Both of my boys were late trainers. Josh just wasn't interested. Not like I blame him... honestly.. no worries.. go in your pants and someone will change you. No stopping what you are doing.. what a life! Grandma started a few times but he just wasn't ready. We tried the underwear thing, but frankly wet undies and pants didn't bother him. Neither did soiled ones. Half the time he wouldn't even tell us he wet through or had poop in there. It was frustrating. So when it was preschool time we let the teacher know that he wasn't fully trained. If we told him every hour to go, he would go, but he wasn't telling us when he needed to go.. ever. We were as trained as any parent who had a kid who didn't want to be trained. If we failed in our task, he would just go in his pants. So the teacher said, then send him in underwear every day and extra clothes. The first week was about normal. As long as someone told him, he was good. After that it was like a switch... he started telling us when he had to go, pooped on the toilet and night trained all at once. For the past 2 weeks, absolutely no accidents. I am impressed to say the least!
Preschool has been good for Josh. He needs that social interaction, however it has not been without drama! Apparently some of the girls called Joshua a cheater. I have no idea of the story behind that, I am sure this was probably not huge but with a child who has not napped (naps have been reduced as he has afternoon school) he had a total meltdown over the incident. But he has made friends and this is all good. He went into Pre-K with a head filled with knowledge already. Thank goodness for Grandma! He knows all of his colors,can count to at least 20, knows his alphabet, can spell his name and can read a ton of words. But he is having issues in the writing arena. He still scribbles and the school has noticed that he may have some gross motor issues which is no surprise. So we will work on everything that needs to be worked on but he is reading at 4 1/2 and I am so proud!
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Happy 4th Birthday!
Yesterday I "reminisced" about the days before Josh was born. I'll continue it here.
We had hoped for even a few more days. What's a few days in labor? The contractions weren't regular so it could happen right? Well it was not to be. They had sent me back to a regular room and we had dinner (not the best idea considering LOL) Later in the evening they put me on the monitor for a 30 minute check of his heart rate, this was all routine. They noticed that every time I had a contraction, his heart rate dropped. This is called decelerations. They thought that because there was very little amniotic fluid that when I contracted, the cord was getting compressed. They warned me that this was not good. If it happened 4 times in an hour, we were going to have to deliver. It was about 3:45 in the morning when they decided that this was going to happen. I won't lie. I cried. I was scared. We knew he was going to weigh a little over a pound. We also knew that he only had a 75% chance of surviving. But we did have some science on our side. I had gotten steroid injections as soon as we hit 24 weeks to help strengthen and develop his lungs.
C-section was the only option. This scared the hell out of me. That wasn't even in the plan, but then again none if this was. It was an urgent decision. The prep was fast and in we went. Dave was amazing. As scared as he was he was trying to amuse me at the same time. Josh was born at 4:42 in the morning. They took him away as soon as he was born. I got the "it's a boy" before he was taken to be worked on. Dave got to see him a few times before me. It would be another 10 hours before I could get out of bed and get to the NICU. What a motivator I tell you!
I wish that no parent ever has to go through what we did. And even this was mild compared to some. There are some babies that suffer terrible brain damage due to bleeding in the brain and some that have issues like CP. We have been so blessed.
Josh is now a happy, healthy 4-year old with a few minor issues that frankly are not all that bad considering where we started.
So
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHUA DAVID HARRINGTON!
We had hoped for even a few more days. What's a few days in labor? The contractions weren't regular so it could happen right? Well it was not to be. They had sent me back to a regular room and we had dinner (not the best idea considering LOL) Later in the evening they put me on the monitor for a 30 minute check of his heart rate, this was all routine. They noticed that every time I had a contraction, his heart rate dropped. This is called decelerations. They thought that because there was very little amniotic fluid that when I contracted, the cord was getting compressed. They warned me that this was not good. If it happened 4 times in an hour, we were going to have to deliver. It was about 3:45 in the morning when they decided that this was going to happen. I won't lie. I cried. I was scared. We knew he was going to weigh a little over a pound. We also knew that he only had a 75% chance of surviving. But we did have some science on our side. I had gotten steroid injections as soon as we hit 24 weeks to help strengthen and develop his lungs.
C-section was the only option. This scared the hell out of me. That wasn't even in the plan, but then again none if this was. It was an urgent decision. The prep was fast and in we went. Dave was amazing. As scared as he was he was trying to amuse me at the same time. Josh was born at 4:42 in the morning. They took him away as soon as he was born. I got the "it's a boy" before he was taken to be worked on. Dave got to see him a few times before me. It would be another 10 hours before I could get out of bed and get to the NICU. What a motivator I tell you!
I wish that no parent ever has to go through what we did. And even this was mild compared to some. There are some babies that suffer terrible brain damage due to bleeding in the brain and some that have issues like CP. We have been so blessed.
