18 months
We just got back from our appointment with Dr. L, our ophthalmologist. I have been looking forward to this appointment for a long time because his eye contact and object tracking have improved so much. Dr. L said that Nathan is just about caught up to his age.
His farsightedness is a little worse, so Nathan is going to need glasses. He has +8 in his left eye and +9 in his right, I think. This should help him as most activities are close up at this age. It will be interesting to see if glasses alter some of Nathan’s behaviors. I am hoping that with glasses he might pick up on some ASL signs that we have been doing, or some communication cards that we are going to start. So far, we don’t have any real way of communicating yet.
Nathan also might not have Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI). It may be that he was just developmentally delayed and now is getting more on track. The doctor will give us more of a diagnosis after our next visit. By that time, we should be able to assess how he is doing with glasses and any behavioral changes that might have occurred.
So next week, the battle of the glasses will begin. Rachel also started wearing glasses around 18 months. She was terribly stubborn about not wearing them and we had quite the battle. Now we battle to get her to take them off when she goes to sleep. We will have to see how Nathan likes being able to see. The good thing is that this time around, I have many hands to help me continually put the glasses back in place.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Crawling and other achievements
March 31, 2009 – 18 months
It has been a little while since I last updated this. Nathan has been doing fantastic and hasn’t been in to see any doctor for about two months. I think that this must be a record. We were supposed to visit the eye doctor but missed the appointment due to our car's faulty ignition switch. It works about 80% of the time and then just doesn’t work. Yes, it is definitely on the very long list of things to do.
Last time, I told you how he has been getting up on his hands and knees. He progressed from rocking back and forth to actually crawling a foot or so by the end of February. Most of this month, he has spent practicing crawling. He would crawl three or four feet when he was crawling to the stairs. He uses the stairs to help himself sit up and he likes to just play on the bottom stair. He also would crawl when he was headed to the couch. Nathan puts his back against the couch and then uses his feet to push himself back and up instead of pulling himself up. I didn’t realize how hard that is to describe until I was just writing it down. This causes problems since he thinks that he has to push backwards whenever he is standing. For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to get him to stand without something behind him to lean against. Now he can crawl all the way across the room. He tends to bulldoze a little but will look up now and then, especially when you are talking to him. He is scooting on his back less and less each week. I think that he is realizing that crawling can be just as fast as scooting on his back. Hurray!
Yesterday, Nathan was amazing. He was at the bottom of the stairs and started to push himself up to the next stair. He made it to the second stair which he had done once before. The kids and I were in the kitchen watching him. He began to push up to the next stair. Before long, he had climbed up all the stairs. We would then show how to crawl down the stairs, helping him to move his arms and legs to the next step. He thought this was a great game. So we spent the day going up and down the stairs. Thankfully, I have fantastic kids to help or I might have gone a little crazy. Benj was especially great at helping Nathan learn how to go back down. Rachel, AJ, and Emma were great at guarding and making sure that he didn’t fall down the stairs on his way up. We are a bit frantic to teach him how to go back down since we have 5 flights of stairs in our small home. Nathan is now officially dangerous!
He still loves his jumper but won’t stay in it as long because it hinders his mobility. He doesn’t love the walker that Kids Who Count brought because it is difficult for him to stand. I am going to have to see if there is a better one out there. We never bought a walker for the other kids because it seemed like it wasn’t worth the money for the short time they would use it. I guess it is time to investigate them. I don’t expect him to be walking too soon but he is really making great progress.
He wasn’t babbling much for a while but lately started up again. His favorite thing to say is “Mum, Mum, Mum.” It is similar to the sound he has made since he was an infant when he cried. Often when I say it to him, he will start babbling back. This is great news because it is a step towards learning to speak.
My only complaint is that Nathan’s sleeping schedule is all off. He is teething. On the right side, another tooth has come to join the middle two. He is also getting a molar on the bottom right. He gets a little pouty and wants to be cuddled a lot more. He is pretty great about it. Personally, I wouldn’t want to get teeth in for the first time either.
