A Day in the Life Of...

My morning started off by Connor's AM diaper (you know, the one full of last night's pee) splitting open and spilling the pee-filled jellies ALL over my bedroom floor before I noticed what had happened. Since then, I've been projectile-pooped on twice, vomited on twice, hit on the head with a cell phone, and told that I look bad and should get more sleep. It's only 3:00, people.

Carolyn=0
Motherhood=1

The most beautiful words ever written!

This is a letter from Alaina's endocrinologist (I bolded the best parts):

Hi Carolyn,

Alaina’s results were normal:

Her baseline 17-OHP was 84 ng/dL. 1 hour after corticotropin stimulation it was 117 ng/dL. This is normal, with the range quoted in the paper for a carrier of the mutation (ie. one normal gene, 1 abnormal gene) being 300-1499 and normal being less than 300.

Also, her cortisol response was very robust, and her renin level was normal (the best marker of salt wasting).

All this, plus her normal female genitalia (ie. no evidence of excess male hormone exposure in-utero), means that she does not have congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The result on the newborn screening test was therefore likely to be a false positive. This happen frequently enough, because the test is designed not to miss anyone who actually has the disease.

I hope this all helps- if you guys, or your pediatrician, have any questions I’d be happy to help in any way I can.

Kind regards,
Dr Taplin

Father's Day

Anthony enjoyed his first Father's Day as a dad of two! We thought it would be a good time to take some pictures!
We even tried to take a family picture with the timed setting on the camera. It didn't turn out very well, but I laugh evertime I see it! Connor looks so concerned and Anthony looks so squished!

Alaina

Kung Fu Preemie

Baby yawns have got to be one of the most precious things on Earth.
Giving me attitude already about taking her picture.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

The Dietrich family has been put through the ringer this past week. Alaina's been battling high jaundice levels, and her newborn infant screen came back highly irregular, flagging for a disease called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. After trips to 4 different emergency rooms and many, many needles, we have initial results that came back promising that she could be perfectly healthy, but I wanted to let everyone know. Do yourselves a favor and don't Google it yet, until we have an official diagnosis, since her case is very treatable with oral steroids. She exhibits none of the physical signs of CAH, and all of the doctors agree that that's very reassuring.

Thanks again, Mom, for helping so much with Connor and around the house. We wouldn't have survived this week without you!

My children don't have the best table manners.

Wanna come visit me?!
Note the milk dribbling out of her mouth!
Showcasing those long fingers once again! Alaina's bilirubin test results came back tonight rather high, so she's spending the evening under the phototherapy lights.