Kidney reflux

Being first time parents we did not know what to expect when we had our first born son Walker. We knew early in the pregnancy that he had fluid on his kidneys. They discovered it while doing an ultrasound around 19 weeks into the pregnancy. The doctor's had told us it could mean several different things, and they needed to monitor it every few weeks until Walker was born. Before we knew it, it was time to welcome Walker into the world. Less than 12 hours after he was born we got a phone call from his doctor telling us we needed to take Walker straight to Children's Hospital in Birmingham, that Dr. Herndon would be waiting on us to see Walker immediately. You can't imagine the horror that we had as new parents not knowing what was wrong. As soon as we arrived at Children's and got checked in, they sent us to our hospital room. When we arrived in the room, Dr. Herndon was there waiting on us. He explained to us that there were three possibilities of what could be causing the fluid on his kidneys. And to find out they would have to catheterize him and run several tests to find out the problem. I must say I was very impressed at how Dr. Herndon made us his top priority that day. Throughout the night we could not have asked to be treated any better than we were by everyone at the hospital those two days. They seemed to go over and beyond to make our situation better. As new parents it was a very scary situation. The next afternoon after some more tests, Dr. Herndon came to tell us that Walker was diagnosed with kidney reflux and would have to be on antibiotics at least for his first year of life, and would have to be checked every six months unless he had any infections. We went home that afternoon with a huge exhausted sigh of relief knowing he would be OK. We have made many trips to Birmingham for checkups with Dr. Herndon. Walker is now 4 years old and still will, out of the blue tell me he need's to go see Dr. Herndon. Now when we go for checkups Walker does not even think twice about having his ultrasounds done. He is totally comfortable with the staff and has not cried since he was 18 months old during an ultrasound or doctor’s visit. In my book that speaks volumes!

Doug and I are very thankful for Dr. Herndon and his excellent staff, and the nurses that helped us out when we brought Walker as a newborn. The last visit we had was on Walker's 4th birthday. Dr. Herndon's staff gave him a birthday goodie bag when they found out it was his birthday. Walker thought that was "so cool" as he said! We will always have good things to say about Children's Hospital, Dr. Herndon , his staff, and our experiences we have had there!