Besides crawling Nathan has a few new things that he loves to do. He LOVES to push the buttons on the TV which frustrates the kids to no end. He also likes to put small toys on his face and roll them up to his nose then back to his mouth. At times, he darts his tongue out to taste his toy. His therapist thinks that he might skip the “put everything in his mouth” stage because he doesn’t like to put anything in his mouth. I am okay with the licking if we can avoid the choking on all the other kids’ toys. It is so hard to get them all to take care of the little toys like the Magnetics that seem to be everywhere at times.
My favorite thing that he does is he gives me kisses and snuggles into my neck. It is the cutest thing and makes everything else in life okay. He is my little darling.
It has been a little while since I last updated this. Nathan has been doing fantastic and hasn’t been in to see any doctor for about two months. I think that this must be a record. We were supposed to visit the eye doctor but missed the appointment due to our car's faulty ignition switch. It works about 80% of the time and then just doesn’t work. Yes, it is definitely on the very long list of things to do.
Last time, I told you how he has been getting up on his hands and knees. He progressed from rocking back and forth to actually crawling a foot or so by the end of February. Most of this month, he has spent practicing crawling. He would crawl three or four feet when he was crawling to the stairs. He uses the stairs to help himself sit up and he likes to just play on the bottom stair. He also would crawl when he was headed to the couch. Nathan puts his back against the couch and then uses his feet to push himself back and up instead of pulling himself up. I didn’t realize how hard that is to describe until I was just writing it down. This causes problems since he thinks that he has to push backwards whenever he is standing. For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to get him to stand without something behind him to lean against. Now he can crawl all the way across the room. He tends to bulldoze a little but will look up now and then, especially when you are talking to him. He is scooting on his back less and less each week. I think that he is realizing that crawling can be just as fast as scooting on his back. Hurray!
Yesterday, Nathan was amazing. He was at the bottom of the stairs and started to push himself up to the next stair. He made it to the second stair which he had done once before. The kids and I were in the kitchen watching him. He began to push up to the next stair. Before long, he had climbed up all the stairs. We would then show how to crawl down the stairs, helping him to move his arms and legs to the next step. He thought this was a great game. So we spent the day going up and down the stairs. Thankfully, I have fantastic kids to help or I might have gone a little crazy. Benj was especially great at helping Nathan learn how to go back down. Rachel, AJ, and Emma were great at guarding and making sure that he didn’t fall down the stairs on his way up. We are a bit frantic to teach him how to go back down since we have 5 flights of stairs in our small home. Nathan is now officially dangerous!
He still loves his jumper but won’t stay in it as long because it hinders his mobility. He doesn’t love the walker that Kids Who Count brought because it is difficult for him to stand. I am going to have to see if there is a better one out there. We never bought a walker for the other kids because it seemed like it wasn’t worth the money for the short time they would use it. I guess it is time to investigate them. I don’t expect him to be walking too soon but he is really making great progress.
He wasn’t babbling much for a while but lately started up again. His favorite thing to say is “Mum, Mum, Mum.” It is similar to the sound he has made since he was an infant when he cried. Often when I say it to him, he will start babbling back. This is great news because it is a step towards learning to speak.
My only complaint is that Nathan’s sleeping schedule is all off. He is teething. On the right side, another tooth has come to join the middle two. He is also getting a molar on the bottom right. He gets a little pouty and wants to be cuddled a lot more. He is pretty great about it. Personally, I wouldn’t want to get teeth in for the first time either.
Besides crawling Nathan has a few new things that he loves to do. He LOVES to push the buttons on the TV which frustrates the kids to no end. He also likes to put small toys on his face and roll them up to his nose then back to his mouth. At times, he darts his tongue out to taste his toy. His therapist thinks that he might skip the “put everything in his mouth” stage because he doesn’t like to put anything in his mouth. I am okay with the licking if we can avoid the choking on all the other kids’ toys. It is so hard to get them all to take care of the little toys like the Magnetics that seem to be everywhere at times.
My favorite thing that he does is he gives me kisses and snuggles into my neck. It is the cutest thing and makes everything else in life okay. He is my little darling.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Follow-up, Endocrinologist, & January 09
2/1/09 Surgery follow-up, endocrinologist and January accomplisments
Nathan is 16 months old.
Doctors Update: Nathan was taken off oxygen a couple of days after I last posted. He hasn’t needed oxygen since then and his SAT stayed at 93 which is acceptable.
