#Win a SuperSeat from @summerinfant & @_themaven ends 6/20 http://ow.ly/5bDqq
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
June 2, 2011 - A New Bike, A Cage and more
Had to quickly post about today before I hit the hay. Conner's schedule is quite busy these days, but he does well with a structured busy day. It seems to work for him. Today started at 9. He did a make up day at speech preschool (he will start going every T/Th in a few weeks). David took him while I took B to a doctor appointment (more on that in a minute). Anyway, Conner went to preschool and as always, had a great day. The teacher told David (and told me the same on Tuesday) that Conner is a pleasure to have in class and she loves having him. Always makes parents feel good to hear stuff like that. Oh and on Tuesday, the little girl in the class told her mom that she wanted Conner over for a playdate.
So David drove Conner from there to OT and Speech at another place. I met them there with the baby so David could go back to work. Anyway, Conner had a great day there...that was from 1-2:30. Then we got back in the car and drove to PT at yet another place. I haven't gone back to watch his session in a while because it has become very distracting for Conner. Today, Conner kept saying he was hungry so I ran to the little cafe thing and bought him some Bugles (nutritious, I know!) and walked back to give them to him. I saw a boy (who was Conner...but I was so shocked!) riding his bike with training wheels down the hall. I couldn't believe it. David had brought the bike up there because we wanted to work on riding it...Conner was getting way too big for the tricycle so we bought him a Cars bike. Anyway, he did a great job riding his new bike. It still has special pedals on it that basically velcro C's feet to the pedals, but maybe in a few weeks, we will try to take them off and see what Conner does.
After that, Conner's PT tried him out in their new "cage". It has a fancier name...something like Universal something or other, but it looks like a cage. Conner called it a locker. Anyway, she got him all hooked up and once he got comfortable, he was jumping all over the place. I don't know much about it, but it was cool, and I was so proud of him. He is getting better every day with his jumping and I think this new activity is going to be fun for him. He was whipped by the end of the session.
So Conner had a great day as far as I'm concerned. He continues to make progress in every area and we are so happy with how well he is doing.
Brennan had to go to the dermatologist today. She has a Nevis Simplex (stork bite) on her nose/forehead. It is so faint that we don't even really notice it, but the pediatrician wanted us to go have it checked just because of its location. She also has a hemangioma on her shoulder. We weren't concerned about either of them, but the dermatologist wanted to try to reduce the one on the shoulder (he said the one on her face should fade and disappear). He gave me three options, but seemed to lean toward one...so we went ahead and started to freeze the hemangioma. It only took about 15 seconds total...it measured 16 cm by 11 cm, so hopefully when we go back in 4 weeks, it won't have grown as much. I was really hesitant to do it at all because I didn't want her to have any unnecessary pain but the doctor really wanted us to try it now instead of waiting. The other option was trying a topical drug but when I asked about safety, he couldn't really reassure me enough. Hopefully after this is done with, we won't have to go back (although he was a nice doctor and I will consider taking Conner next time we need a dermo for him).
Other than this, Brennan is doing really well. She is cute as a button and very well dressed! I have tons of cute hair clips for her already! She doesn't really love tummy time but the last few days she has had much less spit up so maybe tummy time will get better. She has rolled a few times from her stomach to back, but I don't think it was very purposeful yet. She still loves sitting and standing and whenever we lay her on her back, she tries to lift her head.
Nothing much else going on...this weekend, more hippotherapy fun!
So David drove Conner from there to OT and Speech at another place. I met them there with the baby so David could go back to work. Anyway, Conner had a great day there...that was from 1-2:30. Then we got back in the car and drove to PT at yet another place. I haven't gone back to watch his session in a while because it has become very distracting for Conner. Today, Conner kept saying he was hungry so I ran to the little cafe thing and bought him some Bugles (nutritious, I know!) and walked back to give them to him. I saw a boy (who was Conner...but I was so shocked!) riding his bike with training wheels down the hall. I couldn't believe it. David had brought the bike up there because we wanted to work on riding it...Conner was getting way too big for the tricycle so we bought him a Cars bike. Anyway, he did a great job riding his new bike. It still has special pedals on it that basically velcro C's feet to the pedals, but maybe in a few weeks, we will try to take them off and see what Conner does.
So Conner had a great day as far as I'm concerned. He continues to make progress in every area and we are so happy with how well he is doing.
Brennan had to go to the dermatologist today. She has a Nevis Simplex (stork bite) on her nose/forehead. It is so faint that we don't even really notice it, but the pediatrician wanted us to go have it checked just because of its location. She also has a hemangioma on her shoulder. We weren't concerned about either of them, but the dermatologist wanted to try to reduce the one on the shoulder (he said the one on her face should fade and disappear). He gave me three options, but seemed to lean toward one...so we went ahead and started to freeze the hemangioma. It only took about 15 seconds total...it measured 16 cm by 11 cm, so hopefully when we go back in 4 weeks, it won't have grown as much. I was really hesitant to do it at all because I didn't want her to have any unnecessary pain but the doctor really wanted us to try it now instead of waiting. The other option was trying a topical drug but when I asked about safety, he couldn't really reassure me enough. Hopefully after this is done with, we won't have to go back (although he was a nice doctor and I will consider taking Conner next time we need a dermo for him).
Other than this, Brennan is doing really well. She is cute as a button and very well dressed! I have tons of cute hair clips for her already! She doesn't really love tummy time but the last few days she has had much less spit up so maybe tummy time will get better. She has rolled a few times from her stomach to back, but I don't think it was very purposeful yet. She still loves sitting and standing and whenever we lay her on her back, she tries to lift her head.
Nothing much else going on...this weekend, more hippotherapy fun!
Friday, May 20, 2011
May 20, 2011 - Time flies
I can't believe it's already been almost a month since my last post. Time is flying by. Brennan is already 10 weeks old and she is getting huge. It's crazy! Well, I only have a few minutes to write before Conner is done with school but thought I would write a quick update.
