Today was a marathon of medical meetings! We had two at the hospital and one in the afternoon at the pediatricians (just jabs). Needless to say the day started early, 6am for me when I grabbed a shower before the nurse left, but 5.20am for Emma who wanted to play with Dorothy before she left!
We finally left the house at 8.15am to make our first appointment at 9am. I planned to leave earlier, but I had to feed Emma early and I guess she had not fully digested the night feed so she had a lot of discomfort and fell asleep!
The drive into the city was manic, as rush hour tends to be. I gave as good as I got!!
We made it for 9am, and after the obligatory wait we went to our room. Emma weighed in at an awesome 20lbs 6oz! She is now in the 10th percentile - so only 90% of kids her age are bigger than her!! (She was in the 5th!)
Dr. B, the GI doc and Robin, the nutritionist, were really pleased with Emma's growth and development. The only problem we've had since the switch to all formula is constipation. It's been pretty bad and Emma screams when she poops. The solution? We are going to give her more water. If that doesn't help, prune juice, and finally a laxative.
Robin asked Dr. B. the chances of baby #2 having gastroschisis. He confirmed that we had no more chance than anyone else, which is great. She also told me he had said if the baby does have any surgical needs he wants to be the surgeon!! Clearly Emma is a favorite patient.
Next stop was Dr. R., Pulmonologist. He was really pleased with Emma and reminded me that he said from the beginning that she is very normal, as he observed her chewing on the CPAP mask I brought with us!
I had previously emailed him about her sleep issues. Was it better for her to sleep with me and no CPAP, or sleep only briefly on the CPAP, at naptimes? I also sent him the picture of her sleeping standing up. It was this that told him her sleep problems are behavioral. Usually around 2yrs children rebel against naps - Emma is early! He suggested the Ferber method of letting her cry it out. I explained my concerns about her calorie burning, and all the wires etc she could catch around her.
He said that if she is safe, just let her cry it out, yes - even for 3 hours if that's what it takes! Apparently for bedtime routines it takes about 3 days to teach them who's the boss. Scott thinks it will be longer for his child!
So my plan is to start the torture on Monday, allowing me a few days to get lots of sleep in!! One word of caution Dr. R. gave was that if at any point I start to understand why child abuse occurs then I need to change the situation! I can see why he said that, it can get quite frustrating, however I feel it will be easier if I know she will be fine and I do not try and sleep! That's right, I need to keep myself busy and distracted or I'll get upset.
We also got approval for the swallow study. Dr. R. said that we will only know over time which cranial nerves are affecting Emma's swallow process. We may not be able to work on it until she gets older and can communicate in more detail. In the meantime we will continue to encourage her tasting enthusiasm - she even tried a pickle the other day!!
Something that is encouraging is the development in her eyes. Emma is unable to blink reflexively like you or I. As an infant she never moved her eyelids unless she was sleeping and then we felt they dropped by themselves. As time has gone on, Emma is able to deliberately close her eyes, presumably at will. She doesn't yet respond to instructions to close her eys (and sleep), but she does close them in bright light! We can only hope for the same progress in her swallowing.
The pediatricians appointment was routine, her last Synagis shot of the season. She took it with the customary red face and screaming! What did really bother me is that the elevator wasn't working. Normally 8 steps isn't a problem, but being pregnant and heaving a 20lb toddler and heavy stroller up them was mighty annoying, although not impossible. You'd think a building that houses 3 doctors offices and a physical therapy rehab would make more of an effort to have it fixed right away, and I told them so!
You may also have noticed Emma is up to 79 ASL (American Sign Language) signs. This is remarkable, especially when she uses them spontaneously and together. Some are clearer than others as you might expect from a baby. We are trying to rotate the DVDs so she doesn't forget the ones she doesn't use very often! Emma has also begun to use ESL (Emma's sign language!)! The first sign is a finger pointing at her tongue. 'Eat/food' in ASL is the fingertips brought up to the mouth. The finger pointing is the sign for 'pacifier'!!
We're also working on teaching Emma the four main colors. The signs aren't on any DVDs, but we looked them up. Unfortunately the way I say 'blue' (ba-lue) sounds a lot like balloon. So I'm working on my own pronunciation!
