Health Updates!

I know what you're thinking, and no, your eyes are not deceiving you. I am actually back with a post after a long hiatus. My blogging had to be moved to the back burner for a while as we had to deal with a lot of traveling for miss Ivy's medical issues (and the holidays), which I'll elaborate on in just a minute, as well as my own health issues.

Ok, in a previous post, I mentioned Ivy was having some issues that I didn't want to discuss until we had some information from the doctor. She actually developed what we'd been calling spasms that were pretty scary. Any time she was tired, overwhelmed, extremely happy, etc, she would shake all over involuntarily in a way that scared us to death. Jake and I were both scared these were mini-seizures because they were causing her to lose her balance/fall over, although she wasn't losing consciousness. She will have these episodes in clusters, especially when she's tired. Well, we ended up taking her to the ER as well as her pediatrician, and both suggested taking her to a neurologist. The closest pediatric neurologist to us is in "the city," which is 1 hr. 1/2 drive. We took her originally right after her birthday to the neurologist for an initial evaluation. The doctor was fabulous and really put our minds at ease. She immediately said she thought this was a benign condition (due to an immature nervous system) that she would grow out of, but she wanted an EEG just to rule any seizure activity out.  So, we went back Dec. 19th and had the EEG done. Here are a couple of pics from that experience.

This was right after the put on all the little probe thingies. They wrapped up her head so she wouldn't try to pull them off during the test.

And this was post-EEG hair! All the paste was soooooo hard to get out, but she looked pretty darn adorable.

Well, good news is, the EEG came back completely normal! (Thank GOD!) The neurologist is sticking with her original diagnosis and we're now calling these "Shudder Attacks." This condition is apparently super rare, about 1 case per year is diagnosed in the US, and no one from our area has ever been diagnosed with it, but it is something that usually goes away by age 2 or 3. It doesn't affect her cognitively, so that's a relief, and it's basically just like a muscle spasm that resembles a cold chill (or a bobble head doll). That's all we know so far. If they seem to change or get worse, we'll be back for more tests, but as for now, she's good.

As for my health, well...baby's doing great, but momma's suffering pretty bad at this point. At 28 weeks, my "Cholestasis of Pregnancy" was confirmed. *yuck!* I was hoping and praying this wouldn't come up this pregnancy, but it did...with a vengeance. I've mentioned Cholestasis before, so I won't go in to complete detail what this condition is for times sake. My bile acids originally measured at 55, which isn't good. (Anything over 10 is confirmed Cholestasis, 60 and above is considered severe Cholestasis.) I've been taking 500 mg of Urso twice a day, so we're waiting on my latest blood work results to come back to see if the meds have lowered my number or not, but based on the amount of itching  I'm dealing with, I can almost guarantee they'll be increasing my dosage. Cholestasis is potentially dangerous to the baby, especially after 37 weeks, so I see my perinatologist once a week for a biophysical and bloodwork (as well as my normal visits with my OB/GYN), and I'm just waiting it out until he says it's time to induce. We're hoping I can make it to 38 weeks, but it's a big possibility I'll be delivering before then. Baby boy looks great, though, according to all the ultrasounds I've been having. He's actually measuring a full week ahead, and he's so active that I have yet to figure out when he actually sleeps. We're getting close to meeting our little man, though, so I'm starting to get super excited....and super nervous! 

Here's a little glimpse at our little guy at the last ultrasound. He's making a kissy face!
*Awwww*

Well, I'll be back next with our Holiday Update!!
Until next time,