OUCH!!

Well, last night we had a bit of a mishap. Craig is still working out of town so giving both boys a bath is getting quite tricky. I get Nate out of the tub first while Adam gets to play a bit longer. Natey bear thinks it's funny to "run" away from me as soon as I dry him off and put his diaper on. Well, I go to get Adam out of the tub when I hear SMACK!! I turn around and Nate had fell right into the corner of the door jam. He had an instant GOOSE EGG on his head. I (in true Danie fashion) panic and almost throw up!! I called my sis and she came over.

I told myself to just get it together. I calmed down and so did Nate. Poor Adam was STILL sitting in the tub during all this. I got him out and he was a big boy and dried himself off and got dressed. In the meantime, we forgot to put Adam's ear plugs on the counter. I look at Nate and he is happily eating one of the plugs, lol. I think he mistook it for one of the fruit snacks he had earlier!!

I was so worried since I knew Nate was getting sleepy. I hate when they get hurt so close to bed time. My sis got there at 6:15pm and Nate had already fallen asleep in my arms. She said the knot is definitely big, but he would be fine.

Craig was on his way home so I was quite nervous as to what he would say. He tells me I need to calm down and handle things like that better (for the kids sake). I really try, I just can't help it. He snuck in Nate's room and said HOLY COW!! I felt even worse at that point. I know he didn't mean to make me feel that way, it's just he didn't expect to see a bump that huge so fast.

By this morning, it had turned almost black but he did ok during the night. He woke up at 9pm and I rocked him (I know I shouldn't have but I felt so bad for him). He woke again at 2:30am and I went in again...BIG mistake...he wanted to play, lol. He finally went back to sleep at 3:30am and slept till almost 8.

I was talking with my sis about how I panic so bad. She told me that while growing up, we had ammonia under the sink...turns out, my mom used to PASS OUT when one of the 5 of us got hurt!! I knew she was a panic freak but I didn't know to what extreme. I am gonna work on staying calm.

Today was a pretty good day. I did some running around with Craig while grammy watched the boys all day. I like when Craig and I have a day to oursleves. Right now, both boys are fast asleep and we are cuddling on the couch together. Time for bed...hopefully tonight I won't fall for Nate's tricks tonight :)

When Nate arrived...

Nate arrived in March of 07. When we brought him home, he had already been on 2 different formulas. He was switched to soy in the hospital due to "fussiness". He actually slept really well for the first few nights. I just had this gut feeling that something wasn't right.

I took Nate to his 2 week check up and asked the ped why he wanted to eat so often. He would also arch and squirn during feeds, this was so upsetting to me. The ped said to "trick" him. She said mix up a bottle and then switch it out for the paci. Well, I did it in her office so she could see what would happen. She was shocked that he actually drank the entire 6oz at such a young age and didn't vomit it up. That was the thing...he NEVER spit it up so I thought he wanted it.

I decided when he was 2 months old it was time to find a new ped. I was not satisfied with how she handled the situation. She kept telling me I was over feeding him but I knew in my heart that there was something wrong...this was not my first rodeo :)

When I took Nate to his new ped in May of 07, she diagnosed him in the first 10 minutes...SILENT REFLUX!! I had never heard of such a thing. I thought AR was when they would vomit all day...had no idea they could have the "silent" kind and have such discomfort. She immediately prescribed prevacid and had us switch to Alimentum.

I could see immediate results with the changes. As a month or so went by, we needed to tweak the dose of prevacid. He ended up needing a pretty high dose...30mg per day. After we saw little change with that, it was time to switch formulas yet again. We ended up putting him on Neocate (amino acid based formula). After about 1 week, he was a NEW BOY. It was very expensive...about $35 a can and he went thru 3 cans a week...YIKES :)

When Nate was about 8 months, we started weaning the prevacid. He was down to about 15mg in the morning and we intro'd 5ml of pepcid at night. Contrary to most babies, Nate had a lot of tummy issues while being on prevacid. Our GI did confirm that some babies will become very gassy while on prevacid.

We had an upper GI and a swallow study done at about 7 months. The UGI confirmed reflux...guess that was no surprise, lol. The swallow study showed NO aspiration (YAY) but the food/liquid did "pool" in the back of his throat. We thickened with simply thick for awhile and switched to using rice cereal. By 10 months, he didn't need the thickened liquids.

