Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Our Garden Grows
Scott and I are so proud of our little garden. Last year we grew one tomato, one cucumber, and three pepper plants. The peppers were weak, the tomatoes were not enough to feed us but for a small snack, but the cucumbers just grew and grew and grew. This year we planted 4 tomato, and 1 each of cucumber, squash, and watermelon plants. The watermelon is still growing strong with some buds, the squash is flowering and producing some veggies for us to feed Max, the cucumber has just started to grow veggies but is looking fabulous, and the tomatoes are delivering beautiful and delicious tomatoes everyday! Yay for growing your own pesticide free organic fruits and vegetables. It is an easy, rewarding, and fun project to do for/with your family. I would encourage all of you to grow your own garden next year.
This happens all the time...
Max crawls over to the steps at least 10 times a day and begins climbing them. He turns back to see if I am watching and when I say, " What are you doing?" he gets the biggest grin and doesn't climb any further until I get there to go up with him. So precious!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Some Cute Footage
Here are a few videos I took of Max throughout last week. Some are over 5 minutes but totally worth your time. You will not regret watching this smart and adorable baby in his daily activities of eating, playing, snacking, and being cute!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Cow's Milk?
On Tuesday we went to the pediatrician's office to revisit what had happened last Friday. Dr. Szabo had called an allergist and he said since his reaction was so severe that they should go ahead and get a blood test done to check for allergic reactions to certain foods. A nurse took us into a lab room and wrapped him papoose style in a large Velcro strap that went around his entire little body and attached it to a board-like contraption on the table. She wrapped the band around his arm to find his veins. Another nurse leaned over his body and held onto his face to keep him from moving too much. He was screaming so hard. It was so awful to watch. She poked him 3 times with the needle (once in his right arm and twice in his left arm). She was only able to get about 1/4 a tube of blood (she needed at least a full tube). She said in babies 9-12 months it is very difficult to find their veins due to them being so chunky at that age. She went in to let Dr. Szabo know and he said we had to get the blood that day so we would have to go to the nearby offices for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta where they take blood all day everyday and would be able to find the vein. Before we left Dr. Szabo spoke with us about what happened (he told Max that he really had them all scared) and used a trial Epi-Pen on Scott and I to let us feel the force of how we should administer it to Max if we should ever have to. We got to the hospital and the nurse there said that our nurse had found the vein that looked best but must have just barely missed the center of the vein. This time Scott had to hold on to his little bruised arm and I had to lean over his body. She got all the blood she needed on the first try (so 4 pokes total with a needle). I felt just horrible for my sweet baby. I cried on the way home and he fell asleep. He had worn himself out with all that pain and crying! We have been spoiling him rotten since then! Dr. Szabo called this evening with the results of the allergy test. The test just automatically tests allergies to certain foods; nuts, corn, chocolate, fish, eggs, soy, cow's milk, pork, poultry, beef, wheat. It will show allergies to foods based on a number 1-6, 6 being severely allergic. Max is highly allergic to cow's milk (4) and had numbers for other foods that Dr. Szabo says we do not need to avoid (beef:3, pork:2, peanuts, soybeans, fish and eggs:1). It still scares me to feed him those foods though. I am taking it slow on introducing him to meat (if I do at all). We are feeding him very healthy and slowly and safely. I am nervous about other people feeding Max so I will just be packing his breakfast/lunch for the rest of his life! He will have no shortage of special notes in his lunchbox from Mommy and Daddy! Dr. Szabo has advised me to continue breastfeeding Max until 12 months of age when they will retest him for allergies again. Since he had results that make him highly allergic to items on the list the allergist wants to see him. We will have an appointment to see the allergist, Dr. Cole, next week. Cow's milk; not the result I was expecting at all! I mean, everyone in my family drinks milk with dinner every night. I guess Scott and I will have to start getting used to Soy Milk?!
