It’s been nearly two weeks since my last posting… Sorry about that.

The good news is that not much is happening our happy little home. The bad news is that there are a number of little things that I’ve been meaning to share and I hope I don’t forget them.

I can’t believe that Christmas is nearly here. A number of people have asked us if there’s anything we need. The truth is, we’re doing okay for now. I think our biggest need is formula. After a slow start, Elijah is becoming a big eater and is growing more and more every day.

(As for what I’d like… you can put me down for a silver plated CC Miraphone tuba with 5 valves. That is… if you have a couple of grand to spend. I don’t know anyone that does, so I’ll put it back on the wishlist.)

What I should have done is told people that, if they want to buy him something, buy some US Savings Bonds. (I figure that if someone is going to make a profit off of the United States’ debt, it should be someone that is going to be shouldering some of it.)

Two weeks ago, Martha took master Elijah to the doctor for his vaccination updates and weight ine at 14 pounds, 13 ounces. To me, I found great mirth in the fact that at his previous checkup he weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces. I’m sure he’s at 15 pounds by now. (Probably more.)

We’ve been back and forth on sleeping through the night. He’s been very good lately about staying asleep all night. Usually, with about a 10/11 o’clock bedtime, he’ll still be asleep when I leave for work between 7 and 7:30 in the morning. I’ll give him his morning medicine, and he’ll stir but not usually wake up fully.

Eli is much more a night person than a morning person. Which, I must say, brings me to talking a little about our nighttime rituals. And, by ritual, I mean screaming/temper-tantrum. This boy, at 5 months, (3 months, adjusted age) fights going to sleep by using the considerable power of his lungs. (My ears are still ringing after the last one.) We’re not sure why, but he’ll have these epic meltdowns right before falling asleep at night. During the, even before naps, he tends to eschew simply falling asleep and adding a little drama to the afternoon.

The joke… what’d you do, poke him in the eye with a stick? Yes, it is *that* loud.

On top of this, he does have his first tooth that you can feel just below the surface of the gum. It’s been there for a few weeks and I know it’s been bugging him. Right now, there’s not much we can do outside of Tylenol. We’re never really sure if the meltdowns are due to over-stimulation, teething pain, or some other factor.

He still likes to look to the left while he’s sleeping, but we’re making progress towards getting him to look the other way. We have visits from the NICU staff that come regularly. Sometimes it is a social worker and sometimes it is a nurse. The last visit was interesting because they demonstrated to Martha how to give Elijah a massage to help relax the muscles in his neck so he won’t have an issue looking either way. After they were here demonstrating on him, I think he slept for nearly 10 hours.

Another interesting thing his that Elijah is growing stronger and stronger every day. He can hold his head up quite well and is very connected with his surroundings. He’s not crawling yet and can’t sit up without assistance, but, if you hold him in your lap, he does a very good job of looking around and keeping his balance.

Sometimes, while I’m holding him up in a standing position, he’ll start making noises as if talking and he’s got the hand motions that go with it. It is so funny. Sometimes, it feels as if he’s looking at me and saying, “Dude, I’m speaking plain English here, why can’t you understand?”

When we brought Elijah home in September we could *barely* get him to eat 2 ounces of formula at a sitting. Sometimes it would be only an ounce. Today, his average bottle is 8 ounces and the time between feedings really hasn’t changed. (With the exception, of course, being that he usually sleeps all night long.) He’s not even a teenager yet and already he’s trying to eat us out of house and home.

I mentioned, briefly, that Martha took Elijah to the doctor a few weeks ago. When they took his measurements, his head circumference was in the 50th percentile for his calendar age. (This is now adjusted for his due date. I wish they could adjust it.)  His lenght and weight, I think, were in the 25th percentile. (Just over a month ago, we weren’t even on the chart. So, we’re doing very well there.)

As I finish this, he’s starting to stir. It’s been about 3 hours since his last feeding, so I’m going to go make his bottle and have it ready.

To those that celebrate such things…. Merry Christmas. If you don’t, then enjoy some Chinese food and some skiing.

Let me start with a disclaimer: I’m not looking for advice. I have my own ideas about what I’d like to feed my kid and when.

Now, on to the real stuff. I’m fascinated by the wealth of contradictory advice out there regarding what and when to feed your child. It borders on the absurd. Forget about the books for a moment. Forget about your mother’s advice, what you ate and when you ate it when you were raised. Forget about all the anecdotal evidence (both personal, secondhand, and thirdhand). Let’s, just for a brief moment, take a peek at the medical profession. I know there’s the AMA. They have opinions and suggestions about everything, right? You’d think that if all the doctors could get together and just make a decision once and for all on well, anything, we might be a little less confused. Not so.

Allow me to back up a moment. I took the little guy for his nine-month wellness visit today. If you’re a stats person, he’s 20 pounds, 2 ounces and 29 inches long. Good stuff. Anyway, the topic of food came up and the doc says I can pretty much give him anything at this point. Another disclaimer: He’s not saying I should give my kid a handful of peanuts or a bowl of popcorn. He knows I’m not a total spaz. So the issue of eggs came up. Here’s the thing…I’ve read no yolk, only yolk, and no eggs at all yet. He says they’re fine (citing some abstract research, of course). Again, I have my own opinions, but the contradictions within the medical profession alone astound me.

So I’m putting the question out there and hoping you moms and dads will post some of your experiences. What were you told about eggs, peanut butter, and any of the other controversial offenders? I have a hunch we can amass our own, albeit small, list of conflicting advice. I’d also be curious to know what your ultimate decision(s) on these things were. Please post your comments here on the blog so we can get a little chat going.

And don’t get me started on the should crawl/doesn’t need to crawl issue. That’s a whole different post entirely!

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We had to visit our Pediatrician yesterday.

My husband waited in the car we rented. I went upstairs, ready with three very tiny gospels (Matthew, Marc and John). When she finished checking our son, we briefly talked about Christmas and I decided to give her the 3 gospels together. I took them out and said that THEY contained the real story and reason for Christmas.

She was so happy to take them! Honestly, I was surprised.

I wasn’t expecting such a reaction, she was really happy! I had never seen her like that, suddenly the serious and cold doctor became warm and melted.

Praise God.

I am usually ready to be rejected when sharing the gospel, but this time it was so easy and smooth.

Please pray that her life will be changed when reading the 3 gospels.

