Check Up

Timmy had his 3 year old check up the week after his birthday.  We found a great pediatrician (Doctor Gus).  Timmy did very well.  He didn't need any shots. He was very happy about that.  He measured at almost 37 inches in height (which puts him at about 32% on the chart) and 26.6 lbs in weight (which puts him at about 4% on the chart).  Doctor is not worried because he is still on the chart, he is growing proportionately and he is a happy and healthy boy.  We don't need to see Doctor Gus until July when it is Benny's turn for a check up.

Dentist, Doctor, Meds! OH MY!

It all began on Tuesday of last week (June 7th). Benny had to have some cavity bugs taken out of one of his back teeth. They had to put his tooth to sleep (ie give him Novocaine). This numbed his cheek, half of his tongue and the left side of his bottom lip. They (the girls at the dentist's office) told him many times to not bite his lip. He did very well until we had been home for about two hours. I had went to get him a snack, turned from the fridge to see blood coming out of his mouth. Well, he had chewed on his lip. We called the dentist's office and they told us to bring him back in. So I took Benny back to the dentist office. He did not need stitches (Praise God!). We just had to keep ice on it. Here are some pictures of his lip.


Part 2 of the story. On Thursday ( June 2nd) I had taken Benny to the doctor because he had developed a bad cough and a slight fever. The doctor prescribed some anitbiotics for him to take. He had to take it for five days. The fifth day was the day he had the dentist appointment. Well, by Thursday (June 9th) he still had the cough and his lip was not looking any better, so I took him back to the doctor (mainly to look at his lip). I am glad I did. The doctor listened to his lungs and his left lung sounded raspy. She sent us for chest x rays. After those came back, she diagnosed him with bronchialitus and sent us home with a nebulizer and Albuterol. He is to have a breathing treatment once a day as needed. They gave him some Albuterol at the doctor's office and that seemed to help him breathe better. We knew it was probably a matter of time before we would need one, but hoped it would have been farther down the road.
Here is a picture of Benny getting his breathing treatment this morning. He did really well with it. He likes the "steam" that comes from it.

Tiny Tim

Timmy had his 12 month checkup today. Other than a slight cold, he is doing fine. He weighs 19 lbs and is 28.5 inches long. He is at the bottom of the curve, but as long as he is in the curve, he is good. He is growing proportionately and that is what matters. He now has 4 teeth. The second front one broke through within the last few days. He had 4 shots. He came home and took a 3 hour nap. Poor little guy!

Surgery

Timmy had his appointment with a pediatric surgeon today. He is scheduled for outpatient surgery at 9am on Tuesday the 14th. (Mom, I know that I told you 10:30am, but they called and moved it up to 9am.) He has what is called a fistula. A fistula is almost always the result of a previous abscess. It is a small tunnel that forms under the skin and connects a previously infected anal gland to the skin on the buttocks outside the anus. The doctor told us that it was nothing we did that caused it and that everything that was done previously (i.e. draining the abscess and the antibiotics) was what was supposed to be done. Timmy has to have anesthesia because it would be too painful otherwise. The actual surgery should only take 40 minutes, but we will probably be at the hospital for 4 hours (counting pre-and post-op). We have a follow-up appointment with the pediatric surgeon on Wednesday the 15th. Please keep us in your prayers. I know it is not major surgery, but it is a risk when young children have to be given anesthesia. I am doing fine now, but will probably be a basket case the few days leading up to the surgery. We are hoping to have friends watch Benny for us on the day of the surgery. This should lessen the stress a bit for us since we would not have to keep Benny occupied.

6 Month Checkup

Timmy had his 6 month checkup yesterday. Here are his stats: Weight 16.4 lbs, Length: 25.25 inches. So he gained almost 3 pounds but didn't grow in height. Overall he is doing okay. He received 3 shots which he didn't really cry about. He cried more when they had to prick his heel and draw blood. I have tried solid foods with him, but he has shown little to no interest. The only thing he likes somewhat is squash. He still has the abscess on his bottom, so we were referred to a pediatric surgeon (appointment on Sept 8th) to see if it needs to be surgically removed. It doesn't really bother him but we still need to get it taken care of. Timmy took a three hour nap yesterday, but no nap longer than 20 minutes today. Not eating as much today either, but I chalk that up to the shots.

