Liz and Logan: As of Late

I really hate going so long between updates! Not only for anyone who reads this but also for myself. I look back at my blog often when I'm curious about something or when I need certain information and it's always more difficult to search through a long post. Anyway, I'm here to get things caught up! It's amazing how much busier life gets with a baby (especially a sick one) but I'll do my best to update more often in the future.

Once again, things haven't been smooth sailing since my last post and unfortunately we haven't been home the whole time either. On Monday, August 24th, I took Austin in for his routine labs and after walking out of clinic, I noticed his arm hadn't stopped bleeding. He had never had clotting issues previously but I was still concerned enough to go back up and ask the doctor to look at it. Rather than get a doctor, the MA thought it would be find to re-bandage it and she said he would be fine if I left it on for awhile. I still didn't feel good about it so I should have been more assertive. Lesson learned. We got home and later than evening I was showing Logan his arm and every time we lifted the bandage up, it would bleed quite a bit. As much as we didn't want to be back at the hospital, we knew something was wrong so we called our pediatrician and headed straight for the ED.

In the ED they checked his coags to see if his blood was clotting (we knew his platelets were fine) but when lab called down and said: "Those results came back really abnormal so we think there was a lab error, let's check again." We knew something was really wrong. They checked again and unfortunately there was not a lab error. Austin's clotting factors were dangerously abnormal so he had to be admitted. They initially prepared us to go to the PICU but someone worked some magic and got us on the floor. I would have stayed overnight regardless and the floor is SO much more comfortable. As wonderful as the nurses and doctors in the PICU are, nobody wants to be there anyway.

We figured Austin would be sent to the Infant Unit so when they told us he was going to ICS for logistical reasons, we were very surprised but also cautiously excited! We hadn't been back to ICS since we were there with Eli so we knew it would be difficult in some ways but on the flip side, we comfortable with ICS and love the people there so we were looking forward to seeing some of them. As we hoped, staying on ICS ended up being a huge blessing. We quickly felt very comfortable and one of our favorite nurses that took care of Eli happened to be working the night we were admitted. It was so good to see a familiar face! I guess Austin just wants to make sure he gets to experience as much of the hospital as possible. He has now stayed on three different units as well as the ED. Lucky kid! ;)

Fortunately they were able to get Austin's coags under control right away. For a very brief moment, the ED docs mentioned things like "blood disease" and "cancer" but Logan and I were sure it was all related to his liver issues. The GI docs were contacted and they knew right away that it was definitely a liver issue. They ordered some Vitamin K and FFP and within hours his numbers were back to normal. It was a huge relief seeing safe labs again because Austin was a big risk for a stroke if he were to have a brain bleed so we were constantly stressing about that the first night in the hospital. They kept asking us things like: "Does he seem to be acting normal? Is his suck normal when he eats?" Those things DID seem normal until we had to constantly watch them and then of course we didn't know what normal was anymore. After a couple doses of Vitamin K and two days in the hospital, he was given the all clear and sent home with oral vitamins. Not bad at all!

Because Austin's liver is still clogged and working overtime to catch up, it doesn't have the ability to access the Vitamin K necessary to clot his blood. He was okay up until now because at birth, babies are given a Vitamin K injection so he had enough of that stored up the past few months. As soon as his liver is caught up, he will be able to regulate everything on his own without the help of the oral vitamins at home. We feel so grateful it ended up being such a minor issue that took us to the hospital this time!

Since coming home, Austin has done really well! The vitamins seem to be doing the trick and he is also on a medication that is helping clear his liver up. He is now four months old and cuter than ever! Here is my Instagram post with a little bit about Austin at four months old:

99% of our lives revolve around Austin, which is just how we want it! Everything else is going well also. At the beginning of August we were able to go on my family's traditional vacation to Newport Beach and it was so much fun! It doesn't happen very often that we all get together so we always love every minute of it! It felt so good to get away from the hospital and regular life and escape for a bit. We can't wait until next time! Logan is enjoying school this semester and still loves his job. I get to stay home with Austin all day and it's the best job in the world! We went to Bear Lake over Labor Day weekend with some of our friends and we are now trying to enjoy each warm day we have left before it gets too cold! We are looking forward to our trip out to see some family in Minnesota next month and have our fingers crossed that winter doesn't come to the Twin Cities too soon!

Until next time, enjoy these cute pictures of our boy!