November, December, and some January, too!

Life around here has been extremely busy, and we've been in survival mode the last few months to get through it, so needless to say the updates have been sadly neglected. I'm way behind on posting monthly updates of Declan, and I told myself I wouldn't forget since Scott and I both know what it's like to be the second child. Unfortunately, though, he has so many little extra needs that there just isn't enough time in the day. So here's a quick rundown of the last few months.
November:
-I went back to work the week before Thanksgiving, which was both good and bad. I was ready to be back among adult life that wasn't revolved around medical issues, but I wasn't ready to give up taking care of Declan full-time. I was so fortunate to have that much time off, though, and it also was a big deal because in all honesty I wasn't sure if Declan would make it through everything to be around and well-enough for my return to work.
-Declan had a four day hospital stay, which of course had to coincide with my return to work, making for a really crazy and emotional week. We were having major feeding issues, which we've determined were a combination of severe acid reflux, an intolerance of formula (we were fortifying his milk with Nutramigen--that stuff is super-disgusting), and some lactose intolerance. Since then feedings have been going much better.

Three months old!

-Callum had his first real sickness ever. We all somehow, except Declan, thankfully, got some terrible stomach type bug and were wiped out the weekend before Thanksgiving. We're very thankful to have made it two years without anything more than one fever.
-Big boy bed! We switched Callum out of the crib and into a twin bed, and he loves it. He's finally started slowing down having to play in it non-stop and show everyone that comes, although it's still a favorite hang-out. He likes to take people in there and pat it, saying "Look. Isn't it beautiful?"

Uncle Andy got to babysit one day!

December:

Four months old!

-We made the rounds at Christmas and Callum had a blast. Declan was generous and let Callum open most of his presents. We spent a bit of time with both sets of grandparents and great-grandparents, plus the rest of the family.

Family Photo

 

A Christmas banana--best stocking gift from Mamaw and Papaw!

 

January so far:

- We're hoping to decrease Declan's feedings. He's been gaining weight slowly but steadily and eating really well overall. Right now, though, he eats every three hours at 2:30, 5:30, 8:30, and 11:30, both a.m. and p.m. And no, we can't rotate feedings right now to get more sleep because I pump while Scott feeds. Getting rid of one feeding overnight will be like heaven to us!

-Unfortunately we were sick again at the end of December into the beginning of January. I ended up with a sinus infection, Scott a sinus infection and double-ear infection, and Callum an ear infection. Fortunately Declan avoided it again. Hooray! We're now much better, but the frequent feedings are taking a toll since we're normally hardly ever sick.

Some random pictures, some of which are really old:

 

Sleeping Beauty

Bath Time Fun

Hangin' with Carrie

Eight Pounds!

Last week at Callum's two-year checkup, we also had a weight check for Declan. He weighed in a whopping 8 lbs., .5 oz. Well, really it was 2.5 oz., but he had just taken two ounces of the bottle, so that part doesn't really count. That averages to about an ounce a day, which is what the goal is. Baby steps, but very exciting nonetheless! We also hit up the developmental pediatrician last week, and besides trying to help figure out why Declan's become so squirmy and problematic at the end of feedings (we're thinking it might be acid reflux so he's on medicine to try that), she said everything looks great and we don't have to see her again until next month. We've had so many appointments the last few weeks it's nice that a few are starting to slow down.

Two Years!

Poor Callum has been a bit neglected on the blog lately with the arrival of his little brother, so it's high time he gets the recognition he deserves. He turned the ripe old age of two and celebrated with a party last weekend. I must admit, I never got tired of asking him what he wanted for his birthday--he matter-of-factly always said "train birthday cake" since cake is the only thing he knows to associate with birthdays. So since that's the only thing he wanted, we indulged since it was easy enough of a present (I'll post party pictures as soon as I upload them to the computer).

His official two year picture:

To catch up, Callum is such an amazing, funny kiddo. He is always full of energy and loves to play and laugh. He is currently obsessed with trains, loves to read books, and is starting to be a great helper around the house. We had a couple of weeks where he was really trying our patience, but his world has been a bit topsy-turvy lately, so he's done really well with everything overall.

It never ceases to amaze us at his ability to remember and verbalize things. He will easily remember something from a couple of months ago and talk about it. There are very few things he cannot pronounce and he can easily say full sentences. He loves music (he has been working on practicing the dulcimer and knows how to strum and pluck a guitar) and can sing the ABC song all the way through. At night we rock and sing with him for a couple of minutes and he always requests Wheels on the Bus. He picks what goes on the bus, and he chooses anything from the normal to the abnormal (we have done doors, trains, bicycles, diapers, and trees to name just a few).

Food is also something Callum loves. He was up to 31 lbs., 6 oz. at his check-up, which puts him at around the 75% for weight, when he used to steadily be in the lower percentiles. The doctor commented, "I see he has found sweets." We had to tell her no, he's just found food. He eats most anything, but his current favorites are bananas, crackers, and cheese.

