We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in Minneapolis last night because it's linked via skyway to Children's and we heard snow was in the forecast. We couldn't risk missing or being late to the appointment and that way we didn't have to get the girls up nearly as early. It was 8pm when we arrived and we all snuggled in the king size bed together. I brought a pile of toys and the girls had fun playing for a couple hours before we all went to sleep. The girls slept well but Royce and I were nervous and anxious about the appointment which kept us up off and on most of the night.
We took the shuttle over to Children's at 7:30 am since that was faster than walking the skyway. After the nurse took their vitals we saw the Hematologist who we both really liked. She said she knew which baby was Rasa because she is a lot more pale than Adia but told us she looks good for being a 4 on the iron scale (average iron is 15 - severely low is 8) since most babies/children that low are ghostly white. She told us if Rasa was any younger than she is they would do a blood transfusion on her because of her low levels. She took all of our family history and sent us off to the lab for blood draws.
We had a long wait at the lab but they had fun stuff for the girls to play with. Adia loved crawling on the rug that was printed with a stream and flowers. Rasa loved the huge blow up dinosaur and poked it and gigggled like it was the best thing she'd ever seen before. The Pediatric Nurse doing the labs was really sweet and the girls both liked her. She got both of their veins in their arms right away and it only took five minutes for both girls! It took an hour and a half last Friday so this was awesome! Neither girl cried or flinched. Strong little beauties :)
Our results came back relatively quickly and Rasa's points went up 1.6 which was excellent news! Her white blood counts are also now in the low normal range. Adia's points remained the same - 7.6 but the theory is that since she wasn't as severe it might take her body longer to respond. We have to go weekly now for hemoglobin testing until both girls numbers reach 9 so it could take anywhere from four to eight weeks. If things continue to rise and stay there we will do testing every six months. If at anytime levels drop again we have to go back to Children's for testing to determine if they are losing iron or not absorbing it. Right now it's believed both girls just suffer from iron deficiency anemia.
It's good to feel like we have a handle on this and that we're doing everything needed to manage it. The girls are doing so well even though they likely don't feel well. Levels like theirs would leave an adult laid out but babies manage it a lot better.
Rasa after her fearless blood draw (Don't let Royce fool you - I hold each girl during painful procedures, he plays the good guy):
Adia playing peek-a-boo on my lap as we're waiting for results after her blood draw:
2 comments:
Super troopers. I have a hard time even reading it.
They are brave like their Momma ;)
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