Kinson turned 2!!

Can you believe my little boy turned 2?! He had a great Train Depot birthday party, even though he hated the train. I am still getting all the pictures together and edited so I will post those soon.

Kinson woke up to Birthday pancakes and then we spent the WHOLE day at the drs!! It was supposed to be his 2 year check-up, but oh boy did it go bad! It was a BIG red flag when they measured him: 32in, 27 lbs (3rd percentile, and 10th percentile). Yes he might be small but that was not the concern, here it is.. 1 year stats: 31.5in, 26lbs. He has not grown in a WHOLE year. So off to have growth plate xrays done, the baptist hospital to have blood drawn because his veins are like his mommy's and do not cooperate, and then the sent home equipment for him to "pee in a cup"...yeah right! So far everything has turned out to be negative as far as growth hormone deficiencies so he is labeled as "constitutional growth delay." Meaning hopefully he will wake up one morning and be 6 inches taller! Really the drs are going to watch him over the next 6months and if no more growth then send us to an endocronologist to do further testing. We are hoping that it is due to his rough year this past year with one illness after another and his body has only focused on recovering.

4 months already!!

Yep that's right, Cohen turned 4 months old Thursday. So what does she get as a present, the same thing every 4 month old gets, a trip to see Dr. Flowers! She had to go for her well baby check up and vaccinations. That little girl is such a trooper! She took all 3 shots and cried maybe 3 seconds and that was it! She still is on the "tiny" side, weighing in 12lbs, 4oz (5th percentile) and 23in long (10th percentile). Dr Flowers is not worried as long as she continues to grow and doesn't fall off the charts.

Now for the not-so-good part. Cohen has always been a little "delayed" due to her early hospitalization and illness, but she seems to have caught up and surpassed as far as communication, smiling, cooing, mimicing, etc. But physically something just hasnt been quite right. Bear thinks I am crazy and am always diagnosing people especially my children and myself with off the wall syndromes, illnesses, etc. Well this time I proved to be right. Cohen had been holding her head up for awhile but I kept saying she would only look one way and always have her head tilted. So I took pictures of her to show him how bad it really was. So at the check up I didnt bring it up hoping Dr. Flowers would notice, and HE DID!! Cohen has what they call Congenital Torticollis (shortening of the sternomastoid muscle). It is treated by Physical Therapy (this will be done by a Pediatric PT, nothing done by me--I work with old people for a reason!!) and usually can be corrected. She also had mild hip dysplasia, they are usually assiciated with each other. So we start Tuesday morning, so I will keep everyone updated!!

Here are a feww pictures so you can get the idea of what her neck is doing:

So proud of Papa!

There was never any doubt that Bear wouldnt complete his goal. He ran his first half-marathon this past Saturday in the 2nd Annual Ms Blues Marathon. He did TERRIFIC!!! I was able to go and watch him through the race and even saw him cross the finish line 2hours 22min, only a few seconds behind the winner of the MARATHON!! it was an exciting experience! We are very proud of him!

Miss Cohen...what is she up to?

I did it...I fell into the "not as many pictures of the second kid" trap! I feel terrible about it but i just havent taken very many. Partly because she has just been so puny for so long but she has turned the corner for the best-- she is finally gaining weight steadily and started smiling!! It took so long but we found out that she has reflux too and started her on medicine and within 36 hours she was eating us out of house and home and became happy! It wasnt that she was ever unhappy, she is very laid-back and content, she just never was too enthusiastic...I think she gets that from her daddy!

Coggles Came!

Christmas morning was just what we hoped it would be, a quiet morning with just the 4 of us and a afternoon of complete chaos! Kinson woke up and did the normal routine just like anyother day until he walked to the tree. There was 1 present wrapped in Shrek paper and he kept pointing saying "shrek, donkey! shrek, donkey!" He enjoyed his presents and wouldnt you know the 2 "cheapest" presents were the best--a "coggles" pez dispenser and "cars" utensils!

Life has been so busy...

I can't believe that it has been a whole month since I last blogged! We have done so much and been super busy so I have a lot to catch everyone up on.

I know with it already being mid-January who wants to hear about Christmas, but I really have to show you Kinson's pictures with Santa....he LOVED him! For some reason he called him "Coggles!" I would say there is Santa and he would say "coggles!" We had to go and see Coggles everywhere. We went to the Bass Pro Shop and he just thought that the tiny little bridge by the fish tank was the best thing ever and then we had to go and see him at Winner's Circle Park.

This is when it was time to leave and he threw a MAJOR fit! He really didn't want to leave Coggles!

