Eleven Month Pictures

Her Closet Door Wasn't Closed

Willa doesn't miss an opening. That could be a door, a laptop, or a crumb of food on the ground (which leads to choking).  There are certain doors which need to stay closed because the rooms are not kid appropriate. Downstairs, these rooms are the office and the pantry. I think Willa senses when the doors are open and she is off like a shot. Also, she is pretty good at maneuvering a door open if it isn't fully closed. See the picture to the right of her unpacking some diapers.

Daren can no longer relax on the couch while working on his laptop. Willa wants the laptop and screams until she gets it. Granted, I think the laptop envy sped up her ability to stand.

It is rare there is food on the ground at our house. However, we did have friends over two weeks ago and their son snacks on cheerios. Willa snagged a dropped cheerio and I was hopeful it would go well. It did not. Impromptu bath. Thankfully, the blueberry, pear, purple carrot didn't stain her white outfit. We don't hold the cheerio against RJ because he brought Willa flowers. Such a gentleman at 13 months.

We took over 100 pictures on Saturday morning for Willa's 11 month pictures. I've second guessed which ones to share at least five times. My baby is just way too cute and I'm way too good with the camera.

The Tenth Month

I credit all developmental success to Willa's physical therapy sessions. I can only go off of what is told to me by Daycare Sharon, but it sounds like Willa needs to be shown something once and she has it down. This week might be Willa's fifth session with the therapist provided by Early Intervention.

By ten months, your baby....

...should be able to:

• stand holding on to someone or something Willa started standing assisted right at 10 months 
• pull up to standing from sitting Yup, especially if she can see a laptop on the couch. 
• object if you try to take a toy away She doesn't object if you take away a toy. She will scream very loudly if you take away the remotes, move a laptop or take a book out of her mouth (poor Brown Bear Brown Bear)
• say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately Finally, this child will say mama
• exchange back-and-forth gestures with you Waving and clapping

...will probably be able to:

• get into a sitting position from stomach Yup, I think this was learned through PT
• walk holding on to furniture Not yet 

Upper GI Procedure

A little late in talking about Willa's UGI. This happened last week Tuesday. I decided it was Daren's turn to take her in since I had to deal with the blood work (reminder - N.I.N.E. vials) from the previous week. Daren's description of the procedure -

She got strapped to a plank and they swung the machine over her to take pictures. There were some initial pictures and then she had to drink the "stuff" to see how it flowed through her system. They were constantly flipping her around to get the "stuff" to move inside of her - from her back to her side over and over. Willa's arms were up above her head  Superman style while watching the flow. Daren said she was generally pretty good as far as crying and cooperating.

Initial results showed Willa's insides working as they should. Interestingly, the test also showed no reflux.

I got the final UGI results on Wednesday when I called to report how things were going in regards to the appetite stimulant. The UGI showed some malrotation of the intestines - not surprising considering Willa's omphalocele.  The doctors are not concerned with the malrotation because it isn't severe enough to cause a blockage.

Oh, and last week Willa hit 14 pounds. BAM!

Visit with GABS

Last weekend was a whirlwind visit with my Aunt Sue from Indianapolis. Nicknames occur when you have multiple family members with the name Sue and one of the names for Aunt Sue is GABS - Great Aunt Big Sue. Now ya know.

The reasons for GABS visit was to see friends, family and buy plants. I'm not exactly sure the order of importance. Either way, we had a fabulous time and can't want for her to come back and see us again.

GABS enjoying her excursion to Plant Delights

Big decision - what to wear??

Saturday morning spent at the JC Raulston Arboretum

Plants are beautiful AND dangerous

Fun sculpture made of bamboo

Willa cheering along with GABS for the Hawkeyes!

Saying mama

Willa can say mama. Will would not say mama in this video.

Medical Update

Lots going on right now with Willa. I've been hesitant to post any details because things are happening but we are not really seeing results. Let me try and explain but still keep this short -

8/8 - Was her NICU follow up visit with the Special Infant Care Unit. At this visit Willa weighed 12lb 11oz.Willa was put on the reflux medicine Prevacid (taken twice a day). I also had to email the Special Infant Care Unit each Wednesday with a weigh check.

8/15 - Reported an amazing weight gain with Willa being 13lb 3oz.

8/21 - Reported a smaller weight gain with Willa being 13lb 6oz.

8/23 - Let them know that we were not seeing a big change in her eating habits since starting the reflux med. We were told to change the fortifier from Gerber Gentlease to Gerber Nutramigen. I requested a barium study be completed to better understand her reflux.  We were referred to the Pediatric GI doctors.

8/28 - Reported that Willa lost weight and was at 13lb even. The weight loss caused concern.

9/4 - Labor Day weekend was awful due to Willa's fever. However, she did gain weight  and was back to 13lb 6oz. I let them know we did not feel the Prevacid or Nutramigen was helping with the reflux and eating issues. We were "pushed" to bring Willa to see the Peds GI doctors by 3pm that day.

