Jacob's One Year Check-Up

Jacob had his one year check up with his new pediatrician, Dr. Ramsdell with Ramsdell Pediatrics yesterday. First off, it's a long story why we switched, but I couldn't be happier. Jeff really likes her too, and Jacob seemed to take to her as well. At one point, he reached his arms out for her to pick him up! I can't say he ever did that with his other doctors!

His stats were 20.14 lbs (19th percentile); 30.25 inches (63rd percentile) and I think his head was around 18 cm (57th percentile). We talked about his development and she feels he is just fine in that category as well. He knows 4-6 words pretty well, responds to his name, seeks approval, claps, drinks from a straw/sippy cup, feeds himself etc. He's not walking yet, but he will in his own time.

He couldn't get his shots yesterday though. He's come down with a cold, complete with snot & a nasty cough that is mostly present at night and keeping us all awake. She put him on Xopenex by nebulizer for the next week or so and gave us a new prescription for that. She ordered breathing treatments every 4 hours for the first day or so, then back to every 6 hours as needed. She said he was fine to go to "school," as long as he wasn't running a fever, so we sent him on to Chrissy's today with his nebulizer.

It's funny he is so skinny because I really don't think he could eat any more! Lately, he is loving fruit of all kinds. Last night at dinner he had sprite melon (similar to a honeydew/muskmelon/cantelope), raspberries, grapes, bananas, and applesauce! He also had some veggies & about 1/2 of a turkey sausage.

Birthday Recap & Roseola!

Wow, it's already Friday - where did the week go? At this time last week, we were getting ready for Jacob's party which was last Saturday. I took a half-day Thursday to do some birthday party shopping. My brother, John, & his fiancee, Katherine, flew in on Thursday night from Austin. My mom picked them up from the airport. They got in too late to see Jacob, but on Friday, they pretty much spent the day with him while Jeff and I shopped for food for the party. We got lots of stuff from BJ's (like Sam's, Costco), including burgers, hot dogs, appetizers, lots of food! We spent the rest of the day getting various things ready around the house and preparing as much of the food in advance as we could. I had numerous lists to keep up with all the details! After all, we were expecting around 35 adults & kids!

Friday night, after Jacob went to bed, we decorated the house with ducks galore, duck garland, streamers, etc. Saturday morning, he was up bright & early. I was chopping fruit for fruit salad at 6 a.m.! The party was scheduled for 11 a.m., and Katherine and I went to the Farmer's Market at 8 a.m. for some produce for the fruit salad & pasta salad. (Yes, I'm crazy to wait until the last minute!) I sent John & Jeff on the mission for the cake, ice, balloons & a propane tank! Somehow we got everything ready by around 10:15 a.m. and had a brief moment to shower & change. In the midst of all the activity, Jacob only took about a 40 minute nap and would not go back to sleep. He was pretty fussy.

Guests began arriving, and we served veggies/dips; chips/dips; tortilla chips/salsa; pinwheels, etc. Jeff started grilling hamburgers around 11:30 a.m. and they took longer to cook than we expected! We had 23 hamburgers and they were gone as soon as he could grill them. He then grilled about 24 hot dogs and most of those were gone quickly as well. We also had the aforementioned pasta salad, fruit salad, and baked beans. Everyone ate and the kids played in the living room. We got lots of great pictures. Jacob was really getting tired & yawning, so I knew we needed to get on with gifts & cake! I told Jeff's cousin-in-law, Holly, to tell everyone gifts in 5 minutes! Then, I told her to tell them to come on now because Jacob was seriously tired. Jeff held Jacob while I "helped" open presents. He got lots of great toys and some clothes too. He also received lots of books, which he loves! All the kids were very good while he opened his presents! Then, we quickly moved on to cake! I decided last minute not to get Jacob his own separate cake and just to give him a slice of his ducky cake. Even though he was tired, he didn't pass up on the cake. He dug right in and we gave him 10-15 minutes to enjoy it. Here he is right before I took him up for a bath:

After his bath, I put him in some comfortable clothes, and we came downstairs and he told everyone good night because he was off to nap. I put him down for a nap in his crib upstairs and we turned on the surveillance camera on our TV so everyone could watch him while he went to sleep! He was so exhausted, and I was so happy he didn't freak out during the party. Our guests began to leave, and we all finally relaxed. I was glad we had the party early in the day.

Later that evening, Jeff, John, Katherine & I went to dinner and to see the Simpsons movie. We had a great time. Sunday, we did little more than venture out to Trader Joe's, and had eastern Carolina style BBQ for dinner at my brother's request. Jacob was still very tired, and he was now running a fever.

Monday, Katherine & John flew home. Jacob still had a fever, my mom stayed with him. Tuesday, I stayed home with him. On Wednesday, he broke out in a classic Roseola rash. He's still more tired than usual, but the rash is starting to fade a little. Whew! What a week!

Here are the rest of the pictures from his birthday week: http://www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com/

Our Family.... Simpsonized!

I'll give the recap of Jacob's birthday shortly, but first - over the weekend Jeff and I went to see the Simpson's Movie with my brother, John, and his fiancee, Katherine. Sunday, while sitting around, we saw the Burger King commercial for "simponizing" yourself, so we simpsonized everyone, and John put us all in the same shot using MS Paint! Here's the picture:

From Left to Right: Katherine, Me, Jacob, Jeff, John and my mom!

Jacob's Story - Part 6 - A Happy Ending

Gradually, over the next few days, he started eating more and more; he also started shedding more of his tubes and wires. Here is one of the first pictures of his little face without any tubes or oxygen!



We continued doing chest PT on him. By Tuesday morning, miraculously, his congestion had cleared to the point he didn't even need a chest x-ray! On Tuesday, he was also switched to oral medications. He also started gaining weight. He had made it back to his birth weight on Tuesday evening.

We were discharged on Wednesday, August 16. Jeff and I finally were able to bring our baby boy home with us. It was a very happy day. This is Jacob and I on the day of discharge:




We have had outpatient visits at Duke in August, September, November, January and April. At Jacob's last appointment, on April 24, 2007, his echocardiogram looked great, and when the cardiologist listened to his chest, they could not even detect a heart murmur. For the first time in his short life, they told us we wouldn't need to come back to Duke for 6 months. In fact, he was 11 months old before he had a month without seeing a doctor!

Thank you for reading!

Today, August 1, 2007, Jacob is one. He is the happiest baby.

We are so thankful to our friends and family who supported us so much during Jacob’s first weeks and throughout the last year. The outpouring of love, kindness and prayers from near and far has been amazing. We are truly blessed and our prayers have been answered.

I hope Jacob's Story has helped to raise

awareness for Congenital Heart Defects.

My little man is one today....

August 1 has finally arrived. One year ago today, we were overjoyed to have a 6 lb. 9 oz., 19.75 inch baby boy, and unsure what the future would hold. We are blessed!

(The final chapter will post in a little while, but you already know the ending anyway!)