Modern Medicine

It's been an interesting day which all ties back to the day that McKenna was born. McKenna tested Coombs Positive when she was born. That means my blood mixed with her born at some point and my blood started attacking her blood. The major concern with Coombs is that the infant will become jaundiced. Luckily, over our two day stay at Northside, McKenna never developed jaundice and was doing well despite the Coombs Positive test.

The first visit to the pediatrician went well. McKenna gained a couple ounces and no sign of jaundice. The second visit for a weight check proved that she was not gaining enough weigh. Therefore I had to re-think my methods of feeding. Breastfeeding was clearly not enough for her alone. Our third visit was to diagnosed the acid reflux and start medicine for it. Our fourth visit (which was today), the pediatrician notice that the color inside her eyelids was really pale. It should be bright pink or red. She tested her hemoglobin (iron) and the results were really low. They should be above 10 and McKenna's was 7. That gave us a ticket to go to Scottish Rite to have her blood drawn for a more extensive test. The tech that drew her blood was great. He pulled it from her heel instead of having to stick a needle in her arm. I still almost cried.

I came home and tried to feed McKenna this afternoon which led to fussiness for over 2 hours. Her acid reflux was making it hard for her to eat and settle down. I finally got her soothed when the pediatrician called with the results of the blood test. Her hemoglobin was still low and we needed to supplement iron in her bottles. We are going to get it retested on Monday and if it goes any lower then she will need a blood transfusion. The pediatrician says there's a 1% chance of this happening so that's good news. This all stems back to the Coombs.

There's a bunch a medical stuff that I'm leaving now mainly because I'm too tired to process it all. Needless to say, after I hung up with the pediatrician I just started crying. Coombs positive, acid reflux, kidney reflux and now anemia. My poor little McKenna. We've gone to the pediatrician office 4 times now, been to Scottish Rite 3 times and seen a urologist. I pray that all this stuff works it self out over time and that I have the strength as a mom to pull through it as well. Right now, I'm tired and overwhelmed with information. My little girl fusses through feedings and have to give her 3 different medicines throughout the day. Please keep us in your thoughts!