The worst experience of my life....

I feel like I can say that i have been through quite a bit in my life, but nothing that has happened to me can compare to watching your children suffer. As long as it is me who is going through things I feel as though I am somewhat in control, however these last 3 weeks we have felt helpless.

It started November 7 when Kinson came home from school running 102.5 fever and just wanted to be held. It continued all weekend with the addition of a terrible cough. We had to wait until Monday to see his dr because when he has respiratory issues I will only see his dr because of his history. Diagnosis: something viral...they always do bloodwork on him also because of his repeated history. So we went home with precautionary antibiotics and additional breathing treatments on top of his normal treatments. This continued until Thursday when I spent all night with him running 103-104 temps so we called back and got him seen again. Well as soon as we got there I started panicing when the nurse looked at me and said how long has he been breathing that way. I told her a few days and it is getting much more rapid and labored. She ran to get the dr and the pulse oxygen meter to check his levels. He was only registering 90 so they proceeded to do test which showed RSV+. Well initially I thought no big deal because he has had it 2 times last year. They did a treatment and the dr listened and just gave me look and asked which hospital we wanted to go to. This was the beginning of what turned out to be a 11 day hospital stay with not just 1 kid but the next day Cohen got tested and she was positive also!! Luckily they got to share a room but what an adventure. Kinson ended up with double pneumonia and Cohen had pneumonia in her right upper lobe.

They had to stay under these mist tents as much as possible which was easy when they felt bad but after 4 days Kinson started becoming WILD (thanks to the steroids) and it became difficult to keep him in bed and if he got up he had IV wires and an oxygen sensor on his foot. CRAZY!! Luckily he got to go home Tuesday after 5 days. However it hit Cohen pretty hard. She couldnt keep her oxygen levels above 85 without oxygen and even then they kept having to turn it up. Finally the following Monday she made it 18 hours without oxygen and she was discharged.

Oh what a wonderful morning when we all got under our roof at home. So needless to say we had sooo much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and it was nice to just be the 4 of us that day (thay couldnt be around too many people yet.)

Here are a few pics of Cohen, I didnt get any of Kinson because I did not want to disturb him when he finally got under the tent.

They have both received clean bills of health right now but we will continue breathing treatments for awhile and have to be very cautious of early signs of respiratory illness. We are so thankful for all the prayers, phone calls, meals, and thoughts that everyone provided.

Doesn't he just look mischievious!!

I love to take pictures but I haven't had time to upload and edit in a long time, so here a few are as I am trying to still learn my new software!

Big Brother

It started off too good to be true...Kinson would be really sweet to "Baby", but how quickly things have changed! Cohen can not be put in the swing at all if Kinson is home, he thinks that it is for him and he climbs in it and swings it side to side screaming "weeee!" The bouncy seat must require supervision, he thinks he needs to demonstrate his strength as he picks it up and tumps it over. As far as just sitting and holding her, out of the question! He will just climb up in your lap and sit on her!

He does have his nicer moments (or as Kinson says in his most Southern accent "Ni-ice") he hates to hear her cry and runs to get her paci and proceeds to shove in her mouth and when she wont take it he puts it in his mouth, the same with her bottle, he thinks he should taste it to make sure it is safe for her! His cutest moment that I am sure he learned at school is when you tell him "baby is sleeping", he will look at you and put his finger up his nose and say "SHHHH!" I dont think he really knows what "SHHH!" really means!!

This is Bear's favorite picture as he says it captures Kinson's mind scheming and Cohen sitting in fear of what is to come!!

Cohen's First Halloween

She didnt go trick or treating with us, Nana came over to give out candy and watch her while Kinson had all the fun. But we did take her to Kinson's Halloween lunch at school....while she looked cute she really was into sleeping!

Special Delivery!!

Kinson has so much fun this year for Halloween! At first he had no idea why we actually letting him go up to people's door but he finally got the hang of it. He wouldnt let people put candt in his pumpkin, he had to do it, and then it would sit and want to dump out all the candy and take inventory!! We only made it around the block but it took over an hour and he had plenty of candy and fun!

Introducing....

Cohen Marie Smith, born Sunday, October 19, 2008. She weighed 7lbs, 10oz, 19.5" long.


This is the oh-so-excited "Big Brother!" He really hasn't got all into anything other than pointing and saying "Baby" but that is better than being mad!