We saw the urologist at the beginning at the month for a follow-up after surgery. Nathan has a fluid sac (hydrocele) that Dr. W is hoping will just go away. We will watch it for the next 6-9 months and then make decision about whether to go in to drain it. Right now, we both agree that we would rather not seem him go under anesthesia any time soon. So we are just waiting.
We met our newest doctor, the endocrinologist, this last week to discuss Nathan’s growth and hypoglycemia. Dr. D wants to just wait and watch how Nathan grows for the next 6 months. We only need to worry if he stops growing for 3-4 months at a time. I am excited to report that he has gained 3 pounds and grown 2 inches in the last month! He is up to 20lbs and 4 oz as of the 28th. (Yes, I am developing incredible arm muscles!) As for his hypoglycemia, Dr. D just wants us to make watch his behaviors when he hasn’t had food and be especially careful when he becomes ill. If he becomes lethargic, we are to take him to the hospital to check his sugars and get them raised again.
So we are in the Wait and Watch mode for the hydrocele, atrial septal defect & enlarge aortic root, hypoglycemia, cortical visual impairment, and everything else that I have currently forgotten. This is a great place to be. As of right now, Nathan doesn’t have a single doctor’s appointment for February which is fabulous.
Progress: We have been very excited about Nathan’s progress this month. First, he has become an extreme bouncer. He is standing in the bouncer for at least a minute and will jump for at least 30 minutes. He even whines if you take him out when he is having fun. His legs are getting much stronger and he jumps like a madman. He can move his bouncer up to two-three feet when he really gets going. His smile is contagious and no one can walk by him in the bouncer without making a face and laughing with him.
Nathan’s babbling has been increasing in frequency and quantity. One night when Ben and I were upstairs, Ben asked who had called, “Dad.” It was Nathan downstairs. Before you get excited, he doesn’t mean to say anything particular yet but he is saying many new sounds. He enjoys babbling to himself and will often babble away at night when he gets tired.
The most exciting improvement is that he is now getting on his hands and knees, and rocking back and forth. This is the first steps before crawling! You have to understand that I have been putting him in this position almost every day for the past 10 months trying to help him to learn to crawl. When he is in this position, he is actually looking at us and smiling.
He is able to sit for longer periods without falling. We are currently trying to teach him how to lean forward to slowly get out of the sitting position. He typically arches backward and has to have pillows or a blanket behind him at all times. He likes to sit and play with his cars, balls and other toys.
We are also working on helping him to learn how to put food in his mouth. He has learned how to chew his food and we can now feed him food that has been through the baby grinder.
Favorite activities: Currently Nathan loves to play in his bean box. It is just a plastic tub filled with beans. We can hide a toy and then he will find it. He is also learning how to roll cars and play with balls. It is fun to roll the ball back and forth with him.
Note: Music to the video was chosen by the kids.
Nathan is 16 months old.
Doctors Update: Nathan was taken off oxygen a couple of days after I last posted. He hasn’t needed oxygen since then and his SAT stayed at 93 which is acceptable.
We saw the urologist at the beginning at the month for a follow-up after surgery. Nathan has a fluid sac (hydrocele) that Dr. W is hoping will just go away. We will watch it for the next 6-9 months and then make decision about whether to go in to drain it. Right now, we both agree that we would rather not seem him go under anesthesia any time soon. So we are just waiting.
We met our newest doctor, the endocrinologist, this last week to discuss Nathan’s growth and hypoglycemia. Dr. D wants to just wait and watch how Nathan grows for the next 6 months. We only need to worry if he stops growing for 3-4 months at a time. I am excited to report that he has gained 3 pounds and grown 2 inches in the last month! He is up to 20lbs and 4 oz as of the 28th. (Yes, I am developing incredible arm muscles!) As for his hypoglycemia, Dr. D just wants us to make watch his behaviors when he hasn’t had food and be especially careful when he becomes ill. If he becomes lethargic, we are to take him to the hospital to check his sugars and get them raised again.
So we are in the Wait and Watch mode for the hydrocele, atrial septal defect & enlarge aortic root, hypoglycemia, cortical visual impairment, and everything else that I have currently forgotten. This is a great place to be. As of right now, Nathan doesn’t have a single doctor’s appointment for February which is fabulous.
