2-year well visit

Randy's 2-year well visit was.....well great!!!  It is the first time that I have left a doctor appointment without sonething to "do" or "keep working on" or a referral.  He is on the growth chart for his actual age (well in most areas): 5th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height!! His head is lagging behind and is not on the growth chart, but is continuing to grow.  I asked his pediatrician if it was a cause for concern.  He said not really, especially if he continues to make progress the way he has been.

Weight: 23lbs 14oz
Length: 32.5 inches
Head circumference: 44.6 cm

He was pleased with his progress in all areas.  Randy talked to him and sang nursery rhymes.  He did not give me a hard time about him eating purees and actually supported my decision to comtinue to do this.  He said that it is keeping him growing and that as he gets older, he may begin to overcome some of these sensory issues.

He was pleased with his therapy schedule and was on board with him doing hippotherapy as soon as he is released from the general surgeon (from his hernia surgery).

Oh, I do have one thing to do... I have to take him to the lab to get his iron and lead levels checked.

I'm throwing in the towel

Well, sort of.  I am pulling back on feeding.  I am going to feed him, but I am not going to push so hard on him trying new food and/or textures.  I am not sure if it is the right thing, but I'm not sure if I can deal with this everyday.

This is how most meals looked when I was actively pushing textures and food.  He would cry; I would get frustrated.  He would be so angry and upset that he would not even eat his favorites after having the other foods pushed on him.  He would be so angry that he spent the rest of the evening crying and angry at me.  He was biting, hitting, and scratching.  He was not happy in the evenings.

Instead, I am going to begin pureeing again.  He will accept most foods if I puree them.  He'll eat chicken, roast, fish, and vegetables if I make them smooth.  I have been adding a little olive oil to make them smooth and to add a little healthy fat.

I'm also keeping him on the bottle.  I am going to encourage the cup use during the day, but I will still be giving him a morning and evening bottle of formula.  I can get him to drink 8-10 ounces this way.

This will not please some of his health care professionals.  His pediatrician and the feeding team are in my corner.  His feeding OT (who is out until June) and the CP clinic want me to push him.

I'm not ready.  And I'm ok with not being ready.  So until then, this is what he'll be doing

Easter/Two Year Pictures

http://myonlineportraits.com/ViewSharedAlbum.aspx?ShareID=6e67ce80-11cd-4801-8a4d-f5bfb5f06f1d

Mama knows!!

Last Monday I posted about Randy having a crying spell that was unusual for him. He was fine after a few hours, but for some reason I was still worried. Well I had good reason to worry; his hernia was incarcerated (no it was not under arrest). He had emergency surgery Saturday morning.

Mama knows!

Let me back up and tell the full story. When I arrived at the daycare Friday afternoon, I went to the toddler room to get Randy. They were not there, but I could hear him in the adjoining infant room. As I grabbed his coat, I heard this burp and someone vomit. I knew that retching voice.

I went to the infant room and they immediately said, "Mom he just threw up". As the teacher was cleaning him up, he threw up again. I gather him and his belongings and we headed home. He was whiny in the car and fell asleep. He did not feel good and I was worried.

Mama knows!

At home he would not eat or drink and whined and cried. He acted as if he was in a lot of pain. He was arching his back and couldn't decide if he wanted to be up or down. Around 7p, I decided he was going to the ER. My fear is that it was his shunt. This was not normal.

Mama knows!

I had to decide between taking him to our local children's hospital (5 miles), the hospital in the next town where his neurosurgeon is (50 miles), or the satellite hospital (of the one in the next city-25 miles). Although my gut told me there was something wrong, I kept thinking "What if I drive this 50 miles and it's a virus". I took the middle road and went to the satellite office.

When we get there I tell them I suspect a shunt malfunction and he is taken back immediately. The nurses and doctors see him quickly and send him for an MRI and a shunt series. While we wait on the results, Randy vomits about three more times. The ER doctor orders blood work and an IV so that she can control the nausea.

After four sticks, the blood has been drawn but there is no IV (horrible veins). The doctor notice there is a lot of air in his abdomen and she examines his belly. She asks about his hernia. When she tries to reduce it, he screams bloody murder and moves her hand. Now his hernia often bulges, but is always easily reduced. Not this time. She has the nurses drop an NG tube to suction some of the air, and insists in an IV (he threw up twice while she was in there). By this time transport is on his way to take him to main campus so that neuro can see him and general surgery can see him too.

