18 months and the "Terrible 3's"

Austin had his 18 month appointment, a little early, last Monday.  He won't actually be 18 months until Sunday, but I was desperate to find a new pediatrition.  I am pretty sure we found one for now.  The new doctor was recommended by a friend, thanks Ellen!  Everything went pretty well, the office is close, and we only had to wait about 5 minutes to see the doctor.  Which is a great improvement from the hour we had to wait at our last visit with the other pedi.  She asked tons of questions so I could get her up to speed on Austin's condition.

18 month stats:
weight: 17lb11oz < 3rd%
height: 30.75in 14th%
head: 18in 7th%

She was a little disappointed that he had lost around 7 ounces since his last appointment.  However, it could be a difference in scales, so we are scheduled to see her again in 6 weeks.  She wasn't too worried about him not walking yet, but will be if he doesn't improve soon.

Austin 18 months - He has such a cute little personality.  He knows how to say almost anything.  Off the top of my head he can say: Daddy, Mama, Noah, kitty, No, drink, more, please, choo-choo, Nanny, up, gweee (which is draw or color), tee-tee, bath, tractor.  He is can take 4-5 steps, but perfers to crawl because that is faster.  He will sit on the stairs and walk to us, when begged to but he will make you do the sad face for him first.  He is now down to one nap, but it is a good nap.  He still goes to bed rather early, around 7.  He loves to watch Elmo and Abby on my phone.  He is not really a morning person, and takes a while to wake up.  He LOVES baths, that will help any bad mood.  He also really loves his brother, although they are starting to fight.  He likes to wake Noah up every morning.  He is still getting used to eating food more often.  He is starting to take more bottles, which is good for his weight, but not good for breaking him of the bottle soon.  He is still having a few breath holding spells a week, but they are by far less frequent and less intense.  We have been seizure free since December 9th!!  His tubes also seem to be helping everything.  He loves to walk pushing his train around the house.  We just love him so much, I am excited to see him grow and learn more!

Terrible 3's
It is a good thing that you bond with your baby when they are an infant because the terrible 3's will kill you. And if anyone tells you any different they are lying to you.  Noah is defiant on everything.  Yesterday he told me to "kiss his butt" but thought it was funny.  I suppose it was something he learned at school, but it put me over the edge.  I had to call Adam for a rescue.  He also had the first born curse.  He expects to be constantly entertained!  He also loves screen time way to much.  So lately we are trying to limit the games on the Leapster, Iphone, and TV watching.  So he has been forced to be creative and play alone.  Which doesn't help the terrible 3's because he acts up to get my attention. I need to learn to breath and keep my cool better, so I do not give him the satisfaction of pushing me over the edge (easier said than done!)  On top of all the bad behavior lately, he has stopped napping.  Which will make his attitude way worse, and it makes for a really long day for both of us.  So again, luckily he was so darn cute as a baby, because lately he is pushing the limits.

Walking!!

The tubes must be working because Austin started taking steps when encouraged! He has been doing really well the last week. No major breath holding spells, even with a cold! Here is a short video.

We also got a new kitty from the DDFL. Her name is Tia. Noah loves her and she does well with the kids.  She isn't a big fan of our current cat Riley, so hopefully they will get along better soon.

Noah is so proud of our new kitty!

Her previous owners did not take care of her coat, she had to be shaved.  Of course it will grow.

TIA!

A cute cell pic from Costco, our boys are so cute!

9 days BHS free until tonight :(

I was so excited to report, at our follow up ENT appointment today, that Austin has been BHS free since the hospital, 9 days. I must have jinxed myself because he had a pretty bad one tonight. We don't know what happened exactly, the boys were playing in the living room with Adam and he got very angry. It was heart breaking. I am happy with our current status of a happier boy, which makes a BHS so much harder to watch. I just hope that it was a fluke and not something bad starting under the surface.

Time flies when we are having fun!

They boys have had a great week!  I can't believe we have gone the whole week without any major issues.

POOP WATCH!
Noah decided to eat a screw! Which is something that has been occupying some of my time this week.
This was our conversation while in the car:
Noah: "Mommy, I was hungry so I ate a screw!"
Me: "You did what?  Where did you get a screw?"
Noah: "I found it, but it's okay mommy it was a cute screw." which I hope means it was small
Me: "Noah, you cannot eat screws.  That will hurt your belly."
Noah: "It's okay mommy, I will eat lunch to cover it up."

I promise I feed him, I am not sure why he did this.  Curiosity I suppose, but I am sure it is not the last time. So I have already made a call to our phone nurse, even though we haven't seen the new Doctor. The said to make sure he didn't have any abdominal pain or bloody stools.  She predicted that it would pass in 3-4 days, to make sure to check each of his poops for the screws.  So, we have been on a poop watch since Monday.  He hasn't passed it yet, or maybe I missed it, or maybe he didn't really even eat a screw.  I am not sure, but it has been a funny topic around here.  Noah now knows not to eat screws, and if he does it again we will need to take him to the Doctor for "pokey shots"  which he hates.