Conner is doing great. We had his 3 year evaluation at school (not because he is 3 years old, but because every 3 years, they have to re-qualify for the program at the public school). So we did that last week and then this week we got the results and did Conner's (preliminary) IEP. We haven't signed anything yet because we are still in the decision making process, but things are looking pretty good. So first of all, the people doing the testing are his school speech pathologist who knows him pretty well from this school year, an OT, PT, case manager, and a school psychologist. They test his speech/language skills, fine and gross motor skills, ability to perform activities of daily living, socialization. The speech stuff was done over a 2 week period and Conner did great. He tests just at the low-average range for his age, which, considering how far behind he was at the beginning of the year is pretty incredible. We are very pleased with this. His gross motor skills test at just slightly below his age range, mostly because of jumping and balance, two things that may be challenging for a long time, possibly forever because of Conner's low tone. But, the PT is very happy with how far he has come (she evaluated him at 6 months old!). Fine motor skills are currently Conner's biggest and most difficult challenge. As I have probably said before, his hands just don't work how he wants them too. He works very hard to compensate and hopefully we can come up with some adaptive stuff to help. His private OT has started a few things that seem to be really helping. We need to work on being able to dress himself and potty training. Socially, Conner is right up there with his peers.
So we were very happy with how the evaluation went. They really seem to "get" Conner and see him for how far he can go and not his limitations. He was originally in the program under the category "Otherwise Health Impaired" or OHI. He has a medical diagnosis, but because he does not have any major physical limitations based on his CP diagnosis, they had to find a new category for him. So now he is categorized as Speech and Language Delayed. It really doesn't matter what category he is in, he will still receive the same services.
This week, we had the IEP where they tell us their recommendations. As expected, they recommend their special ed preschool program that meets 5 days a week. This is the same recommendation they made last year and we weren't that happy about it. But this year, they acknowledge that unfortunately, that is really all that our district has for kids like Conner. They don't seem to think it is an ideal situation, so they are working with us on a combined day. We are going to try to send Conner to the public general education preschool program in the morning and for lunch and then he will go to the PAL (special ed) class in the afternoon. It's all in the same building. If they find after a while that this is not a good/proper placement for him, then they will allow him to be in the gen ed class but with some extra help. This is a new option that they have had for the past year. Because Conner needs help in 2 areas primarily (OT and Speech), they want us to do the special ed class. I went to visit the preschool this morning and have been asking a lot of other mom's about their experiences and everyone has only positive things to say about it. It will be a change because Conner will lose the Jewish content and Shabbat which he absolutely loves, but it is a sacrifice we are going to make right now. We are going to have to just try to make up for it at home and teach him this stuff ourselves. He will also be leaving his little friends and we will also be leaving our comfort zone, but that was going to happen eventually anyway. The class we are trying to get Conner in will most likely be something he does for 2 years, so maybe next year, he can stay in the gen ed room all day. That is our goal. I left a deposit this morning but the details still have to work out. SO I'm really hoping that it works out and feel pretty good about it, the best I've felt about it in a long time. I hope Conner adjusts well to a new camp and then a new school. It's a lot for my little boy all at once.
Quickly, about Brennan...when she was 8 weeks old, David took her for a shot and she was up to 11 pounds. She's even more already. She seems huge. She is cute as a button and we are loving her to pieces. Conner absolutely LOVES her and I hope they will be the best of friends. Brennan moved to her crib on May 5 and adjusted great. She sleeps just as good in her crib as in the bassinet and has more room to move. She discovered her hands this week and has been sucking on them when she can't find her pacifier. She is doing okay with the swing and bouncy seat, but they aren't her favorite. So far, what she really loves is the playmat that I bought her. She loves it. And she also really likes when we sit her up or stand her up. She is going to LOVE a Bumbo and a jumper/exersaucer when she is a little bigger. She is very happy baby except at about 6-8 at night...that is her unhappy time for sure...but nothing too bad. I'll write more about her soon but have to run!
Conner is doing great. We had his 3 year evaluation at school (not because he is 3 years old, but because every 3 years, they have to re-qualify for the program at the public school). So we did that last week and then this week we got the results and did Conner's (preliminary) IEP. We haven't signed anything yet because we are still in the decision making process, but things are looking pretty good. So first of all, the people doing the testing are his school speech pathologist who knows him pretty well from this school year, an OT, PT, case manager, and a school psychologist. They test his speech/language skills, fine and gross motor skills, ability to perform activities of daily living, socialization. The speech stuff was done over a 2 week period and Conner did great. He tests just at the low-average range for his age, which, considering how far behind he was at the beginning of the year is pretty incredible. We are very pleased with this. His gross motor skills test at just slightly below his age range, mostly because of jumping and balance, two things that may be challenging for a long time, possibly forever because of Conner's low tone. But, the PT is very happy with how far he has come (she evaluated him at 6 months old!). Fine motor skills are currently Conner's biggest and most difficult challenge. As I have probably said before, his hands just don't work how he wants them too. He works very hard to compensate and hopefully we can come up with some adaptive stuff to help. His private OT has started a few things that seem to be really helping. We need to work on being able to dress himself and potty training. Socially, Conner is right up there with his peers.
So we were very happy with how the evaluation went. They really seem to "get" Conner and see him for how far he can go and not his limitations. He was originally in the program under the category "Otherwise Health Impaired" or OHI. He has a medical diagnosis, but because he does not have any major physical limitations based on his CP diagnosis, they had to find a new category for him. So now he is categorized as Speech and Language Delayed. It really doesn't matter what category he is in, he will still receive the same services.
