What about our new bundle of joy?

I had my 32 week check up Thursday which of course is everything but normal. I have had lots of tests run throughout this pregnancy and one showed that she would be a greater risk for a heart arrhythmia at birth....after researching the chances are 50% but 90% that if she does have it that it will resolve on its own within 10 days of birth. So it is good to know to be prepared but hopefully nothing too alarming. She and I are right on track with measurements s (which is a first). So the after speaking with the dr she feels like the longer she cooks it will greatly decrease the risk of any other complications so that if need be her heart will be the main focus. So we decide Oct 12 is the earliest possible day (38wks 2days), well guess what...she is out of town from the 9-19!! The earliest she can do it is Oct 21...3 days before my due date!!! We didnt schedule anything yet because she gave me some things to think about and we are weighing the options to schedule with another dr on the 12, bedrest from the 12-21st to possibly delay labor until she returns, or just continue with life as is and if she hasnt arrived by the 21st just do it then.
After everything going on with Kinson and realizing he was 4 weeks early it can't help but cross our mind that all of his respiratory issues are due to his prematurity. So in my mind I would like her to stay put to develop as much as possible however if I listen to my body, I want to schedule with whoever will do it the earliest!!

Does this look like a sick kid?

This is Kinson on Saturday, the day after a stay at UMC that included a round of IV antibiotics. He goes through spurts of feeling GREAT and WILD to feeling TERRIBLE and PUNY!! This is one of the good moments.

To catch everybody up Kinson woke up Friday morning throwing up, labored breathing, and fever of almost 103. After 2 rounds of his breathing treatments his respirations had not improved so off to the ER we went. UMC was wonderful! The dr was very thorough especially concerned with the progressive severity of his attacks. Our poor little boy had every test run on him one which included a catheter. Needless to say we had to let the nurses take him to do all these tests without us because he usually does better without us. By time we got him back he was exhausted and had a cast applied to protect the IV. He fell straight to sleep so he was put in his own little crib where he slept and got his antibiotic. He did perfect until it was time to take it off and then he just was so confused about where we were. The test results showed that his WBC went from 4700 on Monday to 20000. It definitely indicated a bacterial infection however the source was unknown. So he was treated as aggressively as they could for a bloodstream infection. they released us to return to our regular ped that afternoon where he explained that this is something completely new and different than what they had been treating. The first 3 weeks of illness was viral based on his WBC and now it had moved to bacterial. He was to return Saturday morning for repeat bloodwork along with another round of antibiotics.
Saturday: Kinson wakes up WILD!!! A completely different child and his tests explained why. His WBC dropped to 12000 overnight (low-end of infection range)!!! So we got to forgo the IV!!! Just a new antibiotic that hopefully will help.
To summarize what they think is going on is possibly a lower immune system dealing with his lungs due to asthma and allergies. Which is what we knew for the last couple of months but now is getting serious enough that we will be trying to limit exposure to possible triggers and possibly immune deficiency testing. So the saga continues.....

Poor kid...he is soooo tired of being at home and so tired of me and Bear, however he still can not return to school this week and we will follow up Friday to lay out the next weeks plan.

How do you keep an 18 month old at home...

for a whole week maybe longer? Yes Kinson is on isolation this week until we return to the dr on Friday. He has a viral form of pneumonia that must be pretty contagious for the dr to give us strict instructions to get comfortable at home! They also finally gave him the definite diagnosis of asthma. In the past he was classified as a "wheezer" in hopes that he would outgrow this. But after looking at Kinson's records from June 28 until today there were only 10 days that he was not on an antibiotic and since birth there are multiple documented periods of bronchitis and 2 cases of RSV.
So now it is official and the new medicine regimen is pretty aggressive for the next 2 weeks and then it will gradually taper off to a preventative daily regimen. But me and Bear were a little concerned when we heard what the next two weeks will consist of: 2 breathing tx of steroids, 4 breathing tx of bronchodialators, 2 doses of oral steroids, a dose of a new allergy medicine, along with antibiotics twice a day! This is what is going into our 26lb little boy each day! We did question all the medicine and the only one that is optional is the antibiotic because it is viral and we had been on multiple ones for the last 2 months!
So we are now on the path to get better and what is the most exciting is maybe having a preventative regimen in place. The dr did speak to us already regarding him being tested after his birthday for specific allergies and possibility of shots. He also was excited to put Kinson as the first person on the list for the flu vaccine! So even if there is a shortage Kinson is covered!!

With all this being said, if anybody feels the urge to expose themselves to everything we have harboring in our home Kinson would love to see other faces besides me and Bear's. No I am really just kidding!

