I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but William is a projectile vomiter. He projectile vomits two or three times a day and spews vomit several feet. Old Faithful, I call him. Even though he vomits (not spit up) so much, he has still been gaining weight very well. The last time he went to the ped, he had gained a pound in the previous thirteen days. So we hadn't been too worried about the vomit. But now, in addition to the ear infections, he seems to have a very hard time eating and I hear what sounds like him refluxing as he is taking his bottle. The past few days it has affected how much he eats and he is really fighting the bottle. I'm not sure if it is reflux (what it sounds like to me) or if he is having trouble sucking because of the ear infections and is swallowing a bunch of air. It worries me and I am going to take him to the doctor asap.I think William is also showing signs of his vision impairment now. He seems to prefer to look at objects by turning his head. He also seems to have a hard time locating objects that he hears unless they are moving. Thus, he loves to stare at my mouth. When looking around, he seems to get easily overstimulated and starts to panic and whips his head from side to side. His next ophtho appointment is in six weeks so I hope she will be able to give me some idea how much he sees at this point and if the other behaviors are signs that he is having trouble seeing.
William is also very hypertonic. He is often stiff as a board and I can lift him with one hand. I'm pretty sure that the bulk of his stiffness is because of his reflux. He is not, however, showing any spacicity yet. The Neuro said not to expect to see any spastic signs until about 3 months adjusted. Right now he is only six weeks adjusted so we have a while still.
On a good note, I can tell he is getting ready to smile at me. He is still very serious but every now and then when I am singing a silly song to him, I swear he is going to smile at me. He is also good at tummy time and his head control is getting better (when he isn't whipping his head around).
Margaret is starting to show that she likes William. Whenever I ask her about him or she sees him, she gets a big smile on her face. When she is feeling especially social, she tries to "feed" him whatever she has on hand. Sometimes it is the fish food or the saline nose drops. One day after changing him, I stepped into the kitchen to throw away the dirty diaper. Upon my return, I noticed that William had a Cheerio stuck to his mouth. Margaret was sharing her precious Cheerios. So cute. (please note in the picture the broken monitor wires... I'm so bad.)
5 comments:
Lisa, your family takes my breath away. So beautiful & so strong. Thanks for sharing them with us!!
I can totally relate. Norovirus is going around the area where our speech therapy center is and they sent out a notice not to come in if your child has vomited in the last 3 days. My husband laughed and said "We'd better start teaching him to sign." Have you guys worked with a light box at all? They are so good for teaching tracking (although Noah was close to a year before he "got it"). I highly recommend pushing for EI to get you one. I'll try to get some pictures this weekend so you can see how it works.
Just checking in on my other babies. Margaret looks so cute with her chicken:) Sounds like she is quite the little "mommy." Does she have any baby dolls?
I hope everything turns out ok for William. I will be checking back.
Jess and buds
Until a baby is around 3-4 months old the way he looks at things is to turn his head. She hasn't "learned" how to move her eyes yet. So not to worry about this. Your other child did this, too, but since she was the first you didn't notice it.
Mary Ann
The children are very lovely. Don't forget to watch Idol and vote for me.
Post a Comment