Indoctrination

As you all may well know, Gabe has just been full of surprises since day one. Or, is day one really called "minus 32" since that is the number of days early that Gabe arrived?

Even more surprising than his premature arrival was the diagnosis of Gabe's severe hemophilia A. What this means is that Gabe is lacking a protein in his body (Factor VIII) which is used to clot his blood. Therefore, Gabe will bleed longer (not more) than the average person.

It's not so much an issue with surface cuts and bruises because Gabe does make enough platelets to create a superficial scab. What we have to be concerned about is internal bleeds- deep muscle or joint bleeds. Normally, these bleeds don't start occurring until an infant begins crawling or walking and pressure is actually being put on the muscles and joints. Gabe, however, felt it would be good for Mommy and Daddy to have a little practice before all that, just to keep us on our toes.

On Friday, August 22nd, we took Gabe in for his routine 4 month checkup. His two-month checkup went uneventfully, with shots being no problem, and this one seemed to be the same except that he got more shots- one in his left leg and two in his right. On Saturday, he was pretty fussy- but we figured it was due to the shots. By Sunday afternoon, though, he was to the point of being inconsolable, his right thigh was very swollen and hard, and he was not moving it at all. All signs pointed to a bleed.

We ended up that evening in the ER for what ended up being the first of four factor infusions over the course of the week. Gabe is doing just fine now. His right leg will probably be a little swollen for as long as it takes for all the blood to reabsorb, but he's kicking and bending his leg just like before.

Apparently, it's quite rare to get a muscle bleed from immunizations so we do have some precautions to take for his next round of shots. No more than one shot per leg, which means we'll have to spread out his immunizations over a couple of weeks, and we'll keep a pressure wrap over the puncture sight for 24 hours.

So there it is. We've officially been indoctrinated into the world of life with a hemophiliac. We survived this episode, and we'll survive the many more that lie ahead.

Gabe, you're a strong little boy and you're going to keep Mommy and Daddy strong. For that, and everything else, we love you very much.

Gabe's swollen right leg.