I can’t believe 2009 is almost over. How did that happen?

Sorry that there have been few updates this week. Life in the Cole household hasn’t been super involved, but it has been a busy couple of days.

Last Friday, December 4th, Elijah went to the doctor for his RSV booster. He weighed in at 14 pounds 13 ounces! He’s getting so big. Sadly, that is the good part about that visit. After the shot, Martha said Elijah cried for 20 minutes nearly non-stop. They keep him there for observation even though he’s not had any sort of reaction. Discretion is the better part of valor. When he got home, he crashed and was out for most of the day.

I’m not sure if this is what messed up his sleep cycle, but after a couple of weeks of sleeping through the night, Eli’s getting up at between 2-5 and very hungry.

He is eating, at most feedings, 6 ounces of formula. Sometimes a little less; sometimes a little more. There have been a number of times where he’s eaten 8 ounces. Usually, it’s after a longer than normal sleep. (Like first thing in the morning.)

We’re also had a visit from the nurse that does the follow-up visits from the NICU. She was pleased with Elijah’s progress. She gave us some tips/hints on getting Eli to sleep with his head facing the other direction. (He likes to sleep with his head facing to the left.) Part of it is that we need to rub his neck and shoulders to help keep those muscles loose as we have him look to the right. Also, though the pediatrician felt that he was ready for the introduction of solid food, the nurse cautioned against it.

I don’t know what the action is called, but even though babies like to put nearly everything in their mouths, they have a natural reaction with their tongues that pushes things out. As he grows, his natural instincts to eat solid foods will mature and this behavior will stop. However, until it does, or, at the very least starts to minimize, we’ll stick with bottle feedings.

On Saturday, we had planned on going to another holiday party, but we really couldn’t seem to get into a rhythm with his naps, feeding, and medication, so rather than push our luck, we opted to stay home and chill. I like being at home, so that works well for me.

For the rest of the week, it’s been more or less the same. Little to no drama most of the time punctuated with the occasional fit.

The other day, after I came home, Martha went to run some errands and do some shopping. No sooner did she leave when Elijah had a total and complete meltdown. Ugh.

At first, I thought it was his diaper. I changed it. It was damp, but not soaked. In a dry diaper, the crying stopped… for about 10 minutes. Then it started again.

In our food log, I read that he’d eaten two hours prior. Surely, he couldn’t be hungry? So, I held him. This stopped the crying for a little bit. When he started again, I put him down. That didn’t work.

I thought that maybe that early tooth was causing him some distress so I gave him some Tylenol. (Which doesn’t kick in for about 15 minutes.) Finally, after a half an hour of trying everything else, I decided to make him a bottle.

Except… there was no water.

For some reason, none of the faucets in the house worked. I called the emergency number for the apartment complex. (Except I accidentally called the Tempe police first as the numbers were right next to each other. Something that I’ve since fixed.) I left a message and they called me back. Apparently maintenance was working on someone’s water heater and they needed to shut the water off to our unit.

Really? They couldn’t call or even knock on people’s doors? How inconsiderate.

15 minutes later, I had water and made him a bottle. He ate it in a single sitting without a pause for a burp.

After eating, I got a nice burp out of him. However, not long after, the crying started again and nothing soothed him. It has been very uncharacteristic of him to cry this much and I was starting to get really concerned.I just held him and tried my best to comfort him. Standing, sitting, walking, or rocking, nothing seemed to settle him.

However, before I had a chance to panic, he looked right at me and his eyes got really big as he let out this huge burp. (The kind of burp that would let you recite part of the alphabet.) His shoulders relaxed and he put his head on my shoulder and sighed. He actually started to fall asleep, so I put him in his swing.

And just as he fell asleep, Martha came home. Perfect timing!

The website should portray a child like image but its content should be highly professional. The website also needs proper optimization for featuring on the top search engines. A properly optimized website will generate huge amount of traffic and the number of patients you have will shoot up instantly. Besides all this your medical website design must include testimonials left over by previous customers for the viewers to view.

A pediatrician is a doctor who looks into medical problems of children from their childhood till their teenage. They not only diagnose the problems of the children but also take care of the children and help them in growth. They mainly work on preventing the child from diseases and develop a strong immunity. Not only this, they also work on the mental disorders and behavioral problems of the children.

My contribution was to stay up til 5am the night before the party rough-editing a DVD montage of pics, music,  and video clips of K during the last two years.  I created one right before Christmas in 2007 covering the first 2 years of her life, so I guess this one could be considered part 2.  I only have enough ambition to put one of these puppies together every 2 years.  My creativity has bounds, people. 

The party games were a hoot.  They did ‘pin the sticker on the “My Little Pony” butt’, ‘Pony scavenger hunt’, ‘toilet paper mummies’, and of course, the Pony Piñata.   (Technically, is a piñata considered a party game or is it in a category of its own?  I’m unclear on this point…)   K also kept dragging people around to play what she considered to be the ultimate party game: “balloon toss”.  I don’t know that I’d qualify that as a “game”, as it had no points, rules, or objectives but hey, she was the birthday girl so whatever.  

The toilet paper mummies were hysterical because we had situations where kids were helping other kids wrap up in toilet paper, so there was mayhem on all sides.  K seemed a little confused/uncertain at first while getting mummified, but when it came time to “break free” from her bindings, she thought it was so much fun that she demanded to be wrapped back up a couple more times.  I think she probably would have let us keep wrapping her up and shredding her way out for the rest of the day. 

I was concerned that she might be…distressed…by people taking a bat to her beloved pink pony piñata, but my worries were completely unfounded.  She was the first in line with the bat, and she wanted to be the one to deliver the death-blow.  Surprisingly, after the initial candy-gathering rush, the kids proved to be rather indifferent and the adults ended up cleaning up the remaining loot from the lawn.  I don’t remember that in my hazy childhood recollections of piñata insanity, but maybe there was a) too much candy or b) the group demographics are a little young still.  Very mysterious. 

Anyway, the highlight for me was my one creative party idea: a build-your-own-sundae-bar for the kids instead of doing traditional cake & ice cream.  Fortunately Aunt Carole had the perfect coffee table to set up outside for the kids so they could sit at their own level and build their creations.  It.was.awesome!  Messy, sticky, crazy, goodness.  But everyone had a lot of fun with it, and I had a moment of pure childish joy as I circled through the masses squirting canned whipped cream directly into all the kids’ mouths (ok, and one of the parents too, I must be honest.)  Does it get any better than that? 