On another note, Benny now has a sand/water table. I purchased it from craigslist today and he has been out playing with it most of the afternoon. It only has water in it because we need to go and purchase some sand.

3 Year Checkup

Today was Benny's 3 year old checkup. He did very well. He was a little shy around the doctor, but soon warmed up to him. He had to get a booster shot for the flu and he handled it as well as could be expected. His official measurements are as follows: Height: 37 inches (just under 50th percentile), Weight: 27.2 (fully clothed except shoes, this puts him in the 10th percentile.). Doctor recommended whole milk and foods high in fat and calories, especially since he is so active. He is also going to start taking a children's vitamin (because he is a picky eater). Other than the low weight, he is a healthy and active soon to be 3 year old. At his next checkup (when he turns 4), he will be getting his going to school shots. Not looking forward to that day :) . Timmy has his 6 month checkup next month.

Doctor Visit /Check up

On Tuesday (the 15th) Timmy had his 4 month checkup. He weighed in at 13lbs 9oz and measured 25 1/4 inches long. He is at the higher end of the scale on height and the lower end on weight. Overall he is a healthy and very active baby.

That is the good news. The bad news is that Benny has been having a fever since Monday (the 14th). The highest it registered was 103.9 (that was on Monday afternoon). He has had no other symptoms like runny nose or coughing. Dr. Hernandez checked him out and said that if he still had a fever on Friday that we should bring him back and they would do blood work. Thankfully, Benny has been responding to the Children's Motrin and as of this morning (the 17th) he does not have a fever. Here's hoping that Timmy doesn't get it.

2 month checkup

Timmy had his 2 month checkup today. His pediatrician was on vacation earlier this month so Timmy missed his 1 month checkup. Currently he is 10lbs 4oz and is 23 inches long. His head measured at 14 1/2 inches. He is growing like a weed! He had 3 booster shots today but handled it like a trooper. The only thing the doctor said was we need to do more tummy time. Timmy needs to practice holding up his head. Our next doctor appointment for Timmy is at four months (which puts it sometime in June).

On another note, Benny had his first real experience with throwing up. Monday morning he woke up not felling well. He tried to eat breakfast, but soon threw it up. He threw up a total of 3 times (not counting his bed). By late afternoon he was feeling better. He wanted to play trains.

Baby Update

Well, I had another doctor's appointment today. I was hoping to be told I had started dilating, but no such thing. He said that even if he wanted to induce me, it wouldn't be a good idea. So now we wait. If baby Timmy doesn't make an appearance over the weekend, then we are scheduled to go in Tuesday night (9pm) and the doctor will hopefully deliver Timmy on Wednesday morning (7am). He is squeezing me in because he has a c-section to perform later that day. Not to mention my parents fly in around noon that day as well, so both the doctor and Brad have somewhat of a deadline. Even though I don't really want to wait that long (due to aches, pains and acid reflux) it is nice to know there is an end in sight. I also hope Timmy waits, because my doctor is not on call this weekend. He didn't get a chance to deliver Benny and he is hoping to deliver Timmy. We are not sure what we are going to do with Benny. Either he will come with us to the hospital or he will have to stay over at someones house. We will play it by ear though and just wait on God. Thanks for all who have graciously volunteered to watch Benny for us. Keep us in your prayers.

Baby Update

Our sweet "Little H"!

I had a follow-up ultrasound a few weeks ago followed by my Ob/Gyn visit. The ultrasound technician saw nothing out of the ordinary. There is still a bright spot on the heart, but it is fading. They left it up to Dr. Lanza as to whether I need another ultrasound. He said probably later on, but I have none scheduled so far. That may change when I see him on Friday.



I had my glucose test back and according to Dr. Lanza, no news is good news. So far, I have not heard anything from them so I guess my bloodsugar is okay.



I have decided to stop work at the end of December instead of January like I had originally planned. This pregnancy is really taking its toll on me. I am having trouble sleeping at night and therefore I am tired during the day. Plus, keeping up with an almost 2 1/2 year old requires a lot of energy too. Another reason I want to stop working is so that we (Brad, Benny and myself) can spend some good quality family time before this baby makes his entrance. Right now Brad watches Benny on his days off while I work. We don't get much quality time as a family and Brad and I don't get much time to ourselves either. Hopefully, me staying home will help. I plan to stay home after this little guy is born and not have to go back to work at all.

