The Kuhn Family: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Emerson didn't get much of a break! We started off with a little cold, and then came the return of the dreadful wheezing! We were trying to wean him off some of his medications, but with him wheezing again we have to continue all the medications. He is on Prevacid, Xopenex breathing treatments, QVAR inhaler, and Singulair. Then he started being fussy, and for two nights he did not sleep! He was up every hour to two hours and continued to be inconsolable in my arms. Back to the doctor and it's another round of nasty ear infections in both ears! So we added yet another antibiotic to the mix. After the antibiotic and his first dose of Motrin (he can have it now because he's 6 months - hallelujah!), he was back to sleeping thru the night! Here's to hoping healthy days are ahead!

Emerson is Six Months Old

Our little guy (ok - maybe not so little) is six months old! Time has flown by much too quickly! He is changing so much so quick! It turns out our "serious" guy really isn't so serious - he just wasn't feeling good. Now that he's feeling better he is a bundle of giggles! He laughs at his brothers all the time! He likes to watch the kids play outside and giggle at them. He really is a character!

His size:
- he weighs 20 pounds 6 ounces
- measured 25.75 inches (but we're not convinced this is accurate - he is so tall!)
- head circumference - 17 inches
- wears size 3 diaper (but could probably move up)
- wearing 6-9 month clothes (9) but moving into 9-12 month clothes (12)

What he's up to:
- says "Mama"
- we think he says "Hi" back to us when we say hi
- constantly babbling - he is quite the talker
- giggling all the time
- sits up to play
- rolling all over the place
- crawling on his knees and elbows
- enjoys playing with his toys
- loves his exersaucer
- loves to give and get hugs and kisses (When I pick him up after work he hugs me so tight and gives me big sloppy kisses!)

What he's eating:
- 6-8 ounce bottles of Nutramigen (hypoallergenic formula) about every 3 hours or so
- Now that we are on a liquid diet boy is he pooping! And this formula doesn't smell good going in, but is even worse coming out! And his poor hiney is so red!!

How he's sleeping:
- 8-11 hours every night - Whoohoo!!
- He is sleeping in a cradle in our room. We have transitioned him out of the nap nanny.

How he's teething:
- Man is he drooling!
- He's chewing on his finger and anything he can get in his mouth.
- So far he doesn't seem too grumpy getting his teeth (praying that continues).
- Looks like the top teeth may not be far behind, they're pretty red and swollen.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Transitions

At 22 Months, we finally turned Sawyer around to front facing in his car seat!
He loves it - especially when he gets to watch Elmo counting!

At 6 months old, Emerson moved from the car carrier to the rear facing car seat!
It's much roomier!!

At six months old, we moved Emerson out of the Nap Nanny to sleep.
He's still in our room - his crib will be the next transition.

Ricky's Kindergarten Program

Let's do this!

Ready for 1st grade - sniff,sniff

Lean on me, when you're not strong...

Ricky's #1 Fan (after Mommy that is!)

Ricky and Nana

Ricky and Grammy

Mommy and Ricky

Mommy and her big boys!

Ricky and Mrs. Keenan

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Emerson's Answers

Emerson has had a really rough time his first six months of life. He has been a very fussy, uncomfortable, sick baby. Finally after two and a half months of being really sick - an ER visit, a 9 day hospital stay, and numerous tests it looks like we finally have some answers! I have said since he was born that I felt like he doesn't do well on my breast milk - if only I would have trusted my intuition sooner. So after leaving Texas Children's Hospital still without any answers, I went to our pediatrician and again voiced my concerns about him perhaps having a food allergy. With his symptoms and our family history, we decided to go ahead and make a diet change. I stopped nursing (without weaning - ouch!), took him off solid foods, and switched him to Nutramigen - a hypoallergenic formula. In the last week, he is wheezing significantly less, he is not making the horrible upper respiratory sound he was making, and he went from waking every 1-3 hours to sleeping 8-10 hours! He is so happy it's like he's a whole new baby!! We took him to the allergist and tested him for 9 of the most common food allergies plus rice. And he tested positive for an allergy to milk, egg, peanut, and rice. Before the testing started he was breathing great, no wheezing and lungs clear. Very soon after the back scratch testing began he started wheezing in his upper airway! The doctor said that something must really be bothering him that he would start wheezing from the back scratch test. He was getting milk and egg through my breast milk, milk through the formula, rice cereal in his night time bottle as well as at almost every meal - the poor guy was getting it everywhere! He will stay on only the Nutramigen formula for the next 6 months. When he is one year old we will go back and retest and do blood work. From there we will talk about how and what foods to reintroduce. Our goal is now that we have recognized the problem and changed his diet, that we will begin to wean him off of all these medications he is taking. We are so grateful for answers and are hoping the next six months are better for him than the first six months!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Emerson's Teeth

Look who has two teeth!

Emerson's Hospital Stay

After being sick for six weeks (with an ER visit a week before), Emerson was admitted into Texas Children's Hospital downtown. He was wheezy and made a terrible upper airway sound. His oxygen levels were low even after a double dose of steroids and three breathing treatments. So the pediatrician sent us downtown to a pulmonary specialist. The pulmonary specialist listened to him, did a chest x-ray, and his o2 was still low. So we were admitted - for TEN DAYS!!

DAY 1: He was monitored and given breathing treatments as needed. He was put on oxygen during the night.
DAY 2: His numbers were low and he was off and on oxygen.
DAY 3: EMERSON said his first word - MAMA!! Whoohoo - exactly what I needed! Bronchoscopy went well - no physical abnormalities, no cancer; good news but still no answer. That night Emerson went into respiratory distress. He had a fever of 103. His oxygen dropped to 67. It stayed in the 70's-80's with his heart rate 200-210 for 4 very long hours. They administered a bolus (two bags), increased his oxygen to 2 liters, worked on getting his fever down. They did a chest xray and found pneumonia. It was a scary night! Breathing treatments every 3 hours.
DAY 4: Swallow Test - all normal; good news but again no answer. We were able to lower his oxygen. They even took him off oxygen.
DAY 5: Another episode - numbers dropped and he was put back on oxygen.
DAY 6: Still on oxygen - every time he pulled his cannula out his numbers dropped quickly into the low 80's. still wheezing and some retractions even on oxygen.Chest xray reconfirmed pneumonia. Blood work confirmed bacterial pneumonia - Streptococcus pneumoniae.
DAY 7: On 1/2 liter of oxygen. Still breathing treatments every 3 hours around the clock.
DAY 8: Tried to come off oxygen but his numbers dropped and he had to go back on. Added Singulair and QVAR to treatment plan.
DAY 9: Off oxygen.Unable to space out breathing treatments further than every 3 hours. Numbers dropped a bit and retracting to breathe.
DAY 10: Made it through night off oxygen. Starting to space treatments to every 4 hours. Get to go home!

We made it home! After 3 Upper GI's, 4 Chest X-Rays, a Laryngoscopy, Bronchoscopy, and a Swallow test, after almost 8 weeks of being sick we still don't have the answers. We went into the pediatrician and Emerson still sounded like a "train wreck"! So we are testing out a food allergy theory. I stopped breastfeeding, stopped all solid foods, and switched to a hypoallergenic formula called Nutramigen. Emerson is now breathing better, sleeping 10 1/2 hours a night, and happier than EVER! I am praying the food allergy is the answer and we get him all fixed up! We have an appointment with the allergist, the pediatrician, and follow ups at Texas Children's Hospital on May 7th and 11th.