Ryan has developed some new skills which are of course a mixed blessing. His walking is starting to turn into a run, and he's learned some new words. Over the last 2 weeks, Ryan has learned to say "no", "eyes", "uh-oh", and his favorite... "up". Ryan is a big fan of the word "up", saying it repeatedly all day long with his arms in the air. At first we thought it was the cutest thing. Not only was he truly communicating a request with us, he was adding a couple extra "p"s to the word so it sounded like "upppah". Too cute! Of course, after a couple of days, it has started to lose its appeal as my arms are getting more and more sore.
Ryan has also learned the signs for "more" and "eat". Justin and I had been doing the signs casually and weren't really expecting him to learn them. I don't know if it was seeing his friend Lilia do signs and then get stuff, but after spending a day with her, he started doing it himself. I know there is a little bit of controversy around baby signing, but seeing as he's starting to speak too, I think this is fantastic. We're learning what's going on in his mind all the time now. Turns out the reason he's so whiny in the morning is because he's hungry, not because he's thirsty. Who knew?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
A Not So Fun First
Last week, we experienced Ryan's first (and hopefully last) overnight stay in the hospital. Ryan is doing fine now, and I'm not sure he really needed to stay there so long, but I appreciate the doctors being overcautious.
On Thursday night, Ryan and I got home from daycare and I noticed that he was wheezing pretty loudly. He didn't seem to be distressed in any way, but I called the doctor's office anyway just to be safe. I was fairly certain they would just tell me to schedule an appointment in the morning, but instead they told me to take him to the emergency room. So the three of us took a trip to Winchester Hospital and were seen right away by the triage nurse. She said he sounded fine but didn't know if the brief time in the cold air had opened his airways so we still needed to be seen by a pediatrician. We barely settled in the waiting room when we were brought to an exam room and seen by the resident. He didn't seem all that concerned, so I was pretty sure the doctor would take a look and send us home shaking her head at the overprotective first-time parents. Instead, she took one look at him and told us he was struggling to breathe. He didn't seem like he was struggling, but she showed us how to tell by examining his neck and belly. She also said he sounded very wheezy in his lungs and needed treatment.
We were told Ryan would get 2-3 nebulizer treatments to open his airways and a dose of prednisone to help with the inflammation. She gave us a 50-50 chance of going home that night. After the treatments, Ryan was still wheezy, so we were admitted to the hospital. It took some time for them to get us a room because they needed to find us a baby cage big enough for Ryan. We finally got to the room around 1 am and although there was a perfectly nice cot for me to sleep on, Ryan insisted I sleep with him in the baby cage. Not comfortable at all. We tried to sleep on and off until around 4 am when I buzzed the nurse to get me the hell out of there. I've never really been claustrophobic, but that cage was a little much.
Justin came back in the morning and we saw the pediatrician around 9 am. Again, since Ryan seemed fine, I expected the new doctor to let us go. But instead she listened to his lungs, examined him, and told us he needed more treatments and MAYBE we could go home in the evening. Ugh. Ryan was getting nebulizer treatments ever 2 hours and the only way we could go home is if he could make it to every 4 hours. So Ryan and I got to hang in the hospital all day long. For the local people reading this, it's worth mentioning that Winchester Hospital is pretty nice. The nurses and staff are caring, the rooms were clean, and we even had a "child life specialist" come in several times a day to make sure Ryan had enough toys, books, and dvds to keep him happy. The only problem was the pediatrician only rounds twice a day, so if the morning doc didn't discharge us, we had to wait until 9 pm for the evening doc.
Josh, Rachel, and Zach came to visit in the afternoon and Ryan really perked up then and started breathing better. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I think he's pretty social and likes to be around other people. He seemed happy to have company to play with (I was too exhausted). A third pediatrician showed up around 9 pm and on initial assessment, told us Ryan wasn't ready to go home. He then listened to his lungs, talked to us for awhile presumably assessing our intelligence and ability to give treatments at home, and changed his mind. Yippee! Apparently Ryan's lungs sounded much better than he anticipated, and we passed the "smart parents" test. We were discharged at 10 pm with the condition that we continue his treatments every 4 hours and see our pediatrician first thing the next day.