As soon as UNCLE BUBBA gets on the ball and gets me a copy of his pics from the party, I’ll post a few here to recap the mayhem. Especially the dastardly sight of small children using an aluminum bat to pummel the life out of a small pink pony.  Delightful. 

So she is very proud and excited to be 4 and is happy to tell everyone about it.  Wish she’d just slow down on the growing-up thing.  (sniff.) 

Of course the week following the party was a mad rush of homework, house cleaning, and a little Thanksgiving day prep.  We weren’t hosting this year fortunately (still way too many boxes and crap in the way) but we did make a couple dishes to bring.  Monday afternoon, for some unknown reason, K’s eyes weren’t in focus and were not tracking together at all.  When we asked her about it, she basically described double-vision in kid terms.  So yeah, I was a panicky mess and freaking out.  Fortunately she didn’t have any other symptoms of head trauma or anything, so we waited til the next morning to take her to see the pediatrician.  Dr. Salad did a basic vision test (pain in the ass with a 4-year-old, let me tell you) and examined her, and basically said she might be starting down the path of strabismus or lazy eye, and sometimes it happens like that…when kids spontaneously start having vision issues and frighten their poor parents to death.  Both FF and I have some vision issues so it wouldn’t be too surprising for her to have genetic fallout in the headlight department.  We have already scheduled an exam with a pediatric ophthalmologist in January, so we’ll see.  She has been normal ever since that day, so who knows. 

So the poor kid missed her preschool Thanksgiving party because of the urgent doctor appointment.  Oh well, maybe next year.  The cornbread she carefully made for the party got redirected to Thanksgiving.  And Thanksgiving itself was a very nice day, with lovely warm weather, happy kids running around hitting each other with sticks and throwing cake in the empty pool, etc.  Aunt Carole and Uncle Vic always make a killer turkey so the food was great and it was overall a very mellow and relaxing afternoon.  Pumpkin cheesecake roll, yuuuuuummmmmm. 

And so then Gmom and Uncle Bubba came down to our house following Thanksgiving so that UB could be our slave-labor minion for a couple days.  We went to Lowe’s and picked out Christmas lights for the house, and then UB and FF got to try out our new ladder (thanks Aunt D!) to put ‘em all up.  It turned out pretty well but we still need a few more strands to finish off the tree.  Once that wee task was done, we started in on the much bigger and more annoying job: painting the long accent wall in the master bedroom, to cover up the obnoxious gang graffiti from when the house was empty and in foreclosure.  The wall is now a gorgeous shade of bright, dark purple, known as “Fresh Grape Juice”.  Uncle Bubba is a really good painter in general but it’s always hard work with dark colors that join a white wall seam.  We’ll have to do a little white touch up later to fix a couple booboos.  Big huge thank you to UB for his help – I am SO happy to finally get the bedroom done. 

So long, gang graffiti!

We actually have pictures on the wall now!!!

And just ‘cuz he’s a sweet little bro, he indulged me in also painting one of the walls in the downstairs bathroom since we had leftover paint, and it was a little boring in there.  It took way longer to tape off and edge that small wall than to actually paint the bulk of it.  But it too is now a beautiful “Fresh Grape Juice” and looks awesome.  Bro–you gave me the best Christmas present ever by getting all that done!  I owe you big time. 

Taping...taping....taping....

That edge needs some work, dude

Creative music management during painting

So…then last Saturday, we went to Sears and had portraits done of the evil genius.  We actually were going to do a family portrait but we were all busy painting until about 1am on Friday night, and I hadn’t yet unpacked the box with all my nice-ish clothes.  So we forfeited the full family portrait and just went for kiddo pictures.  I have been distinctly lax in this department (getting professional pictures taken that is) because when K was barely 1 year old, all the siblings took the cousins to Sears to sit for a “grandkids” picture as a surprise for Gmom.  It was so crazy that it scarred me and I couldn’t bring myself to take her back for pictures until now.  Yes, it took me three years to get over the insanity of one portrait session with eight kids, some of whom screamed constantly and kept trying to run away from the staging area.  (shudder)  Anyway, K’s picture session went quite well this time, except for the fact that K is terminally unable to smile on command.  She either looks like she is wincing in pain, trying to growl, or struggling through a severe case of constipation.  I have to give the kid credit; she really tries, but she just can’t seem to produce a genuine smile on command.  Oh well, (most of) the pictures are still beautiful.

This one goes in the hall of shame

Nestled amongst all that mayhem was K2’s birthday party (she is only 9 days younger than K so their parties always fall approximately a week apart.)  It was a very fun party, and our little evil genius spent a long time playing with K2’s very large blow-up shark, chasing all her cousins around pretending to eat them with the shark.  Hmmm, I wonder what that means.  

She has been sleeping pretty well lately, thankfully.  Eating comes in fits and spurts.  Sometimes she’ll go 3 or 4 days without eating much of anything, and then ravenously consume a large meal and then go back to not eating for a few more days.  Developmentally speaking, she is still really good friends with the word “NO” and continues to throw us new curve balls all the time.  I find myself at the end of the day occasionally falling into ridiculous, clichéd parenting traps, even.though.I.know.better.  Like bargaining and bribing to get stuff done.  Like threatening to put her in time- out for the next two years.  Le sigh.  Guess we can’t be super-moms all the time, right?  RIGHT?

As I write this, we are still in Asian Hospital where Ate Kara is confined due to a bout with dengue fever which started last Thursday, November 26.

This morning, (a day after 4 bags of platelet transfusion) her platelet count registered 44, from a low of 23 yesterday morning.

I have yet to post a longer account of what happened from Day 1. I haven’t finished it yet since I have to finish a writing assignment I brought home last Thursday. But since I haven’t finished that post yet, I  hope this will suffice for the time being.

Needless to say, the past few days were very very difficult for a mom like me. It was not easy waiting, trying to dismiss your fears because you knew you had to at least appear strong in front of your child. It was not easy watching your daughter get hurt, pricked, and all. And it wasn’t easy reading the lab results telling you that her blood parameters were far from normal, her platelet count going down, reaching 23 at one point. During those times, I could only go out of the room while people, relatives and friends were inside, so I could let go of my emotions and just cry. All the time, I wished it were me instead of my precious daughter. During those times, I could only resort to kissing her and trying to assure her these were needed because they were just trying to make her better. It was just a blessing that Kara is already 12 years old, and understood that all these were needed. I had a very good patient who tried her mightiest to fight off whatever it was that was making her sick, so it was only rational that I followed suit… fighting off this virus with my daughter.

