baby 4 update

sorry for the delayed posting. things have been a bit difficult here - everyone was sick for all of October, then H1N1 hit, and then Mike got transferred to Kelowna. It has been a bit tiring, to say the least!

So I had an OB appt today. I had to miss last month because I was in the hospital with Dave, and sick myself, and she didnèt have another spot for another four weeks.

It all went fine. She said all my test results to date look perfect. They did find some sort of a white spot on the babyès brain in the ultrasound. I forget the name. But she said itès nothng -a good percentage of babies have it, and it normally clears up by week 30. They donèt even do a follow-up, itès such a nothing. The only time they follow up is if there are other visible defects, esp in the heart, which isnèt the case.

I am measuring three weeks ahead. I got that with Dave too. It could just be so many babies passing through in there. could be a problem. It will be monitored. itès likely nothing.

I brought up my fatigue issues. She said itès still too early for anemia to be a factor, and my last iron test was good. She said, watching John spin in circles and Dave tear apart the cupboards in her office, ÈItès probably more due to your, umm...lifestyle... at the moment.È

Sheès probably right.

Iève been having nosebleeds, too. She confirmed itès nothing - high levels of estrogen, she said. Totally normal.

Iève been feeling lots of squirming! Every day now, I feel it at least once, which is nice. Hopefully, it wonèt be as squirmy as Dave! He used to wake me up at night with all his craziness - and heès still a very busy little guy! My appetite has picked up too. Joan has been marvelling at the sound of my rumbly tummy. It makes her giggle! Iève had to add a couple meals each day to keep it at bay. John is cute - he keeps bringng me things to eat, to see if the baby likes it. itès usually a share of his cookie, or oranges, or other sweet things, because I told him the baby moves more after I eat sweet stuff. So really, everything seems to be going smoothly! So far, so good.

The other kids are doing well. Theyève all managed to stay healthy these last few weeks, though i noticed Joanès nose dripping today. hopefully a good nightès sleep and a couple days off will clear it up. She was sent home early today, because of a big storm that blew through. They put them all on the bus, and brought them home at noon, without calling first. Of course, i was in the north end of the city, at my doc appt. So, they called Mike - who is in Kelowna right now, so not only didnèt know it ws storming, but couldnèt do anything anyway. They had to take her back to school and wait for me - luckily I made it back in time before the schoolès early closing time. She started crying when she saw me. She was the last kid in the ISMD classroom, and apparently had just had a marvelous afternoon, with lots of time in the multi-sensory room, and loads of attention from her therapists, and was NOT pleased to see me come through the door to bust up her fun!

Johnès doing just great. We just jad a parent teacher conference. At ths school, they ask that you bring your kids with you, which at first seemed a little odd. But it actually worked out well - he got to show me his school work, and he got to have input on the discussion. She says heès doing well with the french, and school in general. his tantrums during upsetting situations are becomming more and more rare as he grows and matures. She says heès very meticulous with his schoolwork, and puts a lot of care into the things he does. We got a stack of his work to take home - lots of tracing, mazes, shapes, colours and number type games. I had flashbacks of kindergarten looking at it all. I think we did the exact same worksheets, only in english. He did really well, but messed up a few of the patterns. He had talked about his patterns at home - he told me that some of them were really tricky. But heès doing great.

Dave is my little wildman. Heès been walking well for a while now- a couple months, I guess. And he just loooooves to run! He and I do groceries together while the others are in school, and at the checkout, he just canèt seem to resist all that open space at the front of the store, and always squirms and wriggles with all his might so Ièll let him down. Iève learned to fight him with all MY might - one time I put him down thinking heèd just cling to my leg or putter close by. Nope. He was off in a flash, bolting for the other end of the store, giggling all the way! At Johnès interview, I let him walk in the school. he generally follows the herd. But when we turned the corner, and saw that long, long hallway. Oh boy! He made a run for it, and poked his head in the next classroom, which was full of kids. And when he saw I was on his tail, he shrieked with laughter, and scurried the other way as fast as his little legs would go! Luckily, mine are still longer, so I won. But he sure is a speedy little guy! Now that theyère all walking, Ièm going to try to find them all a gym program. They had one at the Y where we used to live - theyèd fill the big gym with balls and slides and all sorts of fun stuff, and let the kids go hog wild. I think theyèd all get something out of that now, itès just a matter of finding something like it close by - itès a good way to let them burn off excess energy in the winter, rather than bouncing off my walls. The last time I took the kids, Dave didnèt exist, and Joan was still bum-scooting, so itès been a while!

Dave is doing well since getting sick with swine flu. For those who donèt know, he got seisures from it, and had to go to the hospital, because we found him lying on the floor unrespensive, pale and barely breathing. Hopefully, that will be my first and last ambulance ride. He was in hospital for five days, undergoing a battery of tests, and being treated for...everything from infection to meningitis. In the end, the only positive results were swine flu and an ear infection, which may or may not have passed into the bone behind his ear - depending on which radiologist was asked. His seizures were very scary - they had a hard time getting them to stop. They had to use three kinds of medicine, and very large doses to finally stop them. And then, he slept...and slept...and slept. And when he woke up, the medicine had eliminated his sense of balance. He couldnèt walk for three days, which he found incredibly frustrating. When he first woke up, he couldnèt even hold his head steady. We had to prop him up, and he was a wobble-head doll for the first couple days. The pediatricians were really concerned about brain damage, but the neurologist assured me that it was just the side-effect of so much medicine. He told me to look for personality changes, or physical regression, but we donèt see that. Heès still the same little guy he was before, and heès progressing well physically - he still hasnèt chosen a dominant hand , heès walking on uneven surfaces now, and heès much faster, and trips much less! There will be follow-up appts and tests, to make sure it was just a flu and fever induced seisure. The feel thereès a chance it could happen again with his next flu, so they have him on clobozam, an anti-seizure medicine, for a few months, just to play it safe.

well, itès getting late here - about 2 a.m. (Hmmm...these late nights might have something to do with my fatigue..) so I had better head to bed! The kids will be up soon, wanting to shovel and build snowmen. Ugh.