He is starting to really groove to music or mommy and daddy singing or whistling! It’s a lot of fun.
And he seems to be all healed from his surgery 2 weeks ago, which is such a blessing! He has been off pain killers for 4 days now and is eating and drinking great. It was a long week and a half but worth the effort. He is sleeping better now too and taking longer naps so it seems to have worked!! Thanks for your prayers. Enjoy the video.
Yes it’s true – we are having a girl! The ultrasound tech showed us and I was in such disbelief that I smacked her in the arm and said, “No way!?” We are super excited! Jeremy called this one… so he’s two for two now! We haven’t come up with a name yet, but we will keep that a secret until we see her face. We are just so thankful that God is blessing us with another little one, and everything looks great so far. We meet with our doctor to discuss the ultrasound on Thursday, but the tech didn’t give us any reason for concern so that was encouraging.
May this little girl grow up to glorify our great God!
In this picture she is sucking her thumb! So cute!
Well it’s 4:45am and since I’m up I might as well write this down and keep everyone up to speed;). Jeremy and I are taking turns sleeping since the room sleeps one besides Liam. His surgery went well and the doctor decided to take out his tonsils too just to rule out any obstruction in his nose and throat that may be causing the apnea. He said he went back and looked over Liam’s sleep study and realized that the numbers were pretty significant, and to prevent having to put him under maybe a month or two from now he might as well take out both his adenoids and tonsils now. We are thankful for his decision… we are just dealing with a longer recovery process for Liam.
After the surgery they put him on fluids through an IV to keep him hydrated. The day of the surgery the only thing he would take through his mouth was the Icey they offer here. It’s good stuff… just shaved ice and yummy flavor. He took that well once on Monday. Then yesterday (Tuesday) he was willing to eat baby food so we fed him 2 and 1/2 jars of it throughout the day. He still didn’t want to take anything from a bottle or sippy cup. So we tried giving him formula on a spoon and he loved that… mostly b/c he was pretty thirsty since they took him off fluids at 7:30am yesterday. We found that he will take some from a syringe as well but it’s a bit of a fight. He really has to be in the mood for any kind of intake. But it’s early Wednesday and he’s had 8 oz. of formula starting last night around 5pm. So that may be enough to show the doctors he’s willing to drink (if we get creative) and send us home. I just think he’ll sleep SO much better at home. The most frustrating part is when he finally goes to sleep (b/c lately it takes him forever to fall asleep) and we have to wake him to give him tylenol or his antibiotics. Then he’ll be so upset that it will take him another hour to fall back asleep!!! Ahhhh! He needs tylenol every 4 hours even through the night.
Anyway, besides that he does seem to be in good spirits. He still loves reading his books and playing with toys and watching baby einstein. They took his IV out last night so that freed up another hand to use to play with! His blood oxygen sats look amazing while he is sleeping now too!! Before they would dip down into the 70’s and now they are staying in the 90’s (where they should be), praise the Lord!!! Oh and our creative way of feeding Liam is this… Jeremy holds Liam laying back in a rocking chair, and I stand nearby and hold the laptop with baby einstein playing on it, up near my shoulder so he looks up… while in the other hand I use the syringe to put formula in his mouth. And then after each squirt Jeremy blows in his face a bit to help him remember to swallow. It’s tricky but whatever works at this point!
So thanks for praying! The doctor saw Liam yesterday morning and noticed how content he was and said Liam’s made a liar out of him (b/c he warned us that he would be cranky for several days). But Liam does have a pretty good track record;). Just pray now that he will start taking fluids more willingly b/c that will speed up the recovery process. Ok off to wake him up once again… sigh!!!
Eating the Icey
And now peas and brown rice the next day.
This toy is a little drumset that lights up and makes noise… the nurse who was prepping us and Liam for the surgery brought this in for him to play with not knowing what daddy does;). He loves this toy and it has stayed in the crib near him since!
Hey everyone… just wanted to let you know that Liam is having his adenoids removed tomorrow morning to hopefully correct his sleep apnea. We should only be in the hospital for a night as the recovery process is pretty quick. The doctor didn’t want to take out his tonsils because it would be too traumatic for him at this age. So hopefully with the adenoids gone it will be enough to help him sleep better! That would be amazing! Please keep him in your prayer as he recovers… thanks!!!