Saw the nurse practitioner for the GI doctors. The immediate change was that Willa's reflux medicine was switched to Nexium (taken twice a day). I am to call the GI docs once a week in addition to emailing the Special Infant Care Unit about her weight.

9/5 - I get a phone call from the GI doctors that they want Willa to come for some blood work. They are looking for reasons she is not growing. Some of things to be examined - electrolytes, complete blood count, thyroid, and celiac markers.

9/11 - Reported that Willa's weight went unchanged this week and remained at 13lb 6oz.

Another last minute request to bring Willa to the hospital. This time it was to see speech doctors for feeding assistance. Willa's feeding via bottle, puffs, and baby cereal was observed. We are potentially going to add feeding therapy sessions which will occur at daycare.

Next came the blood draw. This was awful for Willa and me. They took nine vials. N.I.N.E. I had to hold down my screaming baby. The only positive was that ladies only had to stick her once.

Met again with the nurse practitioner from Peds GI. Also saw the doctor who let us know that everyone is very concerned about Willa's lack of weight gain. There are a variety of things that they will try and the "experimenting" will occur rapidly.  I was thanked several times for being able to drop everything at work to bring Willa to UNC.

Willa was started on a medicine which will hopefully stimulate her appetite - Cyprohepadine. If we don't see results in 3-4 days than her diet will take a major change. All dairy products will be cut out and Willa will start Neocate (nondairy formula). No more breast milk or whole milk yogurt. Thankfully we were given two sample cans of Neocate as it is quite $$$$$



I tried to keep the medical recap as short as possible. You all deserve a Halloween Oreo if you made it through that entire post. Next up for Willa is an upper GI series on Tuesday, October 17th. Also, we are waiting on the results of the blood work.

Three Years

Signed, sealed and delivered for three years strong.

Ten Month Pictures

Daredevil. Daren couldn't stray far from the rocking chair in the nursery during the ten month photo shoot. Willa was all over the place. A few times safety dad got his body in the way of my ability to get a cute shot.

I need to actually learn how to use my fancy schmany camera since Willa is getting more and more mobile.  It isn't easy to get a picture of a baby on the move. Willa is moving so much that she gets a blister on her big toe of her right foot. I only say the right foot because she still isn't using her left leg for crawling. This child has her own style.

Lots of pictures because she was all into posing moving around.

The Ninth Month

Running a bit behind schedule here folks. It was tough to get things accomplished with Willa having her first fever.

By nine months, your baby....

...will probably be able to:

• pull up to standing position from sitting still working on the transition of sitting to crawling. She is stubborn about still going into the splits position while falling forward. 
• get into a sitting position from stomach nope
• stand holding on to someone or something nope
• say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately dada. always dada

...may possibly be able to:

• understand "no" (but not always obey it) She knows and understand. Instant crying after I said she couldn't use the doorstop as a teether. 

...may even be able to:

• "play ball" (roll back to you) Daddy and Willa work on this from time to time but I don't think Willa's flinging of the ball would count as anything purposeful.
• drink from a cup independently She can fake it. Actual liquid in the cup would mean a very wet child.
• pick up a tiny object neatly with tops of thumb and forefinger Willa has a very delicate tough as she picks up her puffs

This was a tough bunch of milestones to recap. So much has happened in the past week but technically it all occurred during the 10th month. Physical therapy might be a bit too successful. 

Change of Plans

We were supposed to spend Labor Day weekend in Pennsylvania visiting Daren's family. Sadly, that didn't happen. Around noon on Thursday I got a text from Daycare Sharon that Willa had spiked a fever. This was Willa's first fever and uncharted territory for us. Looking back it probably wasn't the best idea to still try and drive through the night to Pennsylvania. We had to turn around an hour into the drive because Willa threw up in the car and then twice in the parking lot of the random gas station. Fun times.

We spent most of Friday at the pediatrician and the ER. Our pediatrician was trying to find the cause of the fever as well as why her breathing and heart rate were fast. One of the first thoughts was pneumonia but that was ruled out by chest x-ray. X-rays for babies are cruel and unusual punishment. Google "pig o stat" but insert a screaming Willa for the baby. Willa also had to endure -

Blood work - Daren held our crying little girl while they squeezed blood from her index finger
Urine sample via catheter - I had to hold Willa's legs apart while she screamed, flailed and clamped her little legs shut. It was brutal. Willa wasn't the only one with tears.
EKG - No biggie
RSV test - It took less than a second but Willa did not like the nose swabbing. She spit multiple times to show her disapproval.

All of that and still no answers. Our pediatrician thought it might be a bowel obstruction and sent us to the pediatric ER at UNC. Long story short - we learned nothing at the ER and finally got to leave after 4.5 hours.  Oh, Willa was violated once again because they took her temperature twice...rectally.

Willa's fever lingered all day Saturday and Daren felt under the weather as well. Thankfully, everyone was back to normal on Sunday.

Very sad we didn't make it to Pennsylvania to see everyone and have cuddle time with cousins.