Answered prayers and miracle drugs!

The girls were 6 weeks old yesterday and I can't believe I'm halfway through my maternity leave already! I'm not going to want to go back to work at all. Allie rolled over all by herself today- she's getting so grown up!

Allie went to the pediatrician on Monday because she was spitting up all weekend long- sometimes up to 3 hours after she ate! He put her on Zantac to help with acid reflux so we are hoping that will help her keep her food down. She saw the pediatric dermatologist yesterday and got her first dose of the beta blocker last night. We can already see a difference!!! Her birthmark is not near as dark red and the swelling has decreased so much that she is opening her eye really well today! I am so excited that we have seen so much improvement after just one dose, I can't imagine how dramatically it will change in the days and weeks to come. The dermatologist prescribed a corticosteroid to help wth the swelling which she started today so we should see an even more dramatic decrease in the swelling by tomorrow. She will stay on the beta-blocker for about 8 months and it should totally resolve the birthmark with no lasting damage!

The dermatologist did tell us there is a syndrome called Phaces that goes along with facial hemangiomas and has other associated features involving the brain, heart, eyes, and some other things. In order to rule the syndrome out he ordered an MRI and MRA to look at her brain structure and the vascular nature of the hemangioma. Once again we were very worried that there could be something wrong with her brain but later in the afternoon the doctor called and said he reviewed the MRI that was done while Allie was in the NICU and everything looked good with no abnormalities. We were so relieved!!! We will still have the MRA done but otherwise Allie does not have any of the symptoms of Phaces. All of her brain, cardiac, and eye tests have been normal.


Here are the girls in their game day gear!!