Last night, another round of tests was done, and this time, her platelet count increased to 36, up from 23 in the morning. This morning, her platelet count has gone up to 44, and that was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever heard (hmmm…aside from Bong telling me I looked beautiful this morning even when I had not had the chance to fix myself during the past several days) We are just waiting for Kara’s platelet count to at least reach 80 before the doctor permits us to finally go home.

The medicines helped. The doctors (very very good pediatricians in the persons of Dr. Abigail Pia Laurel-Suntay and Dr. Michelle Rodriguez who is a Pediatrician-Hematologist Oncologist) helped immensely. The camote tops and lots of fluids helped. But I believe, Kara has gotten out of that dangerous phase because of prayers from both family and friends, including blogger-friends.

Yup, that’s you. I have never met anyone of you (save for a very very nice blogger friend, who I was blessed to meet jsut this morning when he went out of his way to visit us, Fr. Felmar Fiel) but even if we have remained faceless up to this day, you have all taken time to say a prayer for us, most especially for my dear daughter. Through Fr. Felmar and Lhen, blogger friends texted their words of encouragement which helped a great deal in easing the fears and anxiety I felt during those frightful moments.

And so, please allow me to thank you all. Cliche as it may sound, my husband Bong and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It gives us great comfort to know that we were able to rely on the goodness of your hearts. I do not wish to repay the favor to you since that would mean any one of you and your families getting sick, but I truly wish to be able to pay it forward…to be able to pray for, and offer words of encouragement to somebody else in need. When I decided to make my presence known in WP late September, (since I used to blog in FS, Multiply and FB) I only wanted to share my thoughts with whoever would care to read what I had to say. But I never really realized I would gain so many friends in so little time. God is truly good. I realized, even when I wasn’t deserving of His favor and miracles, He continues to selflessly give. And the blessings include you.

Our war isn’t over yet. We have to wait til ate Kara’s platelet count gets up to at least 80 (normal count is at least 150), but I trust in the Lord that He will make this possible.

Swine Flu Vaccine: Physicians’ Rejection of the Injection

Posted by: Dr. Mercola

One senior physician at Pediatric Village is refusing to recommend H1N1 shots or nasal spray to any of her patients. She is one of a small cadre of outliers who remain skeptical about the government’s unprecedented immunization campaign, citing doubts about the risks presented by the H1N1 virus or the safety of the vaccine.

Learn how to take control of your health with one of the world’s most trusted health newsletter for FREE by Dr. Joseph Mercola

“My feeling is that this is all being over-hyped,” said Laurence J. Murphy, a pediatrician in Burke who also will not inoculate his patients. “Most people who get this virus do beautifully. I believe the vaccine hasn’t been tested enough. I just think the benefit of it at this point is not outweighed by the possible risk.”

Murphy said he has no reason to think the vaccine is unsafe — he, like many of the skeptics, said he generally supports vaccinations. But he wonders whether it was tested enough

“They just didn’t have the time to do that properly. They mean well and they are not doing anything to mislead people in any direct way. The reality is no one knows. I’m not pretending to know. I don’t think they should pretend to know,” he said.

“What bothers me is pretty much every doctor in the country is jumping on the bandwagon and saying, ‘This vaccine is completely safe’ — even for the pregnant woman and the unborn baby,” said Bob Sears, of Orange County, Calif. “But they can’t give you a single study that backs up that statement.”

Are you getting the Swine Flu shot ?

(polls)

Scientists working to understand the genetic makeup of the H1N1 virus that causes the disease have linked it to a virus behind a 1998 swine flu outbreak at an industrial hog farm in Sampson County, North Carolina’s leading hog producer. A virus related to the current outbreak was first identified a decade ago at a farm in the eastern North Carolina County.

The 1998 North Carolina outbreak began with pregnant sows developing high fevers. A state microbiologist who tested nasal samples taken from the animals was surprised to encounter a virus he didn’t recognize — and his alarm grew when he found that some of the sick animals had been immunized for ordinary swine flu.

The H1N1 virus behind the current flu outbreak contains genetic material from birds, humans and pigs, though it’s called “swine flu” because it’s a type of virus that typically infects hogs.

If nothing else, the latest swine flu outbreak should spur governments to begin building a safer, more sustainable agricultural structure. And they must reach across national lines to do so, since neither agribusiness nor viruses are held back by borders.

Learn how to take control of your health with one of the world’s most trusted health newsletter for FREE by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Washington Post November 8, 2009
Facing South 2009

Read Dr. Mercolas notes:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/26/Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Physicians-Rejection-of-the-Injection.aspx?aid=CD697

In fall of 1995 (or was it spring of ‘96) I was a sophomore at Northeastern University and was headed to my first co-op experience.  Since the school didn’t have any co-ops that were relevant to my major (American Sign Language Interpreting), I chose one related to my other love – babies!  That was how I ended up on the doorstep of the Hill Holliday daycare center preparing for my first day in the infant room.  The teachers were then, as they had been for years, two very loving teachers – Jeannie and Nancy.  Unlike so many daycare centers, they managed to create a loving, family-like environment in a daycare center setting.  I learned so, so much from both of them and am still glad to trade holiday cards with them and see them every few years.  The trouble is that working with them created really high expectations for what to expect from daycare providers.  Well, it’s only a “trouble” inasmuch as that was what I had in my head as we dove into the process of finding a daycare for our little-guy-to-be. 

The search started on the internet because, in absence of recommendations from other families in the area, that seemed like a good idea.  Heck, it worked out really well for our wedding, maybe we can duplicate the success with daycares!  I started calling around to both daycare centers (like where I worked for several years) and in-home daycares (like where I went when I was a kid) and found pretty quickly that I preferred the in-home daycares.  In the centers the caregiver to child ratios in PA are higher than in MA, the prices are higher, and – probably most importantly – the definition of a long-term employee seemed to be someone who had been there for 2 years.  Now, I know that staff turnover is a chronic issue in daycares but, for me, it matters that the infant caregivers in particular have been there a while. 

