9 month appointment with Dr. O

Today we went to the doctor for our 9 month visit. G likes Dr. O (that's Dr. O in the picture), and always smiles and shows off for her, because she's really sweet with him. We like Dr. O too. She has twin girls about a year older than G, so she gives good, practical advice.

We got the green light to do all kinds of food now--cheese, stuff with eggs in it (like pasta), breads. That's very exciting. Maybe I'll have to make him a horseshoe (well, he could start with a ponyshoe, which is a one piece of bread horseshoe!)

It was nice to tell Dr. O what G's been up to. He's doing lots of stuff now, and summing it up for someone kind of puts that in perspective. When she looked at his teeth, she seemed to think that it won't be long before he's gone from being 3-toothed to being 6-toothed. All the top ones look like they're ready to pop out.

Anyway, she told us he was perfect, and to keep doing what we're doing. As any parent who has dealt with weight-gain problems ever would likely agree, hearing something like that is like winning the lottery. Speaking of his weight, he's now a whopping 20 lbs 3 oz (45th %ile), and still has a giant head (80th %ile). I didn't trust the nurse's height measure, so I'll do it sometime later today myself. And here's a little graph of his progress (I think it's CDC standards not WHOs, cause that was the one that I found that I could use to track myself that worked on a mac!)

He had to have some blood drawn, but no shots today. He didn't cry at all over the blood (well, we did have a pacifier in his mouth, which we use to stop the horrible tooth grinding.) He was mostly just annoyed that someone was holding his hand and keeping him from moving it--he's very independent.

4 month doctor appt.

Today we took G in for his 4 month well baby appointment. This is our first appointment since we found out about the Lah-ring-o as Amos like to call G's laryngomalacia. HIs stats for today were impressive. Because of the laryngomalacia we have to watch his weight, As long as he's gaining well he won't have to have surgery. He weighed 13 lbs 12 oz and jumped to the 30th percentile in his weight (last time we went in, at 3 months, he was 11 lbs 8 oz and was in the 19th percentile). He was in the 33rd percentile when he was born, so he's getting back to where he started, which is good). To the right is a graph of his weight over time (in months).His head was 17" around, and he's about 24.5 inches long (I say about, because he's a squirmy guy and hard to get measured accurately). We'll go in every 2 weeks or so for weighings to make sure he's gaining well.

Dr. Okorn made a big fuss over him, and he was at his flirtiest. He got to do all his tricks for her to make sure he's developing well, and she said he looks great. His eye contact is excellent. No flat head, probably because he's held so much--he certainly doesn't want for attention. He also got some shots, and the nurse was really quick. He came home ate and decided to crash.

Here's a look at what G's up to these days.
+he's really into blankets and fabric. He scrunches them up and grabs onto clothes.
+he occasionally sucks his right thumb. The rest of his fingers wave around while he does it.
+no head lag on baby sit up
+hates tummy time, but loves to lay on his tummy on mom's or dad's chest.
+great head control, can almost use ergo without infant insert, just a little bit longer legs would help.
+he's into grabbing his ankles and calves.
+is into laughing.
+seems to be trying to figure out how to imitate mom and dad doing raspberries (can't quite get it).
+goes to bed sometime around 8:30 or 9 and sleeps to 3:30-4:30ish.
+is getting good at using his two hands together, but he's still a little stiff
+seems to be drooly, and likes to bite on your knuckle--teething?!
+can stand up with support (has hardly any remaining walking reflex, like they have as newborns).
+wants to try to hold his bottle
+is not too fond of baths
+cries with tears (oh, it's just agonizing to see!)
+fits into most 3-6 month clothes (although I'm sad to report that his dancing robots onesie, a 3-6 mos, is too small!!)

laryngomalacia, or why G squeaks

I have suspected for some time that the cause of G's squeak is a condition called laryngomalacia. All of the symptoms just made sense. I first read about it in my Baby 411 book (which is probably the best book we have about parenting. It has calmed us many times and answered pretty much every question I've had.) the Pediatrician who co-wrote the book is married to an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor, so I am just guessing that she knows a lot about the condition. Anyway, in the book it says that if your baby makes noise when breathing that sounds like G's, then it is something called "floppy larynx" and that kids usually grow out of it. So, given my interest in research, I decided to wade into some of the literature and see what I could find out. It said pretty much the same thing that the book said, but added a few details, like sometimes kids need to have surgery to correct the problem (this is generally done when it is keeping a kid from "thriving"). So that was reassuring, still, I wanted my diagnosis confirmed, and wanted to make sure that G was being watched for this (in case it was or became a problem).

Well, we got a referral from our primary care giver's partner (it was a big PITA trying to get the right kind of referral) to go to Children's Hospital in Seattle. I was excited about going to Children's because one of the studies I read about laryngomalasia was actually written by the team at Children's, so I felt like G would be seeing great people. It was a long wait, because our referral started out getting sent to the wrong speciality clinic. There were many phone calls made to straighten it all out, and everyone was confused because G is not called Myles. (Why is that so hard?) Finally we got the call on Friday to make an appointment, and we got in today at 3. (very quick turn-around really once they got the right referral).