Another Sick Post :(

Yes Kinson is sick again--and we havent even finished the first round of antibiotics we got last week! Daycare called early Friday morning to tell us that Kinson had almost 102 degree fever (does it look bad that they are calling us at 9:00 and we just dropped him off at 7:30 and didn't notice a fever?) Bear went and picked him up and it really made him see how much they really care for Kinson--they were trying to get him to eat or drink something and just babying him until we got there. I called the nurse at the dr's office because he was still on antibiotics for his URI. She is always real nice and called me back concerned that his fever was so high while on ABT, so she wanted to speak with the dr and get back with us. After it was all said and done they decided his meds weren't strong enough for whatever bacterial infection he had. So straight to a new med with lots of precautions to watch for because he had never had this before and it could have lots of side-effects. He slept for 3 hours Friday afternoon woke up long enough for some toast and then cuddled up on the couch and was asleep by 6:15! At about 8:00 we went to check on him and he was on fire-- taking temp on him is an ordeal so it is never accurate but it hit 103 and was still rising when he started throwing a fit. Of course who do you call on a Friday night?! So we sat with him as he slept and whined and he finally woke up long enough to get some fluids, get his stuffed animals, and take us to his room to tell us he wanted back in his bed (he loves his bed!) We are blessed that he is a better sleeper than usual while he is sick so we got up periodically to check on him and his fever seemed to break around 3am.

Saturday he just wasnt himself and had a slight fever that broke during his 4 hour nap! Then he woke up coughing uncontrollably and this has led to throwing up in the past so we have not been able to leave the house. Now it is Sunday morning and he has been sleep for 1.5 hrs and coughing, coughing, coughing. I guess we are just soooo frustrated! He has not been well for a month straight since he was 4 wks old. As soon as he finishes a round of ABT with 2-3 weeks something new is going on. We have been discussing all morning what we should do with him because he can't got to school in the state that he is in, but he isn't scheduled to return to the dr until Friday! Oh well I guess I just need to vent because all I can think about is cohen arriving in the next 6 weeks being exposed to all of this and then it will be 2 sick kids!!

Sweet, sweet friends!

Last weekend was my baby shower for Cohen. Yes I know that some disagree with a shower for the second child but all I can say is that I have some of the GREATEST friends. My mom's "Beach Bunnies" were kind enough to throw a brunch Saturday morning for my closest friends. They are always such a fun group to be around and they have been a wonderful support group for my mom and me through the years! I will say that this one was a little more fun than the one I had for Kinson. Not sure because it was girly stuff or just that it was sooo cute. My first shower was very practical (definitely what I needed at the time), but this one was just for adorable, cute stuff for Cohen to play dress-up in! However, it will take some time for me to adjust to this cutesy attitude!

Now I just need to get the nursery started so all this stuff will have somewhere to go!

Happy Early Birthday to Me!!

It came a week early but my birthday present from Bear and Kinson got here Wednesday. I have been looking for a certain type of breakfast table for the last couple of weeks (really years, but it has taken this long for Bear to agree to get rid of his bachelor table!) I could find chairs at one store or a table at another that didnt go with the chairs, etc. Finally last weekend we went shopping and within 15 minutes I selected and purchased the PERFECT set and it was reasonable--always a plus!!

Excuse the towel, we are still trying to figure out how to get the straps to the booster seat to fit correctly on the chair!

Still at Work so I fugured that I would update!

It is always a crazy day in the medical field when a member from the State Health Department shows up at your work. Well they decided to show up today at 8:00am and they are still here. Department heads are to stay until they leave, so here I sit-- up-to-date on every piece of paperwork I can find, gone to every website that I usually waste time on, and if you have ever been to the VA nursing home than you know that it is best to stay couped up in your office rather than look available on the halls until they leave!! So I decided that I needed to update the last week:

Kinson had a terrible upper respiratory and sinus infection last week that they think is all triggered by his allergies. He has been on Zyrtec for 6 months now but they just added Singulair to the mix so we are trying to see if this helps. We still arent sure what he is really "allergic" to because they don't want to do any testing until he is 2, because they think that most are outgrown by this point. By Sunday we finally began to see the real Kinson come back. And actually the last couple of days he has been an angel...we will see how long this lasts!!
I passed my Gestational Diabetes test on Tuesday!! For those who dont live close, Tuesday we had a terrible storm and the dr's office I was at lost power 55 min after the test started. Wellthe test consists of fasting 12 hours prior to the test, taking your blood sugar, drink a bottle of glucola (sweet syrup water) and test every hour for 3 hours! Well I freaked when the power went out because the meter ran off electricity and I did not want to start over. Well finally oneof the technicians decided they could draw vialsof blood and store it to be tested later, so that is what they did-- drew blood in the dark from my poor little arm that was already bruised from tests earlier in the week. I really didnt mind that she missed a few times just because I didnt want to do it again! Well needless to say I passed the final hour by 1 POINT!!! Yay me! They did suggest a few diet modifications so nothing too bad.