Last Saturday Pete and I went to visit a woman who provides care in her home for up to 5 children at a time.  We met her husband and daughters and had a chance to tour her house.  It was a little strange for me.  When I think about daycare I’m used to being on the provider end of the equation, not the consumer!  I’m starting to understand a little more the leap of faith that the families at Hill Holiday took leaving their kids in our hands every day.  She was very open about what she does with the kids and her home was very open and child-friendly.  We spent about half an hour talking with her and by the end, I decided that Jeannie and Nancy would definitely approve.  Needless to say, we called her early this week to save a spot for our little guy.

The other caregiver that we’ve been working on picking is a pediatrician.  This was a little more foreign to me, never having gone to one (I don’t think) and never having needed one before.  When we started thinking about pediatricians, I realized that I had no idea how to select one.  I started by printing out a list of pediatricians that accept our health insurance and that are close to our home.  Pete recommended that we ask whether the pediatrician is open to an alternate vaccination schedule – one that spreads the shots out rather than doing them in big clumps.  I found that was a pretty good gauge on the flexibility and openness of the practice.  Some said were totally cool with it and some were, let’s just say, more resistant.  I called around to a bunch of practices until I found Dolores.  Dolores is a very kind woman who answers the phone at Dr. Abir’s office.  She had a grandma vibe even over the phone.  Dr. Abir is in solo practice not too far from us.  He has good hours, including Saturdays, and if you have a totally off hours emergency he’ll have you come to the office in his home.  Yep, he’s kind of an old-time doctor.  Cool huh?  We haven’t met him yet but so, who knows, we may not end up sticking with him but, for now, I’m like the idea of working with him rather than a larger practice with 6 – 10 pediatricians on staff.

Today we had our 18 month check up.  I had a few concerns one of which included the fact that my son will not eat anything green and is pretty much rejecting beans, and quite a bit of fruit.  He will eat apples, oranges, bananas, and bread.  Oh and fried rice and cookies.  He will eat those all day every day and be perfectly happy.  Today for dinner he had an apple.  One whole fuji apple and 8oz of  soymilk. Obviously cause for concern.

Before she sat  down to examine him she told me to only offer him healthy foods and eventually he will eat them.  Easier said then done, he has learned how to say please so when he wants cookies, he ask for cookies.  I say no, and he will sit down cross his legs and say “peeeeeeeeeze”  well I then have to give him cookies becasue he has done what he is supposed to do when he wants a snack.   Sit down on his snack sheet and ask for what he wants.  What a good listener:-)

Basically I need to find spinach flavored cookies?

When the exam started, my usually docile baby became quite frantic and would not let the doc touch him at all!  Once he started kicking and jumping on my back she said Oh he’s strong he’s getting plenty of nutrition, he is ok!  Hahaha!

ok I know this post is random but I’m sleepy and it sounded good in my head.  I may delete it in the am.  I don’t know, I may keep it up to reflect the internal conversation in my head at midnight:-)

www.shopturtlepie.com

Instinct: 1: a natural or inherent aptitude, impulse, or capacity.  That’s the definition in Merriam Webster’s dictionary.  I was truly led by my instinct Friday night into Saturday morning.  I was supposed to go out at 8pm Friday, but at the last-minute I called our friend and told her not to come over and to take care of Myles.  I decided I was too tired to go out.  So instead I watched the Wallace & Gromit movie for the 10th time with Myles and we ate popcorn and hung out until it was time for him to go to bed.  Eight o’clock came and I put Myles to bed as usual, but this time he was a little fussy.  I thought it was because he didn’t want to go to bed, so I let him cry for a little.  He finally went to sleep and then woke up crying around 9:00pm and then again at 10:30pm.  Mind you have to be at work at 3am so I was counting down the hours until the alarm would go off as Myles cried.  I finally noticed him reaching for his ear and immediately thought crap maybe he has an ear infection.  I’ve heard horror stories from other parents about the non-stop crying and not being able to soothe the pain and sure enough it became my reality.  I gave Myles some Tylenol and it helped for a minute, but the relief didn’t seem to last long. So, I called his doctor’s answering service to see how what to do next.  They called back 20 minutes later and asked a series of questions about his ears and his symptoms.  One questions was does one ear look bigger than the other? I couldn’t tell from being deliriously tired and also because I didn’t have my glasses on.  My husband said yes one of his ears did look bigger than the other and the woman on the phone said we needed to take him to the ER.

At this point, it was about 1:30am and now there’s no chance I was going to work.  We took him to a small hospital nearby our house so there was no wait.  We saw an old crotchy doctor who said he saw nothing going on with his ears and that Myles probably had just an earache.  He gave us some pain medicine, told us to follow-up with his pediatrician and sent us on our merry way.  So this is what a $100 co-pay gets you!!!!  This didn’t sit well with me at all.  I woke up first thing and called a pediatrician open on Saturday’s.  I took Myles in to see Dr. Roe and told him what happened.  He checked out Myles’ ears and said he had a double ear infection.  He wrote us a prescription and I left feeling relieved like I did the right thing.   Dr. Roe also told me next time don’t go to the ER because they don’t always like treating little kids and next time take him to the Children’s Hospital.  He also told me where I could get Myles’ prescription for FREE.  Yes, FREE!  This was the first time we saw this doctor and I decided he is someone we would definitely see again.

Anyway, while this may sound like one of those routine sick kid stories for me it wasn’t.  I learned a few things like… do drive the extra 10-15 minutes to that Children’s Hospital in the middle of the night for better care.  Our first reaction was to take him to the closest hospital, but now we know.  My other point is listen to your instinct and don’t always accept what doctor’s tell you.    Call me crazy, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the child had an infection in at least one ear. What if we just listened to that crazy ER doctor!!!   Also, I didn’t feel good about him being doped up and sleepy from the medicine they prescribed in the ER.  I felt strongly it was necessary to get another opinion, and it was worth it.  If I hadn’t we would’ve been in for a second night of screaming and crying and no sleep all over again.  Sometimes we as parents know better when it comes to the health and treatment of our kids.  I can’t explain it’s just something you feel in every fiber of your being.  We have to not only listen to ourselves, but sometimes we have to make others listen to us until we get what’s needed for our kids.  That’s what I took away from this whole experience.  So, I thought it was worth sharing with other first-time parents like myself.

13 pounds, 14 ounces!

…and away we GROW!