This week, we had the IEP where they tell us their recommendations. As expected, they recommend their special ed preschool program that meets 5 days a week. This is the same recommendation they made last year and we weren't that happy about it. But this year, they acknowledge that unfortunately, that is really all that our district has for kids like Conner. They don't seem to think it is an ideal situation, so they are working with us on a combined day. We are going to try to send Conner to the public general education preschool program in the morning and for lunch and then he will go to the PAL (special ed) class in the afternoon. It's all in the same building. If they find after a while that this is not a good/proper placement for him, then they will allow him to be in the gen ed class but with some extra help. This is a new option that they have had for the past year. Because Conner needs help in 2 areas primarily (OT and Speech), they want us to do the special ed class. I went to visit the preschool this morning and have been asking a lot of other mom's about their experiences and everyone has only positive things to say about it. It will be a change because Conner will lose the Jewish content and Shabbat which he absolutely loves, but it is a sacrifice we are going to make right now. We are going to have to just try to make up for it at home and teach him this stuff ourselves. He will also be leaving his little friends and we will also be leaving our comfort zone, but that was going to happen eventually anyway. The class we are trying to get Conner in will most likely be something he does for 2 years, so maybe next year, he can stay in the gen ed room all day. That is our goal. I left a deposit this morning but the details still have to work out. SO I'm really hoping that it works out and feel pretty good about it, the best I've felt about it in a long time. I hope Conner adjusts well to a new camp and then a new school. It's a lot for my little boy all at once.
Quickly, about Brennan...when she was 8 weeks old, David took her for a shot and she was up to 11 pounds. She's even more already. She seems huge. She is cute as a button and we are loving her to pieces. Conner absolutely LOVES her and I hope they will be the best of friends. Brennan moved to her crib on May 5 and adjusted great. She sleeps just as good in her crib as in the bassinet and has more room to move. She discovered her hands this week and has been sucking on them when she can't find her pacifier. She is doing okay with the swing and bouncy seat, but they aren't her favorite. So far, what she really loves is the playmat that I bought her. She loves it. And she also really likes when we sit her up or stand her up. She is going to LOVE a Bumbo and a jumper/exersaucer when she is a little bigger. She is very happy baby except at about 6-8 at night...that is her unhappy time for sure...but nothing too bad. I'll write more about her soon but have to run!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
April 27, 2011 - Therapy (More about Conner!)
Therapy has been going awesome for Conner. He took pretty much the whole month of March off of everything because we just couldn't do it all with me having a c-section, having a new baby in the house, visitors all the time and then me getting sick. It was just too much. But Conner is a great patient (in my opinion) and has been making great strides in therapy.
His speech has taken off. When he turned three, he only had single words, and not very many of them. Now, he is having complete conversations and his language has caught up to typical kids of the same age. It is incredible how far he has come. Now we are working on intelligibility (ability for others to understand him) and some concepts. We are thrilled with how far he has come. I never thought it would happen because it was such slow progress. I love having conversations with Conner and he says the best things. He cracks us up. He is so creative and imaginative. He turns everything in to a rocket ship and makes it blast off. He is still very social and loves playing with his friends from school and regularly requests a trip to their houses. He is still going to Children's for speech therapy twice a week and to the public school once a week for speech. A few weeks ago, Conner started Beaumont's speech preschool. He is going there one morning a week and over the summer, we are going to send him two mornings a week. There are only 5 kids in his class, a teacher and a speech therapist. We have been very happy with it so far. They work on kindergarten readiness (the kids are 3-5 years) so he is working on lots of useful stuff. They do a little fine motor and gross motor work too, so overall it is a great program for him. In just 3 weeks, they said Conner has gone from pretty much silent to being a chatterbox. Conner talks much more when he is comfortable with the environment (like at home, he talks non-stop!).
Conner's fine motor skills still have a long way to go. He has a very hard time with simple fine motor tasks. Yesterday, his therapist taped up three of his fingers so he could only use his thumb and forefinger. She did it at 1 p.m. and he made me leave it on the rest of the day (I had to rip it off at 6 and he cried). I think the bandage made it easier for him to isolate the fingers he wanted to use. I wish we had tried this sooner. Hopefully this will help and we can come up with different exercises to do with different fingers. Conner has the most difficulty with weight bearing on his arms (push up style activities). He doesn't mind the activities where he is pulling or pushing with his arms, but when he has to hold his weight on his arms, he resists. His arms/shoulders/hands are very weak and it seems that no matter how hard he works, they are not getting stronger. This affects his fine motor control greatly. If he can't get better control of his hands naturally, I'm hoping we can find some adaptive stuff to use for school. Overall though, he is doing excellent in OT too. He is seriously an awesome kid!
PT is going well too. Conner is still working on jumping...it's a work in progress and has been for a while. He wants to do it so bad but just can't get any air. Once he masters jumping, then next is hopping! I don't go back with him any more, so I don't get to see what they are doing but I know he's doing a great job!
Conner started hippotherapy again 2 weeks ago as well. He is loving it even more than before. He gets to help shovel poop, put it in the wheelbarrow and put it in the "poop machine". He has also had the chance to feed the horses too and help take them out to the pasture. He loves going to the farm and I'm pretty sure that he wants his next birthday party at the same place as last year. We have given him several options, but all he wants is the farm! I'm so glad that he loves horses and he is getting therapy and having so much fun at the same time. He doesn't even need us when he's there. He doesn't look for help any more, doesn't want to even get off at the end. It's such a great experience for him and we are lucky we found such an awesome therapist.
So overall, we are very happy with how Conner is doing in therapy. He has a very busy schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays but he does great with it. I think he is just so used to it. I don't know if we will ever get to a time when he doesn't need it, but if we do, I don't know what we will do with all the free time!
Next post...school...then maybe a fun post (we do have a little fun too!), i have a ton of catching up to do!
