Hello March!

March 1

I turned 10 months old!

Doc Visits

2/23 Eye Exam. He looks perfactamundo and our next appointment is a YEAR from now. Or at least I thought. Kaz’s broken blood vessel in his right eye (click on the pic to see it) has popped up 2 more times since this appointment and now the opthamologist wants to see him next month to “check out some things”. Normally this wouldn’t be a concern but 3 times in the same eye…perhaps an “ologist” should take a gander. Hey, better safe than sorry.

The great Synagis battle of February 2009 is now over and the winner is, by a long shot (ha ha I made a funny and didn’t do it on purpose), KAZ! On March 11th Kaz finally got his Synagis shot. We’ll have to wait and see about April. RSV season typically only lasts through March but I guess CA is experiencing a high concentration of cases so the CDC may come out and say to extend it. Which means the battle starts again. Oh yay, cause we’ve got nothing better to worry about. For instance….

3/6 Children’s Hospital Sleep Test Results

I got the results today (3/30) and I won’t drag it out. Let me give it to you strait – Kaz still needs to be on the O2. That’s the bottom line. Here’s how the results shook out.

During the sleep test Kaz’s oxygenation levels were typically between 92–94% which is lower than they would like for a child his age but if we compare this sleep test to the last, it’s good news – ahhhhhhhhhh a little sigh of relief.

September 2009 vs. March 2010

• Central Apneas = 93 vs. 52
• Periodic Breathing Episodes = 34 vs. 28
• Obstructive Hypopnias (Obstructed breathing) = 3 per hour vs. 2.75 per hour

Hmmm News:

• During REM sleep Kaz has a tendency to desat to a level that is concerning 5% of the time. For an adult that may be okay but not for our little guy.

Other Good News:

• No hypoventilation (no CO2 elevation)
• Kaz is currently on ¾ of a liter of O2 – during the test at this level there were no desats. GREAT, we can lower the oxygen. WOAH Nelly! We could lower the oxygen but there is a bigger picture to look at. He’s doing well at ¾ of a liter. It won’t hurt him, if anything it will help strengthen his lungs in the long run by eliminating the need for them to work harder when he desats. Ultimately the risk, low oxygen can mean pulmonary hypertension which is no bueno. So ¾ of a liter it will stay.

Why is this happening?

• It’s a central breathing kinda thing. It’s neurological. “Huh?” Brain immaturity. “What are you saying?!” Don’t panic! I need you to take a deep breath, exhale, and smile because developmentally he is fabulous!!! He’s growing beyond his corrected age and his motor skills (according to the occupational therapist analysis which happened on 3/17) are of NO concern. He’s doing great for his corrected age for both his fine and gross motor skills. Neurologically they think his brain to lung function connection is a little immature. Keep reading, it’ll be ok.

What’s next?

• I know you are all asking the same question I did – what can we do to “cure” him? Give him a dose of time and keep him on the O2 – the doc very confidently said she anticipates he will grow out of it. He will MATURE.
• Currently he wears the oxygen only overnight. Which she said was “okay”. Well, ok isn’t good enough so of course I pressed for some clarification. She shared that if it didn’t interrupt his naps and if he was cooperative, she would encourage us to try to put on him during his nap times as well. Again, read the “Why is this happening?” section for the rationale.
• We will do another sleep test in 6 months to see where we’re at – September 2010.
• The fam is planning a trip to Myrtle Beach in September so I asked the doc about traveling again and she said he could with an in-flight oxygen tank and only after an altitude simulation test was conducted to calibrate his true oxygen needs while in flight. This means a month before our trip we will have to take the test and see about a travel oxygen machine for the mee mees time. We’ll keep ya’all posted and we’ll be sure to bring the sunscreen.

Visitors




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3/20 Oma & Dzia Dzia flew in from WI to see our little superhero and love up all on him. It was a really good vacation for all. We didn’t do anything “special”. We visited, chatted, ate, and snuggled the big 22 pounder. Aaron and I were amazed at how much it seemed he grew and developed within the week. Wow, when you are not distracted by all the “have to’s” in life it’s incredible what you notice.

Kaz ate it all up. He really seemed to love being fed by his Oma and his Dzia Dzia putting him to bed. It’s moments like these that feed your soul. I’m contently fat on love and I don’t care if I ever shed a pound.

Firsts
Late February Kaz started swimming lessons. Unfortunately it's an indoor pool so you really can't get any good pics. Apparently he's a natural (kicking, stroking, swimming under water - yes, I had to purposely dunk my baby under water - not cool man but I did it!) which is somewhat ironic considering he didn't come into this world swimming.

Other firsts include his first trip to the Arboretum, the dog park; his first time on a swing (he wasn't too keen on this - he was more interested in the little ladies in the swing next to him - OF COURSE), and his first time in a walker. The OT said with close supervision and for a few minutes a day it might be a good thing to develop his gross motor skills. Did I mention with CLOSE supervison. How'd he do - uh look at the pic, he fricken LOVED it!

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Just for Fun

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These are Kaz's insta-buddies. All born within a month of eachother and the gorgeous little doll in the middle in the absolute cutest outfit I've ever seen is Maysen and they are already celebrating her 1st birthday together. Kaz will be 11 months tomorrow and my head is spinning just thinking about it. The dashing fellow in yellow is Caleb and his birtday is 30 days after Kaz's.

