Now a Cold

Brandon now has a cold. I brought him back to the pediatrician yesterday because I thought he had another ear infection. Once before he got an ear infection when he was almost done with his antibiotic. His nose has been running a thick yellow green since Thursday and he hasn't been sleeping well. The pediatrician looked in his ears and said they are clear. She listened to his lungs and said they are clear too. She said he has a cold. So we are continuing with the pulmicort once a day. He is coughing slightly but not enough to start the xopenex. It sounds more like a post nasal drip cough. Brandon goes to the ENT on Tuesday morning for a pre surgery appointment so at least we will see if his ears are still clear now that he is done with his antibiotic.

I was off on Friday because it snowed here a lot again on Thursday into Friday. We went outside yesterday to go on a sled ride. Brandon loves the sled but doesn't like being put in the snow.

Developmental Clinic Appointment

Brandon had his developmental clinic appointment today. It was supposed to be two weeks ago but was cancelled because it snowed the day and night before. Yesterday when Brandon got sick with the stomach virus I thought we would need to cancel but he was feeling a lot better last night and this morning so we decided to keep the appointment. When we first got there the ot (occupational therapist) came to look at Brandon to see how he was doing. She was very impressed to see him walking, running, climbing, throwing a ball, and balance on one foot with assistance.

Brandon then saw the psychologist there today which he has never seen. She did a test on him to see where he is and he tested at his adjusted age of almost 17 months old on the test. He had a lot of things he needed to do. Some of the things were stack little blocks, find a toy bunny that she hid under a cup, put puzzle pieces in, put pegs in, point to pictures she asked him to, point to body parts on a doll, etc. When she asked Brandon to point to the body parts on the baby (doll) he kept pointing to his body parts.

After he saw the psychologist we had to wait in the waiting room to see the neonatologist. After waiting for over a half hour I asked the nurse practioner if it would be a lot longer because Brandon was tired since it was past his nap time. I was doing everything I could to keep him awake. She said the neonatologist would see us soon. The neonatologist finally came to see us in the waiting room and said she was just stopping by to say hi. I was really annoyed. She didn't even take Brandon back to examine him like they usually do. I am not sure why. I can't believe we waited almost an hour for the doctor to just say hi. We go back in July and I will ask if we are going to see the doctor for an exam when they make us wait. If not I am not going to stick around.

Stomach Virus

I got a call from Brandon's babysitter this morning at 10:30 telling me that Brandon was throwing up. He had thrown up 4 times in a row when she called. I had to have my school find a substitute for me and then I was able to leave to pick up Brandon. He threw up three more times when he was waiting for me to pick him up. I called the pediatrician on the way home and spoke to the lady who answers the phone. She told me to try to give Brandon pedialyte, gatorade, or flat soda and see if he could keep that down. Stu was home for lunch so he went out to buy some gatorade. Brandon threw up again when I got home when we were getting the gatorade ready. He then took one sip of the gatorade and pushed the cup away. It didn't surprise me because he won't drink juice. He doesn't like the sweetness of it. I gave him some water and he drank about 2 ounces before he wanted to go take a nap (it was already almost 2 hours past his nap time and he was up early this morning at 5:45). He napped for an hour then woke up crying. He was asleep on me on the recliner chair by the time I sat down in it. He slept for about 15 minutes on me and then woke up and threw up again and didn't want more than a sip of water. He just wanted to go back down for a nap. He is currently napping and I have an appointment at the pediatrician at 4:00. At this age they are concerned with dehydration and he has already thrown up 8 times in 5 hours.

Ear Tubes

Brandon is getting tubes in his ears on March 8th. I called his ENT on Friday after I found out he had his 5th ear infection. The computer was down so they took my information and someone was supposed to get back to me mid morning yesterday. I decided to call the office again in the afternoon since I hadn't heard from anyone and asked for the doctor to call me back. He wasn't working yesterday so I was told he would call me sometime today. He called at 7:15 this morning. As soon as I told him that Brandon had his 5th ear infection he told me to call the office after 8:00 this morning to schedule surgery for tubes. He said the ear infections seem to be a trend. I left a message and someone called me back late morning and scheduled Brandon for March 8th. He goes to the ENT on March 2nd to see the doctor prior to surgery. He won't be able to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before his surgery so I hope he has an early surgery time. I am a little nervous about him having anesthesia but so many friends of mine have babies who have had tubes and they have all been ok. As long as it puts a stop to all of these ear infections it will be worth it.