His speech has taken off. When he turned three, he only had single words, and not very many of them. Now, he is having complete conversations and his language has caught up to typical kids of the same age. It is incredible how far he has come. Now we are working on intelligibility (ability for others to understand him) and some concepts. We are thrilled with how far he has come. I never thought it would happen because it was such slow progress. I love having conversations with Conner and he says the best things. He cracks us up. He is so creative and imaginative. He turns everything in to a rocket ship and makes it blast off. He is still very social and loves playing with his friends from school and regularly requests a trip to their houses. He is still going to Children's for speech therapy twice a week and to the public school once a week for speech. A few weeks ago, Conner started Beaumont's speech preschool. He is going there one morning a week and over the summer, we are going to send him two mornings a week. There are only 5 kids in his class, a teacher and a speech therapist. We have been very happy with it so far. They work on kindergarten readiness (the kids are 3-5 years) so he is working on lots of useful stuff. They do a little fine motor and gross motor work too, so overall it is a great program for him. In just 3 weeks, they said Conner has gone from pretty much silent to being a chatterbox. Conner talks much more when he is comfortable with the environment (like at home, he talks non-stop!).
Conner's fine motor skills still have a long way to go. He has a very hard time with simple fine motor tasks. Yesterday, his therapist taped up three of his fingers so he could only use his thumb and forefinger. She did it at 1 p.m. and he made me leave it on the rest of the day (I had to rip it off at 6 and he cried). I think the bandage made it easier for him to isolate the fingers he wanted to use. I wish we had tried this sooner. Hopefully this will help and we can come up with different exercises to do with different fingers. Conner has the most difficulty with weight bearing on his arms (push up style activities). He doesn't mind the activities where he is pulling or pushing with his arms, but when he has to hold his weight on his arms, he resists. His arms/shoulders/hands are very weak and it seems that no matter how hard he works, they are not getting stronger. This affects his fine motor control greatly. If he can't get better control of his hands naturally, I'm hoping we can find some adaptive stuff to use for school. Overall though, he is doing excellent in OT too. He is seriously an awesome kid!
PT is going well too. Conner is still working on jumping...it's a work in progress and has been for a while. He wants to do it so bad but just can't get any air. Once he masters jumping, then next is hopping! I don't go back with him any more, so I don't get to see what they are doing but I know he's doing a great job!
Conner started hippotherapy again 2 weeks ago as well. He is loving it even more than before. He gets to help shovel poop, put it in the wheelbarrow and put it in the "poop machine". He has also had the chance to feed the horses too and help take them out to the pasture. He loves going to the farm and I'm pretty sure that he wants his next birthday party at the same place as last year. We have given him several options, but all he wants is the farm! I'm so glad that he loves horses and he is getting therapy and having so much fun at the same time. He doesn't even need us when he's there. He doesn't look for help any more, doesn't want to even get off at the end. It's such a great experience for him and we are lucky we found such an awesome therapist.
So overall, we are very happy with how Conner is doing in therapy. He has a very busy schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays but he does great with it. I think he is just so used to it. I don't know if we will ever get to a time when he doesn't need it, but if we do, I don't know what we will do with all the free time!
Next post...school...then maybe a fun post (we do have a little fun too!), i have a ton of catching up to do!
April 27, 2011 - All About Conner - Medical stuff
I haven't done a post all about Conner in so long. So many things have been going on with him and he has changed so much over the past few months. He has handled all the changes in our house so much better than we ever expected possible. He is such an easy going boy and although he does have some pretty impressive tantrums, he is in a good mood most of the time!
Medically, Conner has been doing okay. He was sick for almost 5 weeks straight, starting with a runny nose, then a fever, strep throat, fever again, runny nose the whole time, then ended up with sinus infection that ended up in his eye, so he finally got an antibiotic which seemed to help finally clear everything up (plus they finally had spring break so it gave him some time to heal!). He had to miss a few days of school and felt miserable for a few days, but he seems to be getting back to himself finally. We visited the pediatrician several time during those 5 weeks. Last week, we had a check up with Conner's pulmonologist (who we LOVE!). He is hoping that once his current cough goes away and the weather gets a bit better, we can try to get him off all of his asthma/lung medications for the summer months. That would be great! He added an allergy medicine too because Conner has had some serious circles around his eyes and they have mentioned that at school several times. The side effect of the medicine is sleep so we are hoping that it will also help Conner with his sleep trouble which has continued for months.
We have also been working on trying to get Conner off Prevacid. He went through months of spitting up around the end of last year and beginning of this year, but that seems to have tapered off. We are hoping that Conner will finally outgrow this reflux. We have been weaning him for the past few weeks and he has seemed okay, but now that he is just about off all of it, he has started having some bad "urps" that make him cough and gag, give him a bad taste in his mouth, etc...so we will see. We would LOVE to get him medicine free for at least a while, but we will have to just take it one day at a time. The GI doctor was very happy with Conners' weight the last time we went and he said he wouldn't bother me about it again. Conners' weight is fluctuating around 30-31 pounds and he has gotten taller so we are very happy with how that is going. He looks huge to us now and is outgrowing everything. We used to be able to use his clothes for over a year, but now it looks like he's not going to be able to wear last summer's clothes this year. I'm not complaining!
Conner still sees a Rehab doctor. He sent us to get some x-rays done of Conner's spine and hips. Because of his prematurity and low tone, Conner is at risk for hip dislocation and scoliosis. So they wanted to get a baseline picture. So his hips looked fine, but the spine showed a large degree of a curve. The pediatrician said if the degree is greater than 10, she will send a child to an orthopedic doctor, especially a patient as young as Conner. His x-rays showed a 22 degree curve...but after waiting months to get in to the orthopedic surgeon, the doctor is pretty sure that Conner was bending in the picture and his spine looks mostly straight. He, of course, wants him followed every 6 months just to make sure nothing drastically changes, but for now everything looks good. The frustrating thing is that the rehab doctor is always looking for things that are wrong and very rarely focuses on the positive changes in Conner. We would love to quit seeing him...but our pediatrician would like us to continue with him for now...so we will...for now.
