Surgery #2

This past week was a rough week at the Weingartz household.  Baby boy had to have surgery to get a new set of tubes as well as to have his adenoids removed.  He woke on Monday the 14th at about 6:15, giving me about 15 minutes to get some clear liquids in him before our cut off time.  I was able to get him to drink a couple ounces of apple juice before 6:30 and I am glad I did as it was a long morning.  We had to report to St Mary's Hospital at 8:30AM for his check in time.  We did not get into the pre-op room until 3 hours later at 11:30!!!  Overall he did pretty good without anything to eat or drink as long as we were able to walk around the hospital, but everytime he said "mama milk" my heart just broke as he did not understand why he could not have any.....  They finally got him back to the OR about 12 and it was the longest 30 minutes of my life.  Once he was settled back into the post-op area, they called us to come back and by the time we got there he was already awake and not very happy.  We spent the next hour dealing with a very upset, anxious little boy who managed to rip his IV our of his left hand :(  They had to give him medication twice to try & calm him down.  Finally once I started getting him dressed and he realized we were leaving he settled down a little bit.  I think he was just really anxious from the anesthesia and the environment.  Luckily he napped for a bit on the way home which I think he really needed.  That night was rough as he was up about every 2 hours but would fall back asleep as soon as I started rocking him.  I was home with him Tuesday where we spent some time cuddling on the couch watching Happy Feet, of course, and napping.  Here he is sleeping on the floor, fell asleep there with his blanket and monkey....

Wednesday he seemed to be turning the corner and was able to eat and drink at dinnertime so we figured he could go to daycare Thursday.  Justin was up & out the door before he was awake, I finished getting myself ready, and at about 6:45 went in to his room to wake him for breakfast.  He stood right up and was happy to see mama, however, I looked behind him and sometime in the night he had thrown up all over his crib :(  Since I had a full day of patients I needed to go to work so I had to call Justin and have him drive back home to stay with Hudson.  Friday I was home again with him and he was doing a lot better so we decided to take a little walk to the park to get some fresh air.  His absolute favorite thing to do is to swing....

We regressed a bit over the weekend refusing to eat or drink much of anything but chocolate milk.  By this time we were desperate to keep him hydrated and to get some calories and protein in him so chocolate milk it was.  Since it was a beautiful weekend we spent a lot of time outside, soaking in some sun and fresh air.  Playing with his car at Nana & Poppa's place, "babye mama"

(we got a haircut on Friday for our upcoming family pictures)

Luckily he is finally feeling better.  Sunday night he was able to eat dinner and drink his juice without a fight, slept for about 10 hours last night and ate a great breakfast this morning.  Hopefully these tubes stay in for a while and we will not need another set once they do fall out.  Until then, we will enjoy the fabulous weather and soak up as much sunshine as we can.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a perfect day in MN we had for Mother's Day!  Started off with race for the cure with Justin & my sister (forgot to snap a pic of us).  Stopped off at the expo to get some free goodies then back to my parents to see baby boy as he spent the night at nana & poppa's.  From there we headed to Centennial Lakes for a little stroll around the water and some exploring.

From there we headed to cheesecake for a fabulous brunch and then some quick shopping.  After that it was back to Nana & Poppa's for a nice little nap.  Once we were refreshed, back outside we went to help Nana with some gardening.....

Giving doggy some water (and some rocks & grass).....

Of course we needed to get in some swing time in the backyard....

Sammy & Jasper were able to enjoy the fabulous weather as well.....

Luckily I remembered to get a picture of baby boy & myself. 

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day as well!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

I can't believe my baby boy is two!  It is hard to believe that it has been two years since he was born.  I could never imagine loving someone this much nor one little person changing my life :)  We were able to celebrate on his actual birthday, May 12th, with close friends and family and a perfect MN day, sunny & 70's.  The inspiration for the birthday theme came from these fabulous invites I found on etsy as airplanes are one of baby boy's favorite things.

swishdesigns on Etsy

We are in the middle of our landscaping so we had to keep the party in the garage and on the driveway but I think we made it work pretty well.  Here is the banner Auntie Onya (Tonia) made for the party.

Our In-flight meal included hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, veggies, fruit, baked beans, potato salad, buffalo chicken dip, and cheese and crackers.

Baggage claim is where you could pick up your goodie bag which included stickers, bubbles, plato, goldfish, fruit snacks, and a plane that you put together and decorated.

Here is the final set up, with the planes and clouds hanging from the garage door.



Here is Hudson enjoying one of his birthday presents from mom & dad.  Can't wait until we can move this, his water/sand table & his sandbox to the play area in back right next to the patio :)



 Family picture from the day.

Birthday cake & cupcakes made by our friend Kelsey.  Cupcake toppers are also from swishdesign.

Thinking about sampling the cake......

Very happy customer :)  Thanks Kelsey!

Eventhough baby boy was diagnosed with an ear infection the night before, overall I think he had a great day with his family and friends.  Now I need to start thinking about a theme for next year ;)

Extra TLC

The hardest part for me about being a mom and working full-time is having to leave baby boy whenever he is sick.  Luckily, between Justin, my parents, and my sister there are plenty of people to help out when he needs to be home so I am not draining my PTO but I hate that it is not me home with him, giving him that extra TLC he needs....

I have been battling a virus (cough, sore throat, headache) for about 3 weeks and had been waiting for baby boy to get it and of course, when it seemed like he was in the clear, I get the dreaded phone call from daycare to let me know I need to come and get him as he is running a fever of 103.  This also happens to be the week when Justin is out of town for work.....