Two more sticks and no IV. Transport arrives and takes him to the ambulance. I follow them the 25 miles to the main hospital. I should have driven there in the first place.

Mama knows!

Once we are at the main hospital, I answered the same questions for the 20th time and to the 20th person. Neurosurgery says that he does have a cyst that is enlarged, but that his ventricles look good overall. The ER doc looks at his hernia and has difficulty reducing it as well. A couple hours and an abdominal x-ray later, the general surgeon comes in to examine him. By this time the hernia has reduced, but is still extremely tender. He cries when it is touched. They decide to admit him and operate.

Mama knows!

Now it is 6am and Randy has not eaten or drank since 3:30p. They try again for an IV. Two more sticks. No IV. Finally at 7:30a, Randy was taken to his room. The IV team is paged to his room. Two more sticks. No IV. While they were packing up to leave, one of the surgeons came to talk to me. He let me know what will be done and that he should be going to surgery around 10am. He also let me know that he will not be doing the surgery because he has been at work all night, but that his partner will be in any minute. The IV team explains the issue with finding a line and that he has now been completely fasting for 17 hours. The surgeon says they will get a line in the OR and he will make sure he is not bumped.

My baby was a champ through all this. By this time, he was no longer crying and was just laying there sucking on his paci. He usually does really well when he is NPO. I guess that's because he's not that into food anyway.

He was taken to surgery around 10:30am. It took a little longer than usual because the surgeon said that he had a lot of abdominal fat stuck in the hernia. Fortunately, the blood supply was not cut off yet; so it was not quite the emergency it could have been. He spent Saturday night in the hospital, and was discharged after lunch on Sunday.

He is recovering well. He is sore, but is not crying at all. And although it was not his shunt, he was sick.  I should have listened to my baby last Monday. He tried to tell me. I had a feeling.

Mama knows!

Surgery went well

Randy was pleasant the entire time.  They actually took him back 30 minutes early.  His ear had TONS of thick fluid behind them.  The Dr. drained them and placed the tubes.  He has to have a follow in 4 weeks.  He gets ear drops for the next 3 days.

He ate fries for lunch, took a 3 hour nap, and is back to himself.

I'll post some pics soon.

Why does she keep waking me and putting this bottle in my face?

I woke him for a bottle of apple juice at 7:30a.  He's bleary eyed and tired now, but he'll thank me at 11a because he will not be starving.  Well, ear tubes at 11:50a.  I am confident all will go well.

3:30 am feeding

That is what Randy just had.  Thankfully this is not the norm.  Randy has surgery this morning and he is not allowed any solids or milk after 3:45a.  So mommy set her alarm and we had a snack of milk (in a bottle for him) and animal crackers.

I do not miss niddle of the night feedings.

I guess he can have a bad day too.....

I guess?  After work I picked up Randy from the sitter at the usual time and we headed home.  He played for about 15 minutes and even tried some fun dip from his Easter basket.  Around 4:45, he began crying.  Hard.  He did not want a snack.  He did not want a bottle.  He did not want juice.  He just cried.  He did not want to be held.  He did not want to lie down.  He just cried.

I got him settled around 5:15 and he napped for about 30 minutes.  He woke up crying again.  And he cried. And he cried.  By this time dad was home.  He tried water, bottle, juice, taking him outside, walking around.  He tried everything.  I took him and I tried to calm him.  I even called his sitter and asked her if he had been cranky today.  She assured me that he was fine all day.

I was beginning to worry.  Randy does not cry much; well not cry.  He'll scream or whine if he's not getting this way, but he does not really cry.  And I'm not sure if I can explain this cry.  It was strong and piercing.  It seemed as if he was in some type of horrific pain.  The worst part was that there was nothing we could do to soothe it.  And then somewhere around 7:15, the crying stopped.  He slurped down 4 oz of formula and got down to play.  He played for about an hour, ate one jar of baby food, took his meds, brushed his teeth, and went to bed.  It was weird.

I guess Randy can have a bad day too..... So why am I still worried?