Snow Angel

So when we left off last Baby GL had finally rolled over.  He has since rolled a few more times.  I think it's more out of the frustration of being on his tummy that gets him motivated to roll onto his back.  My mother had him on his side on the couch and he managed to roll the rest of the way onto his tummy.  If he has a little help he seem to get there.

We took Baby GL outside in the snow for the first time.  He was so bundle he had no idea even where he was.  I did manage to get a snow angel out of him.  It was a very quick jump in the snow and get back inside where it was warm.

We are in the middle of a very busy week.  Friday, I took Baby GL for some lab work for his appointment with the Endocrine Clinic we had yesterday.   He did so great.  He gets his labs done like a big boy, in the left arm.  Endocrine is keeping tabs on his thyroids.  He currently takes a tablet daily, that I crush up and put into his g-tube, to regulate his thyroid.  His labs looked normal which means that he'll probably continue to be watched with his lab work and come off the meds later in the year.  During his clinic visit there isn't much done.  The nurse asked general questions, then a student doctor came in to ask more questions until finally the doctor came in to squeeze his neck, belly and feel for his testicles.  The thyroid works to produce hormones in the body so I guess it all makes sense.  I'm not sure what she would find by touch, maybe something being enlarged.  I actually didn't think to ask since while she was poking I was feeding Baby GL a bottle.  It seemed to distract him from the poking around.


We also had a visit from the nurse today.  Baby GL was due for his monthly synergist shot to prevent RSV.  He'll only have one more after this one.  It's not a fun experience.  Baby GL always cries.  The needle is terribly long, I can't imagine that feels very good.  The nurse weighed him, 12lbs 3oz and 23 1/4 inches.  It's not much weigh gain over the month, only about half a pound.  That signaled to me that we need to increase his feedings.  He's shown that he cam handle what he's getting now.  He takes 3 1/4 ounces in full most of the time now so I think we need to bump it to 3.5 ounces.  Over the day thats 1.5 ounces more.  With his activity level now I think he needs the extra nutrition.  He hasn't had much issue with his reflux which has lightened my laundry loads. 

Today we had an evaluation with the Birth-3 program in our area. They offer therapies for children that qualify.  After we discussed his progress I decide the advice of the hospital PT, OT and Speech groups was better, to look into an external therapy.  Birth-3 is not as aggressive of a therapy for him right now.  I believe that he's been doing so well and he tolerates a lot right now that he could handle a heavier therapy to get us moving in the right direction.  He may change his mind and decide he's not crazy about a therapist moving him around so that is when we will bring Birth-3 back in.  The style of therapy they offer is more of a parent education on home therapy, but not often enough to be aggressive.  We already do some home therapy with getting him on his tummy, helping him roll, getting him sitting up, etc.  We can only do so much at home.

Tomorrow we have another round of clinic appointments.  We'll start in radiology with his ultrasound where he had the picc line during this last hospital visit.  Since he developed a blood clot we've been giving him 2 injections daily of Lovenox, a blood thinner.  Now, after 6 weeks, we'll see if its cleared up and we can stop the injections.  His poor little thighs are bruised up from the needles.  I remember how bruised up I was from giving myself those injections during my pregnancy.  After the ultrasound we'll discuss the results in the Hematology clinic.  After all that we get to visit GI, gastroenterology. I'm not sure what we'll discuss in that clinic this time.  They usually take a look at the g-tube sight and follow-up on his feeding progress. I'm sure they will have the results from the swallow study that showed us he was still aspirating during feedings.  I always feel nervous going into the clinic with that knowledge because I just don't want that J/G-tube back that made us all miserable.

We'll have a little break from appointments until next week when we go into the Pulmonary clinic.  I'm excited about that one.  We may get to remove the oxygen or go part-time on oxygen.  I'll be on the edge of my seat until then.