Urologist

There aren't many specialists we haven't been to. Urology was one of them, until today. I began noticing some regularity to River's recent night wakings... 5 hours after his bedtime and last feeding, he wakes up fussing, accompanied by lots of wiggling and discomfort. This frequently develops into screaming and arching - it's so difficult to watch, and there's virtually nothing we can do to comfort him. When this begins he usually has a dry diaper, and by the end of it his diaper is pretty soaked. No fever or other sign of infection. I decided it was time to consult with a urologist. So off to Boston we went for an ultrasound of his bladder and kidneys, and a meeting with yet another doctor.

The radiology appointment was enlightening. River had been cranky the entire drive to Boston. During the initial scan his bladder was noted to be quite full (150ml). Everything else checked out fine, but he was very irritable throughout the entire scanning session. The sonographer reported back to the doctor how full his bladder was and he recommended waiting until he peed to check his bladder again. And sure enough once he did pee, which took quite awhile, his disposition changed. He finally calmed and was able to settle.

The Urologist's explanation is that River is falling into such a deep sleep that he doesn't wake up overnight to pee until his bladder is so full that it is causing pain. We have some things to try at home - changing his feeding schedule around, decreasing his nighttime sleepy meds, and even waking him up overnight to try to get him to pee (not so sure how this one will fly). If none of these work, or if the problem gets worse, there are more invasive tests and more invasive treatments. I hope we don't have to go there.

We didn't bring the camera with us, which I'm regretful for as we had some pretty good boo-boo faces from Mr. R. I am glad that Julia and I are such good traveling companions, because he sure wasn't!

But here are some photos from his recent haircut. He was again in a very wiggly, uncooperative mood, but his stylist, Starr, was not to be overcome!

The many angles of cutting River's hair...











We didn't get an "after" shot but I'll work on it... he is still very handsome, even without his long locks.