I still need to update on my baby shower but soon as I get the pics I want to show everyone what SUPER SWEET friends I have!!

What a wonderful weekend....

and then we had to come home! Bear and I had a great time in New Orleans....we went to the Aquarium, French Quarter/Market, Jax Square, and all up and down the streets of downtown! I will say that being pregnant did put a damper on indulging in all of the fun but we still had fun. That is until we got home.

We get a phone call from Nana while we were in McComb on our way home asking if we had anything to give Kinson because he was coughing...enough that he could not nap. Well by time we got home he had gotten a fever and was just plain grumpy. We tried to get him to nap so we resorted to strapping him in the carseat and took off. Not 5 miles away from home he starts throwing up everywhere. Well we stopped at a gas station, stripped him down, and cleaned him up. We then broke the law and let him lay in my lap on the backseat until we got home, his fever was up to 102. At least he fell asleep! So this morning I went to work super early trying to squeeze in as many patients as possible before I could call the dr. Well the only appt was at 9:40 so I got back home around 9:15 to leave and had to change his clothes....well he HATES his clothes being changed. He started throwing a fit and ended up slamming his eye into the corner of his toy box! I didnt notice until we got in the car how bad it was....I am sure the dr thinks we beat him!

Here are a few pics of the black eye (if you can see it) but sorry no pics of New Orleans!

This is what Kinson does when we say "cheese" so it has become his CHEESEFACE and he loves to do it even when there is no camera!

I failed!!!

My gestational diabetes test that is!! So that means I have to do the long 3 hour test on Tuesday :( The good news we got today was that little Miss Cohen has caught up and surpassed her estimated due date! 3 weeks ago I was measuring 2 weeks behind...well today I am measuring 1.5 weeks AHEAD!! She weighs 3lbs 5oz and was LONG (her height was measuring 32 weeks...I am only 29 weeks!). Still keeping my weight in check, I am up about 10lbs, not where they would like it but the baby is doing great so they didnt say too much about it right now. As far as all the other tests that had to do, we will not find out anything until next week to see what it means for me, obviously itis not affecting her :)

I am also excited because tomorrow me and Bear are leaving for New Orleans for the weekend. Bear accumulated 50000 Marriot points while he traveled for those 8 months at KPMG so we booked a very nice room that we would have otherwise never have splurged on. We are guessing that this might be our last kid-free vacation for awhile. Nana is coming over to "watch" Kinson while we are gone. I am sure he will get whatever he wants for 2 straight days!

Little Baby Cohen

I have made it to the third trimester with my fair share of complications. But hopefully these last 9-10 weeks will be tolerable and FAST!! Even though I am no where near prepared! We go back to the dr Thursday to get her measurements to see if she has grown to an appropriate size...I have been measuring 2 weeks behind at my visits so we will see. If everything looks ok and because of my history they hope to do section at 37 weeks, but it will all be based on her size. Also I thought I have had what the drs thought was the "pregnancy rash" to my upper arms, which I also had while pregnant with Kinson, but they finally did a skin biopsy last week and it shows a little more. So I will also be having some more tests run because of that this week too. So needless to say i would like just to have a routine visit just once and if possible a routine delivery, but I guess that would just be too easy!! I will definitely update when we ge done Thursday!

Kitty Rowdy

A couple of years ago I decided that i wanted a cat (this was way before I though I wanted kids so soon). Well if you can believe it CARA denied me to adopt a cat!! They said that I had already adopted a dog (Sunny) from them and they did not feel that she was appropriate to have cats around her. Well that did not stop me. I was traveling back and forth to Kosciusko at the time, and the PTA up there kept telling me her cat had kittens and something kept getting them in her barn. Well that was all it took for me to say please bring me one. Well of course a wild, barn kitten that was only 4 weeks old would have every imaginable disease possible. We bathed him daily and had to feed him with syringes and give him medicine daily. And years later I just love that cat.....Bear on the other hand says he does not share my feelings but I have caught him cuddling with the cat when he is napping on our bed!

Rowdy is the cats name and boy is it appropriate! He brings us presents on a weekly sometime daily basis. He can catch anything that runs! However the one thing he will not run from or harm is Kinson. Kinson loves his "tat!" Rowdy will be curled up at the window or on a chair when Kinson decides he will make his move. But Rowdy lets him! Now he will meow but he never tries to scratch or runaway when he gets free, he just lets Kinson jump on him again! This is why Bear thinks that the cat is dumb! This is what it looked like last Saturday morning!