Shirt and Socks Required
Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah brought back some gifts for Max from Glacier National Park. They gave him this adorable t-shirt that says Duck, Duck, Moose and these socks that say Someone Who Loves Me Very Much Went to Glacier National Park and Got Me These Socks. I took a picture of him wearing them yesterday. I was also able to capture him STANDING!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Standing, First Steps, and More...
This week Max has been standing on his own! We are so excited that he has reached this next milestone! He will be so busy holding something in each hand that he will go from crouching to standing (wow those are some strong legs) without holding on to anything. While he and I were playing outside this week he stood up, looked at his toy basket, decided he needed to get to it, took one step (which would not really count as a step since he would have just been able to step and reach all at the same time), but then had to take another step in order to reach the basket with his hands. So, I got to see that little miracle take his first steps! It was so exciting! I clapped and hugged him so hard and told him how proud I was to have seen that! I cannot believe what a big boy my little baby is becoming. He is definitely all boy too.
Today we went to lunch with Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah at The Fickle Pickle. I brought along sweet potatoes and mandarin oranges for Max and they had so much fun watching him eat like he didn't know if he would ever get another meal. This is a daily occurrence for me though; he eats like that every time. I cannot get the food to his tray fast enough! We went over to swim after that and since we weren't prepared for a day at their pool Max just swam in his diaper and onesie. Aunt Sarah took him out of the pool to play with dead leaves in their landscaped area around the pool. She took off his HUGE wet diaper and just left the wet onesie on him. He was playing with dead leaves, sticks, monkey balls and started peeing on their stone wall. While he peed he stared at himself doing it. Like I said, all boy.
Today we went to lunch with Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah at The Fickle Pickle. I brought along sweet potatoes and mandarin oranges for Max and they had so much fun watching him eat like he didn't know if he would ever get another meal. This is a daily occurrence for me though; he eats like that every time. I cannot get the food to his tray fast enough! We went over to swim after that and since we weren't prepared for a day at their pool Max just swam in his diaper and onesie. Aunt Sarah took him out of the pool to play with dead leaves in their landscaped area around the pool. She took off his HUGE wet diaper and just left the wet onesie on him. He was playing with dead leaves, sticks, monkey balls and started peeing on their stone wall. While he peed he stared at himself doing it. Like I said, all boy.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Today
It started out as a normal Friday morning; Max woke up, nursed, ate breakfast, played, and went down for his nap; by 11:30 a.m. we were riding in an ambulance together to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite ER. Here is our story:
At 9:00 Max went down for his nap. He had a few coughs while he was napping but I kept looking at the monitor to check on him and he was still sleeping so I let him sleep. Around 10:00 he was awake and crying (he usually wakes up happy from his morning nap) so I ran up to get him. We cuddled as usual and he waved at all the dogs (Josh and Sarah's dogs are here too). I noticed his right ear was really red and thought "oh no, an ear infection". I thought he might just be warm so I changed him out of his wet diaper and pajamas and into a clean one and a onesie. He cried the entire time. He calmed down when I picked him back up and we went downstairs to go for our morning walk. He was sneezing with snot coming out, coughing a little, and pulling at his ears and he did not want to be put down. I did what any girl would do; I called my mom at work to tell her the symptoms (I needed her to tell me that I was not crazy if I called the doctor). She heard his croupy cough and said to call the doctor. I calmly told the nurse what was happening and she said that Dr. Szabo (not our usual doctor, but one we saw when Max had his cold) was available to see him at 10:50. It was 10:20 so I said that was perfect. She was calm, I was calm; just thought I had a sick baby on my hands. We were in the car by 10:30 and on our way. Max started to have trouble breathing as I was driving; he could not keep his paci in because of this. He was acting really relaxed, not moving around much or making much noise (not a typical car ride; usually playing and talking) so I was starting