Precious Lola is doing so great. She is 5 weeks old and very alert. She works hard to find her thumb but is enjoying her paci. She is a great sleeper, eater and we are even proud to say we have gotten a few smiles already! Lucy is in love with her little sister and makes sure she gets as many kisses as possible though out the say. Lola had her first play date today and was great. She slept while her big sister played with Connor, Parker and Sydney.
As all newborns do in the hospital Lola had a PKU and newborn screening. At her first Dr. appointment we found out that her thyroid levels were not exactly where they should be. Yesterday we had our doctor’s appointment with the endocrinologist for Lola. It was a very uplifting positive visit for all three of us, Adam, Lola and I. Dr. Amaral is her doctor’s name and she spent about an hour with us going over and teaching us what exactly is going on with Lola. It made us feel really good and armed us with information.
The way she explained what is happening in terms that were very easy to understand: Lola’s thyroid was born “sleepy” so her pituitary gland which is in the front of her brain has had to work extra hard to tell the thyroid gland to produce more hormone. The pituitary gland would yell at Lola’s thyroid over and over throughout the day. So her thyroid was producing this but her brain was just working hard to make sure it was getting done. This means at no time has Lola gone without this extremely important hormone. The medication that they put her on at day 8 was to “wake up” her thyroid so her brain could have a rest. The doctor said after you yell and yell at someone over and over for the same thing you get tired and quit. Same with her brain if she was not on this medication at some point to wake up her thyroid her pituitary gland would just quit communicating this information and at that time she would have gone without the hormone and that is when the problems could have occurred.
Praise God this did not happen and that there is medication to help her thyroid. Our thyroids are very important to our bodies especially from birth – 3 years helping with brain development and motor skills. This is why Lola will be on this medication for the next 3 years. They still have not determined that she truly has congenital hypothyroidism but she said in newborns they take extreme measures to make sure this hormone is working.
Lola will go visit Dr. Amaral every 2 months to get her blood drawn and check her levels to make sure they are where they should be – which they will be because of the medication. If they are high or low at any point she will adjust her dosage. The only chance in the next 3 years Lola could be taken off this medication is if she goes from being Hypo to Hyper in that case that means her body is producing the hormone on its own and she could slowly be taken off the medication. Which would be amazing!
Tomorrow we will go and have a sonogram of Lola’s thyroid. Dr. Amaral says it can either be positioned wrong or it could just be small. In any case it will give us more information as to why her thyroid is supposedly not doing its job.
There are not side effects to this medication. If she does have this it is helping her and if she doesn’t have it and if the hospital test were incorrect we will know because she would start showing signs of hyper. Hypothyroidism happens in about 1 in every 4000 babies and there is no known cause of it.
Lola is doing amazing, hasn’t missed a beat and is awesome with her medication. She is growing to a whopping 9.12 lbs right now and measuring perfectly. She is a total joy and changing everyday. It is amazing how a simple blood test can share so much about her body. So mommy’s when you go have your baby be extra thankful for that PKU test and newborn screening! What an amazing world we live in where this medication can do everything for Lola that she needs.
Adam and I are so grateful and are thankful that all is well. Thank you for your prayers and as you can see from reading the above we are doing GREAT!
The way she explained what is happening in terms that were very easy to understand: Lola’s thyroid was born “sleepy” so her pituitary gland which is in the front of her brain has had to work extra hard to tell the thyroid gland to produce more hormone. The pituitary gland would yell at Lola’s thyroid over and over throughout the day. So her thyroid was producing this but her brain was just working hard to make sure it was getting done. This means at no time has Lola gone without this extremely important hormone. The medication that they put her on at day 8 was to “wake up” her thyroid so her brain could have a rest. The doctor said after you yell and yell at someone over and over for the same thing you get tired and quit. Same with her brain if she was not on this medication at some point to wake up her thyroid her pituitary gland would just quit communicating this information and at that time she would have gone without the hormone and that is when the problems could have occurred.
Praise God this did not happen and that there is medication to help her thyroid. Our thyroids are very important to our bodies especially from birth – 3 years helping with brain development and motor skills. This is why Lola will be on this medication for the next 3 years. They still have not determined that she truly has congenital hypothyroidism but she said in newborns they take extreme measures to make sure this hormone is working.
Lola will go visit Dr. Amaral every 2 months to get her blood drawn and check her levels to make sure they are where they should be – which they will be because of the medication. If they are high or low at any point she will adjust her dosage. The only chance in the next 3 years Lola could be taken off this medication is if she goes from being Hypo to Hyper in that case that means her body is producing the hormone on its own and she could slowly be taken off the medication. Which would be amazing!
Tomorrow we will go and have a sonogram of Lola’s thyroid. Dr. Amaral says it can either be positioned wrong or it could just be small. In any case it will give us more information as to why her thyroid is supposedly not doing its job.
There are not side effects to this medication. If she does have this it is helping her and if she doesn’t have it and if the hospital test were incorrect we will know because she would start showing signs of hyper. Hypothyroidism happens in about 1 in every 4000 babies and there is no known cause of it.
Lola is doing amazing, hasn’t missed a beat and is awesome with her medication. She is growing to a whopping 9.12 lbs right now and measuring perfectly. She is a total joy and changing everyday. It is amazing how a simple blood test can share so much about her body. So mommy’s when you go have your baby be extra thankful for that PKU test and newborn screening! What an amazing world we live in where this medication can do everything for Lola that she needs.
Adam and I are so grateful and are thankful that all is well. Thank you for your prayers and as you can see from reading the above we are doing GREAT!
3 comments:
I just no that everything is going to be okay. Lola has a lot of people praying and rooting for her. Best of luck tomorrow with her sonogram.
lola is so precious!
Wow! Lola is the luckiest girl to have parents who are so diligent and there for her. She's going to be great and give her a big kiss for me!
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