First of all, Children's is an amazing facility. If G needs emergency care, we're going there. The Gates have been generous donors, and it shows. We had a long wait, but they give you a beeper (like when you go to a busy restaurant) that buzzes you, so you can walk around the facility more. G was weighed and measured (we weren't sure if he was 6.1 kg or 6.5 kg) and we were taken to an exam room. The room was nice, and there was obviously a lot of attention paid to the details. For example, instead of chairs they had a couch thing kind of build into the room. It was designed for families. We had to wait again for the doctor to come in.

First we saw the resident. He asked us a lot of questions, and we told him what we'd observed. He confirmed my suspicion. He took a look at G and G smiled at him and kicked his feet. Then the doctor came in and said we were going to take a look in his throat. They put a scope in his nose and down his throat, so we could see what was going on. Of course, G was crying, which makes the throat open wide, so you couldn't really see it (G does not make his noise when crying, which is pretty typical for kids who have this.) Anyway, the doctor said that sometimes surgery is necessary, but that they did not think that G would need it, because he's gaining weight well. She suggested that we go in to our doc every week or two to check his weight to make sure that he stays on track weight-wise. But, we don't have to go back to Children's unless he stops gaining. They said that he'd likely stop doing it by the time he's 9-12 months, so we'll have a squeaky baby for the foreseeable future. The resident gave us a copy of the movie they made when they put the scope down his throat too. I think I'll put it in his baby book.

And as a reward for reading the whole post, here's some eye candy.

2 months doctor appointment--growing boy

Yesterday afternoon we took G to the doctor for his 2 month appointment. He got some shots and we were very excited about seeing how much he'd grown. Amos and I put a little wager on his weight, A said 10 lbs 3 oz and I said 10 lbs 8 oz. He weighed 10 lbs 5 oz (darn it, if only I'd gotten 1 more ounce down him yesterday I'd have won!); his length was 23 inches (2 more than when he was born); his head circumference was 15.75 inches (2.25 more than when he was born). I notice the difference in his size most of all when I look at him in his car seat. There is a thing that surrounds his head in the seat and when we brought him home from the hospital there were a couple of inches on either side of his head when he was in the seat, now his head looks like it almost "fits." And I think we're getting to the point where we're going to have to adjust the straps on the car seat and move them up.

The doctor also checked his lung and heart sounds and gave him a clean bill of health and told us he looked just great, which is the best news. She laughed about the funny noises he makes, and we told her it freaked us out at first, as we thought it was some sort of respiratory problem. Now we all just agree that he's just vocalizing, and I think I'd freak out if he stopped doing it.

4 week appt with dr. okorn & about G's name

Dr. Okorn was pleased with g's weight and everything else today. He weighed in at 7 lbs 14.5 oz--a full 10 oz from last week. When you see him eat it's easy to understand why he's gaining. He seems to want to eat almost hourly. We're fine with that. Today he had about 4 oz of milk in about an hour--crazy baby! Anyway, we got a reprieve from the weekly dr. visits and won't have to go back until he's 2 months old. A & I really like Dr. O, she's very cool.

Today I also started working on his baby book. I enjoyed writing about some of the stuff that happened before he was born and the story of his name. In case you didn't know, he's named for my great great grandfather, Miles Garrison (and all the other cool Garrisons I know) and Hogan, is A's dad's middle name (his cousin, Dalton has A's dad's first name as his middle name). If he'd been a girl he would have still been Garrison, but he would have been Garrison Katherine Lea Etheridge (a nod to our mothers--Katherine and Leona). Miles Garrison was married to a woman, Mary Frances Huston, who was born (Feb 14, 1866) in Portland, OR. Her parents came to the PNW in a covered wagon across the Oregon Trail. After a few years in Portland they returned to Illinois via steamboat around South America and New York. Her mother's name was Amanda Hogan--so there's another connection to the name Hogan. G's name has a lot of significance to both our families. Of course, there is also the great Miles Davis (the dog, not the jazz musician) who also shares a first name w/ G--appropriate, because he is G's pal and guardian (I like to call him Nana). And our sweet neighbor, Nan (who made G the most beautiful quilt), has several grandchildren and oddly enough her first two grandsons are named Myles and Garrison--we found that out before G was born, after we told her what we planned to name him (small world).

And for your viewing pleasure, some new pictures of lil g.

I'm so bad about posting

It's not like there's nothing going on around here, it's just that I haven't taken the time to write anything about lil g. He had a rough week or so. At his 2 week visit to the doctor he had not gotten back to his birth weight, so we had to try to fatten him up. It looks like the problem was me and the poor breast milk production. I felt bad, like I was starving the poor guy. I'm now taking a lot of fenugreek and reglan to help things out. He's back to his birth weight and eating like a champ. His appetite was never ever the problem--he's constantly hungry.

Another health related item, he had a clicking in his hip which we had an ultrasound for on thursday...all clear. I was worried, because I had a hip that was not in the socket (I guess that's hip dysplasia) and had to wear something called a pillow cast when I was a little baby. Anyway, g's fine. No pillow cast for him.

He's had a lot of firsts in the past 3+ weeks. First party (sabs' & eric's), first time meeting his cousin (lucy!), first shopping trip (with my mom & me), first lunch date (with sabs, maddie, my mom & me), first walk around the block (with amos, miles d & me)...it's very exciting watching him change. I can't believe he's almost a month old already. He is endless hours of entertainment and amazement.

Oh, and I've finally figured out how to upload all my g-movies (ha ha) to imovie from the new video camera. v. exciting. I should have some g-movies posted soon.