Round Two

Mitchell has been having what look like little seizures. He had 2 last Friday and they slowly increased to 5-6 a day lasting about 30-60 seconds. So Tuesday Jansen had his 2 year old check up and we decided to bring Mitchell along to ask about them. Well, luckily he had a seizure in front of the doctor, who told us we needed to get that checked out right away, and wanted us to go to the ER. Not wanting to have to come back another day, I said "well Jansen only needs a few immunizations, so lets get those taken care of first." Dr. Terry must think I'm an idiot. He told me at the end of the day, Jansen would be fine, but we need to leave RIGHT now for the ER and he was calling them to tell them we were on our way.

We got there and they ran a bunch of tests, (a cat scan, blood work, urinalysis) and admitted Mitchell. We go up to the PICU and Mitchell's room has a crib and a chair for me. There is no bed, and the chair doesn't recline! I asked his nurse 6 different times if I could get a bed, a different chair that lays back, another chair to push the two together... no luck! In fact what she said to me, "if you wind-up staying here longer we'll see what we can do for you tomorrow." I about died! WHAT?, I have to wait til tomorrow to see if I can sleep? I'm nursing this baby every 2 hours, so it's not like I can go home. Plus I didn't have a change of clothes, so I wore (AND SLEPT) in the same outfit the whole week! yuck! Luckily the next day I get the best nurse who brought in a chair that pulls out into a bed. I guess it was against the rules, but she didn't care and told me she was in charge, so no one could get mad at her.

Mitchell had 2 EEG's and they both came back normal. So epilepsy has been ruled out. They also had a pediatric GI doctor examine him. The doctors seem to think this is all caused by a severe case of reflux that has gone untreated. They started Mitchell on a very aggressive dose of meds with strict precautions to always have him upright. I was actually sad I didn't have a camera to show you the arrangements they had for Mitchell. He sleeps in a sling, that has him at about a 55 degree incline. So it almost looks like he's standing when he's asleep. I was also told he needed an excellent burping regimen. They ordered me "a wedge" for Mitchell to sleep on that should arrive by Wednesday. So 4 LONG days later I got to come home Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

I have a really nice sister and friends who took care of Reesa and Jansen while we were there, and even brought meals over for Jake and the kiddies. Kids under 5 aren't allowed to visit the PICU, so I just didn't get to see them. I missed them so much.

So we're home now and Mitchell is doing much better. He still cries LOTs, but overall is a different baby. After all, it took several months for this esophagitis to develop, it's going to take a few weeks to heal. He can focus his eyes, and has even tract a few times with his eyes. We no longer feel he is blind. He must have been in so much pain, he just needed to escape and the last thing on his list was to try and focus on anything. I've heard him coo and we've seen him smile maybe 3 times now... slowly but surely, he's coming along.

Tomorrow he has his appointment with the developmental doctor in Charlottesville. I'm hoping we can make a fun day out of it and maybe go to the apple orchards there too!

Maymont Park

The weather here has been gorgeous! No humidity, and warm and pleasant. We went on a picnic to Maymont Park.

LOOK at how beautiful this park is! I love it!

We went to the bald eagle exhibit, see Jansen petting that eagle?

I took this picture after we left, and since I'm really far away I took the liberty of circling the eagle for you to see. Isn't that amazing?

I had Jake take this picture because I'm sure everyone thought we looked ridiculous trying to manage 3 kids. Although I must say this picture makes it look like I've got it together. ha ha

(most of the time ALL of the kids were in 2 strollers, here we had to climb LOTS of stairs so Jake hauled everything)

Mitchell

Mitchell is such a sweet baby. He is so quiet, and snuggly, you can't help but love him. However, he is the FUSSIEST baby ever. I don't know if it's pain, discomfort, or what, but you can tell this baby is not happy. All he does is eat, sleep, or cry. I feel so bad for him. Rarely is there an awake moment where he is just chill.

