We had to be a the hospital this morning at 5 a.m. Which meant getting up at 2:30 to leave here by 3:30… But it was all worth it because the surgery went GREAT. It was so quick. He didn’t have any trouble coming out of the anesthesia, no problems with the asthma, just a little nausea and vomitting on the way home. He was quite upset when he first came out of the anesthesia, he just wanted Mommy and he let them know it. But they came and got me and I got him calmed down and they let us stay there while he recovered some. He’s already had a big bowl of oatmeal and had a good lunch. We got him up at 3:45 a.m. to get there on time and he did NOT fall back asleep on the way down there. He napped a little on the way home (45 minutes) but then he woke up when we got home. Once we got here and he had some oatmeal, then he played and played and played. He has been in the best mood, talking constantly (babbling) and laughing and smiling. Now he is tired, full and in the bed asleep. And I’m about to be. 
I do have to say St. Vincent’s was GREAT. The staff, the facilities, everything was professional and organized. The nurses were so sweet and so personable. Overall it was a great experience. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, offers of food, etc. We love and appreciate all of our wonderful friends and family.
The surgery is scheduled for Thursday, February 22 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham. We’re a little nervous about it but we know it is the best thing. We essentially got 3 opinions about it and I know that out of those three if anyone had a doubt as to whether or not we should move forward with the surgery, they’d have told us. It is a very simple, outpatient procedure and they do it every day with lots and lots of babies. In fact, I haven’t met a single parent that has gotten tubes for their child and regretted it. Every parent we’ve talked to has just raved about the difference. Hopefully we will too.
So, please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers 2 weeks from now. I’ll try to keep the website updated between now and then and I will definitely put up a post when we get back home.
This afternoon we went to our wonderful pediatrician, Dr. Hester. He took one look at his ears and said “Call Dr. LeVine and schedule the surgery.” Apparently he has a ton of fluid in his ears which is a breeding ground for bacteria and otitis media (ear infection). He just finished meds Monday and his ears should look great with no fluid.
I’ve put in a call to the ENT (Dr. LeVine). Hopefully we can get this scheduled and get Atticus back on track to feeling better. I’ve read that fluid in your ears make it sound like you’re under water when people are talking to you. Poor thing!! I’ll put a post up when I hear about the surgery. And, I’ll try to be better about posting when I write the message as opposed to when I get the photo galleries done that way I don’t have 6 drafts waiting to be posted.
Yeah, the picture speaks for itself. And so do the others. Atticus has figured out how to flip over his submarine ball pit. He has also figured out how to put his foot in the window and hoist himself up and dive through the roof. He has so much fun flipping it around and getting under it and kicking the balls all around the room.
At least he’s playing with it. We should send pictures to the manufacturere… Click here to see the other photos.
With the super huge amount of meds Atticus has been taking and the fact that he’s not a lot better, we headed back to Birmingham yesterday yet again. Our allergist looked at his ears and they looked as though they hadn’t improved at all. He made an appointment for us to see an ENT and insisted that we go right then. They worked us in for that afternoon.
I tried my hardest to get Atticus take a nap in the car during the 2 hours that we killed waiting for th ENT appt. No such luck. It doesn’t matter that he sometimes falls asleep in the car at the most inopportune times… But obviously not today. So, we were in a GREAT mood for the ENT appt that afternoon.
The ENT said that he wanted to wait until he was off the meds before we made a decision for tubes (give the meds a chance to work…). He qualifies for tubes now and he thinks before this is all over he’ll be putting tubes in. In fact, he said that if he doesn’t get better to have the pediatrician look at his ears next week and if they’re infected and/or have fluid to just call and they’ll go ahead and schedule the surgery.
The allergist actually called today and asked about the appt. He was not very pleased with that answer, but agreed we could wait until the meds were over. I was touched that he called to check on him, he was very worried about his ears.
So,we talked to our pediatrician and he said he’d be happy to look at Atticus’ ears next week and we could make a call from there. The ENT is a bit more optimistic than I.
It makes us sad when Atticus is sick or not feeling well. We miss the silly, smiley boy from a few months ago. But, we have hope that there will be an answer to this dilemma. Again, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
We had planned to go to TN this weekend, but with Atticus under the weather, Nana and Papa decided to come down here! We were thrilled that they decided to come down and they arrived late Friday night. We didn’t have any big plans all weekend and we just stayed around the house and played with Atticus. It was so much fun, it was nice to catch up with Mom and Dad and Atticus loved all the attention.
Papa became his big buddy with the blocks. They sat on and off for 2-3 hours playing with blocks. My Dad would stack them up very tall and Atticus would knock them down just as quick.
Atticus doesn’t seem to be feeling that great even after all the meds. I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens.
Click here to see the great photos of Nana and Papa’s visit.
The day after we finished our last antibiotic, our runny nose came back. The next day it just got worse with coughing and congestion. Over the weekend he had a fever and had a very hard time sleeping. First thing Monday morning we called our allergist in B’ham. He saw us a couple of weeks ago for ear infections in both ears. We were supposed to get our 2nd flu shot then but everyone forgot about it. So we decided to go back to him again today and let him look at the ears and get our second flu shot.
He was very dissapointed to see that his ears were infected again and looked as bad as they did the last time. This time he gave him 600mg of Amoxicillin and a shot of Rocephin. It was not a very happy visit to the doctor for Atticus, but we’re hoping and praying he feels better after this. The doc told us that given his past history (4 infections in 4 months) that he would probably need tubes if this didn’t work.
Please keep him in your prayers.
Lately Atticus has really gotten independent/BRAVE. He has learned how to climb up on the furniture all by himself and get down all by himself. He also knows how to run across the couch yelling, but that’s a big no-no. He can go down the stairs by himself, but we’re not leaving the gates open just yet. We’re not quite there… or at least we don’t feel like chasing him up and down 3 stories all the time.
Yesterday, I told Atticus it was time for him to eat, he immediately came to me and we went downstairs to the kitchen. He usually runs around until I put him in his chair. I was busy getting his food to the table and looked over to see him almost in his highchair. BY HIMSELF. I am so happy the camera happened to be on the kitchen table because I don’t think Justin would’ve believed me otherwise. He was so proud of himself.
He’s also gotten independent with his food, he wants to hold his own bagel, “don’t break it up into baby pieces for me — I’ll hold it and get my own bites, thank you very much.” He’s also gotten that way with a banana. Justin just loves watching him eat and took a few pictures of his independent little self.
Click here to see a few pictures of Atticus exerting his independence…
Today our MOMS Club took a field trip to Pump It Up in Trussville, Alabama. We had such a good time, we had a pretty good sized group considering the travel. Atticus had a blast. He wasn’t feeling so great after having 3 shots yesterday then bouncing on his legs all morning. And, we have a sneeking suspicion that his ears aren’t doing so great either, a runny nose appeared this morning as did some sneezing and coughing. We’ll watch it, but we finished out antibiotic yesterday. I sure hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
While I was there I did think of my friends Kenny and Lauren who have gone to TWO birthday parties now at a place like this. Their pictures are priceless. I didn’t get a chance to do a flip (Lauren..) but I did sneak in a few cheerleading jumps from back in the day.
We’re definitely going back and on a date when Daddy can go with us, he would have a blast. I would definitely recommend this place if you are around the Birmingham Area. It is huge, there are tons of inflatables and they are the heavy duty ones too. It was clean and the people were very nice.
Click here to see the fun pictures.