to become a little concerned. He was still having lots of drool, snot, coughing, and sneezing as we drove. I just held on to his foot and rubbed his leg as I drove. He was a little upset but not much. He was so quiet most of the time that I kept turning around to make sure he was still breathing and reassure him that we were almost there and he was going to be okay. He started to get red all over his face when we were arriving at the doctor's office. We signed in at 10:50 and the receptionist said "oh" with some concern when she saw him, that made me concerned too. Immediately a nurse came out and called his name (that never happens so quickly at a well baby check-up) and said "what did you eat" when she saw him. I told the nurse this same story along with what he had eaten that morning for breakfast and anything the day before that was a newly introduced food (the only things I could think of that could possibly have caused a reaction were the whole wheat toast (that morning at 8) and edamame (15 hours earlier). After asking some family/baby history the nurse wasted no time and went to get the doctor. Dr. Szabo came in a minute later not even bothering to close the door. I don't even think he checked Max out other than looking at him and listening to him; I held him in my arms the entire time. He asked some more of the same questions and started telling the nurse to get epinephrine (epi pen) immediately. They went back and forth mostly just shouting to one another through open doors trying to locate the trauma bag (they weren't sure if they had and epi pen for a 9 month old in the office so it was back and forth discussing this with more nurses coming in to the conversation all in a matter of seconds). Max now had a red rash over his entire little body, was wheezing, sneezing, coughing, and could barely take a breath. Dr. Szabo said very seriously that Max was having a very severe (life-threatening) allergic reaction and we needed to take immediate action(no time to get to a hospital I assumed). I began to cry for the 1st time that day. Dr. Szabo reassured me that everything was going to be okay. He excused himself for a moment to assist the nurses so I took a moment to call Scott to let him know what was happening. Dr. Szabo came back in and said we needed to go to a different room and to follow him. We were led to a room in the back of the office that seemed more equipped for emergency situations. One nurse came in and checked Max's pulse/listened to his heartbeat (he was too small to get a good read with whatever they put on his foot), while another nurse began to give him a full dose of steroids (with licks of lollipop in between because of the awful taste). As soon as they got a read of his vitals and steroids were down a third nurse shot the epi pen into his thigh (all I heard was a soft moan from my poor baby), and then a fourth nurse began to give him a full dose of benadryl. After all this they immediately began a breathing treatment. Dr. Szabo never left the room during this time and I heard him say, "Please call my next three appointments and ask them to reschedule, I am not leaving this room." Max was so brave the entire time and I just kissed him gently and held on to him as tightly as I could (thankfully that is exactly what the nurses wanted me to do). Dr. Szabo then asked a nurse to call Scottish Rite (which I knew was Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) and get an ambulance to their office immediately. He looked at me and said, "An ambulance is on it's way. Max needs to go to the ER to continue the treatments and be monitored for some time." I began to cry for the 2nd time that day. Dr. Szabo again reassured me that everything was going to be fine. A nurse came back and said that an ambulance couldn't be there for another hour but a helicopter could come now. Dr Szabo calmly said "We don't have anywhere for a helicopter to land. Please call the local ambulance now." Dr. Szabo asked what time it was, grabbed the nearest pen, and began writing on the paper attached to the patient table where Max was now crying/wheezing (which Dr. Szabo said was a good thing because it would actually require him to take in more of the oxygen if he was upset) while he received the breathing treatment. All the nurses were hands-on so I checked my watch and told Dr. Szabo it was 11:08. I then realized what all had happened in less than 20 minutes of our arrival. Dr. Szabo wrote down the times everything had been administered, double checked what the nurses had given Max, and told me what would happen next. The atmosphere was quite calm and very reassuring. I have never seen so many women attending to one tiny baby with the kindest voices while also talking to me with the same worry. A fifth nurse came in and asked me if she could call someone for me and I asked her to call Scott and tell him