Baby Update

Well, I have made it through 25 weeks. Only 15 weeks to go. The baby sure likes to kick. My next ultrasound is scheduled for November 17th and my next ob/gyn appointment is November 20th. I get to do my glucose testing. Oh what fun! (NOT!). Hopefully I will have more information then. So far, everything seems to be going okay. I am taking iron supplements and seem to have more energy.

Baby Update!

Little "H" is doing fine. On the 14th of August, I had an Ob/Gyn appointment which I thought was at 1pm. It turned out it was scheduled for 11am. (Can anyone say "placenta brain"?) Anyway, I was not able to see the doctor, but his nurse took me back for a quick ultrasound. We were thankful for that because we had been going every week to the Gyft Clinic for an ultrasound and this time we had to wait 2 1/2 weeks. When you have a high risk pregnancy, that amount of time seems extra long.

Anyway, here is one of the pictures. Even though we were not able to hear the heartbeat (due to the equipment used) the baby measured in at where it should be and was moving around. Our next appointment is this Friday, October 4th. Don't worry, Brad wrote down the time in his dayplanner so we wouldn't forget.

Benny's Checkup

Benny had his 2 year check up last Friday. He didn't have to get any shots, but he didn't really want the doctor to examine him. He is just a little over 34 inches tall (which is average for his age), but only weighs 24 lbs. We have a tall and skinny kid. The doctor recommended that we cut Benny's juice intake to only 6 oz a day and make sure he gets three "sit down" meals a day. The hardest part has been limiting his juice. He now drinks more milk ( twice a day instead of just for dinner), but only at mealtimes. His appetite hasn't really changed yet, but I am hoping that he will get the idea of being hungry and want to eat more. His next check up is not until he is three, but we will hopefully be seeing the doctor some time in February with the new baby.

18 month checkup

Wow, I can not believe that it has been 18 months since by little boy was born. He had his 18 month check up and was a very good boy. He is 32 1/2 inches tall and weighs 23.5 pounds. He is about average now for his height, but still in the 25th percentile in weight. He is proportional and healthy and that is all that matters. The doctor did not have any concerns and said that he was a very healthy little boy. We were concerned about his speech though and brought this up with the doctor. Benny should have a vocab of about 5 to 10 words now and he may have about 3 to 5 of which we can really understand. He does talk a lot, it is just a matter of trying to understand what he is saying. The doctor recommended reading to Benny more or at least once a day. We are going to try to work reading to him into his bedtime routine. Also, we are limiting the amount of TV he watches. We have been very lax in this so this will be a struggle for all of us. But, it is for Benny's good. The doctor said that if we didn't see a significant improvement in his vocabulary, we are to bring him back in two months. If he is okay, then we won't go back to the doctor until Benny's 2nd birthday.

Benny had to get 3 shots, one for chicken pox, one was a flu shot, and the other was a booster for a vaccine he already had previous shots for. He cried when they were administered, but by the time we redressed him, he was okay. He remained okay the rest of the day.

Not so good news!

Well, this was supposed to be an announcement of wonderful news. As of last week, I was pregnant with our second child. I have been spotting since Monday. I had a doctor's appointment today. An ultrasound was done and the baby should have been 9 weeks but only measured at 6 weeks. It just wasn't developing. My doctor had me go get a whole work up done. I had to give about 9 vials of blood. That was fun (ha ha). We won't know the results for about a couple of weeks. The doctor said we can try again for another baby after the first of the year. I am really depressed but I know that this is all part of God's plan and I have put my faith in Him.

Scary Wednesday

One of my greatest fears was realized. I slipped coming down the stairs while I was holding Benny. It happened Wednesday morning. Luckily, Benny is okay. He wasn't phased by it at all. I only slipped down 4 or 5 steps and managed to scoot my way to the bottom. I ended up spraining my right ankle. Brad and Benny took me to the doctor and the doctor told me to keep it elevated and iced. They gave me a neat brace to wear for when I have to walk. If it didn't feel better by today, I was supposed to get an x-ray. It is feeling much better, but I still need to use the brace. I have been out of work for the last 3 days and I am ready to get back to it. I am so thankful that Benny didn't get hurt and I am doing fine.