Nothing new going on

Well here it is OCTOBER, the month we have been waiting on and didnt think we would make it to. And guess what, Cohen is at a stand still! I have been dilated 3 cm the last week and half and got off the medicine last week and NOTHING!! No more contractions, pain, nothing! My dr is out of town so I am seeing the nurse practitioner and I was really hoping that I would make enough progress to make her schedule my section earlier with another dr! But now Cohen has gotten comfortable and wants to hang out! I go back Monday hoping to hear some progress has been made if not we have scheduled the C-section for October 22 (yes it changed) at 7:00am!

If you can believe it things with Kinson has calmed down a bit too, of course we have been on medicine until yesterday....so anyday now we will be back at the dr! He has been getting in a little trouble at school, he has started wrestling and pinning down the other kids in his class. He is not trying to hurt them, he thinks it is hilarious. Just Monday he started pinning them down and KISSING them! He is starting young!

I never update yall on Bear, but he does have some exciting news....he has signed up for The Mississippi Blues Half-Marathon in January. He is very excited as well as the rest of us as we support him through his training. He is very dedicated so we know he will finish without a problem! Good Luck Papa!

Latest Updates

You think that a woman on bedrest could at least update her bog...well I got put on modified bedrest! Which means I can get up and do normal things just try and take it easy. Tomorrow was our goal date of 36 weeks and it looks like we will make it! I will be able to go off the medicine on Monday and from there it will just be a waiting game. We did get some disappointing news....I have to wait until Oct 21st for my c-section unless she arrrives on her own earlier. Apparently my dr is going to be out of town everyday in Oct except the 21-22, so i am scheduled the first one on the 21st. We were hoping for a little earlier but I know she cant stay in there forever!

Now to my other sick one, yes we went back to the dr last week with fever and congestion after being off antibiotics 4 days. Well they sent us to Baptist and did a CT of his sinuses which showed a severe bacterial infection in all 4 sinus cavities as well as blocked. We were relieved that they found something...at least they dont think that we are crazy drug-seekers! The new plan is a 21 day round of Vantin, nose sprays, decongestant, bronchodialators, and steroids in hopes to kill the bacteria. After the meds are finished he will get off of everything for a week then repeat the CT scan to see if the bacteria has cleared up or is reappearing. If it has not cleared up we will proceed with sinus irrigation and possible adenoid removal. I know I never would want Kinson to have to have surgery but from everybody we have spoken to the surgery seems to be the best option as far as long term. So in a way if the meds don't work it is ok with us. We are only hesitant because all of this should happen about the time of Cohen's big arrival. She isn't even in the world yet and they are already fighting for attention!

I have no new pics because the camera is packed in Bear's hospital bag considering our frequent trips there....he is the only one packed and ready to go (you think that i would learn my lesson!)

Hospital stay...again, however

this time it was for ME!! I finally called my dr Tuesday after Bear had been encouraging me to call since I started feeling contractions on Friday. They kept coming and going and were never really consistent...plus I was only 33 weeks, she wasn't ready. So it was much to my surprise when they hooked me up to the monitor and i was having contactions every 2 mins!! And even more surprising, i was already dialated 2 cm (I didnt even get that far after 12 hours with Kinson!) So it was a mad dash to get every scenario prepared for. I was started with 3 Terbutaline shots that shot my Heartrate up to >150 so thay had to spread it out further than they would like. Then they hooked me up to the magnesium sulfate pump and gave me shots of steroids to help develop Cohen's lungs in case she was to show up. We stayed through the night and the contractions slowed to every 8 mins but dialation had not progressed so they took me off the pump and started me on Procardia. It didn't change or decrease anything just maintained the contractions. So now we are home and on strict bedrest until she shows up....our goal is at least 2 wks so she can be 36 weeks. We go back to the dr Monday hoping to find nothing alarming or any further progress. I am just so sad because this weekend is my 10 year class reunion! Maybe we will sneak off and go to just Saturday night and stay seated the whole time....that can't hurt too much, can it?

What do you get when the dr says you are healthy?

A trip to Gattitown!!! Yes that is right, Kinson finally got a clean bill of health Friday! Lungs seemed clear, no congestion, fever, etc. Thank you to everybody for all of their support and prayers through his illness. But needless to say that after 2 weeks of seeing only our house, the dr office, or the hospital, he was STIR CRAZY!! He still has to continue with breathing treatments at least until December when he will start further testing to determine allergies, triggers, etc. But we are still guarded because his trend is to be well for about 2 weeks and fall into this rut again, but hopefully we are on top of it!

Here is is hanging out in the cartoon room!

He loved the bulldozer!

He attempted to play ski-ball, but he decided he just wanted to climb up the ramp and put the balls in the holes himself!!

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!