Christmas Day and the Weekend

We continued our yearly tradition this year of having my parents and Stu's parents over for dinner on Christmas Day. I made a turkey and an appetizer and my mother-in-law and mom made the rest of the food- corn pudding, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dessert, stuffed mushrooms, and pepperoni mini pizzas. Brandon helped Stu put together his new radio flyer wagon from grandma and grandpa Newman in the morning. We can't wait until it is warmer outside so he can go for a wagon ride. We usually go to my friend Becky's parents' house every year for Christmas Eve but Brandon was still recovering from his ear infection. There were going to be other babies there and I didn't want to take a chance of them getting sick.

He is finally better for the first time in almost a month. No runny nose and still a slight cough but not often. And the past few nights he is finally sleeping better. He is still getting up a few times within the first 2 hours of going to sleep but then sleeping a long stretch until the morning. Last night he was only up once at 11:20 and what a difference that made. Other than that one time he slept from 8:30-6:30. He probably would have gone to sleep earlier but he fell asleep in the car at 4:30 on the way home from my parents house and slept until 5:10 so he wasn't ready before then to go to sleep.

We spent the day hanging around the house on Saturday. Stu was out until 2:00 am because of a structure fire on Christmas night and it was pouring all day. A good day to just stay in. Grandma and Grandpa Newman came over to order Chinese food with us for dinner on Saturday.

Yesterday we went to my parents' house to watch the Steelers game. They won but it was a very close game. Brandon had fun climbing the steps at their house and trying to pet their cat Reggie.

Brandon's favorite thing is to give Hershey hugs and lie on him. He especially loves his tail. Thank goodness Hershey is so good with him.

Yet Another Ear Infection and Speech

Brandon now has his 4th ear infection in two months. Last Wednesday was the last day I gave him xopenex in his nebulizer because his cough was almost gone. He was still coughing on occassion but nothing like he had been and his nose was not runny anymore and he wasn't wheezing anymore. I still have to give him the pulmicort once a day until he goes to the pulminologist in the beginning of January for his next RSV shot. I have a feeling he will tell us to continue one time a day until the end of RSV season. Brandon was okay on Thursday and Friday but on Saturday his nose started to run again and I noticed him coughing a little more than he had been, but he wasn't wheezing. On Sunday he continued to have a runny nose all day and a more frequent cough and same with yesterday. He also has been up a LOT throughout the night. The problem is I have to go into his room each time he is up because he starts crying and coughing really bad when he is crying. I decided to call the pediatrician yesterday to tell him that Brandon seemed to be getting worse again. He said it sounded all upper to him and to bring him in again. We went in yesterday at 5:30 and saw Dr. Brunetto. I had only seen her one other time awhile ago but she was great. She really took the time to talk to me and go over what has been going on with Brandon the past few months. She listened to him and his lungs sound clear. She said the pulmicort seems to be doing his job but if I notice him start to wheeze then I should do the xopenex two times a day until the cough is almost gone. Hopefully it won't come to that because he really does not like the nebulizer. She checked his ears and sure enough he has another ear infection. I don't think the last one even cleared up. He had 8 doses out of 10 of the omnicef which was the latest antibiotic he was on. Today was going to be the last dose. The pediatrician switched him to augmentin since the omnicef has not been working. She also suggested I call an ENT which I actually had already done. The soonest they could get us in is January 26th. I am glad I took him because by the time I got home from work yesterday he had a fever of 101. He was not a happy camper. Last night was rough but hopefully once the new antibiotic kicks in he will feel better and sleep better.

Brandon qualified for speech in the beginning of November through early intervention. He was actually borderline qualifying but they tweaked the numbers so he would qualify. He had his first session this afternoon although today was really more of a question session for the parents. The person who will be working with him is named Jessica. It turns out she taught the preschool disabled class last year at the school where I teach. I didn't know her since I was out on maternity leave and she had a baby in July so she isn't there now because of that. It is a small world.

Brandon has started to clap his hands finally. He is so cute when he does it. He has one hand flat like you would have your hand when clapping and he hits the back of his other hand with it. When I start singing If You're Happy and You Know It he starts clapping and he also claps when I say yeah. Brandon also fake coughs all of the time. It is the cutest thing.

Playing in the Snow

It has been snowing all day. We only had a few inches when Brandon woke up from his nap today but there is probably at least a foot now and it is still coming down hard. After Brandon woke up from his nap this afternoon I bundled him up to take him outside. He looked really cute in his snowpants, jacket, hats, mittens, and boots but he couldn't move. I sat him down in the snow and he fell onto his stomach right away. He finally managed to sit in the snow and loved watching Hershey run around in the snow.

