Sunday, January 24, 2010

1/24/10

On 2/2/10 Abe will officially be 1, can you believe it? God surely has done some great work for this boy. He had his first birthday party this weekend and he was dedicated at the church service. We had fun at the birthday party. Thanks to all of you that attended. We appreciate all the love and support that our family has received over the last year during our ups and downs, celebrations and re-hospitalizations. Glenn will be leaving for 3 months next week. He will come home for a short time then will be deployed to Diego Garcia until next year. He has only required oxygen 3 times over the last 3 weeks while he is sleeping at night. Since he removes the nasal cannula off his face we just keep the oxygen on blow by at 0.1 liters per minute. I can officially take him off of the monitor but I don't feel comfortable. His last blood work was normal, yeah, no more respiratory acidosis. Now we just need to keep him healthy. He will be receiving the RSV immunoglobin this week and he seeing neurosurgery. His last CT scan was stable. Sorry if I am repeating prior information. I don't update as much as I use to. Probably because I have a lot more to do now than sit around a hospital. I meet friends to walk around the mall, bible studies, MOPs and shopping. He was almost 18 pounds at this last appointment. There are some new pictures. You have to click on the top pictures then select Glenn picasa, "Abraham's birthday". Glenn just re-enlisted for another 6 years. I will update again if anything changes with the CT scan this week.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

11 months old

New pictures will be in a few days. I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Years. Sorry I have not updated in awhile. Neurosurgery: VP shunt is draining too quickly but CT scan on 12/31/09 was stable, therefore no additional surgery at this time. We go back to Seattle on the 28th. Respiratory system: oxygen wean, no oxygen at night if oxygen sats are 90-91%, occasional drips lower are fine. Cardiovascular: echocardiogram showed no evidence of strain on his heart. He can be off oxygen and monitor during the day except oxygen while in car seat. I left the monitor at home to take him to church tonight however I connected the oxygen up. The other day I left monitor on but no oxygen and he was 98% on room air even in car seat. He was close to outgrowing his car seat and stroller so he has a new one and for some reason his oxygen level lowers when he falls asleep in it. Technically I can discontinue use of monitor during the night starting tonight but I am too nervous to do so. His risk of SIDS is lower because he is older but hey I still have the monitor why not continue to use at night. Growth/development: 17 pounds 6 oz and length 2 feet 3 inches (69.12 cm). He is growing but most of the health care professionals are still concerned about this. He is eating solids. In fact he has to have his own spoon and sometimes does not want me to feed him. I end up putting more on his spoon and some ends up in his mouth and most all over the place. He is using his right hand more than he used to but still favors the left. He has progressed to level 1 nipple on the bottle and continues to breastfeed on occasion. Can?t believe I made it over 11 months of pumping. It has helped him and decreased my risk of breast cancer but it is so tiring. It?s like double feeding if you think about it. I breastfeed him, pump then bottle feed him. He is passing toys between both hands. I would say he is functioning at a 5 month old level however just barely starting to roll. Eyes: vision still an issue; Appears to be more aware of surroundings. Social: still smiling and I noticed this laugh this past week. Apparently dad noticed it months ago. Guess Dad is silly compared to mommy. We are celebrating his life, AKA 1st birthday on January 24th since Glenn leaves on 2/1/10. I decided to stay here in WA since we own our house and I already have friends here. We still need to put down the hardwood flooring and finish unpacking. I am looking forward to respite so at least unpacking and cleaning can be done. I will be busy in normal activities other than medical appointments, such as 2 women?s bible studies, walking the mall with other moms, MOPS and scrapbooking I hope. On a side note, a friend recommended butternut squash to feed him. I have never purchased or tasted it before. Wow it so yummy and packed with calcium, iron and vitamin A.