Crazy, Crazier and Craziest

Dave's Grandpop has been really sick - he has been in and out of the hospital a bunch of times over the past couple of months. (PLEASE PRAY!) So he and his dad decided to take a trip to FL to visit him (perhaps for the last time). (= a little crazy) Dave flew out at the ***-crack of dawn on Friday morning. Thankfully Kathy (Dave's mom) was able to come Friday morning to help get the twins ready for school. And God love her she did a ton of laundry! Oh, but I forgot to mention that I didn't get to bed until about 2 am Thursday night and was up at 6 am with James. (I'll help with the math. I got 4 hours of sleep.) Then while the twins are at school John broke through his first tooth. (Yea, the screaming should subside for awhile.)

Kayla has had this cough for a few days but what Preschooler doesn't have a cough from November through March??? So when she had trouble sleeping we weren't surprised. (= a little crazier) But then Sunday night she got up at about midnight complaining that her ears hurt and upon further investigation we found that her throat was swollen to almost twice its size. (= even crazier) She wouldn't go to sleep without my sitting by her side so at 2 am when she was still awake and I was practically falling asleep sitting up I took some cushions off the couch and slept on her floor. I got about 4-5 hours of sleep.

While all of this is going on in her room... I can hear John wailing in my room with David. I want to go help but then I would have a second crying kid. The next morning I found out that John had cut his second tooth! (The twins got most of their teeth early and in pairs, too.)

I took Kayla to the Doctor yesterday morning and the rapid strep test came back negative the Dr said he thinks that it is a viral infection which will probably get worse before it gets better and will probably take 4-5 days to clear up. She showed a little bit of fluid in her right ear but no infection. We are waiting to hear back from the throat culture (on Wed) whether or not it really is strep throat (which is very uncommon at this age). So Kayla will be home probably all week from school trying to get better. (=craziest)

Though it may sound strange please pray that she might have strep because then it can be treated with antibiotics and can be healed faster.

4-Month Old

I took John to the doctor this morning for his 4 month check up. As usual he was his regular charming self. He had the nurse and the doctor cracking up. The great part is that John is now 13.5 lbs and 25 inches. This coupled with the fact that he has excellent neck control and can put things in his mouth on his own means that he is a good candidate for solids. So we will probably start this weekend. I am excited because that means he is growing up. I know that most people say, "Oh if they would only stay this small..." but I really enjoy watching them grow and develop.

On another development note John is teething... big time. He is an absolute drool factory and loves to jam his entire fist into his mouth. Can't wait... I'll try to take pictures of it when it comes in.

Oh, and I almost forgot, John is almost completely rolling over from back to belly. Most of the time he gets to his side and decides to stay and play but sometimes he will go over completely. Crawling here we come!

Uncharted Waters

Today I took James to see a new doctor. Her name is Dr Ginsburg and she is what some might call a bit "crunchy" and out-there. But she comes highly recommended. She specializes in autism and women's health and her "thing" is alternative bio-medical treatments. It was overall a great visit. She was encouraging and had lots of suggestions. We are starting Melatonin supplements tonight and will possibly start Methyl B-12 shots in a few weeks. Melatonin is the hormone that your body naturally makes to make you sleepy. Some kids who have sleep problems (this includes James) respond well to Melatonin and we are hoping that James will get better sleep and therefore have better days as a result. The B-12 shots are a bit more controversial and could have a negative effect instead of a positive result. There are a lot of critics out there who think that you shouldn't give your kids anything that isn't approved by the FDA. Funny though some of those are the same people who say we should question the government and big corporations and not just do "what they tell us." So we shall see... There are others who think that you shouldn't inject your kids with needles (even the tiny insulin needles required for B-12 shots) and I say, "If your child had diabetes and needed insulin shots multiple times a day you wouldn't hesitate. So why now?" My feeling is this: Autism is scary because there is no beaten path. No two kids seem to respond to the same course(s) of treatment and so there is no "norm." And for me I have to ask myself, "Have I done enough to try to help my son get better?"

After we have tried the shots for a couple of months she wants us to put James on a gluten free-casein free-soy free diet! He is already casein free and I am super scared about this one because I know that most of the work and adjustment is going to be on our (mine and David's) part. Learning how to cook and shop all over again. But again if it means steps forward for James I am willing and getting ready!

2nd Grade

James had an appointment with his developmental pediatrician yesterday. It went really well. Unfortunately Dave couldn't be there with us because he had to come home to be with Kayla and John but James and I managed. I have to just say that I love this doctor and her staff. We haven't been there since January and her assistant recognized James immediately and commented on how much he has grown.

Some of the more interesting/exciting things that came out of this meeting:
She wants to leave James's diagnosis as Autism Spectrum Disorder for now. I asked her about the possibility of Aspergers Syndrome (AS - the very high end of the spectrum) and she hesitates to give that diagnosis so young for a bunch of reasons. She isn't ruling it out completely yet but said that when he is a bit older she can administer some IQ tests that will help her get a better determination. My understanding is that kids with AS don't generally have language loss (which James had) and usually are on par verbally by age three. They generally just have extreme social delays. So we will see.