to meet us. She wrote his number on her hand and went to call him. One of the nurses asked where my keys were so she could go get the car seat out of my car for the ambulance ride. The nurse who had called Scott gave Max another breathing treatment all the while singing The Wheels On The Bus to him. He just stared at her, didn't even cry. Everything was being taken care of for us. The ambulance arrived and we all walked outside together. I thanked them all and they strapped the car seat to the stretcher. Dr. Szabo said Max looked and sounded much better and that everything was going to be okay. We buckled Max and me in and took off. Max talked, waved, and played the whole way to the ER. I just held that sweet little hand. When we arrived at Scottish Rite it was more of the same treatment (kind nurses, caring doctor, everyone adoring my beautiful baby boy). They hooked him up to some machines to check his vitals, he broke out in a rash again when he started to cry (the doctor at the hospital said this might happen for a few days), but for the most part he remained calm and I held him. Scott arrived soon after that and we were both thankful to have him there with us. Max was tired and hungry but he wasn't allowed to eat anything. We had to stay to be monitored for a couple of hours they told us. Max fell asleep in my arms. Nana and Pop arrived to be there for all of us. Max woke and I asked to nurse him, they said I could. He felt a little better after that. Around 3:00 they told us we could go with a prescription for steroids for 5 days, and epi pen (for emergencies in the future), and to continue with benadryl. We got home around 4 and Max seemed back to normal. He ate pretty much an entire sweet potato and an entire banana. Nana and Pop came over to be with us some more. We will go back to see Dr. Szabo on Tuesday (he just wants to see Max) and we will become more educated on this type of very severe allergic reaction; just in case. He will call an allergist and we will go from there. They don't seem to think that any of the foods Max had eaten would have caused such a severe reaction for many different reasons we discussed at length but I will not bore you with anymore details. So, today, I am so thankful for Max's life and for being the person who gets to be his mommy. I CANNOT IMAGINE my life without him in it! I cannot even begin to imagine how the mommies of chronically or terminally ill children do this day all the time. I hope I never have to again! Thank you Teri and Jerry for just waiting with us! Thank you Mom, Dad, Jac, Josh, and Sarah for being there when I needed you most! Jarrod, I know you would have been too if you weren't so far away in Tokyo today! Thank you to everyone else who heard the news and called to check on Max. We love you all so much!
Mom and Dad: Thank you for being the kind of parents who care just as much about Max as you do about me and making sure I was okay too. That means the world to me on a day like today when I wanted to break down but needed to be strong!
I wish I had some pictures of the ambulance ride. He was too cute! These were taken right before we were released from the hospital when he was all better!
At 9:00 Max went down for his nap. He had a few coughs while he was napping but I kept looking at the monitor to check on him and he was still sleeping so I let him sleep. Around 10:00 he was awake and crying (he usually wakes up happy from his morning nap) so I ran up to get him. We cuddled as usual and he waved at all the dogs (Josh and Sarah's dogs are here too). I noticed his right ear was really red and thought "oh no, an ear infection". I thought he might just be warm so I changed him out of his wet diaper and pajamas and into a clean one and a onesie. He cried the entire time. He calmed down when I picked him back up and we went downstairs to go for our morning walk. He was sneezing with snot coming out, coughing a little, and pulling at his ears and he did not want to be put down. I did what any girl would do; I called my mom at work to tell her the symptoms (I needed her to tell me that I was not crazy if I called the doctor). She heard his croupy cough and said to call the doctor. I calmly told the nurse what was happening and she said that Dr. Szabo (not our usual doctor, but one we saw when Max had his cold) was available to see him at 10:50. It was 10:20 so I said that was perfect. She was calm, I was calm; just thought I had a sick baby on my hands. We were in the car by 10:30 and on our way. Max started to have trouble breathing as I was driving; he could not keep his paci in because of this. He was acting really relaxed, not moving around much or making much noise (not a typical car ride; usually playing and talking) so I was starting to become a little concerned. He was still having lots of drool, snot, coughing, and sneezing as we drove. I