Palmer's Testing

We went to LeBonheur, the children's hospital here in Memphis for Palmer's testing. It was stimulus testing to test her growth hormone levels. We were there for about 3 to 4 hours. She got an IV in her little hand. They drew blood from the IV several times and put medincine in through the IV several times. She also had to get a shot of medicine in her arm. She did really good considering her age. The worst part was that Palmer couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight. She cried this morning for her milk, it was so sad. After the test, they gave her some apple juice and graham crackers. I've never seen her leap toward her juice so fast!! She was sooo thirsty and hungry. We won't find out any results for about 2 to 3 weeks. Here are a few pictures from our morning at LeBonheur:

Emerson's Goes To The Dentist

Emerson went to the dentist for the first time today. She did great and had a blast! We went to Dr. Freeman in Cordova. She opened wide and cooperated for everything. They cleaned, polished, flossed, and put floride on her teeth. No cavities!! Thank goodness, hopefully she doesn't get my teeth! She got to pick out a toy and play in the game room. She had so much fun that she didn't want to leave!

I talked to the dentist about her thumbsucking. The roof of her mouth is narrowing a little bit. He doesn't usually put appliances in for thumbsucking until 4. He wants us to try other things for the next 6 months, then we will talk about an appliance. He said most three year olds don't cooperate and understand what's going on, but she seemed to understand everything and cooperate very well, so we may do something before she turns four. Here are a few pictures of her first trip to the dentist:

Finally Some Answers!!

We have been worried out Palmer being small. We've been going to the Nephrologist for the past six months and the medications seem to not be working, so we were referred to the Endocrinologist. We have finally have some answers, but we still need a lot of prayer for her. The doctor called on Easter Sunday while we were at church to let us know the results. Dr. Cohen is our endocrinologist and he is wonderful!

They did bloodwork to test for all types of hormones. When they tested her IGF (Insulin like Growth Factor), the level was so low that they could not measure it. This is a marker for growth hormone deficiency. We have to go to the children's hospital, LeBonheur, for an outpatient procedure. This test will measure both her growth hormone level (which is in the pituitary gland) and her IGF (which is in the liver) to see which one is the one that is low. From there we will figure out what needs to be done. The good news is that this is something that is treatable.

Please pray for us and we figure everything out. Also, pray for Palmer's procedure, it will last about four hours. For those that know Palmer, keeping her still for four hours is not going to be fun. We do not have it set up yet, so I don't know excactly when it will be. The doctor will call us with that information. I feel much better that we have figured out what is going on, but nervous about what's to come, so please keep our entire family in your prayers. I will keep everyone updated on what we find out and what the next step will be.

Easter Egg Hunt and The Easter Bunny

We went to an easter egg hunt at Trinity Baptist this weekend. They had pony rides, petting zoo, egg hunts, and games. The girls had a blast! Then we went to see the easter bunny at the mall. Here are some pictures of our day:

Palmer kissing Hudson

Hudson
The girls in their outfits I made.
The girls again Emerson and Palmer heading to the easter egg hunt
Emerson playing games
Palmer playing games Say cheese
Palmer found an egg! More eggs
Palmer racking up on eggs Emerson finding eggs
And more eggs

Palmer checking out the animals

Emerson and the baby goat

Palmer and the pig

Palmer petting the baby goat

Palmer kissing the baby goat

Petting the bunny

Palmer feeding the cow

Emerson feeding the goat

Checking out the turtles

Looking at the chickens

Emerson riding a pony

Posing with the pony

Palmer riding the pony

Palmer did great riding all by herself

Emerson loved the ferret

Emerson wanted to sit on the train eventhough we couldn't ride it. It had a flat tire

Emerson and Palmer playing with balloons

Palmer, Hudson, and Emerson with the Easter Bunny