Maya’s Travels

It's amazing how many things you have to tend to worry about with newborns. It is a reminder of how fragile we all are in this world. Yet, once faced with any hiccup in the road to "healthy" and you get over the initial scare, resilience kicks in and kicks any sign of fragile's ass.

A few weeks ago our Pediatrician called us and told us that Maya's TSH levels were high and we needed to go to Seattle Children's Hospital immediately for blood work. Panic. Of course what do we do? Internet research. Hysteria.

breathe. breathe.

Fast forward 2 weeks. Everything is cool. Without getting into all details, a high TSH level in newborns MAY be symptoms of Congenital Hypothyroidism. Maya measured borderline high with the TSH and doesn't have any of the other symptoms commonly seen. We are now seeing an Endocrinologist regularly and he also agrees. I'd say we are above 90% sure she doesn't have it. With that said, we are treating her for it.  The treatment is easy, simple and does not have any harmful side effects. Its a no brainer. If by slim chance she does have it, it is 100% treatable with exactly what we are doing right now. Again, a no brainer.

So this post isn't meant to be a downer. We just want to capture and share what has been happening. In the grand scheme of things we are truly blessed. This is just one of the million things that will raise our blood pressure and cause a few tears to fall within the next 18 years. (Yes when she's 18 she is expected to be independently wealthy, move out and set us up in a beach house somewhere in the Caribbean. King and Queen style) In the grand scheme of things we are lucky. It could be a lot, lot worse.

What did happen is we found a whole new respect for parents, children and anyone in general going through something like this and in a lot of cases, something worse. It's amazing and humbling to realize how fragile our human frames are and awesome to see the human spirit rise above. Kudos to you all.

Again, we can't itterate enough, we are ok. Everything is cool. This is not a pitty party or a sad festival. Its just something we are dealing with and what might come as a shock to you we've found some funny moments in all of this. Don't they say "What doesn't kill you makes you laugh?" Something like that.

Anywho, here we are going for our regular lab work. Seattle Childrens is an awesome place. Amy and I did some volunteer work there and an associated Ronald McDonald's house last year. They really have a cool thing going there. They make the place seem like an amusement park. We have to park at "Whale 5" and head up to the "Airplane lab" to get blood work done. Although I'm willing to bet these "rides" are scarier than any man made rollercoaster. 

For those that live in Seattle. Seattles Children is open in the evening for lab work. You can actually get from West Seattle to Childrens (past the Univiserity) in under 20 minutes. If we can convince enough people to move out of Seattle to allow for that kind of traffic 24/7 all of our lives will be better. Thanks in advanced.

I'm checking out the Whale mural / art, while Maya waits to check in.

I think she suspects something is up while in the waiting room.

It is pitiful seeing them do a blood draw. On one of our visists they actually did an ultrasound to check to see if her thyroid gland existed and was in the right place. Yes on both accounts! Yay! Through it all, Maya has been a trooper. She slept through the ultrasound and slept through one blood draw.  Huh. That's funny, explain that to me when she can barely sleep through feeding times. Brat. During this particular blood draw she was wide awake for but like I said, she's a trooper! Here she is posing her "ouwie" for us.

I think she actually got more mad because Daddy was farting around taking pictures and taking too long.

I think we finally got a beat on giving her her daily pill.

Pro Tip: Dissolving pills in water and shooting them into a newborn's mouth without them spitting everything out is a team effort. Don't try to be the hero Mom or Dad. It will just end badly for everyone.

So that's that. Nothing more to see here. All is well in the land of Maya. We have a couple new aspects in our routine and that's about it.

Next hurdle on the agenda? Flying 2600 miles with a 2 month old. Good luck Mommy.