Team wrestle mania visits Dr. McKay

When people ask me how I am these days, typically I just say, "good" or "fine". It's really just a greeting, in American terms, after all. But what I'd like to say is this: crazed. It's wrestle mania over here at casa de Corey, all day, every day. In fact, we just buzzed all Corey's hair off in an effort to keep Mason from grabbing Corey's hair by the fistful. My main job is no longer "mommy", it's ring ref. I bought some shirts the other day, and when I got them home, I realized they were all black and white - fitting for my job as ring ref. Mason, may I say, is truly in touch with his cave man ancestry these days. He likes to grunt, "uh uh uh" while he grabs hair and clothes, and if you're on the floor, expect to be dive bombed and/or steam rollered.

So I took team wrestle mania to Dr. McKay's office this morning for Mason's 15 month check-up. As you might have guessed, Mason is still weighing in with the line backers. Somewhere between the doctor's office and here I managed to lose the paper with his stats, but I can tell you that he is over 30 pounds and still off the charts. Developmentally, with respect to motor skills, he is ahead of the curve. With respect to language, he's behind. If he doesn't break out with "mommy" in the next two months, it's back to the speech pathologist.

Mason had only one shot today (dip/pertussis/tetanus), and he did not even cry. He flinched, but that was it! Unfortunately, because he has been chewing on his painted toys from China, Dr. McKay ordered a lab test for lead, so I had to take him over to LabCorp for a blood draw. While Mason was good for the draw, the tech had some trouble finding his vein, and I had to watch my poor sweet baby squirm all around and cry. This was less than fun. And now we get to worry about the test coming back positive for lead as well. No more painted toys that he can chew on from China, please! I'm throwing away all such toys in our house today.

When we got home, it was still a bit early for the nap time routine, and I wanted to snuggle with Mason a little. He had a big morning, after all. Corey said, "Are zoo gonna make my shake, mommy?" I said, "I need to give Mason some love for a little while, first, because he has some owies from this morning." Corey contemplated and then said, "When Mason is done with the love, then you will make my shake?" Ha!

Mason visits Dr. McKay

This morning Mason had his one year "well baby" visit with Dr. McKay. Everything looks terrific! He is one healthy, happy kid, and he is right on track developmentally. Dr. McKay also complimented him on his lovely skin. All the credit goes to Damian for bathing him and giving him the lotion rub-down every night. This is not an easy task, as Mason works hard at flipping over and diving off the bed head-first during the entire diaper/lotion/jammas process.

Mason had four shots today, including the flu shot booster, MMR, Prevnar, one last one which I've forgotten. He was fine until the last shot, and then he let me and his nurse have it. Corey, however, was fascinated by the bandaids on his chubby thighs, so that was a bonus.

And now for his measurements (drum roll please): Mason is now off the charts. That's right! He has exceeded the hundredth percentile. Perhaps he is actually an ape. Here are the specifics:

Weight: 27.2 lbs
Height: 33 inches
Head Circumference: 20 inches

Rookie Parenting Mistake!

Yesterday morning Damian and I had the following conversation while still in our pajamas:

J, "Have you seen Corey's foot?"
D, "Let me see it. Whoa, that looks terrible!"
J, "Do you think it's a mosquito bite?"
D, "I've never seen a mosquito bite that looks like that! Maybe it's a spider bite."
J, "Oh my God! Should we take him to the doctor? They're open for a few hours this morning."
D, "Let's do it."

I called and urged them to squeeze us in. They gave us a 9:15 appointment. We threw on our clothes and rushed out the door before breakfast. We got there, were ushered into a room, and minutes later Dr. Parnes came in. She took one look at it and said, "It's a mosquito bite. He's going to get a lot more of them this summer. Put some hydrocortisone cream on it."

And that was it. Mosquito-bite induced panic. Yep, for all we've been through, we're still rookies.

Visit with Dr. McKay

Well, Corey has been scratching his head like a maniac lately, as I mentioned. We went to see Dr. McKay this morning, and he said it's either a virus or something he's allergic to in his diet. I'm supposed to record what he eats and give him Benadryl and Claritin for the next several days. Hopefully this will handle the situation, because I can't handle any more of the drama!

Meeting with speech pathologist

Yesterday a speech pathologist came to our house to evaluate Corey's speech, or lack thereof. She was terrific. She got right down on the floor and played with Corey. He was a bit shy at first, but when she whipped out a bubble blower, it was all over. Corey got down and played with her. She listened to all the different sounds that he makes, including inflections, and asked me many questions about his development.

She told me that Corey has all the tools he needs for speech. That is, he makes many different babbling sounds, and he changes his intonation or voice inflections. That was good to hear. Additionally, she said that since he has just started to walk, he will likely concentrate all his efforts on walking for awhile. Right now she does not think we need any outside intervention. She said it's really up to us to work with him right now.