Progress: We have been very excited about Nathan’s progress this month. First, he has become an extreme bouncer. He is standing in the bouncer for at least a minute and will jump for at least 30 minutes. He even whines if you take him out when he is having fun. His legs are getting much stronger and he jumps like a madman. He can move his bouncer up to two-three feet when he really gets going. His smile is contagious and no one can walk by him in the bouncer without making a face and laughing with him.
Nathan’s babbling has been increasing in frequency and quantity. One night when Ben and I were upstairs, Ben asked who had called, “Dad.” It was Nathan downstairs. Before you get excited, he doesn’t mean to say anything particular yet but he is saying many new sounds. He enjoys babbling to himself and will often babble away at night when he gets tired.
The most exciting improvement is that he is now getting on his hands and knees, and rocking back and forth. This is the first steps before crawling! You have to understand that I have been putting him in this position almost every day for the past 10 months trying to help him to learn to crawl. When he is in this position, he is actually looking at us and smiling.
He is able to sit for longer periods without falling. We are currently trying to teach him how to lean forward to slowly get out of the sitting position. He typically arches backward and has to have pillows or a blanket behind him at all times. He likes to sit and play with his cars, balls and other toys.
We are also working on helping him to learn how to put food in his mouth. He has learned how to chew his food and we can now feed him food that has been through the baby grinder.
Favorite activities: Currently Nathan loves to play in his bean box. It is just a plastic tub filled with beans. We can hide a toy and then he will find it. He is also learning how to roll cars and play with balls. It is fun to roll the ball back and forth with him.
Note: Music to the video was chosen by the kids.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Nathan's 2nd Hernia Surgery & Kosta Koufos
12/14/08 – 14 ½ months old
Friday, Nathan had surgery to repair his inguinal hernia that reappeared at the beginning of July. The urologist believes that he may have a weakness in his abdominal muscles. So he folded over some of the muscles to strengthen the area. He found a sac of fluid in the scrotum also which he drained. The vas deferens on the right side (I believe) was damaged but the other one is healthy. Nathan is recovering well from the surgery and doesn't seem to be experiencing much discomfort.
We talked to the anesthesiologist about Nathan’ struggles to breathe the night after he has had anesthesia. After watching how he responded to the anesthesia, they recommended that he spend the night so that he could be monitored. Ben ended up going home and picking up the kids. I stayed at the hospital with Nathan.
Nathan seems to require more oxygen while he is sleeping and often doesn’t need oxygen at all when he is awake. The oxygen had to be adjusted each time he moved. So I basically didn’t get any sleep during the night. Saturday, they ended up sending us home with oxygen.
Friday, Nathan had surgery to repair his inguinal hernia that reappeared at the beginning of July. The urologist believes that he may have a weakness in his abdominal muscles. So he folded over some of the muscles to strengthen the area. He found a sac of fluid in the scrotum also which he drained. The vas deferens on the right side (I believe) was damaged but the other one is healthy. Nathan is recovering well from the surgery and doesn't seem to be experiencing much discomfort.
We talked to the anesthesiologist about Nathan’ struggles to breathe the night after he has had anesthesia. After watching how he responded to the anesthesia, they recommended that he spend the night so that he could be monitored. Ben ended up going home and picking up the kids. I stayed at the hospital with Nathan.
Nathan seems to require more oxygen while he is sleeping and often doesn’t need oxygen at all when he is awake. The oxygen had to be adjusted each time he moved. So I basically didn’t get any sleep during the night. Saturday, they ended up sending us home with oxygen.
Today he is requiring more oxygen, even when he is awake. We will probably run out of oxygen before the end of the day. The on-call pediatrician is encouraging us to go to the ER. I think that he just needs a little more oxygen and don’t believe that he has anything else wrong with him. However, I can’t write the order for more oxygen, so I guess we will be going in when Ben gets back from church. (The kids and I are avoiding everyone in an effort to keep illness at bay while Nathan gets healthy again.)
On a fun note, Kosta Koufos, two cheerleaders, and a coach from the Utah Jazz visited us while we were waiting for surgery. They gave us a signed little basketball for Nathan and took a couple of pictures with him. It was a great diversion – especially since our surgery had to be bumped back 2 ½ hours for an emergency heart surgery. Nathan was struggling a little with this since he had been fasting for 14 hours.
