kathrynt, posts by tag: alden - LiveJournal (original) (raw)

kathrynt, posts by tag: alden - LiveJournal

[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][Profile]

Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Kathryn" journal:

October 6th, 2012
_07:22 pm_[Link]	The light of comprehension dawnsAlden has been wandering around saying "Sheep! Sheep!" excitedly for the past week or so. this is odd, because he's actually not that into sheep; he is into cars and trains and pouring water on the ground and climbing on things and not being told No. But still: "Sheep! Sheep!"Today, we were on the way home from a party, and he said "Sheep!""Mm-hmm," said his father and I."Sheeps!" said Alden."Mm, yes, sheeps," said his father and I."Frangle! Sheeps!"". . . what?""See-koo! Frangle! Sheeps!""Alden, what are you saying?""Ockle! See-koo! Frangle! Sheeps!"". . . oval, circle, triangle, shapes?""Yeah! See-koo, frangle, sheeps! Ockle. OCKLE.""Oval?""Ockle!""Octagon?"a sigh. "Wick. Ockle."". . . rectangle?""Yes! Right! Wick ockle, see-koo, frangle, sheeps!"Well, blow me down. I didn't even know he knew the word "right." It turns out he can actually identify a triangle and a circle correctly, too, now that we know what he's saying. Tags: alden(5 comments | Leave a comment)
September 14th, 2012
_08:15 am_[Link]	NOT MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY.His CK test was normal -- it's not MD. THANK ALL THE GODS ABOVE AND BELOW. However, his TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was high, so he might be hypothyroid. He also might not be -- 70% of kids with a reading at his level come back normal on a rescreen -- but hypothyroidism can cause breathing problems and muscle weakness, and I'm hypothyroid and so is my mother, so it's really not out of the question. Fortunately hypothyroidism is quite easily and cheaply correctable, and even if he has a zebra instead of a horse (like if his TSH is high not because his thyroid is sluggish but because he has a pituitary tumor) it's still fixable, albeit with surgery. After spending that hour in the Children's waiting room on Tuesday, a problem that, in its worst case, is fixable with a single uncomplicated surgery? I'll take it. Tags: alden(10 comments | Leave a comment)
September 12th, 2012
_09:18 am_[Link]	Alden had his neurodevelopmental screen at Seattle Children's yesterday. The reason for the screen is because of his poor muscle tone, poor core strength, inability to reach across midline at 10 months, delayed crawling (not until 13 months), delayed walking (not until 19 months), and croup history (4 ER visits, one admission). Put together, it was enough to make my doctor say "you know, I really want to rule out anything that would benefit from early help or treatment." So off we went.The good news is, everyone we saw agrees with the overall assessment that he's almost certainly just fine. He had a Bayley assessment, and his cognitive and fine motor skills both tested out at or above baseline, and the OT said that she has no concerns about those areas at ALL. Gross motor, however, he is delayed; enough to qualify for birth-3 services. The OT said that she would recommend that we get those, though not particularly strongly. "He could probably benefit just as much from swimming lessons or time in a toddler gym," she said. "But, you know, it's available."Then we had an hour to kill in the outpatient waiting room before the neurodevelopmental assessment. Which was very hard. First of all, that was at naptime, and Alden was all amped up and hyper, he basically just did laps around the reception area for an hour. (Which caused a lot of disbelieving looks when I told the receptionist we were here for a motor delay!) But also, there were a lot of very sick kids there, kids with a lot of challenges, babies with NG tubes and central lines, children with profound disabilities, and my heart breaks for everyone in that waiting room but also I know that when you ARE that person with the profoundly disabled child that the pity of strangers wears on you like a hair shirt, so I was trying to focus on my happy laughing running child, which then also makes me feel like a heel. Big feelings. I came home and cried for an hour.The ND screen was great. After establishing that Lillian is also not particularly muscular and was kind of slow to walk, and that I and my brother were both skinny, and that I'm dyspraxic and needed OT, she says the chances are extremely high that his muscle tone is just the way he is and there's no particular cause for concern. But she is doing a creatinine kinase test for Muscular Dystrophy, just because it's cheap and it would be good to have that box ticked. She said she'd be shocked if it came back anything other than normal, but I of course will not fully exhale until I get the results. She wants to see us in 4 months to make sure he's still making progress and agrees that EI is a good idea if it's easy for us to do, but apart from that we are o-kay. Current Mood: anxiousTags: alden(6 comments | Leave a comment)
November 15th, 2010
_08:57 am_[Link]	One Week with AldenIs the second baby just easier because you kind of know what you're doing, or do I actually have an easier baby?Alden is so different than Lillian. For one thing, he eats and then falls back asleep in the middle of the night, basically effortlessly so far. For another, he has long, long "quiet alert" periods, which I do not recall Lillian having at all at this age. (For those not in the know, "quiet alert" is when the baby is awake but not needing anything, and just looks around and absorbs.) AND he will occasionally tolerate being put down; he's sleeping in his bassinet right now. My mom said "It's so weird; you hear stories of these babies who have fairly clear signals as to what they need and what is going on, but this is the first time I think I've ever met one."In his first two days, he lost a whopping two ounces (substantially less than most babies lose after birth), and when he was five days old, he had gained it all back along with ten friends. That's right -- 6.12 birth weight, 6.10 when two days old, and seven pounds six ounces at five days. He's a great nurser; we've already figured out how to make side-lie nursing work, albeit not particularly well, but well enough to keep him happy in the middle of the night. Now if only 1) we could figure out how to keep the cat away from him (we woke up in the middle of the night with Thor right on top of him, like lying right on his face and torso; Thor got some immediate flying lessons and now spends every night locked in the bathroom) 2) I could resolve some of my own, er, personal and intestinal complications of childbirth. Tags: alden, intestines, parenting(9 comments | Leave a comment)
November 10th, 2010
_10:21 am_[Link]	Milk's in.It actually came in yesterday morning, which seems crazy fast. I was pretty sure it had, because I was all "hmmm I appear to be two cup sizes larger than I was two hours ago," but then Alden latched on, sucked a couple of times, and then his eyes FLEW open and he started nursing like a crazy thing!Then thirty seconds later he sneezed and milk shot out both his nostrils. Tags: alden(12 comments | Leave a comment)
November 8th, 2010
_07:21 pm_[Link]	PicturesI'm in love. Tags: alden, yertle(27 comments | Leave a comment)