Normal Normal Normal

Has it really been a week since I updated? Geeze how time is flying! Well...no pictures this time. I have managed to burn out a power cord on yet another lap top (*blush*) and am back to my old stand by-slow, but functional.

Monday Ollie saw the neurologist that saw him in ICU. It was a crazy drive. It was one exit down from the hospital where Ollie was. It hit too many nerves for me-brought me back a bit. I was anxious to see the doctor. He last saw Ollie at about 2 weeks old. Hes the one who ordered two EEG's and an MRI. He is also the doc who said "this is not the Matrix, these kids dont dodge bullets..." However, he is really a sweet man...a big teddy bear. I wish he could have been Ollies primary doc in ICU, but that's another rant I will leave rest for today. I had done some research on this guy in advance-he specializes in treatment of Autism and seizure disorders. He is known for using unconventional methods of treatment-imagine that. He uses FDA approved meds, but often they are made for other issues and he has seen them work for treating autism symptoms. He has a 15 year old step daughter with autism and a 13 year old son, who is normal. He not only is a highly respected professional with Sutter, but is a teacher with UCDavis and also works with the MIND institute (who denied Ollie-due to lack of capacity-they are slammed full). Anyway, it made me a little more excited to see him again, out of the ICU setting and have him all to myself for an hour.

Anyway, we started off with a regular exam. Ollie weighed in at 11 pounds 3 oz. Good weight gain. Small for his age-we'd expect around 14 ish-especially for my babies...but he's gaining and thriving and I love having one that stays in his 0-3 month clothes longer than two weeks. He's 22 and a quarter inches. I never write down head circumference, so those of you keeping track...lol...sorry! Anyway-all kinds of reflex tests and exams. Lots of questions. He was very gentle with Ollie which means alot to me. He kinda made me laugh talking in a baby speak voice and cooing at Ollie. It was such an awesome relaxing appt. Which was good-I needed the calm down. The results of the whole visit. "It sure seems that your son has dodged a huge bullet. We really honestly don't see this very often, it's really neat to see him and play with him and he's so normal." My eyes just welled with tears and I silently thanked God and all the powers that be, once again. He did mention that Ollie very well could show minor this's and that's as time goes on. But he looked so good that the doc doesn't really see the point in doing any more testing for now. Not unless some odd symptoms show up that we want to pinpoint and start treating.

We talked about immunizations. I flat out asked him about delaying them and to my absolute surprise he said yes. He told me which ones we should get and which we should delay. Many he said to put off until age two. The ones he recommends we do not wait for he said to get them at the end of the window. So if it says first shot between 2 and 4 months...to wait til four months. That felt so good to me. It was something I wanted to do anyway-no hit Ollie up with five shots containing up to 11 vaccines all at once. Having neurologist in that corner with me feels good. He ended our visit with giving me a schedule to wean Ollie off the phenobarb. He hasn't had any evidence of seizures and really doesn't need to be on prevention anymore. He gave me signs to watch for if Ollie is having a seizure. He said it'll be pretty obvious, not like when an newborn has a seizure and it's so subtle. Honestly I really don't think the one seizure on record at 8 hours old was really in fact a seizure. It was witnessed by only a nurse-and it was one episode and then he was slammed onto the max dose of phenobarb. But, who am I to argue. (what?!) Really, why risk it...so we've not fought the phenobarb. But it is a pain in the butt to get down the poor kiddo, so I'm glad to see it go-no more pumping and mixing and coaxing with a bottle. We were done!
So, until November-we left his office-with a normal baby.

That was Monday. By Tuesday night I was certain my angel was possessed. I hadn't slept hardly at all and Ollie was trying to tear the ears out of his head. Not to mention we are still fighting thrush. Tis an evil fungus it is. I reluctantly put in a call to the pediatrician. In all honesty, I think Ollie has been fighting ear infections a week or two. He really tugs on those ears. I have been just riding it out, as many times kids really don't need antibiotics...and with thrush...the last thing I want to do is systemically kill bacteria which are helping battle thrush. But, my already sleep deprived body was now desperate. The doc got us in first thing today (Wednesday). I was afraid. Afraid he'd push immunizations and circumcisions and give me crap about Ollies phenobarb like he did last time. But I was more afraid of losing yet another nights sleep.

The pediatrician that walked into the office this morning was not the man I saw five weeks ago. He was in body of course. But not in spirit. He was warm and friendly and ....he smiled. Perhaps it was I who was different. Having now seen many docs, regional referral coordinators, home health nurses, and developmental specialists...I have calmed down a bit. These people are less demanding and controlling than when your baby is "admitted" under their care. He's under my care. These people seem to at least acknowledge if not respect that. It also helps that Ollie is now nine weeks old. The last record in his chart is not fresh from ICU. It's a somewhat normal chart history.

So, anyway...Ollie has no ear infections. Yea...I was surprised. And he didn't see any symptoms of thrush on Ollie. The good news is Ollie seems to have found out how to grab his ears with those little hands. The bad news is...it doesn't feel so good and makes him cry. No thrush visible in Ollie is good...but doesn't remove the fact that it's on me-and we are still trying to fully get rid of it. It just hangs on. The pediatrician said this may be the case for a few months. Lovely. I keep taking my home remedies for it. Ollie doesn't seem to mind that part at all-it just makes me a bit sore. No talk of circumcisions, no talk of immunizations. "Your baby is normal, go home and nap." Also of note: our little Monkey gained 11oz in 48 hours and is tipping the scales toward 12 lbs already... All right! Did I mention smallness, and clothing fitting? Jinxed myself! We stopped by to see the Mammy (my mom) who works in the same building. She got a good 15 minute snuggle from Ollie and loads of hugs from the other kids. (thanks to Natalia who covered for her-sorry if I spelled the name wrong) They are such sweet ladies, it makes you wanna hang out in that office all day.

On the way home we stopped by a gently used childrens stuff store, and bought a little vibrating baby chair. Ollie seems to be in heaven this afternoon-and I can update my blog. Hopefully I can get a little sleep in tonight. Things a normal mama with a normal baby would wish for. I'll try and get more pics and an update in sooner this week ;) Take care all!