We all have our ups and downs, but unfortunately for Ryan his are all happening at the same time. So we all know about the ear infection and molars. Now let's add potential head trauma. (Ok, not really, he seems totally fine.)
Yesterday morning, I was getting Ryan ready for day care as we do every other morning. He was sitting on the changing table and playing "let's drop the clothes on the floor and watch Mommy pick them up" game. This went on for a while, he drops the clothes, I pick them up, he drops them again and laughs hysterically. On the 4th or 5th drop, I bent down and he leaned forward to see but lost his balance and came tumbling off the changing table. It felt like it was happening in slow motion, but at the same time, it happened so fast I can't really remember. I think I got my arm in there a bit, but really he fell and landed half in the open bottom drawer of his dresser and half on the floor. It looked awful. He was on his back (somehow twisting in mid air) with his head hitting the floor and his back hitting the edge of the drawer. I picked him up to comfort him (he's screaming his head off) and literally 10 seconds later he's forgotten all about it and playing with his toys. Thank goodness kids are resilient and flexible. I on the other hand am totally freaked out and can't get the image of my son being tossed about like a ragdoll out of my mind.
Anyway, he's fine thankfully and I'm trying my best to forget it. I think from now on I'll be getting him dressed on the floor, he's just a little too big and unruly for the changing table. And major kudos go to Justin for not yelling at me which I'm pretty sure would have happened if it was him instead of me. So I've learned a lesson in how fast these kids are, and Ryan has discovered gravity.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Another Month, Another Ear Infection
This was not a good weekend for poor Ryan. On top of being sick and having another ear infection, all 4 of his molars seem to be pushing through at once. I don't think I've ever seen him so miserable in his short little life. The good news though is that hopefully he's getting it over with all at once.
Quick development update: Ryan has added "yeah" and "all done" to his vocabulary and can go up and down the stairs easily. He's also pretty good at obeying commands like "wash your hands" and "go to your high chair". The best one though is Ryan getting our slippers. Now I know what you're thinking, no our son is not our dog, but given Ryan's penchant for shoes, it was inevitable that he would happily pick up this trick. All you have to do is sit on the couch, put your feet in the air, and say "Ryan what's missing?" He will then go get your slippers and try to put them on your feet. And he distinguishes between my slippers and Justin's. Pretty cool party trick - we'll have to get it on video one of these days!
Quick development update: Ryan has added "yeah" and "all done" to his vocabulary and can go up and down the stairs easily. He's also pretty good at obeying commands like "wash your hands" and "go to your high chair". The best one though is Ryan getting our slippers. Now I know what you're thinking, no our son is not our dog, but given Ryan's penchant for shoes, it was inevitable that he would happily pick up this trick. All you have to do is sit on the couch, put your feet in the air, and say "Ryan what's missing?" He will then go get your slippers and try to put them on your feet. And he distinguishes between my slippers and Justin's. Pretty cool party trick - we'll have to get it on video one of these days!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Ryan Health Update
We just got back from our follow up appointment at the pediatrician's office. Ryan's ears and lungs are clear and healthy! The doctor did notice that Ryan has had 3 ear infections in 4 months, and apparently the criteria to be referred to a specialist is 3 ear infections in 3 months... so he's just shy. I'm ok with that though since I'm not all that interested in having to deal with tubes. Right now the ear infections don't seem that bad. They don't really bother him all that much, and he loves antibiotics. He just finished a 10 day course today and I think he's going to be bummed. He always makes the "more" sign when we give it to him.
As for his lungs, the doctor told us to give him some preventative puffs on his albuteral inhaler at the first sign of a cold to help keep his airways open. It appears so far that his wheezing is triggered by colds, which is bad cause he has them a lot, but good because it's not an everyday allergy thing. According to the doctor, kids usually outgrow wheezing from colds, so hopefully this is all temporary!
As for his lungs, the doctor told us to give him some preventative puffs on his albuteral inhaler at the first sign of a cold to help keep his airways open. It appears so far that his wheezing is triggered by colds, which is bad cause he has them a lot, but good because it's not an everyday allergy thing. According to the doctor, kids usually outgrow wheezing from colds, so hopefully this is all temporary!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ryan's 2nd Christmas... Technically
I've finally gotten around to downloading and organizing pictures from Christmas! This year the festivities started at our house for our annual ChristmaKwaNukkahWali SolstEid party. We had to skip hosting the party last year for obvious reasons, but were happy to resume the tradition this year. Our party is a winter holiday celebration with food, music, and decorations representing Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Diwali, Eid, and the Winter Solstice. We try to be all inclusive although admittedly we have no Kwanzaa of Eid food at the party. Maybe next year!
We spent Christmas this year in Austin visiting Ryan's relatives on his dad's side. Ryan had a great time meeting 6 cousins, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 grandparents! Here we try to get all 7 kids to sit still for a picture:
We spent Christmas this year in Austin visiting Ryan's relatives on his dad's side. Ryan had a great time meeting 6 cousins, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 grandparents! Here we try to get all 7 kids to sit still for a picture:
After opening gifts over several days in Austin, we made it back for one final Christmas celebration at home.
Click here for additional pictures from Christmas and I promise we'll try to take more pictures soon.
Click here for additional pictures from Christmas and I promise we'll try to take more pictures soon.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
When it Rains...
Ryan, Justin and I spent another couple of hours at the pediatrician's office yesterday. Ryan had started wheezing again Thursday night, but not wanting to spend another night at the hospital, we decided to give him a nebulizer treatment and call the doctor in the morning. We arrived at the office at 4:15pm but weren't seen until an hour later. During that time, Ryan decided to run laps around the furniture. After about an hour of running around, he started having a coughing fit. Go figure. Luckily this is when we got to see the doctor. The nurse took his temperature, and low and behold, he had a fever of 102. He wasn't even warm when we brought him in. Turns out in addition to the wheezing, Ryan has another ear infection. The doctor then listened to Ryan's lung and decided he needed a nebulizer treatment. He gave us an inhaler and an antibiotic to clear up his ears and his lungs. Our doctor said it still is too early to diagnose asthma, that it may just be the case of a bad reaction to a bad winter, but that we were probably headed down that path. Ryan will be re-evaluated next week and we'll go from there. We briefly discussed preventative medications like Pulmicort, but he said it was too early and we'll have a better idea in the spring when this nasty weather stops. Keep your fingers crossed!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Up!
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?
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?
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!
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