We saw the Saturday pediatrician the next day and he said Ryan sounded fine and we could withhold nebulizer treatment until he needed it. Right now he's getting one every 6-8 hours while we wait for the prednisone to do its job. The doctor also said that one incident of wheezing does not necessarily mean asthma, and there's no reason now to treat him any differently. He's probably pre-disposed to asthma and has a higher chance of having it, but if and when that comes, we'll deal with it. Right now we're just happy to be home!
On Thursday night, Ryan and I got home from daycare and I noticed that he was wheezing pretty loudly. He didn't seem to be distressed in any way, but I called the doctor's office anyway just to be safe. I was fairly certain they would just tell me to schedule an appointment in the morning, but instead they told me to take him to the emergency room. So the three of us took a trip to Winchester Hospital and were seen right away by the triage nurse. She said he sounded fine but didn't know if the brief time in the cold air had opened his airways so we still needed to be seen by a pediatrician. We barely settled in the waiting room when we were brought to an exam room and seen by the resident. He didn't seem all that concerned, so I was pretty sure the doctor would take a look and send us home shaking her head at the overprotective first-time parents. Instead, she took one look at him and told us he was struggling to breathe. He didn't seem like he was struggling, but she showed us how to tell by examining his neck and belly. She also said he sounded very wheezy in his lungs and needed treatment.
We were told Ryan would get 2-3 nebulizer treatments to open his airways and a dose of prednisone to help with the inflammation. She gave us a 50-50 chance of going home that night. After the treatments, Ryan was still wheezy, so we were admitted to the hospital. It took some time for them to get us a room because they needed to find us a baby cage big enough for Ryan. We finally got to the room around 1 am and although there was a perfectly nice cot for me to sleep on, Ryan insisted I sleep with him in the baby cage. Not comfortable at all. We tried to sleep on and off until around 4 am when I buzzed the nurse to get me the hell out of there. I've never really been claustrophobic, but that cage was a little much.
Justin came back in the morning and we saw the pediatrician around 9 am. Again, since Ryan seemed fine, I expected the new doctor to let us go. But instead she listened to his lungs, examined him, and told us he needed more treatments and MAYBE we could go home in the evening. Ugh. Ryan was getting nebulizer treatments ever 2 hours and the only way we could go home is if he could make it to every 4 hours. So Ryan and I got to hang in the hospital all day long. For the local people reading this, it's worth mentioning that Winchester Hospital is pretty nice. The nurses and staff are caring, the rooms were clean, and we even had a "child life specialist" come in several times a day to make sure Ryan had enough toys, books, and dvds to keep him happy. The only problem was the pediatrician only rounds twice a day, so if the morning doc didn't discharge us, we had to wait until 9 pm for the evening doc.
Josh, Rachel, and Zach came to visit in the afternoon and Ryan really perked up then and started breathing better. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but I think he's pretty social and likes to be around other people. He seemed happy to have company to play with (I was too exhausted). A third pediatrician showed up around 9 pm and on initial assessment, told us Ryan wasn't ready to go home. He then listened to his lungs, talked to us for awhile presumably assessing our intelligence and ability to give treatments at home, and changed his mind. Yippee! Apparently Ryan's lungs sounded much better than he anticipated, and we passed the "smart parents" test. We were discharged at 10 pm with the condition that we continue his treatments every 4 hours and see our pediatrician first thing the next day.
We saw the Saturday pediatrician the next day and he said Ryan sounded fine and we could withhold nebulizer treatment until he needed it. Right now he's getting one every 6-8 hours while we wait for the prednisone to do its job. The doctor also said that one incident of wheezing does not necessarily mean asthma, and there's no reason now to treat him any differently. He's probably pre-disposed to asthma and has a higher chance of having it, but if and when that comes, we'll deal with it. Right now we're just happy to be home!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
1st Birthday Celebrations!