Update: We ended up going to the ER. They took chest X-rays and found some cloudiness which could indicate pneumonia or a bad cold. They want to observe him overnight, so we are back in the hospital again. His oxygen levels are actually doing pretty well, though they have taken a bit of a dip as he headed off to sleep. Now if we can only get him to wear the nose tube and not rip it right off like he has been doing all day, I will get some sleep. Ben went home to rescue our wondeful friends from babysitting our kids all night long. We are feeling blessed.
November 2008 Hypoglycemia & Growth Hormone Deficiency
11/10/08 13 ½ months old
The whole family got the flu. It was of the very nasty variety. Nathan caught it and just couldn’t keep anything down. This was typical for what everyone was experiencing, however he became extremely lethargic. He just didn’t move at all, and seemed almost like a newborn. We began giving him liquids in a dropper, and a spoonful of food every half hour to an hour. When that finally started going down, we began giving him about 2 oz of formula. We were using one of those tiny bottles you get at the hospital when your baby is born. With such a small bottle, I thought that he might be able to hold it himself. So we began working on it. He learned to actually hold his bottle. As he became better and the bottle size slowing increased, he was able to continue holding the bottle. Ben and I are very excited now because he can hold his own bottle!
I took Nathan in to see our pediatrician because I was worried about how much Nathan had lost while he was sick. He hasn’t been gaining weight for the past few months and sickness just made it worse. We have been working on try to control Nathan’s reflux, which may be causing the excessive sweating during eating and his breathing difficulties. The doctor recommended draw blood to check his thyroid, and a number of other things. Everything came back fine except for a low blood sugar reading – glucose 48. We thought it might be a false reading so we went back for another simple sugar test. It was low again (58) showing that he is mildly hypoglycemic.
Yesterday, I took Nathan to the hospital lab so that they could draw blood again for 8 more lab tests and several urine tests. We hope to find out what is causing his low blood sugar. They had to draw his blood three times to get enough. Poor little guy. It was a miserable couple of hours at the hospital. Now we just wait. By Friday, we should have all of the results.
11/24/08
Well, I just got a call from the pediatrician’s office to set up an appointment with the endocrinologist at Primary’s. His blood sugar is still low at 68 but that is the low normal range. The pediatrician thinks that he probably gets hypoglycemic when he is sick. We will have to monitor him closely whenever he gets any dehydrating illnesses. If his sugar gets too low, he will have to be hospitalized. They also found that he has a growth hormone deficiency. We will find out more when we go to the endocrinologist in January.
The whole family got the flu. It was of the very nasty variety. Nathan caught it and just couldn’t keep anything down. This was typical for what everyone was experiencing, however he became extremely lethargic. He just didn’t move at all, and seemed almost like a newborn. We began giving him liquids in a dropper, and a spoonful of food every half hour to an hour. When that finally started going down, we began giving him about 2 oz of formula. We were using one of those tiny bottles you get at the hospital when your baby is born. With such a small bottle, I thought that he might be able to hold it himself. So we began working on it. He learned to actually hold his bottle. As he became better and the bottle size slowing increased, he was able to continue holding the bottle. Ben and I are very excited now because he can hold his own bottle!
I took Nathan in to see our pediatrician because I was worried about how much Nathan had lost while he was sick. He hasn’t been gaining weight for the past few months and sickness just made it worse. We have been working on try to control Nathan’s reflux, which may be causing the excessive sweating during eating and his breathing difficulties. The doctor recommended draw blood to check his thyroid, and a number of other things. Everything came back fine except for a low blood sugar reading – glucose 48. We thought it might be a false reading so we went back for another simple sugar test. It was low again (58) showing that he is mildly hypoglycemic.
Yesterday, I took Nathan to the hospital lab so that they could draw blood again for 8 more lab tests and several urine tests. We hope to find out what is causing his low blood sugar. They had to draw his blood three times to get enough. Poor little guy. It was a miserable couple of hours at the hospital. Now we just wait. By Friday, we should have all of the results.