Here is a video of him laughing in the meantime;)!
Just to update you on Liam’s appointment with the ENT… they scheduled him to have his adenoids removed on September 28th (next Monday). We’re looking into possibly getting his tonsils removed at the same time, but we’re not sure the doctor wants to do that because he’s so young. So we’ll be back at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for at least a night next week maybe more. Please pray everything goes smoothly… and it corrects his apnea!
Another note, Jeremy took Liam to his swimming lessons last week and he did great. It was his second lesson and he seemed to be a little more comfortable than the first. The first lesson he had a lower lip and tears most of the time while looking around to make sure we were still there;)… it was so cute! Coach Beth is amazing and really does a great job working with him. We are so thankful to have the opportunity to work with her. This past lesson Liam went under the water 10 times and he didn’t seem to mind a bit… what a tough guy!!
Last Friday I had the chance to get together with some other moms who have children with Down syndrome. It was so cool to hear some of their stories and challenges. What amazing moms they are! It’s also fun to watch our kids hang out together! Here a couple pictures of the kiddos at the playdate.
Liam and his new friend Cooper!
This is all four of them left to right… Etta, Cooper, Brewer (in the background facing the camera) and Liam.
Next weekend is a big weekend in our world! We are helping our good friends David and Amy Watson with their huge yard sale they are putting on to help raise the money they need to adopt kids from Ethiopia! If you are in the Nashville area and have things you can donate please contact them via their blog. They are dear friends and we are thrilled for this new season in their lives as they are responding to God’s call on their lives to adopt. Also, next Sunday our church begins meeting at our new location The Warehouse in Franklin!! We are SO excited to be moving to a place to meet permanently! We have been waiting 5 years and now God has just opened the doors and provided a building… and it is nice!
If you are on Facebook most of you know the news by now. But if not, I am currently 3 and 1/2 months pregnant and due March 6th! This was a bit of a surprise for us, but we are excited and thanking God for another opportunity to help give life!! What a blessing! Liam has been such a good baby so I’m praying this next one will be too;)! I actually didn’t know I was pregnant until I was almost 10 weeks along. My breast milk supply was drying up and Liam just wasn’t interested in nursing anymore and I couldn’t figure out why (sorry if that was too much information)! Well, it turns out it was because I am pregnant. I was a bit sad to have to stop nursing Liam, because I had planned on nursing until he was 1 year old. But I didn’t really have a choice. During the first trimester I didn’t have any morning sickness but am experiencing fatigue like never before!! I don’t remember dealing with this when I was pregnant with Liam, but then again I wasn’t caring for an infant then either;). I’ll keep you updated as the pregnancy progresses.
Another update… Liam is now 9 months old!!! I just can’t believe it! This fall we are starting him in swimming lessons. It’s 30 minutes one-on-one with a lady who is a swim coach for the Special Olympics. Liam just loves the water so I’m thrilled to get this opportunity to work with her! We are also starting with a new Early Intervention teacher who will be coming once a week to help me work with Liam and make sure he is up-to-date with his development. She is wonderful - I am excited about her too!! His physical therapy will continue once a week this fall as well – we’ll be busy!
We finally got the results back from the sleep study that we had done on Liam. I had suspected that he may have sleep apnea so we had a study done at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital the end of July. The sleep doctor called me a couple weeks ago and confirmed my suspicions: he does in fact have sleep apnea. He told me it’s not severe but definitely significant and should be dealt with soon. In a matter of 6 hours (the length of his study) they noted 49 respiratory breaks: 26 were shallow breaths, and 8 were a stoppage of breath for a few seconds (not sure about the rest of the breaks). Liam’s normal oxygen saturation level is 96, which is great because it needs to be 92 or above. But because of his apnea it dropped as far down as 79 during the study. So our sleep doctor is sending us to an ENT doctor this week to discuss removing his tonsils and adenoids to help open up his airways and hopefully get rid of the apnea. Once again I’ll post more when I have more information. I’d appreciate your prayers!
Here is a cute picture of my little 9 month old! We go in for his 9 month check-up this week to see how tall he is and how much he weighs… I’m so curious! He is getting so tall… and he sure loves the exersaucer!
