Saturday, February 9, 2013

Mothering

Our sweet son is nearly 8 months old. 34 weeks actually. He is our little joy boy.

I have been so wonderfully blessed to be his mama. I can not put into words how grateful I am to have a child- to have my sweet smiley son.

So since I've been spending my time nursing, playing, sleeping, changing diapers and reveling in motherhood, here's what we've had going on:

June- J was born a month early. He was jaundiced but nursed enough to flush it out.

July- He gained weight well, but the Dr. was concerned about his rapid head growth. He had an ultrasound and no fluid was found, but there was an atypical "stripe" in his brain.

August- 7 week old J flew to Seattle for his uncle's wedding! The Dr. referred us to a neurosurgeon because his head growth was still rapid.

September- The neurosurgeon said he couldn't find anything "wrong" but wanted to do an xray because of his head shape. The xray was fine. We also made a visit to early intervention as J was not holding his head up at all.

October- Early intervention assessed him and he qualified for therapy due to gross and fine motor delays. His head still was rapidly growing. But at the end of the month, he finally started to hold his head up!

November- J flew to the other ocean! Occupational therapy began for J. It was pretty tortuous for mama.

December- He had his first car trip more than an hour. The 3 1/2 hour trip took nearly 6. He nurses a lot. ;) Therapy continues and J makes fantastic progress.

January- We finally get to see the neurologist. He says the rate of growth is "very concerning" but sees no syndrome symptoms or red flags. But he orders an MRI. J's head is now the size of a 2 year olds. (This continues to be VERY scary for me at times)

February- The OT says J is doing so well we can go to 2 visits a month instead of 4. He is nearly crawling now!

He is still nursing, and we love it. He loves to smile and laugh and his favorite toy is a mini pink colander. He is ticklish on his thighs, and when he wants a toy, he lunges forward with his mouth open.  He doesn't like to ride in the car past 5 pm, but doesn't make a peep about it before then. He has an intolerance to dairy and soy, so that means I can't eat it either. Aside from not finding food to eat when we're out, it actually hasn't been too bad. It's amazing what one will do for love!