Here were her suggestions:

1) Use single words instead of sentences.
2) Use exaggerated intonations - e.g., say UH-oh with great emphasis, rather than just the usual flat monotone uh-oh.
3) Use sounds for everything - e.g., when playing with a car, say "Vroom vroom!"
4) Use some sign language. Apparently kids make a connection between signs and language fairly quickly. She taught me signs for "more", "eat", and "all done" to start.

We'll try these techniques, and she will return for a follow-up in August. Overall, it was an encouraging visit. She didn't seem too concerned, which made me feel better.

We also have an appointment with Dr. McKay today. Corey has been scratching his head and fussing, and is generally miserable, so we'll see if there's something going on with his scalp that can be treated.

Rash & speech

Well, Corey's rash seems to have resolved, thankfully. It made him perpetually unhappy all weekend, though. Poor kid.

Tomorrow a developmental specialist will be coming by to evaluate Corey, as he doesn't speak at all yet. This is not atypical for heart kids, though, so I don't feel too worried. However, if we can get him some help, then clearly we should. I'll update tomorrow....

A Scary Lesson

Well, after applying the Aveeno, I learned that it's not supposed to be used in children under 2. So I thought I'd better try to find out why. (How did we ever live before the internet?) As it turns out, the main active ingredient, Pramoxine, may be absorbed in toxic levels in children under 2, because they have a greater skin to weight ratio. (This is also the reason why you don't want to put sun block on babies under 6 months old.)

This sent me into a mad panic around 8:30 last night (this was after Corey had already had his bottle and gone to bed), and Damian suggested we phone the poison control center of Maryland. I called and explained the situation, and the woman on the phone suggested we wake Corey up, wipe off any cream we could with a warm wash cloth, and make sure he was responsive. If he wasn't, we were to call back, and an ER run probably would have been next.

We ran upstairs and got him up immediately. He was groggy, but he cried and fussed a bit, to our tremendous relief. I wiped him down, and we changed him into a clean cotton onesie. I held him for a bit and put him back in his crib. He was up wailing a few minutes later, and I was never so glad to hear him cry! Well, perhaps his first cry when he was born. Anyway, Damian comforted him, and he went back to sleep. I checked on him many times over the next couple of hours, but he was fine each time.

This morning he woke up at 5:15. My first thought was, "Just shoot me." But then I remembered last night's fiasco, and I rushed into his room, grabbed him out of his crib, and gave him a huge hug. I was so angry with myself. How could I be that dumb? After everything we have been through with Corey to possibly hurt him myself through sheer stupidity? I feel like an idiot. I'm just really thankful that Corey is ok, and I have learned my lesson. From now on, nothing is going in or on my baby without Dr. McKay's approval.

On a lighter note, Corey's rash does seem to be greatly improved. He is still itching the back of his neck and head, but his back and belly look really good, and he hasn't been scratching there. We're trying to keep him in cotton onesies to stop him from reaching his skin. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be uneventful!

Curse the chicken pox vaccine!

I say that now, but if he actually had the chicken pox, I'm sure it would be much worse. He does not, but he has broken out in a nasty, red, itchy rash as a result of the chicken pox vaccine. He's been scratching and miserable for a few days now, poor baby. However, I bought him some Aveeno cream specifically for chicken pox rashes, and that has helped enormously. Not long after I slimed him down with the cream, all the redness went away, he stopped scratching, and he stopped fussing. Thank God for Aveeno! Hopefully this will help the rash resolve quickly. Poor baby.

He also seems to be getting a tooth. So there is teething and scratching and whining going on non-stop over here. Hopefully Mr. Crankypants will just get the tooth and get over the rash soon!

Visit with Dr. McKay

This morning I took Corey for his 15-month check-up with Dr. McKay. Yes, that's right! My baby is 15 months old! Whoa. Mr. Porky Pants weighed in at 23 pounds, 12 ounces, for a healthy weight gain. This is not surprising, given how much he eats every day, all day long. The percentile is now the 25th to 50th for his age. He's 32 1/4 inches tall (which is 75-90th percentile), and his head circumference is 19 1/4 inches, which is the 90th percentile. We find it endlessly funny that Corey's weight remains around the 25th percentile while his giant noggin stays at the 90th.

Dr. McKay also asked me a number of questions to determine Corey's developmental advancement. In general, he's doing very well. He should be walking on his own more, but Dr. McKay was pleased that he is at least walking on his own some. We'll keep working on it. His speech, however, is a bit of a concern. Corey should be specifically calling Damian "Da Da", and me "Ma Ma", but he doesn't. He babbles a great deal of sounds, but he doesn't say any words that I can understand. Mostly he points at what he wants and grunts. To handle this, Dr. McKay advised us to work with Corey and encourage him to use words, instead of just giving him whatever he wants following the lazy grunts. He also wants me to have Corey evaluated by early child intervention specialists, so we will do that as well.