11/24/08
Well, I just got a call from the pediatrician’s office to set up an appointment with the endocrinologist at Primary’s. His blood sugar is still low at 68 but that is the low normal range. The pediatrician thinks that he probably gets hypoglycemic when he is sick. We will have to monitor him closely whenever he gets any dehydrating illnesses. If his sugar gets too low, he will have to be hospitalized. They also found that he has a growth hormone deficiency. We will find out more when we go to the endocrinologist in January.
October 2008 -- Echo Cardiogram
October 24, 2008 – 13 months
Today Nathan had an echo cardiogram done. We had planned on getting it done with his surgery planned in December. He has been showing some problematic symptoms lately so they wanted to do the echo before the surgery. He has been sweating a lot when he eats and also having some difficulty breathing. Good news. The whole in his heart is looking smaller. The cardiologist said that most likely, they will not have to do open heart surgery to close it. Also, there is a slightly better chance that it will close on its own. The anesthesiologist told me that Nathan’s airway is a little small for a child his age but then, so is he. This is something to keep in mind to tell the next anesthesiologist. He ended up having a bit of difficulty breathing and they had to give him a steroid. He was breathing well 3 hours later when they finally let us go home. That night, however, his breathing was labored and I ended up staying up most of the night with him.
Today Nathan had an echo cardiogram done. We had planned on getting it done with his surgery planned in December. He has been showing some problematic symptoms lately so they wanted to do the echo before the surgery. He has been sweating a lot when he eats and also having some difficulty breathing. Good news. The whole in his heart is looking smaller. The cardiologist said that most likely, they will not have to do open heart surgery to close it. Also, there is a slightly better chance that it will close on its own. The anesthesiologist told me that Nathan’s airway is a little small for a child his age but then, so is he. This is something to keep in mind to tell the next anesthesiologist. He ended up having a bit of difficulty breathing and they had to give him a steroid. He was breathing well 3 hours later when they finally let us go home. That night, however, his breathing was labored and I ended up staying up most of the night with him.
September 2008
Tara -- September 9th – 11 ½ months old
We went to see the ophthalmologist today. Nathan isn’t doing as well as he had hoped. Based on his behaviors and the fact that he isn’t responding to the special cards they use to test babies at this age, the doctor feels like he has a neurological problem with his vision. Our vision therapist who came later today, told me that this is most likely Cortical Visual Impairment. This means that he can see just fine physically but his mind has difficulty interpreting the information that it is receiving. This may be why he likes to scoot on his back and do handstands to look at the world upside-down.
September 28, 2008 – One year old
I am constantly amazed that a whole year has passed with our little Nathan. He is such an angel. We ended up just having a small family birthday party. The kids insisted on continuing the chocolate cake tradition. So I baked a small cake for Nathan, and then decided to make a small cake for each of the kids. We put a candle on each of the kids’ cakes and asked them to make a wish for Nathan. We had a great time. Nathan accidentally got a bunch of frosting on his hand and then spend a good deal of time staring at his hands and wiggling them around. I fed him a bit of the frosting since he still is having such difficulty swallowing anything other than smooth foods. He like it! It was the most sugar that he has ever had. :D It ended up being a very special birthday for everyone.
We went to see the ophthalmologist today. Nathan isn’t doing as well as he had hoped. Based on his behaviors and the fact that he isn’t responding to the special cards they use to test babies at this age, the doctor feels like he has a neurological problem with his vision. Our vision therapist who came later today, told me that this is most likely Cortical Visual Impairment. This means that he can see just fine physically but his mind has difficulty interpreting the information that it is receiving. This may be why he likes to scoot on his back and do handstands to look at the world upside-down.
September 28, 2008 – One year old
I am constantly amazed that a whole year has passed with our little Nathan. He is such an angel. We ended up just having a small family birthday party. The kids insisted on continuing the chocolate cake tradition. So I baked a small cake for Nathan, and then decided to make a small cake for each of the kids. We put a candle on each of the kids’ cakes and asked them to make a wish for Nathan. We had a great time. Nathan accidentally got a bunch of frosting on his hand and then spend a good deal of time staring at his hands and wiggling them around. I fed him a bit of the frosting since he still is having such difficulty swallowing anything other than smooth foods. He like it! It was the most sugar that he has ever had. :D It ended up being a very special birthday for everyone.
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