Tomorrow I'm looking forward to taking Emma outside in the warm weather and making some bubbles!! I'll try and video it.
We finally left the house at 8.15am to make our first appointment at 9am. I planned to leave earlier, but I had to feed Emma early and I guess she had not fully digested the night feed so she had a lot of discomfort and fell asleep!
The drive into the city was manic, as rush hour tends to be. I gave as good as I got!!
We made it for 9am, and after the obligatory wait we went to our room. Emma weighed in at an awesome 20lbs 6oz! She is now in the 10th percentile - so only 90% of kids her age are bigger than her!! (She was in the 5th!)
Dr. B, the GI doc and Robin, the nutritionist, were really pleased with Emma's growth and development. The only problem we've had since the switch to all formula is constipation. It's been pretty bad and Emma screams when she poops. The solution? We are going to give her more water. If that doesn't help, prune juice, and finally a laxative.
Robin asked Dr. B. the chances of baby #2 having gastroschisis. He confirmed that we had no more chance than anyone else, which is great. She also told me he had said if the baby does have any surgical needs he wants to be the surgeon!! Clearly Emma is a favorite patient.
Next stop was Dr. R., Pulmonologist. He was really pleased with Emma and reminded me that he said from the beginning that she is very normal, as he observed her chewing on the CPAP mask I brought with us!
I had previously emailed him about her sleep issues. Was it better for her to sleep with me and no CPAP, or sleep only briefly on the CPAP, at naptimes? I also sent him the picture of her sleeping standing up. It was this that told him her sleep problems are behavioral. Usually around 2yrs children rebel against naps - Emma is early! He suggested the Ferber method of letting her cry it out. I explained my concerns about her calorie burning, and all the wires etc she could catch around her.
He said that if she is safe, just let her cry it out, yes - even for 3 hours if that's what it takes! Apparently for bedtime routines it takes about 3 days to teach them who's the boss. Scott thinks it will be longer for his child!
So my plan is to start the torture on Monday, allowing me a few days to get lots of sleep in!! One word of caution Dr. R. gave was that if at any point I start to understand why child abuse occurs then I need to change the situation! I can see why he said that, it can get quite frustrating, however I feel it will be easier if I know she will be fine and I do not try and sleep! That's right, I need to keep myself busy and distracted or I'll get upset.
We also got approval for the swallow study. Dr. R. said that we will only know over time which cranial nerves are affecting Emma's swallow process. We may not be able to work on it until she gets older and can communicate in more detail. In the meantime we will continue to encourage her tasting enthusiasm - she even tried a pickle the other day!!
Something that is encouraging is the development in her eyes. Emma is unable to blink reflexively like you or I. As an infant she never moved her eyelids unless she was sleeping and then we felt they dropped by themselves. As time has gone on, Emma is able to deliberately close her eyes, presumably at will. She doesn't yet respond to instructions to close her eys (and sleep), but she does close them in bright light! We can only hope for the same progress in her swallowing.
The pediatricians appointment was routine, her last Synagis shot of the season. She took it with the customary red face and screaming! What did really bother me is that the elevator wasn't working. Normally 8 steps isn't a problem, but being pregnant and heaving a 20lb toddler and heavy stroller up them was mighty annoying, although not impossible. You'd think a building that houses 3 doctors offices and a physical therapy rehab would make more of an effort to have it fixed right away, and I told them so!
You may also have noticed Emma is up to 79 ASL (American Sign Language) signs. This is remarkable, especially when she uses them spontaneously and together. Some are clearer than others as you might expect from a baby. We are trying to rotate the DVDs so she doesn't forget the ones she doesn't use very often! Emma has also begun to use ESL (Emma's sign language!)! The first sign is a finger pointing at her tongue. 'Eat/food' in ASL is the fingertips brought up to the mouth. The finger pointing is the sign for 'pacifier'!!
We're also working on teaching Emma the four main colors. The signs aren't on any DVDs, but we looked them up. Unfortunately the way I say 'blue' (ba-lue) sounds a lot like balloon. So I'm working on my own pronunciation!
Tomorrow I'm looking forward to taking Emma outside in the warm weather and making some bubbles!! I'll try and video it.
No comments:
Post a Comment