Conner's eyes have been a bit of an issue lately. Actually, I'm not sure if they are an issue because he can't really communicate what he sees, how he sees, etc. But in the last few months, we have noticed a lot of squinting, rubbing, difficulty distinguishing objects, etc. We have been going to the eye doctor regularly since Conner was a baby, but the last few times have been VERY difficult because Conner doesn't like the guy. So we are switching to another doctor in the same practice who was highly recommended by Conner's pulmonologist and pediatrician (we trust both of them!). We are going next week, so we will hopefully start to figure out what is going on. Conner is at risk for eye problems because of the retinopathy he had as a baby and because he had laser surgery which decreases peripheral vision. Maybe it's just allergies or something minor...that is the hope.
Well I think that's all the medical stuff...I'll save the rest for another post.
Medically, Conner has been doing okay. He was sick for almost 5 weeks straight, starting with a runny nose, then a fever, strep throat, fever again, runny nose the whole time, then ended up with sinus infection that ended up in his eye, so he finally got an antibiotic which seemed to help finally clear everything up (plus they finally had spring break so it gave him some time to heal!). He had to miss a few days of school and felt miserable for a few days, but he seems to be getting back to himself finally. We visited the pediatrician several time during those 5 weeks. Last week, we had a check up with Conner's pulmonologist (who we LOVE!). He is hoping that once his current cough goes away and the weather gets a bit better, we can try to get him off all of his asthma/lung medications for the summer months. That would be great! He added an allergy medicine too because Conner has had some serious circles around his eyes and they have mentioned that at school several times. The side effect of the medicine is sleep so we are hoping that it will also help Conner with his sleep trouble which has continued for months.
We have also been working on trying to get Conner off Prevacid. He went through months of spitting up around the end of last year and beginning of this year, but that seems to have tapered off. We are hoping that Conner will finally outgrow this reflux. We have been weaning him for the past few weeks and he has seemed okay, but now that he is just about off all of it, he has started having some bad "urps" that make him cough and gag, give him a bad taste in his mouth, etc...so we will see. We would LOVE to get him medicine free for at least a while, but we will have to just take it one day at a time. The GI doctor was very happy with Conners' weight the last time we went and he said he wouldn't bother me about it again. Conners' weight is fluctuating around 30-31 pounds and he has gotten taller so we are very happy with how that is going. He looks huge to us now and is outgrowing everything. We used to be able to use his clothes for over a year, but now it looks like he's not going to be able to wear last summer's clothes this year. I'm not complaining!
Conner still sees a Rehab doctor. He sent us to get some x-rays done of Conner's spine and hips. Because of his prematurity and low tone, Conner is at risk for hip dislocation and scoliosis. So they wanted to get a baseline picture. So his hips looked fine, but the spine showed a large degree of a curve. The pediatrician said if the degree is greater than 10, she will send a child to an orthopedic doctor, especially a patient as young as Conner. His x-rays showed a 22 degree curve...but after waiting months to get in to the orthopedic surgeon, the doctor is pretty sure that Conner was bending in the picture and his spine looks mostly straight. He, of course, wants him followed every 6 months just to make sure nothing drastically changes, but for now everything looks good. The frustrating thing is that the rehab doctor is always looking for things that are wrong and very rarely focuses on the positive changes in Conner. We would love to quit seeing him...but our pediatrician would like us to continue with him for now...so we will...for now.
Conner's eyes have been a bit of an issue lately. Actually, I'm not sure if they are an issue because he can't really communicate what he sees, how he sees, etc. But in the last few months, we have noticed a lot of squinting, rubbing, difficulty distinguishing objects, etc. We have been going to the eye doctor regularly since Conner was a baby, but the last few times have been VERY difficult because Conner doesn't like the guy. So we are switching to another doctor in the same practice who was highly recommended by Conner's pulmonologist and pediatrician (we trust both of them!). We are going next week, so we will hopefully start to figure out what is going on. Conner is at risk for eye problems because of the retinopathy he had as a baby and because he had laser surgery which decreases peripheral vision. Maybe it's just allergies or something minor...that is the hope.
Well I think that's all the medical stuff...I'll save the rest for another post.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Baby Larson - March 8, 2011
Well since I am VERY far behind in updating our blog, I'm going to try to do a few short posts to catch myself up, mostly so I have a record of everything that has happened up to this point. Things have just been so crazy that I haven't had time when I have felt like updating.
My OB's office was fantastic. They were checking me very regularly and monitoring everything just to make sure everything was going smoothly and that the baby was behaving. I was having a lot of contractions so the doctor wasn't sure if I would make it to my scheduled c-section, but for the last few weeks, I took it very easy and laid in bed a lot to try and make things as easy as possible. I wasn't really worried about the baby coming early because by this point, she was full term, but I was worried about Conner and having someone available to help out with him..and my very good friends were coming for the big date and I didn't want to mess anything up!