Last night Brandon was taking a bath and when we asked him where his hands and feet were he was able to show us.

Addison's Christening

We went to Addison's christening today. Brandon was really well behaved both in church (I brought some snacks) and at the restaurant.

Brandon is feeling a lot better. He is only on the pulmicort once a day now and done with the xopenex. Hopefully he will start sleeping through the night again soon. He has been waking up once during the night since being sick still. It takes me over an hour to get him back down. He seems to always wake up once the tylenol is out of his system. I have been giving it to him before bed for his ear and teeth. I am sending him back to the babysitter tomorrow.

I was looking in his mouth tonight and saw that some of the points on the bottom molars have finally cut through. So I am sure in another few days they will be all the way through and his mouth will feel a lot better.

Brandon can now touch his hair and eyes if you ask him where they are and if you ask him where his tongue is he sticks out his tongue.

5th Ear Infection

Brandon has his 5th ear infection since mid October. I brought him back to the pediatrician this afternoon because his nose was still runny (thick and yellow) and he was pulling on his ears. Also, he woke up from his nap today and yesterday crying hysterically which is not like him. It turns out he has another ear infection. The pediatrician put him on amoxycillin and also told me to give him zyrtec before bed to help dry him out. He wants Brandon to get tubes. We go back to the ENT on March 9th and he said to have the ENT call him if we want after that appointment. He is concerned because he said everytime Brandon has an ear infection it is his left ear and it causes hearing loss each time. Brandon is already delayed in speech which is why he is getting early intervention for speech so he is not a child who can afford to have the hearing loss that ear infections bring each time.

Brandon has been a pretty playful and happy child despite not feeling 100%.

The doctor did say to continue the nebulizer since he still has a cough but only 3 treatments of xopenex a day and still the 2 treatments of pulmicort a day.

Brandon is also getting his bottom molars on top of being sick. No wonder he has no appetite between the not feeling well and mouth hurting.

Wash Hands

Brandon and I were watching tv a little while ago when I was doing a nebulizer treatment. We were watching Nick Jr. and one show had ended. Before the next show comes on there are matching games, songs, etc. A song came on about washing hands and showed someone washing their hands. All of a sudden Brandon started rubbing his hands together to wash his hands just like he does when he sees the page in his speech teacher's book about washing hands. It was really cute.

Brandon is doing a lot better. He still has an occassional cough and his nose is still runny but not as much. He actually slept much better last night which was nice after the two nights before that. He slept from 8-4:20 am but I will take that over being up all night with him three nights ago (he only wanted to sleep with me holding him since he didn't feel well) and two nights ago with him being awake from 1-4 am since he was wired from a nebulizer treatment.

Sick

Brandon is sick again. His cough got worse on Saturday. He also woke up with a runny nose which continued to run all day. A few times his cough got to the point where he was coughing every 30 seconds for 10-15 minutes. I needed to use the nebulizer every 4 hours to the dot. He probably should have had it more often a few times but the pediatrician said to use it every 4 hours as needed so I was afraid to use it more often. Yesterday morning Brandon woke up crying at 4:30. I went into his room and heard a horrible gagging sound. I picked him up and he spit up mucus. I did a breathing treatment and then put him back down but he was up five minutes later. So I took him out of his crib and figured I would go watch tv with him. I decided to take his temperature first and it was 101.3. I gave him tylenol which knocked it down and called the pediatrician to bring him back in since he was worse. The pediatrician said it is just a cold and that I am doing the right thing with the nebulizer because his lungs sounded ok. His ears were retracted (whatever that means) but he said that is to be expected with a cold. So far he didn't have an ear infection but the pediatrician couldn't say that he won't get one. Today he still has a runny nose and cough which sounds a lot like bronchitis to me.

