Well, despite all our precautions and monthly Synagis (RSV antibody shots), Grant caught RSV. With a big brother always kissing him he was bound to catch it eventually. It really hit his lungs hard, but I know it could have been so much worse. Pretty healthy kids with no predisposing conditions can end up in the ICU with RSV, so with his scarred lungs we were lucky that the only hospitalization Grant required was an ER visit. He really never felt too aweful; He never had a fever and he pretty much was into everything as usual, but his airways are so reactive they really constricted and he couldn't breathe. It started around the thirteenth, and by the fifteenth I could hear him wheezing across the room and he would get so short of breath when he crawled only five or ten feet. It was pretty scary because the albuterol treatments did nothing for the wheezing. He sounded aweful. We started doing breathing treatments every couple of hours and he wasn't improving. On the night of the sixteenth he started breathing really fast and wheezing horribly, the breathing treatments did nothing so I called the paramedics. I was so afraid that he was going to have to be intubated again. The paramedics did yet another breathing treatment which did not help and they wanted to take him in the ambulace to the hospital. My parents were at the house really quickly (Derek was in class) so we decided to drive him ourselves, which we regreted on the way because he was breathing so badly. Once we were triaged in the ER, we got back to a room really quickly. Luckily, even though he sounded horrible, his oxygen saturations were normal and the x-ray showed no signs of pneumonia. We were in the ER about four or five hours and with the addition of another medication he started to sound better. The ER doctor said it could take weeks or even over a month to get over the wheezing and he could even catch another strain again. He really improved over the next couple of days and we were able to do his treatments at the normal rate of every 4-6 hours. With all of the medications, some of his treatments lasted 20-30min, but he was a really good boy. Now by the end of the month he is doing really great. He gets his steroid breathing treatments twice a day and is not really wheezing at all. Even though the Synagis did not keep him from getting RSV all together, but I know it really lessened the severity and helped him to get over it a lot faster than usual. I hate to think how sick he would have been without it. Sunday, February 28, 2010
RSV
Well, despite all our precautions and monthly Synagis (RSV antibody shots), Grant caught RSV. With a big brother always kissing him he was bound to catch it eventually. It really hit his lungs hard, but I know it could have been so much worse. Pretty healthy kids with no predisposing conditions can end up in the ICU with RSV, so with his scarred lungs we were lucky that the only hospitalization Grant required was an ER visit. He really never felt too aweful; He never had a fever and he pretty much was into everything as usual, but his airways are so reactive they really constricted and he couldn't breathe. It started around the thirteenth, and by the fifteenth I could hear him wheezing across the room and he would get so short of breath when he crawled only five or ten feet. It was pretty scary because the albuterol treatments did nothing for the wheezing. He sounded aweful. We started doing breathing treatments every couple of hours and he wasn't improving. On the night of the sixteenth he started breathing really fast and wheezing horribly, the breathing treatments did nothing so I called the paramedics. I was so afraid that he was going to have to be intubated again. The paramedics did yet another breathing treatment which did not help and they wanted to take him in the ambulace to the hospital. My parents were at the house really quickly (Derek was in class) so we decided to drive him ourselves, which we regreted on the way because he was breathing so badly. Once we were triaged in the ER, we got back to a room really quickly. Luckily, even though he sounded horrible, his oxygen saturations were normal and the x-ray showed no signs of pneumonia. We were in the ER about four or five hours and with the addition of another medication he started to sound better. The ER doctor said it could take weeks or even over a month to get over the wheezing and he could even catch another strain again. He really improved over the next couple of days and we were able to do his treatments at the normal rate of every 4-6 hours. With all of the medications, some of his treatments lasted 20-30min, but he was a really good boy. Now by the end of the month he is doing really great. He gets his steroid breathing treatments twice a day and is not really wheezing at all. Even though the Synagis did not keep him from getting RSV all together, but I know it really lessened the severity and helped him to get over it a lot faster than usual. I hate to think how sick he would have been without it. 
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mommy's Little Helper
Grant has been obsessed with the dryer for awhile now. He loves to bang on the dryer door and make a ton of noise. Recently he discovered that the dryer door opens and he is totally amazed. When I am doing laundry, Grant rushes in so he can play with his new favorite part of the dryer-the lint trap. He loves to take the lint trap out, play with it, and try to put it back again. Such a curious little guy.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
New Tricks and Good News
Yesterday Grant suprised me when he stood by himself, and today he is standing any chance he gets. He can stand for about five or ten seconds, then he gets a huge smile on his face and sits down. I think he is pretty pleased with himself. Hopefully his first steps will be in the near future. Also today he spontaneously started playing peek-a-boo with me. Such a funny boy! He amazes me everyday. Grant's therapy appointments have been decreasing over the past two months, and this week his physical therapist said he looks great and we only need to follow up in the future if he starts missing milestones. His gross motor skills are right where they should be for his adjusted age, but we will need to follow up if he doesn't start walking in the next three months. We will see his occupational therapist again in three or four months to check in on his fine motor skills. Unfortunately our weekly visits aren't over yet because next week Grant is starting speech therapy again for feeding, but hopefully it won't be too long term. This week we also saw Grant's neurologist who was very impressed with him. She still noted some tightness in his shoulders and arms-particularly his left, but she said that she was just nitpicking because everything else looks so great. He moves and uses both arms equally, so I am not really too concerned. Overall such great news for a worrying mom to hear. 
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
First Chompers
He's got new teeth and he knows how to use them! I was starting to worry that Grant would never get teeth, but in the past couple of weeks Grant's two bottom teeth have finally started to come in. I have read that infants who have bad cholestasis like he did can have brown discolored teeth, but it looks like his are going to be a beautiful pearly white. He wants to put his new teeth to good use and has taken to gnawing on his crib railing and even his brother's face-poor Cole!
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