On March 8, we headed to the hospital as scheduled. It was so calm and so different than the first time around. My friend, Laurie, got to our house a few days before (so we could go get manicures and pedicures so my nails would look decent!!) to spend time with us (and Conner was in love!). Richard got to our house the night before, so the two of them got Conner all ready for school and dropped him off. I knew he was in good hands, so there was really no worries at all. So everything went totally as planned. My c-section went great. I had some itching like the last time, but not too bad, and I had a little hyperventilating and anxiety during the surgery...but nothing a little oxygen couldn't take care of. The doctor was happy. She checked out my ovaries (because my mom had ovarian cancer) and said they looked very healthy and everything was good. The baby came out crying and she was wide awake and very alert. She didn't have a name at this point...we wanted to see her first. To be honest, I was worried about my emotions up to this point. Because of my previous traumatic experience, I think I was just nervous about getting attached to this new baby until I knew that she was going to be okay (there was never a time when the doctor's thought anything was wrong, I was just nervous and worried all the time). I didn't know how I felt about the whole thing...it was such a surprise that I was having a baby at all and even having 9 months to prepare, I still just didn't know if I would be able to bond with this new baby. Well, when she came out crying, I lost it. They held her up, I was crying hysterically. David got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her to clean her up and check her out. This was such a world of difference from my first c-section. They don't let cameras in the delivery room, so we had to wait for photos...but she was so beautiful, full head of hair, alert with big eyes. We were both in love right away. All the worry washed away. We went in to recovery and got to hold the baby and started breastfeeding right away. Unfortunately, her first blood sugar was low, so they had to give her a bit of formula, but after that every sugar they checked was fine. So, after getting a good look and talking it over (and David telling me we had to come up with a name because my Dad was waiting patiently!), our newest addition had a name.
Brennan Faith Larson was born on March 8 at 9:17 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is perfect and we loved her right away. She is named in loving memory of my mom and David's grandmother, two women who we loved very much.
We had fabulous nursing care in recovery and were quickly moved up to the postpartum unit. Everything went great. I was ready to get moving (but still couldn't feel my legs!). As soon as I was able (about 4 hours after my c-section), I was out of bed and happy about that. The pain was not that bad and my recovery seemed to be going great. No infection this time around...I was very careful about keeping my incision clean and dry. I did not want a repeat of the last time. My blood pressure was fine. No problems. The baby did great. There were a ton of people who wanted to meet her in the hospital.
She was a natural at breastfeeding. She lost a little weight but was eating great. When we came home on Friday, she was 7 lbs, 6 oz and about 2 weeks later was back to her birth weight. The pediatrician had some concern about her hips, but we had an ultrasound when she turned 5 weeks and so far, everything looks good, thank goodness. The doctors were all pleased. I wasn't having much pain and was getting around great. We were happy to go home all at the same time on Friday, April 11.
Conner has loved having a new baby in the house. He doesn't quite understand how small she is and that she isn't going to talk to him or play with him just yet, but he is a great big brother. It was a little challenging at first because Conner had a cold, runny nose, fever, strep throat and then sinus infection for the first month of her life so we tried to keep them separated, but he seems to finally be getting better and can get up close to his sister!
Brennan is a miracle in our lives in so many ways. After having such a difficult time getting pregnant and having a difficult pregnancy the first time, losing one child and having a child with a lot of extra needs, we didn't think we would have more kids and we were okay with that. We had come to terms with it and were happy with Conner and how well he is doing. Having a normal full term pregnancy was such a change and I'm glad I got to experience it. Brennan was quite the surprise in our lives and we couldn't be happier.
My OB's office was fantastic. They were checking me very regularly and monitoring everything just to make sure everything was going smoothly and that the baby was behaving. I was having a lot of contractions so the doctor wasn't sure if I would make it to my scheduled c-section, but for the last few weeks, I took it very easy and laid in bed a lot to try and make things as easy as possible. I wasn't really worried about the baby coming early because by this point, she was full term, but I was worried about Conner and having someone available to help out with him..and my very good friends were coming for the big date and I didn't want to mess anything up!
On March 8, we headed to the hospital as scheduled. It was so calm and so different than the first time around. My friend, Laurie, got to our house a few days before (so we could go get manicures and pedicures so my nails would look decent!!) to spend time with us (and Conner was in love!). Richard got to our house the night before, so the two of them got Conner all ready for school and dropped him off. I knew he was in good hands, so there was really no worries at all. So everything went totally as planned. My c-section went great. I had some itching like the last time, but not too bad, and I had a little hyperventilating and anxiety during the surgery...but nothing a little oxygen couldn't take care of. The doctor was happy. She checked out my ovaries (because my mom had ovarian cancer) and said they looked very healthy and everything was good. The baby came out crying and she was wide awake and very alert. She didn't have a name at this point...we wanted to see her first. To be honest, I was worried about my emotions up to this point. Because of my previous traumatic experience, I think I was just nervous about getting attached to this new baby until I knew that she was going to be okay (there was never a time when the doctor's thought anything was wrong, I was just nervous and worried all the time). I didn't know how I felt about the whole thing...it was such a surprise that I was having a baby at all and even having 9 months to prepare, I still just didn't know if I would be able to bond with this new baby. Well, when she came out crying, I lost it. They held her up, I was crying hysterically. David got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her to clean her up and check her out. This was such a world of difference from my first c-section. They don't let cameras in the delivery room, so we had to wait for photos...but she was so beautiful, full head of hair, alert with big eyes. We were both in love right away. All the worry washed away. We went in to recovery and got to hold the baby and started breastfeeding right away. Unfortunately, her first blood sugar was low, so they had to give her a bit of formula, but after that every sugar they checked was fine. So, after getting a good look and talking it over (and David telling me we had to come up with a name because my Dad was waiting patiently!), our newest addition had a name.
Brennan Faith Larson was born on March 8 at 9:17 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is perfect and we loved her right away. She is named in loving memory of my mom and David's grandmother, two women who we loved very much.
We had fabulous nursing care in recovery and were quickly moved up to the postpartum unit. Everything went great. I was ready to get moving (but still couldn't feel my legs!). As soon as I was able (about 4 hours after my c-section), I was out of bed and happy about that. The pain was not that bad and my recovery seemed to be going great. No infection this time around...I was very careful about keeping my incision clean and dry. I did not want a repeat of the last time. My blood pressure was fine. No problems. The baby did great. There were a ton of people who wanted to meet her in the hospital.