We've been trying everything. Even though he doesn't spit up, we got a RX for Ranitidine (helps with reflux) to see if that might help calm him. Of course he then had constipation, so we tried pear juice and gas drops, after two weeks, we quit the medicine that offered no relief and he's still constipated. Poor baby. So now we've been giving him Tylenol because I'm not sure what else to do, and I know he's not happy.

Luckily Chelsey has been coming over with great ideas to calm him down, but they require SO much energy, I can only walk, bounce and pat for 3-4 hours at a time... while still taking care of my other two babies. It's just nice to give my arms a break.

So Friday we took Mitchell in for his 4th newborn screening test. He's had 3 of them show up with abnormalities, so they keep needing to repeat them. Mainly it's the easiest (least amout of pain) to rule out potential problems. So after 2 hours of phone calls to convince us we need to come back in for a 4th test I decide it really is in Mitchell's best interest. They enzyme, or test they are worried about is Galactosemia. Well find out next Friday and start genetic counseling if he has it.

Meanwhile, they've suggested a restricted diet for me to see if it helps Mitchell (since I'm strictly nursing right now). Here's the list of foods I can't eat, are you ready?

Milk
Dairy
Raw Veggies including
salad
broccoli
cauliflower
cabbage
cumbers
legumes
spices such as
garlic
pepper
tomato sauce
all Italian foods
all Mexican foods
chocolate... are you sure?
Peanut butter... are you kidding?
bananas

I was actually a little excited, and thought this would be a great way to force me to lose some of my baby weight because I can't eat much. BUT last night I woke up at 4 am and was so hungry, I was shaking. I went downstairs and ate 2 bagels, 2 glasses of orange juice, half a box of wheat thins, and an entire water bottle. I thought I was going to pass out because I was shaking so much. It was horrible! So I guess I just need little healthy snacks all day, instead of treats all day.

Any suggestions?

Good times this week

Labor Day
Chick-fil-a offered free sandwiches to anyone wearing their favorite game day attire. So of course we went. Jansen is such a toddler! He looks like a little man these days...

The Gregory's met us there and they all wore BYU gear, which after their last game, people actually knew who they were.

And the kiddies started preschool this week

Does it look like Jansen was excited to go? I COULD NOT get a picture of him because he just wanted to have at it!

Jansen is growing and changing so much EVERYDAY! It's so fun to be part of his life right now. He learned to smile for the camera and I can't believe how cute it looks!

Jake ordered pizza for the kids and they were so happy!

Christmas is September? My kids love these jammies and I don't think they'll fit at Christmas so I decided to snap a few shots, and I just can't get over Jansen smiling... can you tell?

and of course sleeping baby Mitchell

All is well.

Happy Birthday Jansen!

Well Jansen turned 2 last Sunday. This must be my year of guilt because we didn't do much and of course I'm the one who felt bad. I really thought if I made him a "cool" cake then I would still be a good mom... but when it came down to it, I just didn't think I had enough energy to do even that. So while we were grocery shopping, I asked Jake if we could go over to the toys and just find something to PUT on his cake.

Jake let Jansen pick out some dinosaurs, and 3 dollars later, we had a happy birthday cake!

I know these pictures don't show it, but Jansen was ecstatic! He had the biggest smile when he saw his cake, and played with the dinosaurs all night. It was really cute.We also got him this letter factory fridge set that makes the letters talk... maybe it will inspire Jansen to say a few things.

He also got a "Billy train" and a recorder, anything to make this kid louder, right?AND he's me trying to over stimulate Mitchell on a light mat.

Mitchell still has his monitor, and although we've been using it less during the day, he turned blue TWICE yesterday, so we've decided to use it 24/7 again to let us know sooner that he's not feeling well...
Physical Therapy comes this Tuesday to work on his arms, neck, and vision. I'm hoping he'll start sleeping longer than 2-3 hours at night now that he's 3 months!!! Time goes so quickly I can't believe we've had him so long. I feel so lucky!