Weren't we all pregnant just a second ago talking about our "birth plans" - HA! Look at how blessed we are ladies!

We Missed You!

HI! We've been a little busy this holiday season as I'm sure all of you have been too. I decided to take a little bit of a different approach with this "what's goin on with Kaz" blog entry. I'm breakin it down by month and I'm using a new photo sharing tool. Enjoy and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Doctors Visits Percentages

Since the last entry Kaz has had 2 check-ups. Here's how the numbers shake out.

7 Month Check-up (November) vs. 9 Month Check-up (January)

• Height = 27" 25% vs. 28" 60% (hmmm this doesn't seem right)
• Weight = 18 lbs. 6 oz 50% vs. 20 lbs. 9 oz. 60%
• Head = 43.5 cm 25% vs. 45 cm 40%

November

This is just the tail end of November. The last blog entry covered November. Except good old day of gluttony, Thanksgiving. The last pic says it all!

<><><> DecemberThe doc gave us the green light on finger foods, as well as stage 1-2 solids 2-3 times a day. I could have sworn I got a pic of Kaz's first attempt at picking up banana as a finger food...oh that's right I got a video of it and I can't figure out why it won't play on my computer. Its on the video camera so if you want to see it you'll have to come over and watch it on it's super tiny screen until I can figure out why it no worky on the big screen. Really all you're missing is seeing him squish it, smear it, and get it no where near his mouth.<><><><><><><><><><><><><> January

• This month the new item on the menu was MEAT. Let me just say I have 2 of the best friends a girl could ever ask for because pureeing meat...blllawwwwwgh! Thank you Jenn K. and Karen for putting your blender to work and providing our boy with some protein. I just shiver at the thought of...oh I can't say it again without retching. He did it, and on purpose, he rolled back to front - back to front people - on PURPOSE! You should have seen Aaron and I, you would have thunk he did something out of this world - like the Electric Slide the way we reacted. I know, you're saying to yourself, "what's the big whoop". He was 8.5 months old which is 6.5 corrected. Every child develops at their own rate but I was getting a little worried. Every parent says, "don't worry what the books say". Hogwash. Every parent worries. I don't care what you say. Even the doc was a tad worried. Whatever, it doesn't matter now cause he's rollin rollin rollin keep that baby rollin - giddy-up!

• This month he also started sitting up on his own (about the 3rd week of January). Yes, he falls backward and can't get up on his own. Nothing a few 100 pillows won't help.

• 30th - Sat in his first booster seat at a restaurant. Well heck now that he's sittin up we might as well go out and show off (he did bonk his head on the table. According to Aaron he looked at him as if to say, "why did you do that to me")

• 31st - Went grocery shopping for the first time with Mom and Dad in my new grocery cart cover. I was so good and flirted with all the ladies in the line. These cheeks get them every time!

Extra Doc Visits

• 19th- Ahhh the Synagis battle reared it's ugly head. Long story short. We had an appointment to get Kaz his January Synagis shot. Got there, mentally prepared, Lydacain in place, only to find that there was no shot to be had. In the great 2009 Synagis insurance war, unbeknownst to us Aaron's insurance won the honor of providing him his shot. Well in 2010 we canceled that insurance without realizing. So here we go again trying to get my insurance company to realize that our son who has respiratory disease should have this shot to protect him from respiratory virus's during the RSV season, which is RIGHT NOW! You know what's awesome? When your pediatrician tells you he just had to hospitalize a couple of kids because of RSV. Yay (said with as little enthusiasm and as much sarcasm as I can muster).

• 21 - Quick jaunt to the doc. I guess Kaz may have hit himself in the eye with something and broke a blood vessel (see pic with cup) but of course since he's a "preemie" they wanted to see him. Literally 2 minutes later we were out the door with nothing to report. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Here are some pics from January. 

• Through much slober, crying, Humphry's, baby Motrin, and baby Orajel, Kaz finally cut his 1st tooth.  Two SHARP bottom teeth.  Check out how the rest of the month stacked up by clicking the "Play" button below. 

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February Now look, I'm 9 Months old! What's new in February? Well, this past week Kaz has been a mover and a shaker. Tummy time is no longer a battle and he went from pushing himself away from his target, to bouncing on his hands and knees, to figuring out how to sluggishly army crawl to get that shinny tempting toy. We are in awe every time he does it. We're such goofs. I don't want jinx it by saying it out loud but I think Kaz is or has grown out of his "rhymes with sleeflux". We have seen a considerable decrease in spitting up and have far less burp clothes to launder. Good thing too because Kaz has taken to lying down and feeding himself these days. Our little boy is growing up, sniff sniff. It so funny for us to look at him downing 24-28 oz of formula and 6-8 oz of food a day when his first bottle he struggled with was a mere .40 milliliters. AMAZING! And finally this is a pic of Aaron and his father at 4 months doing the same pose. We tried to get Kaz to do the same pose at the corrected age of 4 months in November but if you recall, he HATED tummy time and it was pretty difficult to get him to cooperate. So the first pic is of Kaz in Nov (4 months corrected age). We figured now that he likes tummy time we would try again (7 months corrected age). Look at how much he's changed in the span of 3 months - the shape of his head alone!