Andrew Update

Last Thursday Andrew had his 4 month appointment! I can't believe how big he is getting. He is healthy and strong, and pretty big for his age. As of Thursday he weighs 16lbs 7oz and is 26" long!!! After his 4 month check-up on Thursday, we headed up to Puyallup on Friday for his appointment with a urologist to talk about Andrew's Reflux. Here is an explanation for the condition: All of us have 2 kidneys, a bladder, and ureter's (this connects your kidney to your bladder), normally urine will flow from the kidneys through the ureter and into the bladder where it then exits our body through the urethra. With Vesicoureteral Reflux urine does the same thing, it flows from the kidneys down through the ureter and into the bladder, but then once it reaches the bladder (and it contracts), urine then shoots back up through the ureter and back into his kidney. There are 5 stages of severity for Reflux...Andrew is at the most severe - stage 5! Andrew has 2 kidneys, however on his left side (if I remember correctly) he has TWO ureters (which is part cause for his being so severe), and when his bladder contracts there is an extremely large amount of urine entering back into his kidneys. With that being said, we went and saw the specialist, and he said that boys have a much higher potential for the body to fix the problem by itself, so for now Andrew will continue to stay on antibiotics (until we are told to stop), and in 6 months he will have an ultrasound (to monitor the kidneys & make sure there is no infection, and to make sure growth is on schedule), and then in a year he will have another VCUG test (to see if the body is correcting the problem itself), and at that point we will reevaluate the situation and see where to go from there! So all in all, he is okay and we just have to keep an eye on him and make sure no fevers strike up again. Other than that he is getting cuter by the day!!! I can't believe 4 months have already passed by. He is talking more, and he can roll over from his tummy to his back no problem. He is such a bundle of joy and makes me smile and laugh all the time!!!