Finally, Corey had 3 shots. The standards, including a vaccine for chicken pox. He may have a reaction to the chicken pox vaccine in up to 10 days, but, lucky me, my baby will never actually get chicken pox. When he was getting his shots, Corey opened his mouth and wailed so loudly that I got a great look at his huge new molar. I'm such a rotten mommy - my poor baby is howling, and I'm busy looking at his teeth! I do feel bad for him, of course, when he gets shots, but he's just been through so much worse, that I guess I'm a bit desensitized. In any case, I comforted Corey when the shots were finished, and he calmed down quickly. Especially when I let him turn the lights at the doctor's office on and off. On and off. On and off. He loves that.

Back to Hopkins for a visit with Dr. DeRusso

Back to Corey! We were joking that we'd have to rename this "The Other Baby Blog". :-)

This morning Corey and I braved the ice to head up to Hopkins for an appointment with Corey's pediatric GI specialist, Dr. Patricia DeRusso. Many of you may recall that our first visit with Dr. DeRusso left me questioning the plan - she wanted to put Corey on yet another medication, when Damian and I felt that it was truly a behavioral issue. Luckily we listened to Dr. DeRusso, though, because Corey has made phenomenal progress since he's been on the Prevacid. He no longer vomits full feedings. He eats awake! And, he's started to show real interest in solid foods. We sit him with us at the dinner table and share anything we think he won't choke on. He says, "Baby food - bah! Give me that garlicky spaghetti sauce, Mom!" :-)

So, we weighed Corey, and Mr. Porky Pants is up to 20 lbs 6 oz, which knocks him up to the 50th percentile for weight! Go fat baby! We also took his blood pressure (good), and Dr. DeRusso examined Corey. She found no swelling or enlargement, and indeed said he looks so good he could be the Gerber baby! Ha! She then explained that most children (8 out of 10) outgrow reflux when they reach 1year of age. The plan is, then, to continue with the status quo until he reaches his first birthday. At that point we will discontinue the Reglan, and, after a month, we'll begin to wean him off of the Prevacid. Hopefully that will be the end of the reflux and feeding nightmares! Thank you, Dr. DeRusso!

In other news, Corey has learned a new trick. He has started pulling himself up! It's really cute to see. Every milestone is just incredible to us, especially considering that he might never have had even one.

Corey gets his RSV shot

This morning the home health nurse came by to give Corey his second RSV shot. The good news is, Mr. Porky Pants has topped 20 pounds! Woo hoo! He's 20 lbs, 1 oz, to be more precise. :-) Corey took the shot as well as could be expected. She administered half in each thigh. He only cried when she depressed the plunger, and a few extra wails to let me know just how unjust the situation was. Poor guy! He did great, though. As soon as I said, "All done, all done!", and apologized, he was fine. Then he gave me a nice big poo, and all was right with his world again.

Appointment with Dr. McKay

This morning I took Corey in for his 9-month well baby checkup with Dr. McKay. Corey weighed in at 19 lbs, 9 oz, which is not quite as fat as we'd hoped, but it's still good. He measured at 29.5 inches long, so he's a very tall guy. He also got another Hepatitis B injection as well as a Polio injection.

Dr. McKay examined Corey, and gave him a clean bill of health. Yay! I was a bit worried about fluid retention, since he's been off of Lasix for the past 2 weeks, but he's doing just fine sans Lasix. Corey is a bit behind in speech (no "ba ba ba" or "da da da" yet), and he's not crawling yet, but he is sitting up, rolling, scooting some, and he loves to stand, so Dr. McKay isn't too concerned. He does want us to come back in 6 weeks, rather than waiting until the 12 month well baby checkup, but that is progress, I'd say, since we used to be in his office once a week! It's time for routine blood work again, unfortunately, so I'll be taking Corey to Tracy to have him stuck sometime in the next couple of weeks.

In other good news, there is a chance after all that Dr. McKay won't be dropping MAMSI. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because we'd really hate to lose him as our pediatrician.

Flu shot & impending PC appointment

Well, Corey had his booster flu shot on Saturday morning, and he did great! Damian took him, and when he checked in at the front desk, the woman said, "Child's name?" Damian said, "Corey Fleming." Since Corey spends half his life at the doctor's office, the woman knows Corey well, but I am usually the one who takes him in. She said, "Oh! Mommy sent Daddy today, I see."

The nurse warned Damian, before administering the shot, "Babies don't usually like these very much." Damian nodded - Corey's been through quite a bit more than just shots, and Damian is obviously familiar with how Corey handles things. We gave him some Motrin that morning to get him ready, and when the nurse stuck him, Corey didn't bat an eyelash. Until she depressed the needle, and then he said, "Meh meh" - and that was it! He took it like a man. :-) Poor kid - he's been through so much, he probably thought, "Is that all you got, lady?" His night was decent as well, and we were thankful for that, given how terrible it was when he got the first flu shot.

