Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year

Hello All and Happy 2008!!

So I wanted to send out an email letting you all know how things were going here, and also asking you to tell me if I have the right email for you. (I know some people check some email address more than others.) Also, if you forward our emails to someone could you let me know what their email address is so that I can add them and save you from having to remember to forward it. Or if you notice that I have an address for someone that you know they don't check. (Unless they don't want me to have their email address.)

Okay. So Christmas was great. RuthAnne slept through most of both Christmas'. The Sunday before Christmas we went to church in Dunstable so everyone there could see her. She started to cry as soon as Grandpa started with the announcements at the beginning of the service, and was fine during all the singing. But as soon as Grandpa started with his mini sermon she started to fuss again. During coffee hour she slept while being passed from person to person. After church we spent the afternoon with Isaac's family, complete with turkey dinner, compliments of the turkey that UPS gave Isaac for Christmas. Then we headed home.
Christmas Eve day was a day of rest, so was the night. RuthAnne slept for 6 hours straight, it was a great Christmas gift. Christmas day was spent with Meghan's family, her immediate and then her mother's side. It is very difficult to get pictures of a 9 month old and a 1 month old. Kaleb is RuthAnne's 2nd cousin and we tried really hard to get some pictures. But next year should be a lot more fun as they will both be moving around.
We went for RuthAnne's 1 month (she was 6 weeks old though). Her daddy was right. She is 8 pounds (1 ounce). Also, 21.5 inches long. The doctor asked if we put her on her tummy at all. We told her yes. Then she asked if she lifted her head, and we told her yes, and that RuthAnne has been pushing up with her hands. Later on during the physical the pediatrician put RuthAnne on her tummy and sure enough she showed off. The doctor was very impressed with how strong she is. (On Christmas day she was half way to flipping herself over.)
I think that most of you know, but for those of you who do not I will let you know now.
A week after RuthAnne was born the pedi called me to ask us to come back in with her so they could retest her for hypothyroidism as the test that they do at birth (PKU, the heal prick) had come back positive. This test often comes back positive so this was just a precaution. So off to the doctor for the second time since she had been home. They took some blood (that was fun), and told us that they should have the results by the time we came back for her appointment the next day. (the original reason for all the appointments was her weight and she was a LITTLE jaundice) So we went to the appointment the next day and they told us that we had to go see an endocrinologist, which luckily we were able to do that afternoon. She does have hypothyroidism. We are not sure yet what is causing the problem, but basically she is not getting a hormone that she needs. Without it in the first three years of life serious mental retardation can occur, along with this can come some growth problems. Later in her childhood growth problem can occur. By growth problems we are talking about either not growing or growing in a way that is not normal. So we have to give her a pill once a day (that we dissolve in a little bit of water), this is by far the best part of our day. We just went and had some blood work done the other day to see how she has taken to the hormone. So our days are full of fun things; giving her the pill, and the blood work. Also, trying to figure out when to give her the pill. It doesn't go into the body right if it is taken with iron or soy and so therefore she can not take it within an hour of when she finishes eating and an hour of when she starts eating, when she is eating formula.

So that is the crazy life of the Woodward's here in Eastern Mass.
Hope your holidays were merry and you are having a great new year!!

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