CAH

Wednesday afternoon we received a call from our pediatrician saying there were some abnormalities in Parker's newborn blood screen. She wanted us to go back to Cottage and have the test re-done. One of the tests would have to be sent away to a lab, but one of the blood tests would be back later that night.
When Dr. Larson called back it was news we weren't expecting. Parker's levels of Potassium and Sodium were all out of whack and Dr. Larson was not comfortable with him staying at home or Galesburg for the night. We were told to quickly pack a bag for the 3 of us and head to Peoria!
Wow! What a scary feeling as parents and especially parents of a newborn! We quickly headed to the Children's Hospital in Peoria.

This is a WONDERFUL facility where they really know their stuff! Parker was admitted and had several tests done through the night and next day. We met with doctors and specialists in order to find out how to make our little boy better.

Parker was a trooper man! He had an IV started in his head. That is where there are good veins as a newborn and that way he couldn't kick or pull at the IV. Each time they came to examine him, take blood, do an enema, or poke, prod, and mess with him he would cry only a minimal amount....in fact I am pretty sure mom and dad did more crying than Parker!!

On Thursday after meeting with a specialist it was determined that Parker has a condition known as CAH. It is a genetic disorder where he received 2 mutated genes one from Travis and one from me. Travis and I are only carriers of this gene which is why we don't have the condition that Parker does.

With CAH Parker's body can not break down potassium so his levels get to high, and he gets rid of too much sodium in his urine so his levels get to low. He was not showing any signs of this condition when we took him to Peoria because he was still living on my hormones left over from pregnancy. However, if the blood screen had come back 2 days later he would have started to get really sick.

Travis and I are thankful that this condition was caught early, can be treated with medication daily , and that Parker can still have a completely normal life as our perfect little boy!

Thanks to everyone who has sent prayers our way and kept our family in your thoughts. We will see many doctors during this first year of life because Parker will grow so quickly we'll have to stay on top of the medicine dosage to ensure he doesn't get sick, but it appears he will be just fine. He is responding well to the medication and doesn't fuss when it is put into his bottle.

We are thankful and lucky that this disease is easily treated. We saw many families in Peoria who have it MUCH worse off than we do.