James is NOT hyperlexic. I know, I know... I have been hard core thinking this but I learned something very interesting yesterday in this area. Hyperlexics don't read with or for comprehension. They are simply decoding symbols (ie letters and numbers) and producing a string of words. Which leads me to my next point...

James is performing academically (in her opinion) at a 2nd grade level. Yes, you read that correctly. James read her a short story which was just printed words on a page. Then she asked him some basic questions which required some abstract thinking. (The story was a bout a yellow cat and what he likes and dislikes. So being able to answer questions about someone/thing that isn't actually there requires abstract thinking.) Then she asked him to do some basic addition and subtraction through a verbal word problem and he got that right too. (If mommy gives you a cookie and I give you a cookie, how many cookies will you have? Then if daddy gives you another cookie, how many cookies will you have? If you eat one of the cookies haw many will you have? etc.) So I of course said what are you recommendations for harnessing this power for good and not evil? ( a phrase I use a lot when referring to James) She said we could either have him moved up to the second grade where he would be on par academically with his peers but very socially delayed or we could amend his IEP to include one on one instruction in reading and writing. Oh, I forgot to mention that he is writing even more now. He demonstrated this for her by writing MOMMMY and JAMeS (his spelling choices).

So once I have something in writing from her we are going to go into the school and make some serious changes. They probably aren't going to like this but they are required to give him and appropriate education and I think that this is what we need to do. She mentioned some other things but over ll she was very pleased with the gains he has made in the last year and is encouraged for his future.

2 Months!

John had his 2 month checkup today. You would never know that this was a kid who had difficulty gaining weight those first few weeks. John tipped the scales today at 10.5 lbs and 22.5 inches! (At Birth: 7.5 lbs and 20 inches)

He was so funny at the doctor's office too. He was definitely showing off his mad skills. He showed the doctor how he can hold his own head up and how close he is to rolling over. Then when she tried to look in his eyes, ears, etc he started whacking her in the face!

In general he is a great baby. He is starting to get into a good sleeping rhythm. He eats a lot (evident in his extreme weight gain) and loves life. He smiles all the time and is cooing a lot. He recognizes the voices of me and Dad and Kayla. (James doesn't pay him enough attention for John to recognize his voice.)

Welcome John David

John David was born today at 11:03 am. He was 7.5 lbs. and 20 inches. But let me back up a bit...

We have had a particularly easy pregnancy. I had very little "morning sickness" which consisted mainly of a bit of nausea in month 2. (This by the way is what prompted the pregnancy test in the first place!) He was a very active little bugger. It was at about 8 1/2 months that we had an ultrasound and discovered that he was no longer head down. This prompted us to schedule a c-section for Monday, August 20. (This date would have been great since our anniversary is November 20 and the twins b-day is May 20.) We had talked with the doctor who was going to do the surgery and she said that before we do the surgery she wanted to just do a quick scan to make sure that he was still head up. So we go to the hospital that morning and they get me all prepped for surgery - and I mean all prepped! I had the IV started, the catheter in and had been shaved! (Was that TMI?) The anesthesiologist had come in to talk with us and we were told we were heading into surgery in about 5 minutes. I reminded the nurse that the doc had wanted to do a scan before the surgery so the doc came in with the US machine and wouldn't you know that he had completely turned and was now head down again.

So we decided since we were already there and only 4 days from our due date that we would try to induce labor. The put me on a pitocin drip and I laid in that hospital room for approximately 7 hours. After all that time had passed and I still wasn't having any real labor we decided to go home. That was an interesting arrival home. We had told the twins that we were going to have the baby that day and then we came hoe with nothing! So we tried to explain to them that the baby wasn't ready to come out of mommy yet.

I went back to the doctor for a check up a couple of days alter and he was still head down and so we waited for labor to begin naturally. By the Monday after his due date (8/27) he was still not here and I wasn't anywhere near labor so we decided (for a bunch of other reasons that I won't get into) to have the c-section. Cause lets face it when you are that pregnant and it is that hot all you want is for that baby to be out of you!

So we scheduled the surgery for Wednesday morning and this time I wasn't coming home without my boy! So we headed to the hospital that morning and a couple of hours later we had our sweet, sweet boy in our arms. Let me just say that this time the surgery and recovery were SOOOOO much easier than last time. With the twins I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days this time I was out of bed by dinner time the same day. With the twins I stayed in the hospital as long as possible 4 days. With John I was home in just over 48 hours. I had a shorter recovery time in the recovery room, a better response to the anesthesia and this time I actually had some success breastfeeding.

My mom stayed with me in the hospital the first night so that Dave could be home to put the twins to bed - we wanted to try to maintain some normalcy for them. Then Dave came to the hospital Thursday morning for a few hours and then went to work! (We had so few vacation days left and wanted to use them wisely.) My friends Mary and Amy and my mother in law Kathy came at various points that day to keep me company and then Dave returned to the hospital that night after putting the twins to bed. He stayed with me that night and then left the next morning pretty early so that he could be home when the twins got up. Dave stayed home to play with the twins and my step dad and sister Kat came to the hospital to help me pack up - I was going home whether the doctors liked it or not. Then around 5pm Dave and the twins came to the hospital. This was the first time that the twins were meeting the baby. We got some great pictures and video. Then we ALL went back to our house where my other sisters and my mom all came over for dinner. It was a nice home coming!