On the Nebulizer Again

Brandon is back on the nebulizer again. He started coughing yestersday morning but not too frequently so I didn't start the nebulizer. He also wasn't wheezing like he tends to when he coughs, didn't have a runny nose or fever, and was just as energetic as always. Last night the coughing woke him up twice. The first time was at 9:00 after he had been asleep for almost 2 hours. I wound up giving him a nebulizer treatment of pulmicort because he couldn't stop coughing. He finally went back to sleep after 2 hours. Then this morning around 4:30 he started to cough a lot again. He tried for 45 minutes to go back to sleep on his own but then at 5:15 started crying. I think because he was tired and frustrated that he couldn't sleep. I gave him some milk and then he fell back asleep within 45 minutes and slept until 8 which is a lot later than he usually sleeps until. I am sure being up throughout the night didn't help. He was still coughing once he was awake so I called the pediatrician and brought him in at 12:00. The good news is he isn't sick. The pediatrician thinks that either the pulmicort is out of his system (he was on it for several weeks once he was healthy last time and has been off of it for 3 1/2 weeks now) or the change in weather. I need to use xopenex on him three times a day while he has the cough and the pulmicort two times a day. Once he is done with the cough I can stop the xopenex and use the pulmicort one time a day for one more week.

Haircut

Brandon got his haircut this morning. This was his third haircut. One of my friend's aunts cut it the first two times at the hair salon where she works and I cut it the last time. Today I brought Brandon to a place that cuts kids hair. Right near the chair is a tv and Brandon got to watch Elmo which he loves. He sat in the chair by himself and was so good. I really like the haircut that she gave him. He looks so grown up with it.

Blizzard 2010

It snowed here again on Wednesday. We got another 12-18 inches. It is hard to tell how much since it was windy and the snow was blowing. We have some mounds that are probably 4 feet tall. We went out to play in the snow yesterday and to go sledding. Brandon loved sledding again but was not a fan of sitting in the snow.

It stinks that we have been getting all of this snow because I am off this week for my February break. I would have had off anyway because of the snow. Brandon was supposed to have his appointment at the developmental clinic yesterday morning but they had to cancel it because of the snow. We are going to go in two weeks.

Brandon started coughing yesterday. It woke him last night a few times so I am bringing him to the pediatrician today. He doesn't sound like he is wheezing or have a fever or runny nose like he usually does when he is sick and he has a lot of energy still but knowing his history I want to get him checked out.

March for Babies

This year Stu, Brandon, and I will be participating in the March of Dimes, March for Babies walk again.

The March of Dimes mission is to make healthy, full-term birth a reality for all babies. Research funded by the March of Dimes had a direct impact on Brandon's survival. Two drugs administered to him (steroid shots before birth and surfactant after birth) were developed during research funded by the March of Dimes.

We ask that you consider supporting us in this walk. We would love to have you walk with us and join "Team Brando" and/or donate to our team's fundraising efforts. To do this, all you have to do is scroll down to the March for Babies picture/ information on the left hand side after the other blogs I follow and click on the side of the screen. Last year we raised more money than our goal. We hope to meet or exceed our goal again this year.

The March for Babies will be on Sunday, April 25th at 11:30 in Ocean Grove. We look forward to helping to support this wonderful organization.

Pulminologist Appointment

Brandon had his appointment with the pulminologist this morning for his RSV shot. He only has one more shot next month and then he is done with RSV shots. Brandon weighed 20 pounds, 6 ounces again. For some reason he has been stuck at that weight since October. I thought for sure he had gained weight because he has been eating and drinking well but he was the same weight again. Dr. Sembrano suggested giving him 2 cans of pediasure a day. That will give him 500 calories right there. He can also continue to have whole milk after having his pediasure and table food. He said Brandon needs to eat at least 1000 calories a day to gain weight. Between all of the milk that he drinks a day and the table food he eats he is probably close to that already. He is a very active toddler which I am sure does not help in the weight gain department since he is probably burning a lot of calories. He is constantly walking, running, climbing, playing, etc.

Sledding

It snowed last night and we wound up with somewhere between 12 and 16 inches of snow. Once the snow stopped and Stu was home from work we brought Brandon outside to play and to go sledding. One of our friends gave us her kids old sled and it was perfect. It had a seat for Brandon to sit on and be strapped to. He loved it. He also sat in the snow. There was so much of it that his bottom half was covered.

Tommy's Birthday Party

Brandon and I went to Tommy's third birthday party this afternoon. It was at a new place near here called Jungleriffic. Brandon had such a great time. He found a ball when he got there that he loved. He wouldn't let go of it for the first ten minutes and carried it everywhere he went. He had so much fun climbing on the climbing toys. Curious George made an appearance at the party and Brandon liked looking at him. He would run over to him but only get so close before turning and running away.