Martha took Elijah to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month checkup. Seriously, 4 months? How did that happen? He got all of his another round of vaccination shots as well. Martha said that this wasn’t fun at all. By “not fun” I mean loud.

He’s not had any issues with any of his vaccinations, the one side effect is that they wear him out so much that he’ll usually sleep through the night. He was out last night at 11 and up at 7:30. I just change/fed him and after some father and son time, he’s sleeping in his bouncer again.

He’s mostly asleep. His hands are waving like he’s in a heated discussion with someone and he’s making a number grunting/cooing noises. (Along with the occasional yawn.)

The doctor said that we have to be more careful about which way he looks while sleeping. His head is starting to flatten on one side. (He likes to look to the left.) So, we’re going to position him more often to look right and will prop him up with blankets, burp cloths, and towels.

His pediatrician gives us a chart with Elijah’s vitals after every checkup. It includes chart of “percentiles” for height, weight, and head circumference. The trouble with these charts is that they don’t adjust for being premature. They’re limited to his chronological age. That said, he’s in the 10th to 25th percentile for his height, the 25th to 50th percentile for his weight, and the 50th percentile for his head circumference.

Yes, my boy has a big noggin. Since we’re on the charts (and moving up) we can allow for his adjusted age and be confident that he’s doing much better than expected.

Speaking of vaccinations, both Martha and I got our H1N1 vaccinations this week. ASU had them for it’s population. I asked them how many dosages they had and was told 10,000. Considering that there are at 54,000 students at the Tempe campus alone and I’ve got no idea how many faculty and staff there are, that wasn’t very much. Still, not everyone wants it (for reasons that I don’t really understand) and a number of students have already had the swine flu, so they don’t need it.

I got mine on Wednesday and Martha got hers on Thursday. The state paid for mine, but we paid $10 for hers. The lines weren’t super long and fluctuated a bit during the day. Still, I’m happy to have this added protection for Elijah. He’ll get his share of colds and cases of the flu over his life. If I can prevent it as long as I can while he’s a baby, I’ll be happy.

I’m trying to remember where I was relaying my tales of our trip to Washington. I think I’d talked about the weekend dancing to Jerry Story and Tony Oxendine and having Elijah spend some time with his “Favorite Aunt Susan” and his “Favorite Aunt Dee.” After the weekend was over, on Sunday, we packed up the minivan and headed north.

We had three stops to make. The first stop was back to visit Grandpa Bob and Grandma Janice. I think I mentioned this earlier, but you can tell that Grandpa Bob isn’t used to having small children around. He was a little nervous, I think, but he got over it quickly. Our day to visit them was scheduled for Wednesday, so we were just popping in to say hi.

After our (too short) visit, we headed out to dinner with our friends Bob and Monica Cox. It was great to see them and share a meal. Eli slept through most of dinner, but woke up towards the end of it, hungry. We fed him, and Monica held him for a bit. Elijah tried to share his dinner with her, but we were quick enough to catch it. Ha!

Our third (and final) stop for the evening was with our host for the week. We were staying with Diane and Marlyn Hagemann. A big thank you to Dakota for giving up your bedroom for a week. We really appreciate it. We got unloaded and situated and then visited for a bit. It had been another long day of travel, so it was good to unwind.

That’s enough for now. Have a great day! (Tomorrow or so, I’ll add some photos to the blog.)

I wasn’t sure what to expect and I don’t think interviewing a pediatrician is necessarily needed, but it definitely helped set our minds at ease–one less thing to worry about. Some of you other first-timers asked me to share the questions we asked and how it went and I’m happy to try to help so here we go…

First, this pediatrician was recommended by our OB. She said he was “the sweetest guy.” Also, he works in an office with a well-known and very well-loved pediatrician so we figured he had to be great too (and he’s accepting new patients). A google search showed nothing but wonderful reviews about him.

Q: Affiliated hospital?
A: All 3 in our town. He will be there for the birth.

Q: Who will answer our questions when we call in?
A: He will. He takes all calls from 830-930am and if you call after that, he calls back between patients or, at the very latest, at 5pm when the office closes. (I loved this!)

Q: Will our baby always be seen by you?
A: Yes. Unless he’s out of town (and then we’d see a stand-in doctor during office hours or one of the other 2 office doctors if it’s after hours).

Q: Who do we call after hours/weekends?
A: The office number–he will always be the one to return calls and, if needed, will open the office or meet at the hospital at night or over the weekend. (Awesome!)

Q: Do you have separate waiting areas for well visits and sick kids?
A: No. There is only one small waiting room, but they schedule visits to keep wait time at no more than 10 minutes and don’t schedule any well visits on Mondays because that is the most popular day for parents to bring in sick kids. He also has 3 exam rooms in the back that helps keep traffic moving/less waiting in the waiting room.

Q: We’re interested in a delayed vaccine schedule, can you work with us?
A: Yes. We can talk about each case as the normal vaccine schedule comes up–the only vaccine he strongly suggests sticking to the given schedule is the DTaP.

Q: Feelings on circumcision and breastfeeding?
A: Ok with both, breastfeeding is great. He gave us a BF guide and a book (“Your Baby’s First Year”). Suggested we take advantage of the lactation consultant at our hospital. He does not perform the circumcision, our delivery OB does.

Q: How far in advance do appointments need to be scheduled?
A: Well visits need to be planned in advance (1-2 weeks), but sick children will be seen same day.

Overall, he was great! We liked his answers and the best part was that we didn’t feel rushed even though it was 5pm and what should have been the end of his work day. He answered most questions before we could ask and hey, he gave us a free book We told him it will hopefully be at least 2 weeks before we see him again!

Parents seem to go to a lot of different extremes when choosing a pediatrician. Some do almost nothing and simply choose the pediatrician on call in the hospital when their baby is born or pick a doctor randomly from a list in the phone book or their insurance directory.

When a couple is expecting a child through pregnancy, they have the luxury of waiting to select a pediatrician until they are near to their known delivery date.  The main things they will look at when deciding who to use may be the location of the office, the office hours, the personality of the doctor and staff and the general feel of the office itself.  They are able to talk to any of their friends or neighbors for recommendations of what doctor they should interview.