just held on to his foot and rubbed his leg as I drove. He was a little upset but not much. He was so quiet most of the time that I kept turning around to make sure he was still breathing and reassure him that we were almost there and he was going to be okay. He started to get red all over his face when we were arriving at the doctor's office. We signed in at 10:50 and the receptionist said "oh" with some concern when she saw him, that made me concerned too. Immediately a nurse came out and called his name (that never happens so quickly at a well baby check-up) and said "what did you eat" when she saw him. I told the nurse this same story along with what he had eaten that morning for breakfast and anything the day before that was a newly introduced food (the only things I could think of that could possibly have caused a reaction were the whole wheat toast (that morning at 8) and edamame (15 hours earlier). After asking some family/baby history the nurse wasted no time and went to get the doctor. Dr. Szabo came in a minute later not even bothering to close the door. I don't even think he checked Max out other than looking at him and listening to him; I held him in my arms the entire time. He asked some more of the same questions and started telling the nurse to get epinephrine (epi pen) immediately. They went back and forth mostly just shouting to one another through open doors trying to locate the trauma bag (they weren't sure if they had and epi pen for a 9 month old in the office so it was back and forth discussing this with more nurses coming in to the conversation all in a matter of seconds). Max now had a red rash over his entire little body, was wheezing, sneezing, coughing, and could barely take a breath. Dr. Szabo said very seriously that Max was having a very severe (life-threatening) allergic reaction and we needed to take immediate action(no time to get to a hospital I assumed). I began to cry for the 1st time that day. Dr. Szabo reassured me that everything was going to be okay. He excused himself for a moment to assist the nurses so I took a moment to call Scott to let him know what was happening. Dr. Szabo came back in and said we needed to go to a different room and to follow him. We were led to a room in the back of the office that seemed more equipped for emergency situations. One nurse came in and checked Max's pulse/listened to his heartbeat (he was too small to get a good read with whatever they put on his foot), while another nurse began to give him a full dose of steroids (with licks of lollipop in between because of the awful taste). As soon as they got a read of his vitals and steroids were down a third nurse shot the epi pen into his thigh (all I heard was a soft moan from my poor baby), and then a fourth nurse began to give him a full dose of benadryl. After all this they immediately began a breathing treatment. Dr. Szabo never left the room during this time and I heard him say, "Please call my next three appointments and ask them to reschedule, I am not leaving this room." Max was so brave the entire time and I just kissed him gently and held on to him as tightly as I could (thankfully that is exactly what the nurses wanted me to do). Dr. Szabo then asked a nurse to call Scottish Rite (which I knew was Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) and get an ambulance to their office immediately. He looked at me and said, "An ambulance is on it's way. Max needs to go to the ER to continue the treatments and be monitored for some time." I began to cry for the 2nd time that day. Dr. Szabo again reassured me that everything was going to be fine. A nurse came back and said that an ambulance couldn't be there for another hour but a helicopter could come now. Dr Szabo calmly said "We don't have anywhere for a helicopter to land. Please call the local ambulance now." Dr. Szabo asked what time it was, grabbed the nearest pen, and began writing on the paper attached to the patient table where Max was now crying/wheezing (which Dr. Szabo said was a good thing because it would actually require him to take in more of the oxygen if he was upset) while he received the breathing treatment. All the nurses were hands-on so I checked my watch and told Dr. Szabo it was 11:08. I then realized what all had happened in less than 20 minutes of our arrival. Dr. Szabo wrote down the times everything had been administered, double checked what the nurses had given Max, and told me what would happen next. The atmosphere was quite calm and very reassuring. I have never seen so many women attending to one tiny baby with the kindest voices while also talking to me with the same worry. A fifth nurse came in and asked me if she could call someone for me and I asked her to call Scott and tell him to meet us. She wrote his number on her hand and went to call him. One of the nurses asked where my keys were