Josh is now a happy, healthy 4-year old with a few minor issues that frankly are not all that bad considering where we started.
So
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHUA DAVID HARRINGTON!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day - Not what you think
Today is Valentine's Day. It's truly a Hallmark holiday. I believe you should tell the ones you love that you love them every day - it's nice to get a card or a present, but why today? Do this for me on a day that I am not expecting it... that would be better. Valentine's day has other memories for me.
Having said that, it was today, 4 years ago, that we knew we were going to have a baby at 24 weeks. I can almost remember it like it was yesterday. I had been at John Dempsey for a week already. My water had broke on the 12th. Now for some, this would be okay. This is called PROM (Premature Rupture of Membranes), and there have been some ladies who have had this for months and delivered full-term. I was the worst case scenario, I was already having contractions and had been for a week. The only reason I wasn't was because they had me on meds to stop them. Once your water breaks, they take you off those drugs. It's too dangerous, risk of infection, lots of reasons they do this. So having my water break was the worst news ever. It meant that we were having a baby. If not that day then soon. Once they took me off the meds, it was waiting. It took about 12 hours for the contractions to start again. I had high hopes that it wasn't going to happen and was deflated when it did. That was on the 12th. Dave had decided to stay home that day. There was a storm coming, and he and Arran had been with me all weekend. Contractions meant that I was going to deliver sometime very soon. Of course he changed his plans to come up. By today, we were waiting. They had me on the delivery floor for most of the day but the contractions were still not close or regular so they sent me back to my room. Valentine's day went by without delivering. One more day in utero was a blessing.
Having said that, it was today, 4 years ago, that we knew we were going to have a baby at 24 weeks. I can almost remember it like it was yesterday. I had been at John Dempsey for a week already. My water had broke on the 12th. Now for some, this would be okay. This is called PROM (Premature Rupture of Membranes), and there have been some ladies who have had this for months and delivered full-term. I was the worst case scenario, I was already having contractions and had been for a week. The only reason I wasn't was because they had me on meds to stop them. Once your water breaks, they take you off those drugs. It's too dangerous, risk of infection, lots of reasons they do this. So having my water break was the worst news ever. It meant that we were having a baby. If not that day then soon. Once they took me off the meds, it was waiting. It took about 12 hours for the contractions to start again. I had high hopes that it wasn't going to happen and was deflated when it did. That was on the 12th. Dave had decided to stay home that day. There was a storm coming, and he and Arran had been with me all weekend. Contractions meant that I was going to deliver sometime very soon. Of course he changed his plans to come up. By today, we were waiting. They had me on the delivery floor for most of the day but the contractions were still not close or regular so they sent me back to my room. Valentine's day went by without delivering. One more day in utero was a blessing.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 07, 2011
Cardiologist update
We went to see the cardiologist on Wednesday and so far so good. The subaortic membrane doesn't seem to have progressed any. The narrowing is "on the cusp" of moderate.. still mild but close to being called moderate. It's still a wait. They will see him in another year and see how it's progressing. At this point, it's just all waiting. Next visit if all is still well, I will find out what exactly this means for Josh for the remainder of his life... most likely yearly cardio visits - there is always the possibility of it progressing. We have to watch for warning signs.. fatigue, blueness anywhere, especially around the lips, unusual paleness the usual which in Josh's case, could be heart or lungs! So we wait and will update on this subject in another year!
This has been a really rough sickness season for us. Since we put Josh in daycare (and pulled him out 8 weeks later) he has had something pretty much constantly. Runny nose is the best of it. Croup and pneumonia is the worst. Off to the pedi today to find out if this is just a cold or something worse. I don't take him for everything and it's tough because I have to make that judgement call... is it bad enough to take him without being that mom who cries wolf every time. With his history I am sure no one would blame me for rushing in there every time he gets a cough, but I do usually wait to see how it progresses. When it's a Friday, I feel like I should do something because the weekends are tough to get in to see someone.. and what if it gets worse? Then if I don't take him right away and he gets sicker? See the dilemma? Anyway, that is my rant for today.
This has been a really rough sickness season for us. Since we put Josh in daycare (and pulled him out 8 weeks later) he has had something pretty much constantly. Runny nose is the best of it. Croup and pneumonia is the worst. Off to the pedi today to find out if this is just a cold or something worse. I don't take him for everything and it's tough because I have to make that judgement call... is it bad enough to take him without being that mom who cries wolf every time. With his history I am sure no one would blame me for rushing in there every time he gets a cough, but I do usually wait to see how it progresses. When it's a Friday, I feel like I should do something because the weekends are tough to get in to see someone.. and what if it gets worse? Then if I don't take him right away and he gets sicker? See the dilemma? Anyway, that is my rant for today.
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