Revelations and EBV

Her EBV (Epstine Bar Virus) levels are up.  This is something 90% of adults have by the time they're 40 and in normal people it's usually just a rougher flu and can occassionally lead to mono but in an immunosupressed person there can be more severe complications.  Shayna's numbers are in tier II of a four tier system so, while her Predinose was lowered Monday from 7.5mg to 5mg as a natural wean, we lowered it again to 2.5mg on Wednesday (it takes 2 days for the EBV levels to come back) to give her immune system a chance to try to fight the EBV.  Right now we wait and see where the levels go over the next few weeks and we'll deal when anything else if and when it happens.

We continue to struggle with normal parenting things like sleep, or lack there of.  I finally moved to the master bedroom with Nahum on Monday and enlisted his help with night-time Shayna calming.  When she sees me, she expects to nurse for comfort and gets pissed if I don't so if it's been less than 3hrs we now send Nahum in to help her get back to sleep.  Last night all three of us finally had a decent night sleep and I got a full 4.5hrs of uninterupted sleep and Nahum only had to calm her once (though it was a rough one).  We're also working hard on a strict nap schedule and bedtime routine.  So far, she seems to be responding.

Speaking of napping, she just woke and is calling.  I'm going to take her swimming today so I better get going so we can work all of our stuff in before nap time #2.

No Prograf Change!

The good news today is that we don't have to adjust her Prograf dosage.  This means we don't have to go to lab on Thursday.  In another day of freezing temps, clouds, and wind, Shayna and I ventured out into Pittsburgh at 7am (the sun's not even up that early).  She was a trooper as usual and flirted with the doctor (who thought she was so cute that he took a couple pics with his phone).  They declared her fit and said we only  have to come to clinic every other week.  With the lab results in the afternoon, we found out we only have to do labs once a week now too.  Next time they'll talk about when we can go home, but it's looking like our lease, which ends on the 16th of February, is just about perfect.

Shayna is a goofy, energetic baby and I still think she'll be crawling, or at least scooting, before the end of the month.  When I listen, she tells me when she has to pee even with her diaper on.  Total victory is a long way off, but each pee-pee in the potty is a little victory that makes us both grin (she's so proud of herself when she goes).  We're also both loving the new baby food pureer I got as she can now eat anything we eat, like brisket by Leslie (yummy-yummy) and chicken mushroom stroganoff.  She can finally feed herself Cheerios, etc, which also means she can eat the piece of cheese or Bamba stuck in her palm.

Shayna sans diaper (part of EC) in the kitchen loving some Bamba.

Shayna enjoying her new beach ball.

We're official Sam's Club members.  I joined the one here as one is coming soon to the Blacksburg area.  (I still think Costco is better, but I'll take what I can get.)  I made my first trip while Shayna was with the sitter so I could wander the isles uninterupted.  Most of it is the basic highly processed food stuff, but there's enough other stuff (like diapers) to make it worth while.  I splurged by getting a jar of pesto and some blackberries (not to be eaten together).