so she could go get the car seat out of my car for the ambulance ride. The nurse who had called Scott gave Max another breathing treatment all the while singing The Wheels On The Bus to him. He just stared at her, didn't even cry. Everything was being taken care of for us. The ambulance arrived and we all walked outside together. I thanked them all and they strapped the car seat to the stretcher. Dr. Szabo said Max looked and sounded much better and that everything was going to be okay. We buckled Max and me in and took off. Max talked, waved, and played the whole way to the ER. I just held that sweet little hand. When we arrived at Scottish Rite it was more of the same treatment (kind nurses, caring doctor, everyone adoring my beautiful baby boy). They hooked him up to some machines to check his vitals, he broke out in a rash again when he started to cry (the doctor at the hospital said this might happen for a few days), but for the most part he remained calm and I held him. Scott arrived soon after that and we were both thankful to have him there with us. Max was tired and hungry but he wasn't allowed to eat anything. We had to stay to be monitored for a couple of hours they told us. Max fell asleep in my arms. Nana and Pop arrived to be there for all of us. Max woke and I asked to nurse him, they said I could. He felt a little better after that. Around 3:00 they told us we could go with a prescription for steroids for 5 days, and epi pen (for emergencies in the future), and to continue with benadryl. We got home around 4 and Max seemed back to normal. He ate pretty much an entire sweet potato and an entire banana. Nana and Pop came over to be with us some more. We will go back to see Dr. Szabo on Tuesday (he just wants to see Max) and we will become more educated on this type of very severe allergic reaction; just in case. He will call an allergist and we will go from there. They don't seem to think that any of the foods Max had eaten would have caused such a severe reaction for many different reasons we discussed at length but I will not bore you with anymore details. So, today, I am so thankful for Max's life and for being the person who gets to be his mommy. I CANNOT IMAGINE my life without him in it! I cannot even begin to imagine how the mommies of chronically or terminally ill children do this day all the time. I hope I never have to again! Thank you Teri and Jerry for just waiting with us! Thank you Mom, Dad, Jac, Josh, and Sarah for being there when I needed you most! Jarrod, I know you would have been too if you weren't so far away in Tokyo today! Thank you to everyone else who heard the news and called to check on Max. We love you all so much!
Mom and Dad: Thank you for being the kind of parents who care just as much about Max as you do about me and making sure I was okay too. That means the world to me on a day like today when I wanted to break down but needed to be strong!
Edamame...
is what Max chowed down on yesterday when I fed it to him for the 1st time. Usually when I feed him something new for the 1st time he refuses to eat it and then chows down on it the very next day. Not edamame, he grabbed one, ate it, and kept on going!
Monday, July 12, 2010
9 Months Old
Max turned 9 months old on July 1st. We were up in Ohio so we did not have his 9 month check-up until this past Friday.
Max's Stats:
Weight: 21 pounds (50th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 inches (that was in the 90th percentile!)
Doctor Clark said Max was perfect, as if I didn't already know, and that most babies his age cry for their check-up; not Max, he just grabs the doctor's glasses, grunts to get out of his grasp, and wiggles around so much that Dr. Clark had a hard time listening to that little heart beat! The nurse said he had a "spitfire" personality, I agree! She and Doctor Clark both thought he looked like he weighed alot more than the scale said but his height must have been throwing them off. In other words, short and chubby! I love every ounce of that chub and inch of that boy!
future OU Bobcat
Max's Stats:
Weight: 21 pounds (50th percentile)
Height: 28 inches (25th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47 inches (that was in the 90th percentile!)
Doctor Clark said Max was perfect, as if I didn't already know, and that most babies his age cry for their check-up; not Max, he just grabs the doctor's glasses, grunts to get out of his grasp, and wiggles around so much that Dr. Clark had a hard time listening to that little heart beat! The nurse said he had a "spitfire" personality, I agree! She and Doctor Clark both thought he looked like he weighed alot more than the scale said but his height must have been throwing them off. In other words, short and chubby! I love every ounce of that chub and inch of that boy!
future OU Bobcat
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)