On top of all the AR symptoms, Nate got ear infection after ear infection (just like Adam). If he gets one more, we are going to do tubes in the fall. I recently took him to Adam's allergist to get evaluated. We had him on singulair for about a month but has been off of it for about a month now.

I am happy to report that Nate was drinking cow's milk (2%) by 13 months. He is drinking out of a sippy cup and eating most all table foods. He is med free and so far so good. We have to work on night time wakings but that is getting better...he wakes up 1 time and STILL wants to drink some milk before going back to sleep.

I am awaiting his 15 month check up...I have lot's of questions to ask. I think he has some sensory issues. He has at least 3 major meltdowns per day and it breaks my heart. I don't know how to calm him down yet.

Thank GOD for the PAGER forum I found when he was 4 months old. I have made some friends for life. I get more info from the moms there than anywhere else. If it weren't for them, Nate would not have got the care he deserved...they gave me the strength to PUSH for the answers and settle for NOTHING less. I love him with all my heart. Despite all the set backs he has had, he is such a little character. He is always the life of the party :)~

Thanks for making it thru all this. I am sure it is all scattered, lol. I plan on updating weekly so check back often. It should be easier now that I got everyone up to speed :)

Brief history of Adam...

When Adam was born, he was your typical newborn...up at night and slept all day. For the most part, he was a pretty "easy" baby. He required a lot of entertaining but I had nothing but time then, lol.

He started projectile vomiting at about 3 months but had no other symptoms. His ped tried him on zantac but it didn't help much at all. I discontinued the med since he was a "happy spitter". I knew NOTHING about reflux at that time. He grew out of the vomiting at 9 months.

By the time he was 15 months, I had something different to worry about. He wasn't saying any words and he drooled non stop. We had him evaluated with the First Steps program and he qualified. He was 2 months behind developmentally and about 3 months behind verbally. He finally got therapy by 17 months (ST's are very scarce in this area). He "graduated" from the developmental part by 20 months. It was a long and emotional process with his speech. I was told to not give into the "uh uh" when he wanted something...that was so hard. After he got the first few words (and saying them at the appropriate time), it was amazing. He tested out of speech by age 2. The boy who I once thought would NEVER talk, now NEVER stops, lol.

I put Adam into a daycare/preschool program at 2 1/2yrs of age. I really wish I had done it sooner...he needed to be around kids earlier. He loved school and I loved having some mommy time. I pulled him out of the school this past January. I was not happy with the way they started doing things...I also found a school closer to our home that he will start in August. My mother in law watches him and will continue to do so for the summer.

I have to say, I think Adam is going to be an "Imagineer" for Disney someday, lol. He comes up with the best stories and he can really be convincing. He can tell stories allll day long and never get bored. He is definitely uncoordinated like me so the athletic department will be interesting :)

I would have never thought for a minute how helpful Adam was going to be as a big brother. The only thing he will NOT do is throw away a poopy diaper, lol. He wants to take care of Nate all day long.

Adam had really bad allergies from age 2 till just recently. I decided to stop all meds in April...just to see what would happen. It is now June and we have had no issues. The allergist told me that kids typically grow out of their symptoms by age 5. I am just so happy that I don't have to pump him full of steroids and meds each night.

I love my little pumpkin so much...he is a "mommas boy" and I LOVE that.

How it all began...

Well, Craig and I went to High School together but didn't date until after graduation. He is a very quiet and private person...I am completely opposite :)

We got married in 2000. He built our house in 2002 and Adam was born in September of 03. We always knew we wanted more children after Adam...we compromised on 2. Nate was born in March of 07. I am very blessed to have 2 beautiful and healthy children...and a husband whom I adore. If you would have asked me years ago if this is the life I wanted, I would have said "ABSOLUTELY".

We have had our ups and downs but we always work thru it. Craig is a wonderful husband and an awesome father. His boys are his life. I thought I knew everything about him until we had kids...there is nothing he wouldn't do for them.

I had both of the boys via c-section. Adam was breech so I did the elective section with Nate (turns out he was breech too). I thought the recovery with Adam was bad but the second one was much worse. Craig did EVERYTHING for me without thinking twice. I won't go into great detail...it is seriously TMI, lol.

This is my first time being a blogger so please bear with me. I plan to update weekly, or maybe even more. Life is crazy these days so I don't always get a chance to get on my computer.