Update on Annabel

Today was a long day (we were at the hospital from 11:15 until 2:30) but the end result was overall good! The best news was that Annabel's blood pressure was 95/52 in clinic today, which is completely normal! I was so proud of her, she sat on the scale for her weight (21 lbs 6ozs) and stood (with me holding at her waist) for her height measurement - loved it!!

The ultrasound of the kidneys came back normal, however there were a few things noted to keep an eye on. Her left kidney has grown but not as much as the right. The doctor said we'll just keep an eye on this, if it were to stop growing or not functioning that you can live with one kidney (pray this isn't the case as it's not ideal). The other thing is that she had a slight bit of inflammation where the urine leaves the kidney, suggesting that their could be urine flowing back in. Generally if this is the case the person has many UTI's and she hasn't had any so the more likely explanation is that her bladder was very full, like they wanted for the ultrasound. She did have bloodwork done today (part of it was a kidney function test) and we will get the results in about a week. If nothing shows up we will have an echo done in February to make sure all is well with the heart, if something weren't growing right there then we'd know blood pressure was causing this and could treat with meds. If the bloodwork does show a concern then the echo will be done sooner.

Overall the doctor doesn't think she has any underlying issues and is not convinced that she even has high blood pressure, he is labeling her as "ruling out high bp". He said that in every doctor appointment we have coming up to have her bp checked and recorded.

So I learned a few interesting things today:
1) when you measure bp on your leg it's almost always higher than when measured on the arm and prior to these past few readings it had always been on her leg due to cuff size.
2) the symptoms of high blood pressure are the same as having shunt problems so I was told if we were to take her in suspecting shunt problems and everything was fine that we'd need to have them look in to her bp and notify nephrology.
3) Annabel has quite a few factors including prematurity as well as the access line that was placed in their belly buttons at birth to provide medicine

Overall I feel good about things, I think having the results of the bloodwork will be even more reassuring. They wanted her to give a urine sample as well to check for proteins but they bagged her and at some point the bag came undone and it went in to the diaper, I have to call tomorrow to see what they want to do - I have a feeling they'll have to use a catheter if they want the sample. Annabel was a trooper today, it was a very long day with some pretty good drama and she didn't even get a nap until the car ride home. So proud of her! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!