Ryan's 1st birthday celebrations started in St. Louis where he got some new presents from Gi-Gi. On the actual day of we had a quiet family celebration at home where Ryan opened the presents he received from his daycare family. Like most 1 year olds he was much more excited about the tissue paper than the toys...
The celebration continued over the weekend as Ryan's Nanima and uncles came in from Chicago. We had a Sesame Street babies themed party complete with giant balloon Elmo and a Cookie monster and Elmo cake.
Although I know Ryan won't remember the party, we had a great time and are thankful to have so many great friends and family to come and celebrate with us.
The celebration continued over the weekend as Ryan's Nanima and uncles came in from Chicago. We had a Sesame Street babies themed party complete with giant balloon Elmo and a Cookie monster and Elmo cake.
We gave Ryan some cake but most of it ended up on him rather than in his tummy.
Although I know Ryan won't remember the party, we had a great time and are thankful to have so many great friends and family to come and celebrate with us.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thanksgiving
Life seems to have gotten in the way of posting... in a good way. I finally had a chance to download pictures from November and Ryan's birthday (which I'll get to in the next post). For Thanksgiving we visited Ryan's Gi-Gi in St. Louis. Ryan did get another ear infection on the trip, but it didn't stop him from having a great time visiting with all his relatives. The trip was low-key, and exactly what we needed. Here's Ryan bonding with Gi-Gi:
There were a bunch of other things that happened in November, but frankly it was too long ago to remember. Here are a couple of photos from Baby Loves Disco, Thanksgiving, and around the house.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Bath Time
Alright, I need some ideas... Ryan has suddenly developed a paralyzing fear of the bath. He refuses to sit down and just stands there and cries the whole time we're washing him. We have tons of bath toys and I'm pretty sure the water temperature is fine. Any thoughts? I don't think he's ever LOVED the bath, but he's tolerated it fairly well up until now. It could be that he's just starting to express himself, lucky for us. Anyone go through this? Any ideas on how to make bathtime fun?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
AHHHHH!
I decided not to use the screaming Ryan with Santa picture as our holiday card, so as promised, here's the pic. I still feel bad for laughing at him while he's being traumatized, but really, it's too funny.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
A Battle Victory
As I mentioned before, Ryan is suddenly not interested in milk. And he's even less interested in it now that it's in a cup. I think he gets plenty of calcium from yogurt and cheese, but I've still been concerned with his liquid intake. He likes water, but the doctor told us to withhold it from him for now and give him milk instead. The last couple of days, he's probably had a total of 4 oz per day, tops. I beg and plead with him to take the milk, but he just hands it back.
Last night we tried chocolate milk. Now I really did not want to do chocolate milk because I became addicted to it as a kid myself, but I felt desperate. I went back and forth in my mind, and decided to just try it. Didn't matter, he still wouldn't take it. I did some online research and found parents who have tried and succeeded with strawbery milk, nesquik, and get this, OJ and milk combined. They say it curdles and looks gross but the kids love it. Eww. This morning I decided to get creative and made Ryan a yogurt shake. I took 4 oz of blueberry Yo Baby yogurt (which he loves) and blended it with 4 oz of whole milk. Tada! He drank almost the whole thing! Yay for small victories!
Last night we tried chocolate milk. Now I really did not want to do chocolate milk because I became addicted to it as a kid myself, but I felt desperate. I went back and forth in my mind, and decided to just try it. Didn't matter, he still wouldn't take it. I did some online research and found parents who have tried and succeeded with strawbery milk, nesquik, and get this, OJ and milk combined. They say it curdles and looks gross but the kids love it. Eww. This morning I decided to get creative and made Ryan a yogurt shake. I took 4 oz of blueberry Yo Baby yogurt (which he loves) and blended it with 4 oz of whole milk. Tada! He drank almost the whole thing! Yay for small victories!
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