Hanukkah, Santa Visit, and Another Ear Infection

We had a busy weekend. On Friday night I went out to dinner with some preemie moms. All of their babies were in the same NICU as Brandon was but they were there after Brandon was discharged. I met one of them last December at the NICU when we brought Brandon for a visit and she is also part of the preemie message board that I am a part of. I met a preemie mom that she knew at the NICU walk this year and that preemie mom set up our first preemie mom night out last month. We met again this month for dinner and will continue to get together a lot during RSV season. They are a really nice group of moms and we all get along really well.

Yesterday we went to my parents house for Hanukkah. Brandon enjoyed seeing Uncle Brian and Aunt Laura there and walking around my parents house exploring everything. He also had fun climbing up and down their stairs. Brian and Laura had their dog with them and Brandon went right up to him to give him a kiss.

This morning Santa came to our house to visit with Stu's fire department. Brandon got a Wonder Pets DVD from Santa and a stuffed Ming Ming. Our friends Sommer and Bob and their daughter Sydney, and our friends Dina and Andy and their kids Tommy and Abby, all came over to see Santa. We had a good time hanging out with everyone.

I brought Brandon back to the pediatrician at 11:45 today. His cough seemed to be getting worse instead of better even though he has been on the nebulizer for more than a week. I am glad I brought him back because he has another ear infection. It is his third in less than 2 months. He is on another antibiotic. The doctor said his cough and runny nose are from post nasal drip due to the ear infection. She said his ear was really gross looking and bulging.

Virus

We had to bring Brandon to the pediatrician yesterday because before he went to sleep on Saturday he had a 100.9 fever. I gave him tylenol and did his breathing treatment and then put him down for the night. Six hours later he woke up. I saw him sit up in his crib and thought he was reaching for a pacifier but then I heard a sound that sounded like a splat on his mattress. I woke up Stu and told him I thought Brandon had thrown up. We went into his room and he hadn't thrown up, he had spit up a lot of mucus. And he was sitting in his crib making a noise in his throat like he was trying to get up more mucus. I picked Brandon up and he felt really hot. He was also breathing rapidly. I took his temperature and it was 102.2. I called the pediatrician and she called back within a few minutes. She said to give him tylenol and to do a breathing treatment and to bring him to the office in the morning. We went in yesterday and saw Dr. O'Brien. He looked in Brandon's ear and saw some fluid but said it was clear fluid and he still didn't have an ear infection. He thinks that Brandon has a virus. They did check to see if he has the flu which he didn't. He has had both the seasonal flu shots and H1N1 shots so I would have been surprised if he had it. We just have to continue the xopenex until the cough is gone and then continue the pulmicort until Brandon goes back to the pulminologist in January.

Brandon has learned how to "talk" on the phone. It is really cute.

Welcome to Holland

This was posted on one of my preemie message boards.

Welcome to Holland"

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

17 Months Old and Back on the Nebulizer

Brandon is 17 months old today. At 17 months old he:
- weighs 20 pounds, 6 ounces
- is walking all over the place
- is only drinking out of a sippy cup (I packed up the bottles once he started to drink from a sippy cup.)
- eats only table food
- loves to play with his Sesame Street toys, duplex legos, stacking rings, puzzles
- LOVES Hershey and gives him hugs all of the time
- says mama, yum, and babbles all of the time
- is cutting his incisors
- loves the Wonder Pets
- smiles all of the time
- loves to play peek a boo
- loves books
- waves hi and bye
- gives high fives
- "talks" on the phone

Brandon has another cold. He was at the pulminologist yesterday for his second RSV shot. He woke up with a runny nose and slight cough. Dr. Sembrano looked in his ears and saw some fluid but no ear infection yet. He told me to suction him before naps and night time to help keep the fluid from settling. Brandon isn't a huge fan of the bulb syringe but he has been letting me use it for the most part and it amazes me how much I am getting out. Dr. Sembrano also said that if Brandon's cough got worse or more frequent to start him on the xopenex on the nebulizer again but this time to also use pulmicort while Brandon is on the xopenex. Once he is off the xopenex he wants me to continue to use the pulmicort one time a day until Brandon goes back to him in January for his next RSV shot. This morning Brandon's cough did get worse so I started him on both of the medicines on the nebulizer. Hopefully once the cough goes away this time the pulmicort will be able to stop it from coming back. This is the third time in 1 1/2 months that Brandon is on the nebulizer. I am also keeping an eye on his ear to make sure it doesn't turn into another ear infection. Despite it all Brandon has been his playful self.

I also met with the early intervention team yesterday to come up with some goals for Brandon now that he will be getting speech. In the next 2-4 weeks someone will contact me to set up his speech. Basically someone will be coming and working with him through playing.