Couples who are adopting have to approach selecting a pediatrician a tad differently.  They probably should not wait until they are matched with a child or potential Birth parents before selecting a doctor.  They probably should not even wait until they are finishing their paperwork before interviewing doctors.  The things to help them choose their pediatrician will be the same as those listed for the couple expecting via pregnancy.  In addition, they will have questions specifically about adoption for the doctor.  The adoptive couple should specifically ask other adoptive parents about their pediatricians and not just choose one because their friends or neighbors recommend them.  Other adoptive parents can let you know what pediatricians’ offices is adoption friendly.

We set up an interview with a pediatrician for tomorrow afternoon! I feel good about this doctor because his website says he is interested in and open to natural medicine and two of the women in my Bradley class recommended him. We have a check list of topics that we are going to try and cover given to us by our Bradley instructor, I already found some of this information on the website.

• If I called for a routine visit , how soon could I be seen?
• How much time is allowed for a routine visit?
• Will you or other physicians/nurses in the practice discuss health problems over the phone? Do you charge for such “telephone time?”
• What happens if I have an emergency outside of office hours?
• Will my child see you each time we have an appointment, or will other physicians in the practice see him/her?
• If my child needs hospitalization, which hospital will he/she be admitted to?
• How do you feel about obtaining a second opinion?
• What is your medical training and where did you go to medical school?
• Are you board certified in your specialty?
• What are your views on breastfeeding?
• When do you recommend starting solid foods?
• What are your views on circumcision?
• What are your thoughts on vaccinations?
• How often do you prescribe antibiotics?

I hope this doctor works for us because he sounds great and he is close to our house. 

Any other topics we should keep in mind?

I don’t know why, but I am thinking about my career in the Science field.  I mean, I know I still want to be a pediatrician, but I don’t know what to specialize in.  It was thought from the beginning that I would just be a general one, but then I thought I would go into prosthetics designed specifically for small children.  Now though, I realize that it might not be what I want to specialize in.

As having experienced many breathing problems when I was younger and now, and having parents who were from a generation (and an entirely different country) where they never went to hospitals and the only way to solve a child’s problems is to give them a little drink (alcohol) or make them sleep on it, it’s hard to not have someone believe you when you say something is happening.  But once you see a specialist, and they tell your parents that there really is something wrong with you, it’s nice.  It’s like finally saying “I told you so!”.  I want to be a savior like that just like the pediatrician who specialized in cardiology did for me.

But I also can’t help but think that because of the amount of money they make, that there is a lot of responsibility and pressure that I might not be able to handle.  I mean, if your salary is at least $350,000 and at it’s maximum is $720,000 that is a lot of responsibility!  O_O

And I’m not the type of person who can even make a decisive choice on what kind of ice cream to order much less what nurses and other staff should do to save a child’s life!  *faints*

Still though, I think it would be so rewarding.  I know the child will think so.  But my gosh!  O_o  I’m going to have about 11-13 years to complete my career goal at least… instead of 7-10… AH!  Thank goodness my parents have money, otherwise I’d be so screwed!  I mean, 8-10 years of college and 3 years of residency.  A bachelor’s degree is about $90,000- 200,000 because of tuition, boarding, food, and other bills and expenses.  Then Medical school is about $160,000- $300,000!  O________o  My boyfriend is lucky that he doesn’t have to go through medical school for his career… but man, our years in marriage will be filled with craziness…

I mean, I have at least 100 hours of residency… if you only work 5 days out of 7, that’s 20 hours per day.  If you work 7 days, that’s a little over 14 hours… damn!  So much for a social life… XD

Well, I’m going to end it here.  I’m still going to try to think about this with myself, but opinions are nice.

Fia started asking “Why” today. You know how kids do. Not just one “Why,” but four or seven or more all in a row.

Fia and I were in the car I told her we were going to Dr. Bell’s and she asked “Why?” I recognized the tone and the pattern and it was a milestone, she was so cute.

But it brought up a question for me. If you are taking your kid to the pediatrician to get a shot, do you tell her about the shot ahead of time? So they are thinking about it during the drive and in the waiting room and during the final wait for the nurse to come? I was thinking of sharing that bit of information closer to the last minute, but she keeps asking “Why, why, why” is she going to see Dr. Bell?

I think of lots of answers and a few distractions and then I tell her at the last minute and she doesn’t like the idea at all, but at least it is only for a minute.

I felt good this week. After our active trip to New York, I took it easy for the first few days of the week to pace myself for the rest of the week. Tuesday was a pretty big day. We started it out with a doctor’s appointment, which went well. We met with nurse practitioner, Sharon, and we really liked her. She is also a midwife, but unfortunately does not do deliveries for the practice. She was very warm and informative (a huge plus for Noah!). The boy’s heartbeat was strong in the 150s and my measurements were right on target. My ankles weren’t swollen (although I think my feet were a bit), so that is good. I am very happy that I do not have to deal with the summer heat as I have been able to avoid some of the problems others I know experienced this past summer. After work, we headed to Sibley for our babycare skills class. It was pretty informative, but we weren’t all that impressed with the instructor. It’s probably good we went as it pretty much put the most important information in front of us vs. us digging through our books.

I mailed off the hospital’s pre-registration form this week. Hopefully, DC’s mail system will get it there and get us all set up for easy admittance when we are ready. Now, I just need to call the pediatrician’s office and make sure that they are accepting new patients and that they take our insurance. My to-do list is never-ending.

After not having been on the spin bike for a few weeks, I was happy to be able to get back on it. I got to mix up my workouts this week with riding the spin bike, swimming and doing yoga. After my scare a few weeks ago where I felt terrible, I am very excited to again be energetic enough to keep moving.

Sunday, we went to the full day labor & delivery class at Sibley. We were disappointed that the hospital tour was no longer available (as of the first of November- lucky us with the timing) due to the flu season. While we did get clarification on some things we were unsure of, we learned that most of our specific (well, my specific) questions are more physician/practice policy’s vs. the hospital’s. I guess, I have a lot of questions to ask in the next few doctor’s visits. Given we could have any of the 10-12 rotating OB/GYN’s from the practice deliver, I suspect we will be in limbo on details until labor time arrives. This makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I am not sure what I can really do about this. At the end of the class, we went over breathing/relaxation techniques, but I think the techniques/information I have picked up during my prenatal yoga classes have been more beneficial. It’s a good thing I still have more time to practice during my weekly yoga class. At least I did get some nice massages from Noah today- thank you!! Speaking of massage, Noah was super sweet in getting me some for our anniversary. I am going on Friday afternoon and I can’t wait.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we finally got a glider chair last week. It’s firmer than the couch, which has been helping in keeping me comfortable. I am glad we didn’t have to wait long for it to be delivered or I would have likely been spending more time on the floor as the couch had gotten to soft for me.

the chair saving my back

Whew… it’s been a long week. Sorry about the updates being so sparse. Spare time and connections to the Internet have been few and far between.

