Yesterday was Raelynn's 3rd Birthday and she had a great day. I wasn't able to spend the whole day with her which made us both sad but the time I did get with her we made very special. She got to open a little present before we went off to work and then she, Cooper and Karli spent the day at Aunt Sherri's running through her new Mickey Mouse sprinkler which she loved. Sherri brought them back to Lawrence so they were here when I got off work. We went to McDonald's for dinner, YUCK! She loved it though. She played in the germ infested play area and had a blast until she got lost up in the tubes and that ended her desire to play at McDonald's, YEAH! We then headed to Sheridan's for ice cream! After that we headed home to open the rest of her presents and get her very special present from Daddy. After presents she got birthday cake that Aunt Bonnie had brought her. So yes, my daughter had more "junk" in a 4 hour period than she had probably had in her whole 3 years of life and she loved it. I have attached the video of her Daddy's very fun present.
So needless to say, she had a wonderful birthday. This morning she asked if it could be her birthday again today!!!!
Today we headed to CMH to see Cooper's cardiologist, Dr. Kaine. I was very eager for this appointment because I had a list of questions and concerns a mile long. Dr. Kaine was very pleased with the way Cooper looked. He weighed in at 13lbs 12oz and 26" long! We were able to get rid of the Ibuprofen completely and cut his Captopril almost in half to 5ml. This was fabulous! We also found out that by the time we are done weaning him off the meds he does not need we will be left with only 4 that we will continue giving Cooper for an indefinite length of time. 4 is a long ways from the 13 we started with so I was thrilled. Dr. Kaine also said that we are through the worst of the withdraw symptoms which after the past 3 days I was very happy to hear. Cooper's vomiting is expected to continue until he gets rid of the feeding tube probably because it is such an irritation. Dr. Kaine was pleased to hear how Cooper's voice was coming along and was hopeful that our swallow test on the 15th would allow us to start orally feeding him again but did not want us to try until then. We had also been very concerned with Cooper's extreme sweating and rapid breathing. Dr. Kaine was not concerned with either. Cooper is going to sweat because he has to work much harder than an average baby. Working hard in this weather he is bound to sweat. Sweating is not uncommon with cardiac babies. The rapid breathing is also not uncommon. As we have learned, the respiratory function is directly linked to the cardiac functions. Because Cooper's cardiac function is not perfect, neither will his respiratory function be. There is nothing to worry about, this is just how Coop will be. This will all improve or go more towards the normal side as he gets older. This was all fantastic news and made Terry and I both feel much better. Dr. Kaine did remind us though that things are not perfect. Cooper does still have very small pulmonary arteries and the VSD. These will have to be addressed with time and he anticipates us going in for a cardiac catheter by the end of the year.
Even with the knowledge of further procedures, I could not have been happy with our appointment. Dr. Kaine is wonderful and took a great amount of time with us today which we appreciated!
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