So I left work yesterday about 1:30 to go pick up baby boy.  Poor thing, he just looked miserable.  He was happy to see his mama though, gave me a big hug and did not want to let go.  So home we went, where we spent a majority of our afternoon on the couch, cuddling, and watching Happy Feet over & over & over again......

Taking a little nap on mama.....

Luckily, Nana was able to come down today to watch him and since he still had a fever (thankfully only 100*) this morning, auntie Tonia will come tomorrow morning so I can work a half day and be home with him tomorrow afternoon.  Hoping by Thursday we will be okay to go to daycare and be ready for our big birthday bash on Saturday.  For now, it will be lots of snuggles, fluids, and rest :)

"No-No"

To start with some good news, I have not officially heard from the doctor but looking at Hudson's lab results from Monday.....  all of his tests were negative :)  No cystic fibrosis, no celiacs, and no thryoid issues.  We will continue to monitor his growth and follow up with the endocrinologist again in the fall.

Little boy continues to expand his vocabulary :)  So far we have the following words down.....

• Doggy (first word)
• Mama
• Dada
• Poppa
• Tor-Tor (referring to both uncle Torey and Troy)
• Nana
• Onia (auntie Tonia)
• Kay-t
• Milk
• Yep
• Ball
• Aht (cat)
• Please
• Hi
• Ba-bye
• Bus
• More
• Juice
• Animal sounds for dog, cat, cow, pig, bear, bee

And we finally learned how to say no.....  This weekend auntie Tonia came to stay the night Saturday and to baby-sit so mama & dada could have a night out with friends.  While Justin & I were getting ready to go out, they were playing in Hudson's room.  His new thing is to take all of his baby blankets and stack them upon each other.  Well Tonia thought he was done, so she went to start picking them up.....  Hudson turned to her and with his little finger out, "No-No".  I wish I would have captured this on film, as he had his little lips puckered when he said it and was so stern with her :) 

We continue to work on new words, some more consistent then others.  Hopefully once we get the new set of tubes in, the vocabulary will increase even more :)

The rest of the weekend was spent outdoors as much as possible.  Here we are playing at the park, going down the slide all by ourself. 

Of course we had to make a stop at Caribou at some point over the weekend to enjoy a piece of lemon poppyseed bread :)

Hope your weekend was fabulous!

Doctor's Appointments

The last two Monday's we have spent a majority of our day at Mayo Clinic in Rochester at doctor appointments for Hudson.  Overall Hudson is a healthy boy but we have definitely had our fair share of visits to the doctor, from his respiratory issues to ear infections.  Last June he had his first set of tubes put in for multiple ear infections and hearing loss.  Luckily, once those were in place and they finally stopped draining (after 6 weeks) we did not really have anymore issues with his ears.  While we found out about a month ago that his left tube has fallen out and there was fluid build up in that ear but it did not look infected.  Sure enough we went to have his hearing checked last week and his left ear was showing signs of decreased hearing once again.  Met with our ENT doctor after that who, after reviewing his history of cough, runny nose, etc, decided to take a peek down his nose at his adenoids.  They were enlarged which is probably contributing to fluid in his ear and his never-ending runny nose.  So we are scheduled for surgery once again on May 14th for our second set of tubes as well as removing his adenoids.  Hopefully this will be the last time as I hate having to watch him go through it and this time he will need to be intubated, which of course makes mama nervous :(

We followed up that appointment with a trip to his pediatrician for his 2 year check.  Since he was born they have continued to monitor his height and weight as he is on the smaller size.  Over the last two winters they have seen him lose some weight and not gain a whole lot in height, this winter being worse than last.  We think this is partially related to the fact that both winters he ends up with some sort of virus that affects his breathing, causing him to wheeze, and he ends up on another round of steriods, not really eating or drinking until he is healthy.  We weren't able to see our normal pediatrician due to scheduling but the pediatrician we did see thought it was time to make a referral to endocrinology to discuss his growth.  First we needed to get some Xray's to look at his bone age.  Baby boy has had a couple chest XRay's so as soon as we walked into the room he started screaming :(  Which always breaks my heart but we made it through the left wrist and knee XRay's okay.

So back to Mayo we went yesterday for an appointment with the pediatric endocrinologist.  Waiting so patiently to see the doctor. 

Looking at this growth, his bone age shows him to be between 15 & 18 months which is not overally concerning at this point.  And yes, baby boy is at the 3% for both height & weight but that did not bother the MD too much.  However, we started talking about his history a little bit more and some questions were raised.  Between the amount of illnesses he has had, GI issues, and some developmental delay, he recommended we check a TSH to see how his thryoid was functioning.  Then he mentioned doing a sweat chloride test to rule out Cystic Fibrosis, my heart stopped......  He does not think he has it but thought we should rule that out.  Of course, now I start thinking about Hudson, his symptoms, and symptoms of cystic fibrosis......

Respiratory signs & symptoms - persistent cough (yes), wheezing (yes), repeated lung infections (a few), repeated sinus infections (none that we know of). 

Digestive signs & symptoms - constipation (yes), poor weight gain & growth (possibly), foul-smelling/greasy stools (not really), intestinal blockage as a newborn (no).

Here is baby boy with his arm wraps on for his sweat chloride test.

So now we sit and wait.  Not sure when we will hear the results, hopefully sooner rather than later.  Until then we will try to focus on his upcoming 2nd birthday and getting his party planned.