He also is a great big brother. He sometimes isn't spatially aware of Declan, but he often wants to hug or hold him. The other day he put on some new jeans and he immediately had to run out of his room to show them off to Declan. He imitates what we do with Declan and likes to try and burp him and hold his hand. 

 

Two Months

Almost smiling for the camera!

Just hanging in the bouncy seat.

Declan is officially two months old now! This past month has been quite the adventure and very scary at times, but it's definitely been worth it to have such a cutie in our lives. He is slowly but steadily gaining weight and weighed in at 7 lbs., 3.5 oz. at his check-up. He has also started to smile a few times, which is a milestone I'm very glad to see. There are still some areas that are being followed for his health and development, but otherwise the surgeries seem to have really helped and he has really picked up on his eating.  Declan is up to eating 3 ounces every 3 hours, which may not sound like much really, but it's up to our goal amount--which seemed like it would never happen after we brought him home from the hospital. Making it through this month is definitely a huge celebration in this house!

Here is his official two-month picture with Squeaks.

He wasn't happy with us when we told him it was best to be awake for the pictures.

 

Some random pictures to catch up a bit from the last month:

Cutie before surgery

The three Green boys (and a random squash)--happy birthday Daddy!

Home!

12 days and three surgeries later, we're finally home! We were able to come home early Monday afternoon. Things have been going well so far, and we've definitely already been able to see a difference in Declan's alertness. We also did a weight check yesterday and were happy that he didn't lose any weight from being in the hospital, so now we can focus on plumping him up. I'll work on posting pics and more details soon!

Unexpected Delay

We are currently still in the hospital with Declan, and it has been an emotional past 48 hours. He was transferred to the heart center on Saturday morning, which we were really excited about. He was doing great as far as pain and alerness, and there were no negative side effects from the surgery. He had also started eating well, and was eating more than he normally did before the surgery, which was a huge excitement.

Late Saturday morning, however, he had a hard time keeping down his milk. He started spitting up a neon yellow color substance and seemed like he was having stomach troubles. They suspected horrible acid reflux, so we stopped feeding and put him on an IV to give medicine time to kick in. Sunday afternoon, he was able to take a bit of Pedialyte and then later we tried feeding again a little bit of milk. As he was taking that, he spit up more of the neon yellow and continued to do this, so it was back to the IV with a consult in to the doctors. They did know that this was not something related to the surgery, although it could be a strange effect from a medicine.

Overnight Sunday he started spitting up bright green fluid, and the nurses assured us they would make sure we had answers for the problems as soon as the doctors could look at him. He had an upper GI test done Monday and this showed some sort of blockage in the intestine, but they weren't sure what. The radiologist suspected a narrowing that they may have to go in and open up, but nothing serious. The next thing we knew, however, a couple of people from the surgical team came to talk to us and let us know that Declan would be going in for emergency intestinal surgery within the hour because the green fluid was a very bad sign. No one has ever mentioned anything wrong with the intestines, so this was quite a shock to us and was difficult emotionally since we already had so many other things to worry about, not to mention fear of problems of having a major surgery only four days after heart surgery.

The surgery itself took about three hours, and it turned out that he had malformed intestines--this means they began twisting around each other so food cannot get through (it's pretty much like when a garden hose gets wadded up and kinked in several places). So they had to manually take it out and unwind it. Definitely not a pleasant thought!

At this point we are back in ICU, but we should be able to head back up to the heart center this afternoon if all continues to go well. We're looking at another possible 5-7 days in the hospital, so it will be another long week for us. Right now we are so extremely thankful and blessed that problems happened when they did. This was totally unrelated to the heart surgery, and he just so happened to have the problems while we were still here but had already recovered mostly from the first surgery. Had it gone on much longer, his intestines would have started dying off and we would be dealing with some major permanent damage. So while we really wish we didn't have to deal with two major surgeries back-to-back, we're so very glad we have answers and a fix for the problems he was having over the weekend. We're just hoping this is Declan's last surgery for a long time! Oh, and while they were at it, they also took his appendix out--it wasn't causing problems, but because of the malformation it ends up in the wrong spot of the body so if he were to have problems with it later in life, he would probably be misdiagnosed. Too bad they couldn't go ahead and take out any other potential unnecessary problem organs!

Surgery Update

Declan's surgery this morning went well this morning and he is recovering well so far. We had to be here at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. for prep work, which really just consisted of sitting in a little cube-like room for a while and someone would pop in every so often. They took him back around 7:20 and then we spoke with the doctor around 10:00 a.m. and were finally able to see him in the ICU a bit after 11:00. He already has his breathing tube out but is on medicine for the pain and has several lines. Overall everything is going really well.
Thank you for the thougths and prayers, and we will keep everyone updated as Declan continues recovering!