My First Bath!

Pictures from little Isaiah's first bath at home. This was necessary due to some projectile spit up that got all over our little man (as well as Daddy). :) I just can't get enough of him...our little cuddle bug!

Isaiah HATES to be cold...just like his mommy...can tell that his bath is making him a little upset...?

That's better...all snuggled up! :)

A Christmas to Remember...

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. We were able to see both sides of our families and spend some time in both Delhi and Britt. We are so glad to have seen everyone, but we are also extremely happy to be home and starting to get into a regular schedule. Here are some pictures of our time with family! :)

Our little family on Christmas Day in Delhi.

All the Willey kids and grandkids!

The whole clan...don't ya like all the Lake Delhi sweatshirts we all got for Christmas!?! I do! :)

Shane's brother Brian is back from California - perfect timing in order to see Isaiah!

Grandma Judy and Isaiah. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Austermans! :)

PKU Update

Update on Isaiah:

Sorry for the delay on getting this information out, we had a pretty long day at the University of Iowa Hospital yesterday and both Shane and I are a little sleep deprived. Luckily my parents were able to drive us down to Iowa City, so we could have a little time to think about questions we had about Isaiah's condition and not have to worry about bad roads, etc.

Yesterday we met with a great doctor to figure out Isaiah's PKU levels. Just for a starter, for those of you that aren't sure what PKU is, here is a little background. PKU was discovered 75 years ago. It is a rare inherited metabolic disease that will result in mental retardation and other neurological problems if treatment is not started within the first few weeks of life. This is why every newborn born in the US is screened for PKU before they leave the hospital.

PKU arises from the absence of a single enzyme called phenylalanine hydroxylase. This enzyme converts the essential amino acid, phenylalanin to another amino acid, tyrosine. If this conversion doesn't happen it will result in a buildup of phenylalanine. This buildup is toxic to the central nervous system and causes severe problems, usually in the brain.

Isaiah has PKU because Shane and I are both silent carriers of this gene. It is a recessive gene, which means that if Shane and I were to have any more children there is a 1 in 4 chance that they would have PKU as well. Overall, this is a very rare disease and is found only in 1 of 10,000 babies born in the US.

Because of great research during the past 75 years, this condition can be treated through Isaiah's diet. We've already started on special formula for him (although he doesn't think it is so special yet). We are working with a dietitian at U of I Hospitals who will help us figure out the ratio of how much of his formula and how much breast milk he can have. This will be a constant assessment. We will be sending blood down to Iowa City twice a week and he will be going down to Iowa City once a month for at least the first year of his life. We will have a nurse come to our home to start with and then Shane and I will learn to take the blood samples and send it off.

As Isaiah gets older, and is able to eat solid foods, his diet will be very restricted. He will continue to drink the formula for the rest of his life, as the formula will be the only source of protein that he will be able to have. We will eventually be able to add in fruits, vegetables, and some grains. It will be critical for us to stick to this strict diet, especially until he is 6-7 years old, because this is the critical time for brain development. After this critical time period, the risk for mental retardation (from the amino acids building up in his brain) will drop significantly. However, if he goes off of his diet he will have a hard time concentrating, learning, and mood swings often begin.

Isaiah's PKU treatment is even more rare, because he also has hypothyroidism. He is the only case that Iowa City has seen with both of these issues. To treat Isaiah's thyroid problems he is on an oral medication, a high dosage until things are under control, and then it will be lowered. He may or may not outgrow the thyroid problem, but if he does not outgrow it, it can be controlled by a pill for the rest of his life.

Although all of this information seemed a bit daunting at first to us, after conversations with Dr's in Iowa city, we know that Isaiah can grow up leading a completely healthy life, as long as the diet is followed diligently.

We know that all of this new information will lead to Shane and I having to make some big decisions regarding day care, figuring out how to pay for his new, and expensive formula, and special foods, etc. We know that God never gives us more than we can handle, and little Isaiah was given to us for a reason and because we are meant to be his parents, please pray that we can be the best parents for him. Thanks for all of your continued care, concerns, and prayers.

Pray for Isaiah

We have a big day today...see the email below that I sent out to friends and family yesterday. If you have a second, please say a prayer for our little boy today...

Hey Everyone,

We just wanted to send out an email to update you about our little Isaiah.

We got home from the hospital on Friday and everything was going pretty well. Then on Saturday we got a call from a doctor on call that asked us to come back to the hospital to re-run some lab work that had come back irregular from Iowa City. This test was for PKU, which involves the way he metabolizes proteins. We just heard back from Iowa City and he did test positive again so we have to go to Iowa City tomorrow morning to see the specialists. From what we know right now, he will have to be on a very restrictive diet, probably for the rest of his life. He will have a special formula we will switch him to along with a certain ratio of breastmilk. We will know a lot more tomorrow about the severity of his condition and what changes we have to make.

On Sunday we got another call from a different doctor regarding Isaiah's thyroid. We had to go back to the hospital again to have more lab work done. We talked to another doctor from Iowa City about the results of this test today and we had to put him on thyroid medicine right away because his test came back so high. This should just be manageable by a pill and they will recheck him again soon to make sure we figure out the levels.

On top of all this, our little guy is a little jaundice, so a nurse is supposed to be coming by with a billy blanket to try to take care of this. Shane is also running back to the pharmacy to get medicine for a little bit of thrush (yeast infection in his mouth).

We've really had an eventful few days and to say the least thoughts and prayers are welcome. We've really been enjoying our little boy and will enjoy it even more when we know more of what is going on and don't have to spend so much time in the hospital.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Isaiah James Austerman

He's Here!!!

Isaiah James Austerman

Our little boy was born

December 16th, 2009

at 3:40 PM

8 lbs 12.4 oz

21 inches long

what do you do...

When you are OVERDUE!?!

Bake, bake, and more Christmas baking!...And then pray that you don't go into labor before you can make all the special deliveries! :)

trip to the doctor today...

But not to have a baby. :(

TODAY IS THE DAY!

Our little guy's DUE DATE...

but obviously he didn't get the memo!

And for now, we will let him run the show...

We did make a trip to the doctor today, because I've been fighting a cold all week and just can't seem to get over it. Usually Shane is the one that catches these kind of things and can't shake them, but this time I was the lucky one! I usually am a stubborn person when it comes to going to the doctor, but Shane insisted on taking me because I've been fighting with this cold for a week and it's really affecting my sleeping. Doctor says I have a bad sinus infection, and gave me some antibiotics hoping that things will clear up fast in case I actually decide to have a baby one of these days!

It was actually kind of a blessing that we could go to the Doctor today...we met the Dr. that is going to be our little guy's pediatrician and our family doctor. We got some recommendations on what immunizations our baby will need and which ones to wait on. Shane was able to get his H1N1 shot. All good things that came out of our trip to the doctor today. And hopefully after a day or two of the antibiotics, I'll be only uncomfortable from being 9 months pregnant and not from being sick! :)

And so...from here we wait. But not too much longer! My doctor is going to induce me next Wednesday if he hasn't come on his own yet. Everyone I talk to can't believe I'm still pregnant. I've been dilated for 4 weeks and I'm at 3 cm and 80% effaced. He is also extremely low in my pelvis. He's not making things the most comfortable for mom, but we are hanging in there! It will all be so worth it when we finally get to meet our baby boy!!! We can't wait!

Hopefully our next post will be the BIG announcement! Stay tuned!