A quick shout-out to my dad, Grandpa Doug, who celebrated his birthday on Saturday. Happy (belated) Birthday!

Two weeks ago, before we left on our little adventure, Elijah had three doctors’ appointments. He had a visit to his pediatrician for his RSV booster, a trip to the urologist to check on his man bits, and a visit to the hospital for a follow-up ultrasound on his head.

Martha thought that the urologist and the ultrasound were both on Tuesday, but they called to confirm and we found out the ultrasound was on Monday and the urologist was on Tuesday. It saved Martha a lot of running around. Whew.

Monday, November 2nd, was the ultrasound appointment. The children’s hospital had it’s grand opening that day, so his was the first appointment in this new facility. It was great because the risk of the flu was minuscule, but they were still shaking out the kinks in their systems. Normally, the doctor that ordered the procedure would be part of the team that reviewed it, but since that doctor in in the NICU and we’re not under her care any longer, the results were going to his pediatrician. Since the hospital was so new, the pediatric radiologist was on site and was able to look at the results. There was no visible scarring or any other sign to say there was a problem.

The urologist’s visit was on Tuesday the 3rd. Everything checked out okay. There’s not been a huge cause for any alarms and I’ll spare everyone the details. It was nice to know that his bits are as they’re supposed to be.

Thursday was the visit to the pediatrician for the RSV booster. Martha reported that it went well, but needles are not Elijah’s favorite thing. He’s had no negative reaction to the vaccinations, so everything was good. We think that the vaccinations tire him out considerably. This helped, indirectly, as Friday the 6th was the day we were leaving to visit the Pacific Northwest. He would wake up to eat and for a diaper change, but past that, he was fairly indifferent to the world.

The trip to Seattle was two-fold. We were going to one of our favorite square dance weekends in Vancouver, Washington, and then visit Martha’s parents and my brother and his family. We had lots of people to see, but knew we wouldn’t be able to catch up with everyone on this visit. (To our friends that we missed, we’ll be back up to visit in February and we’re working on scheduling dances on the north and south ends of the Puget Sound. Details as they are finalized.)

The trip to Seattle has enough detail to fill three (or more) posts, so I’ll save them for later, but I’ll say today that flying with a baby felt (to me) like I was mobilizing an army. Since it was our first time flying with him, we didn’t know what to expect, so we prepared for everything. However, we could have gotten by with less stuff.

As for today, I got home from Show Low early this afternoon and Martha reported that Eli was a bit of a pill the night before. He was sleeping when I got home but woke not long after. I changed him and fed him. Feeding was a little unconventional. He ate 4 ounces and stopped but was still fussy. He spit up a little on his shirt so Martha changed his shirt only to find out that he left us a present. Peeeew. After changing him, I fed him the rest of his bottle. He spent a little time in a milk coma. Just under three hours later, he was hungry again and ate 8 ounces.

The other news from last night was that he went to be at 11:00 p.m. and didn’t wake until 6:00 a.m. Not that he’s going to be sleeping through the night on a regular basis any time soon, but still, it is a step in the right direction.

So, that’s what I know. For now.

Tomorrow, we’re going to rescue my car, I hope. Night everyone!

Hello, friends! I hope this Friday finds you enjoying life and the beautiful weather we’ve had after half a week of rain. We giraffes don’t enjoy dreary days so I’m so glad to see the sunshine again.

Well my favorite pediatrician Dr. Long asked me to update all of you on some of the cool things going on this weekend for Kennesaw Pediatrics so here’s your news flash for November 13th 2009.

First of all, we’d like you to take a moment to check out a very helpful link on our Kennesaw Pediatrics website. There are some great videos, and tips on how to avoid the germs of the Fall and stay healthy.

Also, we would like to thank the 3 local Brownie troops 2387, 2385, 2376 who visited with us this past Monday night.  I, Jerry Giraffe showed up with Dr. Long, Dr. Brugner and got to hang with several parents and kids in our Kennesaw community. We talked about well visits, why kids get shots, showed them some of the equipment we use to keep kids healthy, and handed out plenty of fun goodies so they could remember their fun visit to Kennesaw Pediatrics.  This is the first time we’ve had a Brownie Troop tour our facilities but it definitely won’t be the last!

Lastly,  I’d like to remind all of you in Kennesaw to come downtown and visit us at the Folk Tales by the Rails event on Saturday November 14, 2009. Go the official Kennesaw City website to learn more about this fun event. You can come see me and all my pediatrician friends as well as hear some great stories.

Well that’s all for now! Stay safe on this Friday the 13th and make it a lucky day by coming by to see me at Kennesaw Pediatrics. Until next time, this is Jerry Giraffe saying “So long!”

[01] Research squalene containing adjuvant ingredients:

Novartis MF59 (MF59C.1) contains squalene

GSK AS03 has squalene, too

GRANOFF D.M. ET AL: ‘MF59 adjuvant enhances antibody responses of infant baboons immunized with Haemophilus influenzae type b and Neisseria meningitidis group Coligosaccharide-CRM197 conjugate vaccine’ INFECTION AND IMMUNITY vol. 65, no. 5, 01 May 1997, ISSN 0019-9567 pages 1710 – 1715, XP002081016

Detection of antibodies to squalene : : III. Naturally occurring antibodies to squalene in humans and mice

Journal of Immunological Methods, Volume 286, Issues 1-2, March 2004, Pages 47-67

Gary R. Matyas , Mangala Rao , Phillip R. Pittman , Robert Burge , Iris E. Robbins , Nabila M. Wassef , Brandie Thivierge and Carl R. Alving View Abstract

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[02] Patient abandonment is illegal – research and have as backup for pediatrician goofiness.

[03] No blood barrier in children until roughly age 2 – research / verify

[04] Those that are in “high risk groups” for swine flu vaccine are high risk because they have conditions that make them deficient in Vitamin C!  -partially true, will have Vitamin C Project Mindwell entry relatively soon with details.