Liam has been doing really well with his physical therapy lately! He is starting to sit up for longer periods of time all by himself (he holds on to our hands and we help him up to a sitting position, and he stays there). It’s so cute! Besides being in his jumper as you may have seen in the previous post, he now loves to work on standing. He would much rather stand than sit – it’s pretty funny! I need to get a picture of him standing because he becomes so animated while standing. He holds on to our fingers and pushes up with his legs and stays holding on until he needs a break. In this picture Liam is sitting at a little tray that the physical therapist brought and he just loves it. He forgets he is sitting because he is so distracted by his toys! It’s been a big help.
The physical therapist also brought this little toy and he just recently became really interested in it. I think he finally figured out that when he pushes the buttons it makes noise and lights up. So he’s been sitting up really well with this toy! Check out his little mullet that’s forming… I think it’s already time for a hair cut! He’s too young for a party in the back;)!
Another toy he has recently started to figure out and enjoy is this little drum (of all things – thanks Derk!). It sings the ABC’s when you bang on it and he loves to hit it! Such a great distraction while he is working on sitting. And of course it makes Daddy proud too;). He doesn’t look too impressed here, but he really enjoys it, I promise!
So here he is! My big boy sitting up all by himself! Apparently children with Down Syndrome tend to have shorter limbs than typical kids. When learning to sit, the typical kid can support his weight with his hands resting on the floor. Liam has to learn to sit by resting his hands on his legs. However, he doesn’t really enjoy that part and just wants to take on the challenge of balancing, which is actually working out well for him.
This next picture is the position Liam likes to be in during tummy time! As my sister likes to say, he is my little “skydiver”! He does put his arms underneath him to support him, but it’s not his favorite position. It takes lots of good motivators to get him to pivot and use those arms. I’ve recently discovered that if I put him in the crawl position over my leg on the floor, and put the Baby Einstein video on my laptop on the floor in front of him, he will be so interested in the video that he won’t realize he’s putting weight on his arms. It’s worked great so far, and the physical therapist liked it!
All in all, Liam is doing really well and always impressing our physical therapist. So much so, that she suggested she move to only coming twice a month instead of once a week. So we’ll see. She’s been a big help. Liam has the rolling thing down, both directions, even with his brace on;)!! And he’s starting to tuck his knees under him like he’s about to crawl… we just need to get those arms ready too! I’ll keep you updated!
This video was taken on July 7th when Liam was 7 months old! He just loves to jump!! I have a number of pictures and updates to fill everyone in on. I’m home now for a few weeks and will have time to get some new posts up. So be on the look out!
My baby is already 6 months old!! I just can’t believe it! And he is growing like a weed. This last month I started him on solid foods, and by solid I mean pureed of course. Up to this point he has eaten single grain rice cereal, sweet potatoes, avocados and drinks prune/apple juice. He seems to be a good eater so far. His growth proves it. At his 6 month check-up he weighed in at 17lbs, 15oz. and is 27.63 inches long! Wow! On a typically developing baby’s growth chart he is in the 55th percentile for weight and 85th for height! On a Down syndrome growth chart he is off the charts in both height and weight!
He seems to be a pretty good sleeper at night. However, I do have some concerns with him getting enough deep sleep. When Jeremy and I attended the DSAMT conference in April they discussed the common sleep issues for people with Down syndrome. One of them being Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). I guess this occurs in around 45% of people with Down syndrome and can be the cause for many health concerns that are acquired as they age. Click here to learn more about OSA in Down syndrome. I think Liam has shown some signs of OSA because of some of the noises he makes while sleeping and how he sleeps with his neck bent back a lot of the time. I discussed my concerns with our pediatrician and he made an appointment for us to meet with a sleep specialist next week. We will then have a sleep study done on him sometime this summer to find out if he does have OSA. I’ll keep you posted.
On another note, I was thinking about all the places Liam has already been in the first 6 months of his life! He has been on 4 road trips and 1 plane ride. He’s been to GA, KY, OH, MT, MN (if you count the airport), and Ontario, Canada! We have been busy these last 6 months and it’s not about to slow down. Liam is a great traveler so we are taking advantage of that, along with Jeremy’s frequent flier miles, and going to spend some time with our families. It’s nice that he is free to fly for now!
Here is a picture of my big boy testing out the umbrella stroller. This will really come in handy for me in the airport next week! Doesn’t he make this stroller look small;)!?
