Matthew Kidney Update

 Matthew at the hospital seeing the Kidney Doctor. I LOVE the little hospital gowns!

On Friday, Matthew and I drove the one hour to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma so he could see the kidney doctor.  I was afraid this would take all day, so I was pleasantly surprised that we waited 5 minutes and then they called us back.  (It was such a nice change from my days of going to Children's Memorial in Chicago for my spine where appointments meant waiting for hours.)  The hospital is so nice and I was super tempted to put Matthew in the little rowboat they have as decor/place for the bigger kids to play. I resisted...this time...next time we're there, Little Dude is going in that rowboat for a picture op.
They took his medical history, the nurse came in and tried to get a BP (he didn't care for this so it was initially a no go), weighed him & measured him.  Then the doctor came in.  Dr. Y is fantastic!!  We loved her.  Apparently the renal u/s report that was sent over from Naval Hospital did not contain that much information, but she was still able to make a diagnosis.  Matthew has hydronephrosis.  Which basically means that his left kidney is enlarged and urine is possibly refluxing into it.  What are they doing about this?  For now, nothing, because the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend doing anything invasive on a baby his age.  We will return in 3 months for another renal u/s and then see the kidney doctor again.  However, if he has a fever at any time, he must have a urine catch done.  So we're playing the wait & see game.

About his weight: Matthew weighed about 15 pounds at the visit, putting him in the 14 percentile for weight.  The doctor was concerned about this and informed me if he is still having a hard time gaining weight in 3 weeks (at his 6 month well baby appt), she wants blood work done on him.  She couldn't say if the kidney issue was related to this.  And to answer the question someone asked my Mom: YES, we feed him. His intake is monitored.

Thank you everyone again for your thoughts and prayers.  We are doing alright. :-)