Monday

The next three Mondays will be important for us. Tomorrow Luke goes for his head ultrasound. The doctors are checking on the ventricles in Luke's brain to see if they are enlarged any more than they were back in March. We used to have to check this every other week, then once a month....and now just once every three months. We'll have the ultrasound in the morning at the hospital and then head over to the pediatric neurosurgery office to go over results and discuss whether or not a shunt would be necessary at this point. We've been praying for a long time now that the ventricles would not enlarge anymore...I'm really hoping to hear that they've actually decreased in size. The danger of enlarged ventricles is simply that the extra fluid in the brain is causing pressure on the brain tissue itself and that, of course, is not good.

The following Monday, July 6th, Luke and Caleb both will be heading to the doctor to get their nine months shots. That's never a fun day for anyone. I think it's worse as they get older. Since Andrew can't take off work that day, so my friend, Drusie, is coming with me. Thank goodness!! One mommy plus two screaming babies doesn't work out too well. It'll be great to have her help.

Finally, Monday, July 13th Luke goes in for an EEG to check on any seizure activity. Luke's has been on anti-seizure meds since October. We don't really think he's had any for a very long time, but they've kept him on meds as a precaution. The EEG is interesting. It has to done when the baby is "sleep-deprived" (apparently, sleep deprivation triggers seizures, so if you're going to have one, that's when it might occur). So, on July 13th we'll have to wake Luke up at 4 am and try to keep him awake until his 8 am EEG appointment. Now there's a Monday morning for ya! Wow...not looking forward to that. I AM looking forward to getting Luke off of his anti-seizure meds. As long as everything looks normal, we can start weaning him off. At that point, Luke won't be on any medications!!

Thanks for your prayers in the next few weeks. In addition to our two appointments tomorrow for Luke, I'm also going to have to take both boys to see their pediatrician. They have both been running fevers this weekend and don't seem to be feeling too well. It's so sad to have sick babies. Of course, we're familiar with this feeling, but since they've been discharged, neither of the boys have been sick AT ALL!! So we were getting used to healthy, happy babies. It's been hard to see them feeling so icky the last couple of days. We're praying for quick recoveries! My sister was able to visit this weekend from St. Louis. It was so great to have Aunt Kari here to help snuggle the little guys. Hopefully next time she comes, Luke and Caleb will be back to their healthy, spunky selves!