She was a natural at breastfeeding. She lost a little weight but was eating great. When we came home on Friday, she was 7 lbs, 6 oz and about 2 weeks later was back to her birth weight. The pediatrician had some concern about her hips, but we had an ultrasound when she turned 5 weeks and so far, everything looks good, thank goodness. The doctors were all pleased. I wasn't having much pain and was getting around great. We were happy to go home all at the same time on Friday, April 11.
Two days after we came home, we went to visit the pediatrician for the first time. She had to go back every two days until she started gaining weight...which didn't take long! Within about 10 days, she was back to her birth weight.
Monday, February 14, 2011
February 14, 2010 - Happy Valentine's Day
Conner was struck with the stomach flu for the second time in 2 months. He handled it well, although he still isn't eating great. It seems like he can't kick this cold that he has had for a while already. He has been on antibiotics for weeks and they just aren't doing the trick. The pediatrician tested him for strep throat, just in case (because it seems like his throat is hurting) but it was negative. So we are waiting it out. When we had Conner's adenoids out, we thought it would cut down on these constant sinus infections and colds. I guess we aren't that lucky, especially this winter.
Other than the sicknesses, things have been going okay. To be honest, we have been having some challenges in many different areas. As much as we try to stay positive, it sometimes seems like things are just piling up. Today, I honestly just want to cry. I have had a terrible cold (on and off for 9 months, but really terrible right at this moment) and haven't been able to sleep. On top of that, I am having some terrible hip/leg pain that is making it hard to walk. So, while I have a ton of things I would love to accomplish in the next 3 weeks, it doesn't seem like any of it is possible. I think I am just so exhausted that I can't even think straight. I would love to have a babysitter, just for one night so that David and I could get some much needed time out together. I'm a mess. I'm sure it's obvious to anyone who knows us.
Besides me feeling like crap these last few weeks, Conner has entered a very challenging phase. He has always been such a good boy but these days he has been getting a little more difficult. He is still so cute that it's hard to get mad, and he says funny things when he knows he is doing something wrong, or when he wants something. It's hard to not crack up laughing. I think we are sort of stuck between him wanting to communicate and getting much better at it, but at the same time, he wants what he wants when he wants it and won't take no for an answer. So there have been a LOT of tantrums lately. On the positive side to all of this is that Conner's speech has changed drastically over the last few months and more people other than David and me are able to understand what he is saying. He is a long way from catching up to his peers, but he is doing so much better. At home, he talks in full sentences and can have a full conversation. I say "at home" because apparently he is not talking as much at school.
Which leads to another huge frustration...school. We have had frustrations all year at school. About 2 months ago, we had a meeting with Conner's teacher, the director and a few other people. They told us Conner was doing great, he had friends, he was social, he was happy, etc. We, once again, asked if he would benefit from having a "shadow" for a few weeks to help him and they told us it was not necessary. So here we are two months later. A few weeks ago, we had Conner's parent-teacher conference. It was not positive. In fact, the teacher seemed to have a hard time coming up with anything positive to say about Conner. It seemed that she couldn't recognize any growth he has made all year and she certainly gave him no leeway for his developmental challenges that he has and will most likely continue to have for years to come. The thing is, Conner has cerebral palsy, and although it is mild and he is doing fantastically well and better than we ever imagined, there are things that he struggles with. He may not jump or hold a pencil correctly for years to come, if ever. That is why he continues to be in PT, OT, speech, hippotherapy, etc, and will most likely continue in these therapies for a long time. But to say that he should not move on to the next year of preschool because he can't do certain things seems like discrimination to me. What if he could never walk, would we keep him in a baby class his whole life? These are things which I feel like we have been dealing with for Conners' whole life. The thing about Conner is that he is a sponge. He learns by seeing other kids. Being with kids his age has proven to be very beneficial for him. He has obviously picked up a TON of language and is learning new things every day. He definitely has challenges and much of his behavior at home, we believe he has learned by picking it up at school. At this point, Conner doesn't understand that some of those behaviors are not appropriate and so we are working on it at home and one would hope that they have been working on it at school. However, the teacher telling Conner to "use his own brain" does not seem to be a tactic that works well for him. I'm wondering if my language and speech delayed 3 year old really understands what that means. In any case, this is obviously a hot topic for us and I didn't write about it sooner because frankly I was very upset about the whole thing. I have not been thrilled with the school all year but now I have such regret about sending him there. I wish he had been in a class that would love him and encourage him and not act like he is such a burden.
The good things that have come out of this are that we have once again asked for a shadow for Conner (the director actually said she had no idea that we wanted one, even though I have specifically asked for one on more than one occasion) and he will be getting one beginning at the end of the month. I'm hoping that she will be able to give us some insight as to what is going on at school. I am hoping that she will also help with some of the behaviors that Conner is struggling with at school. She will be with Conner for 6 weeks and by the end of it, they will have a 2 week break and then just about a month left of school. Another good thing is that this has really given us the motivation to go out and find a different, better suited school for Conner. We put him in this school because he knew several kids from last year. He loves playing with those kids and we have made some good friends. I am sad that he won't be with them next year and we will be the new guys somewhere else, but think this is the right thing for us. We are planning to find a school that is a little more caring and loving, with smaller class sizes, that is willing to work with Conner where he is at and recognize his progress. On top of that, we are very seriously considering starting Conner in a speech/language preschool in April for at least one day a week if we can get his therapy schedule rearranged. The speech therapist that evaluated him thought the program would be good for him. She thinks he might not be talking as much in school because he lacks confidence or there are just too many kids for him to get a word in. This speech program will hopefully help him with conversation skills and comfort level with talking. We hope to do this program through the rest of the school year and then hopefully over the summer too. After that, we will see.
