September 2006 blog
9/28/06 It's hard to believe it's almost October. Where did September go? I think we spent most of it under the weather, but still, it's hard to believe another month is gone and we are that much closer to Lucas and Sophia's 2 year birthday!!!! WOW! The kids are finally feeling better, and are playing more. They are getting new words (or at least new word sounds) daily and are figuring out so many new things they can do daily. They move heavy things from room to room, they go into other rooms to get things when we ask, they understand EVERYTHING and they tell us NO when they don't want to do or don't want something. HMMMM.... the No part, I could do without sometimes, but I'm glad they can express themselves.
Will has been gone on a few job interviews this week, and Lucas and Soph can't quite seem to understand where he is and why he isn't here. Lucas wakes up in the morning crying for Dada and pointing to his side of the bed. He asks many times a day, "Dada Uck?" Meaning Dada's truck, which is how they know he is home in the evenings. I keep explaining to them that Dada is bye bye for now, and that he will be back (today actually), to which they typically wave and say bye bye to the door.
Our friends Don and Ann have been coming over in the evenings to help put the kids to bed (since I am having an increasingly difficult time leaning over the cribs). Ann used to work in Labor and Delivery, and brought over a doppler last night so the babies could listen to the baby's heartbeat. Sophia went first, and she looked really serious for a few seconds, then smiled a HUGE smile and started giggling. When it was Lucas' turn, he listened intently for a several seconds, then looked at me and waved at my tummy! It makes you wonder what they understand, or if they remember that sound from when they were in my tummy. They then proceeded to fight over whose turn it was to listen to the baby, and they each took several turns until the baby decided it was done and kept moving away. Ann was sweet enough to leave the doppler here for us to use for the last few weeks (since Will hasn't even heard the heartbeat yet!), so we're going to try to get some pictures of the kids listening... SO CUTE!
9/21/06 We're all still alive, although exhausted and still recovering from being sick (I think me now, more than anyone). Soph is feeling the best out of all of us, and Lucas is not too far behind, although he's still pretty clingy (but he's been through quite an ordeal!). I'm still up all night coughing with a sore throat :( Other than that, we've had a pretty slow week. Lucas has learned how to say Car and Bus (although it most often sounds like Ca (he's from Boston?) and Bu. Soph is so close to calling herself Phia. We realized the other day that they know over 20 signs in sign language too (they just build up so fast!). They are finally coming out of the "being sick funk" and are starting to play again, which is good because Will is out of town on an interview tonight and tomorrow, and it's Mama home with the babies... Should be an adventure. That's all for now, hopefully we'll have more fun things to report next time!
9/16/06 Where in the world have we been? Did we fall off the face of the Earth? No, although there were moments this week that I wished we did! So, the short version (which is not so short)…. Last Saturday, Sophia and Lucas started to get colds with really runny noses. Soph started a fever on Saturday also, and both kids were pretty fussy on Sunday too. By Monday, Soph’s fever was still around, and she was feeling so bad that I kept her home from Mother’s Day out. Finally, after no sleep on Tuesdayand Soph’s fever steadying out at about 103 degrees, we took the kids to the doctor and they were diagnosed with sinus infections and….. are you ready for this???.... ear infections. But they have tubes, right? Yes, well apparently Soph’s tubes have already shifted (which is normal with growing ear drums, but two weeks of growth?) So now, instead of being placed where they were at the bottom of her ear drum to drain ANY collected fluid, they are now about ½ way up her ear drum, meaning that there is a basin at the bottom where fluid can collect. So basically, she had the painful, pressure ear infections that we had tried to avoid by getting tubes. This was compounded by the sinus infections. Both kids went on antibiotics, but Wednesday night, Lucas woke up at 11:00PM wheezing worse than we had ever heard. We had been giving him breathing treatments since Saturday to try to avoid this, but apparently it wasn’t enough. I threw him in the car (after another failed breathing treatment) and we ran to the Emergency room. We spent most of the night there (11:30-3:30AM) trying to get him to stop wheezing. They finally felt he was stable enough to go home, so we got a few hours rest (until 7AM) before we started Thursday. Will stayed home late and took Soph to Mother’s Day out while I took Lucas to the pediatrician to figure out a plan for the wheezing so we don’t have to go to the ER every single time he starts again. She gave him new meds for the nebulizer, steroids for the next week, and put him on a maintenance “asthma” med until he’s 2, at which time they will re evaluate and decide whether to actually label it asthma or not. Lucas and I got about an hour nap