Corey has his 3 month follow-up with the pediatric cardiologist at Hopkins on Wednesday. It'll be a 4 month follow-up from the Glenn. I can hardly believe it! 4 months since the Glenn! The tiny toughie's scar is nearly white again. I'm hoping that Dr. Vricella will want to see us again, too. Each time we visit the hospital, he asks to see us. The circumstances which brought us to know him are horrible, of course, but still it is a privilege to know someone so amazing. It's not often in life that one is lucky enough to meet a man of his caliber. Can you tell I have a hero worship thing going on? :-) Hopefully we'll be posting some good news Wednesday afternoon.....

Made it through Corey's first RSV shot!

Today the home health nurse arrived to give Corey his first shot to (hopefully) prevent RSV. The shot is Synagis, and it is given in two doses, one in each thigh. The drug was delivered a few days ago, and included with the packet was a dose of epinephrine.

I have to admit that I've been feeling some apprehension about the RSV shot. Mostly because of the epinephrine. Though it's very, very rare, some babies go into shock and require this dose of to prevent death. I have also been worried about Corey's reaction to the shot, as no shots have been pleasant for him up to this point, with the flu shot being the worst of the bunch.

So, the nurse asked us a round of questions regarding Corey's history, weighed him at a nice fat 18 pounds 13 ounces (go Porky Pants!), and then gave the shot. Corey cried for only a few moments after each injection, one in each chubby thigh. Then he gave me that look that says, "How could you let them do this to me, mommy!" You all know that look I'm talking about. But I picked him up, and other than some mild protesting, he's been fine ever since. We're watching "The Aristocats" right now. The home health nurse says he should only have some mild soreness at the injection sites, and that's it. (Fingers crossed)

We'll have another 4 shots, one each month.

You can read more about RSV here:

http://www.webmd.com/.../hw176519.asp

An eventful visit with Dr. McKay.....

We saw Dr. McKay today for our weight check and also our 6-month well baby visit. Corey is behind in the well baby department due to his surgeries. First of all, Corey weighed in at 17 lbs 15 oz, for an excellent weight gain of 8 oz over the past 2 weeks. Mr. Porky Pants has actually exceeded the weight gain and height growth that Dr. McKay expected over the past several months. Corey also continues to show no fluid retention. Therefore, Dr. McKay has agreed to allow a home health nurse to do our twice monthly weight checks now. We will call Dr. McKay if there are any problems with the gain, or if Corey gets sick.

For the well baby visit, Corey had 3 shots. Additionally, as he is a baby in a high-risk group, he had a flu shot. He'll need a booster flu shot as well in 5 weeks. Dr. McKay also discussed developmental issues with us. For example, Corey should be grabbing everything and putting everything in his mouth, which he does. He should also be rolling over completely at will, which he doesn't do very well. He should be making raspberries, which he does, and also strings of consonants - ba ba ba ba, or da da da da. He doesn't do this, but he does single consonants. He should be locking his legs, which he only does very rarely. Basically, Corey is a bit behind developmentally, but he is very interactive and sociable, so Dr. McKay isn't too worried. This is something we expected, in any case. And that tiny bugger is getting a tooth! You can clearly see it if you look at his lower gums.

As far as food goes, I took Corey off of solids when he got his rash to eliminate the food allergy possibility. Given this information, and a good look at all the skin problems Corey has, Dr. McKay diagnosed him with baby excema. This is bad news, but there are things we can do to make it better. First, we should not bathe him too often, as the soaps can irritate already sensitive skin and can strip away essential moisture from his skin. Next, we want to moisturize Corey 3 times per day. Also, he needs to have more cotton clothes to allow his skin to breathe better, and the least irritating is non-colored. This is particularly important at night. So, I'm going to buy Corey some white cotton pajamas today.

Back to the food. We need to reintroduce and push solids, and we can give him finger foods now. This will thrill his Nanny, I'm sure, because she likes to say, "Don't you just want to give him Cheerios?" Ha! These are the foods we can give him now:

-Cheerios (one at a time at first)
-Pasta in small pieces (like elbow macaroni cut up)
-Banana pieces (one slice cut into quarters)
-small pieces of grapes
-small pieces of apples and pears, without the skin

In a month, we can start offering him dairy - milk in a cup, and pieces of cheese. In two months we can offer him small bits of meat. Dr. McKay recommended skipping the baby food meat - it's awful, apparently, and most babies don't like it.

So, that's where we are! Overall, Corey is really doing very, very well for a heart baby, and we are very thankful for that.