So this has us also thinking about what we will do for the summer. We have applied for the lottery for an inclusion program at a camp which would give Conner a one on one aide for one session of camp. There are not many spots for Conner's age group, so we don't have much hope of getting in but we wanted to try. We will find out on Wednesday if he got a spot. It would be great for him. He would get swim lessons (with the aide helping) and be at a "normal" camp. If not this year, there is always next year. If we don't get in to this program, we will probably send him where he went last year. He loved it and they seemed to love him so it was a good fit...we think.
Anyway, there is so much more going on...and I would love to update some photos, but my computer battery is almost done so I'm going to sign off for now. There are good things happening...just having a rough day I guess...and this was really frazzled... I will post some more positives tonight and try to get my thoughts organized.
Other than the sicknesses, things have been going okay. To be honest, we have been having some challenges in many different areas. As much as we try to stay positive, it sometimes seems like things are just piling up. Today, I honestly just want to cry. I have had a terrible cold (on and off for 9 months, but really terrible right at this moment) and haven't been able to sleep. On top of that, I am having some terrible hip/leg pain that is making it hard to walk. So, while I have a ton of things I would love to accomplish in the next 3 weeks, it doesn't seem like any of it is possible. I think I am just so exhausted that I can't even think straight. I would love to have a babysitter, just for one night so that David and I could get some much needed time out together. I'm a mess. I'm sure it's obvious to anyone who knows us.
Besides me feeling like crap these last few weeks, Conner has entered a very challenging phase. He has always been such a good boy but these days he has been getting a little more difficult. He is still so cute that it's hard to get mad, and he says funny things when he knows he is doing something wrong, or when he wants something. It's hard to not crack up laughing. I think we are sort of stuck between him wanting to communicate and getting much better at it, but at the same time, he wants what he wants when he wants it and won't take no for an answer. So there have been a LOT of tantrums lately. On the positive side to all of this is that Conner's speech has changed drastically over the last few months and more people other than David and me are able to understand what he is saying. He is a long way from catching up to his peers, but he is doing so much better. At home, he talks in full sentences and can have a full conversation. I say "at home" because apparently he is not talking as much at school.
Which leads to another huge frustration...school. We have had frustrations all year at school. About 2 months ago, we had a meeting with Conner's teacher, the director and a few other people. They told us Conner was doing great, he had friends, he was social, he was happy, etc. We, once again, asked if he would benefit from having a "shadow" for a few weeks to help him and they told us it was not necessary. So here we are two months later. A few weeks ago, we had Conner's parent-teacher conference. It was not positive. In fact, the teacher seemed to have a hard time coming up with anything positive to say about Conner. It seemed that she couldn't recognize any growth he has made all year and she certainly gave him no leeway for his developmental challenges that he has and will most likely continue to have for years to come. The thing is, Conner has cerebral palsy, and although it is mild and he is doing fantastically well and better than we ever imagined, there are things that he struggles with. He may not jump or hold a pencil correctly for years to come, if ever. That is why he continues to be in PT, OT, speech, hippotherapy, etc, and will most likely continue in these therapies for a long time. But to say that he should not move on to the next year of preschool because he can't do certain things seems like discrimination to me. What if he could never walk, would we keep him in a baby class his whole life? These are things which I feel like we have been dealing with for Conners' whole life. The thing about Conner is that he is a sponge. He learns by seeing other kids. Being with kids his age has proven to be very beneficial for him. He has obviously picked up a TON of language and is learning new things every day. He definitely has challenges and much of his behavior at home, we believe he has learned by picking it up at school. At this point, Conner doesn't understand that some of those behaviors are not appropriate and so we are working on it at home and one would hope that they have been working on it at school. However, the teacher telling Conner to "use his own brain" does not seem to be a tactic that works well for him. I'm wondering if my language and speech delayed 3 year old really understands what that means. In any case, this is obviously a hot topic for us and I didn't write about it sooner because frankly I was very upset about the whole thing. I have not been thrilled with the school all year but now I have such regret about sending him there. I wish he had been in a class that would love him and encourage him and not act like he is such a burden.
The good things that have come out of this are that we have once again asked for a shadow for Conner (the director actually said she had no idea that we wanted one, even though I have specifically asked for one on more than one occasion) and he will be getting one beginning at the end of the month. I'm hoping that she will be able to give us some insight as to what is going on at school. I am hoping that she will also help with some of the behaviors that Conner is struggling with at school. She will be with Conner for 6 weeks and by the end of it, they will have a 2 week break and then just about a month left of school. Another good thing is that this has really given us the motivation to go out and find a different, better suited school for Conner. We put him in this school because he knew several kids from last year. He loves playing with those kids and we have made some good friends. I am sad that he won't be with them next year and we will be the new guys somewhere else, but think this is the right thing for us. We are planning to find a school that is a little more caring and loving, with smaller class sizes, that is willing to work with Conner where he is at and recognize his progress. On top of that, we are very seriously considering starting Conner in a speech/language preschool in April for at least one day a week if we can get his therapy schedule rearranged. The speech therapist that evaluated him thought the program would be good for him. She thinks he might not be talking as much in school because he lacks confidence or there are just too many kids for him to get a word in. This speech program will hopefully help him with conversation skills and comfort level with talking. We hope to do this program through the rest of the school year and then hopefully over the summer too. After that, we will see.
So this has us also thinking about what we will do for the summer. We have applied for the lottery for an inclusion program at a camp which would give Conner a one on one aide for one session of camp. There are not many spots for Conner's age group, so we don't have much hope of getting in but we wanted to try. We will find out on Wednesday if he got a spot. It would be great for him. He would get swim lessons (with the aide helping) and be at a "normal" camp. If not this year, there is always next year. If we don't get in to this program, we will probably send him where he went last year. He loved it and they seemed to love him so it was a good fit...we think.
Anyway, there is so much more going on...and I would love to update some photos, but my computer battery is almost done so I'm going to sign off for now. There are good things happening...just having a rough day I guess...and this was really frazzled... I will post some more positives tonight and try to get my thoughts organized.
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