before we picked Soph up from MDO. The kids played for about an hour before I noticed Lucas acting strange. He kept curling up on the floor and “resting”. I picked him up to snuggle him and realized he had a really high fever (over 103 degrees). I the process of giving him motrin (which he threw up all over himself and me) I called Will and he called the pediatrician. They recommended I put him in a lukewarm bath and try to cool him down (like with did with Soph. As I got him undressed, I noticed purple splotchiness on his legs and arms, and they were cool to the touch. We got in the bath together, since he was very wobbly, and I tried to cool him off(Soph was in the portacrib in the bathroom with us) That’s when the “fun” started. Lucas went limp and started seizing, and then stopped breathing and turned blue. Well, needless to say, I jumped out of the tub with him (remember, I am about 8 months pregnant, so jumping is all relative), and called 911. They walked me through mouth to mouth and after a few tries, I got him shallow breathing again. I kept him “awake” (barely responsive) until the paramedics got there (in the meantime I had grabbed a robe, thank goodness). About 8 men ran in and took Lucas out to the ambulance to stabilize him, while I grabbed Soph, got dressed and ran outside too. Our neighbors had seen the ambulance and grabbed Soph to watch her, while I got in the ambulance and answered questions. Will got home (he was on his way the whole time) and took Soph back to the house where one of our friends, Ann and Don, came to watch her, then followed us(the ambulance) to the hospital. They got Lucas’s fever down and stabilized and diagnosed it as febrile seizures, which are apparently relatively common in little ones when their fever spikes suddenly. We are not expecting any long (or short) term negative effects from this, thank goodness, and he was back to his ornery self again in the hospital (he pulled out his IV and was flirting with the nurses) before we even left that night. He was released Thursday night around 10:30PM and, other than exhaustion and a few bruises from the IV’s and stuff, he’s pretty much back to normal. We have been monitoring fever and wheezing, but at this point, both kids are back to having just bad colds and runny noses.
My mom flew in to help out this weekend so we can get some rest, thank goodness, and we’re trying to get back to “normal” . It’s been a crazy week around here, but we are all ok and probably stronger, and definitely more exhausted, from the whole ordeal. Here’s hoping the next update is totally boring and uneventful….
9/7/06 We had a great weekend last weekend with Nana and Papa George. The babies actually called them by name all weekend (Nana and Papa) which was exciting. They are talking a lot more now that they have the tubes in and can hear better. We had to go to the doctor for a follow up and she commented on how they acted like completely different kids since the surgery. She would always see them after several sleepless nights when they were in pain from ear infections. This time, they were running around the exam room, laughing, screaming, and playing. She said she wasn't sure she had ever seen Soph smile before (to which Soph gave her a HUGE grin!). Both kids have also learned to say Thank you appropriately. We were leaving Mother's Day out yesterday and a dad held the door open for me (I was pushing the double stroller through a very TIGHT doorway). Both kids did the sign for Thank you, to which he asked if they were blowing him kisses. I told him they were doing the sign for Thank you and he couldn't believe it. The speech and Occupational therapist also commented on how well they are using the signs. Although they aren't "fluent" in ASL, they really are seeming to get a great grasp on the language, and can tell us so many things. In verbal language, both kids are working on Truck (so far it's Uck or Tuck). Soph figured out VAVAVA and runs around saying it all the time. We're having a great time, and we're looking forward to the new one coming in 6-7 weeks! (I've been talking to the kids about it and we're still working with the baby doll - they now rock the baby, sing to the baby, kiss the baby, and put the baby in the "crib"). They are going to be such big helpers!
9/1/06 Not writing much today out of sheer exhaustion. Lucas's surgery went well. He had a bit of trouble coming out of the anesthesia (he's my sleeper), but he did finally. When he did, he was a bit congested, which means wheezing, but he was off the canula of oxygen pretty quickly and we were able to go home a few hours after we thought we would. The surgeries themselves went really well, although he's a little uncomfortable now. He's sleeping it off with a little help from the tylenol with codeine, and hopefully will be in a little better mood when he wakes up. Soph did pretty well in the hospital while Lucas had his surgery. She got pretty antsy towards the end, but fortunately they had a playroom and she enjoyed the playhouse and watching the older kids run around. Will and I are exhausted, both from stress and from getting up before 6AM, but hopefully we'll sleep it off too. We're looking forward to a visit from Nana and Papa George this weekend, and I'll update again soon! Goodnight! :)
Posted by our3babies
at 10:20 PM CDT