Also on Tuesday, I took a good fall on the ice while taking Noah to school.  I fell forward while holding Austin, but luckily most of the impact was on my elbow and knee. Thankfully he didn't hit the ground, however, it must have really scared him because he was pretty upset but didn't have a BHS!  I was really embarrassed and needed help from a few of the other moms.  They thought I had broken my arm, but it was all just a funny misunderstanding that really hurt my pride.

I am happy to report that we have been BHS FREE since we left the hospital on Sunday.  That is almost 6 days!  I am so happy for him.  Yesterday, Austin decided to start walking around using his push toys, it is so adorable.  He has been such a happy boy this week who loves to talk!  Here is a video of him pushing his train around for the first time:

Today we took the boys to the pool, I think it was Austin's first time.  Noah is such a little fish.  He loves to dive down and get toys from the bottom of the pool.  He can't quite swim all the way on his own yet, but he is so comfortable int he water.  Austin was very memorized by all the action.  He just loves to people watch, and just chill with me in the hot tub. He is my kind of kid!

Today is Austin's last day of meds for C Diff.  I pray that he doesn't have  relapse, while it is unlikely, it could happen.

We have a few things coming up on the schedule.  We hope to meet our new pediatrician in a few weeks, hopefully not before :).  Austin has a follow up with ENT, a follow up with Neurology, and a sleep study in February.

While 2012 has already had a few hiccups, at least they are normal.  I have loved this new beginning for our family.  I hope this is a good indicator of what is to come.

On the search for a new Pediatrician....

When we decided on our pediatrician I was still pregnant with Noah. I didn't know anything about what I wanted in a Doctor for him. She seemed good, she was a mother of two boys, the practice was in our preferred hospital so it seemed good enough. Well now you can say I am more experienced. We had an appointment with her yesterday. I was pretty nervous about talking with her, but after I had to wait for an hour with 4 kids I had no issues with the confrontation. I let her know about my previous phone nurse experience and I asked her for recomendations. She has been a good Doctor but I need someone that is full time and a better practice. So the search is on. We have several interviews next week. The battle for my kids health never ends!

We ended 2011 with a bang!

Well our New Years was rather interesting.  My last post talked about Austin not feeling well, so against our pediatric phone nurses' advice I decided it was time to take Austin to urgent care.  He had had diarrhea since Monday, and now couldn't keep most liquids down.  When he woke up from his nap on Friday, he was lethargic, cranky, and just pitiful looking.    His poor little eyes were so sunken with black circles and you could start to see his rib bones.   Adam was on his way home from Moab, so my parents helped me get him to Children's Urgent Care.  Thankfully it wasn't busy at all and they were able to take us back immediately.  They took his stats, and he had lost 1.5 lbs in a week.  He was a sickly 16.5 lbs fully clothed, no fever, but very very dehydrated.  The amazing ER Doctor listened to my concerns and decided that he needed prolonged fluids immediately, so we were admitted to the hospital.  During our stay the Doctor also ordered various tests on him. The results showed that his bicarb and potassium levels were very low which is typical of long term diarrhea.  Within 30 minutes of being on the IV and nausea meds he started to perk up. They moved us over to our overnight room and he tried to sleep when he could but still being poked by various nurses.  By this time Adam was home, and had joined us at the hospital.  My parents left to take Noah to their house for a sleepover.  That night we were able to catch a stool sample which was sent off to the lab, but we wouldn't get that back for 24-48 hours.  The next day he was feeling much better, but still not eating or drinking much.  Around noon we got the lab tests back for his stool, and turns out he had contracted C Diff from the hospital the week before during tube surgery.  Evidently if a child is on prolonged antibiotics and comes into contact with C Diff, it will run ramp id in their intestines.  His poor body was poisoning him.  Once we figured out the cause they put him on a different antibiotic to clear the bad bacteria.  Within a few hours he was eating, drinking, and acting like a happy baby.  Thank god for Doctors that know what they are doing, and Children's hospital.  This can be a very serious condition if not caught in time, we were very lucky. That night, New Years Eve Adam, Austin and I shared a spaghetti dinner, and salad to celebrate.  Noah got to visit Aunt Dren and the cousins for a NYE party.  We didn't have much of a party, but is was still a good night.  I was able to breathe knowing that our baby would be okay.  They finally sent us home on Sunday, New Years Day.  Since getting home Austin can't get enough food.  The little guy is so hungry and happy.

Honestly, considering everything we have been through this was the scariest because I blamed myself.  If we just would have known that he needed to be on probiotics while on antibiotics, this whole thing could have been avoided.  The thing that I thought would cure him, antibiotics, are what caused this life threatening infection and taking him to get tubes is what helped him contract C Diff.  I am just very thankful for yet another miracle, and that our little happy boy is back with us again.  On the bright side I  thankful that he didn't have a seizure, it seems that part of what we are doing is actually helping him get better.  His tubes are also healing very nicely, which is a relief because we will not do any sort of antibiotics any time soon.

Lesson learned......put you and your children on a healthy dose of probiotics especially when they are antibiotics to avoid our situation.

The day we went to the hospital, his eyes were so gray. (cell pic)

 This is how he slept for most of our stay. (cell pic)

The day we were realeased he was doing much better:  (cell pics)