her body's ability to fight infection. Under 1500 (some places say under 2000) is abnormal. Under 1000 means you have a higher chance of infection. Under 500 is severely low. Emma is 650. So, her immune system is pretty wimpy right now. It's usually pretty wimpy (800-900), but it's extra wimpy now.
The doctor said to be really careful of germs. If she runs a fever of 101.5, we need to call & probably admit her. It's hard to not feel really frustrated. We so badly want her to have a normal life, but right now, we have to be so careful. Also means the other kids have to be really careful. Luckily we've had awesome neighbors who have done whatever they can to make sure our kids have a social life.
I asked the doctor about Emma's cellularity going up to 80% and why we aren't seeing an increase in Emma's blood counts. Honestly I can't remember his answer. He went to a place with his explanation that I was completely unfamiliar with medically (yes, that apparently still happens with FA!), and the kids were getting really impatient and continually interrupting, so I need to ask again. Whatever it was, it had something to do with how FA kids don't make a certain something and even with the higher cellularity, they still don't make it, so that's why there isn't the increase.
ELLA's POKE
After Emma's poke, it was Ella's turn. If you remember, or didn't know, the first time they tested Ella, the lab messed up and did the wrong test completely. No blood was leftover, so they asked us to come back to retest her. I'm not mad at anyone, I know mistakes happen, but the situation has been very frustrating. I hate hate HATE having our babies poked, and to do it again because of an error was really frustrating.
So, they took this sweet baby, who was cooing and smiling at everyone, and tried to find her tiny little vein:
Which made her do this...(in case I've confused you, these aren't photos from the doctor visit):
The doctor walked in just as the phlebotomist was finding a vein. He offered to do it, so she let him. The hematologists seem to be better with the hard pokes. Anyway, so after my usual threat of physical harm if he didn't get the poke, he missed. And then he dug...a lot. We determined that his fear of me kicking him in the head might have lead to him missing the vein. (He's like 6' 3"...about a foot taller than me). So, after a ridiculous amount of digging, and him threatening to send me out of the room (teasing...because he better be teasing....), he decided to stop and try again. He knew he had one more try and then we were done. I'm not interested in little baby being used as a pin cushion.
She screamed so hard and so sad. I really, really can't stand it.
He did end up getting it with the second poke and a lot of digging. He got it, then it would stop flowing. Then he'd have to dig and find it again. It would flow, then stop. Then he'd have to dig. Then find it and it's flow then stop. We tried holding her still, but she was fighting so hard, it made her tiny vein move and mess up the blood draw. Finally they got 2 cc's of blood. That's all they needed! So, let's hope they get the right test done this time because I don't think I'll be agreeing to bring her in again.
For those concerned, the doctor did survive. hehe. He has a great sense of humor, so it was funny...minus the blood draw part. He told me that Dr L is afraid to come and poke our babies because of me. I laughed, and he told me he was serious. Then I thought through the past four babies, and Dr L has never done blood work on them. Oh, yeah. The power of the ninja mom.
I love this photo. Rhys is the sweetest big baby sister ever.
I'll write more on this later, but it's pretty for sure we'll be getting the new house. We will probably be moving in in 1.5 weeks. Yippee! Of course, there's always the chance something freakishly bizarre will happen (like the world exploding) in which case, we probably wouldn't get the house.
Okay, I'm not really making sense, am I? I'm about to fall asleep. I think I should go.
I hope you are all doing well! I'll post house photos soon.
Take care,
Teresa
beautiful photos of those beautiful gifts from GOD!! and i would've been ready to squash any pain causers, too!!! a mama's love is feirce!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletecontinuing to pray for Emma....
love
cheryl