Tuesday, October 23, 2007

And the echo results are in....

Jacob's heart is functioning beautifully!

We got up early this morning, made our trek to Durham, had a yummy breakfast at Elmo's Diner. Then, made our way to the Children's Clinic at Duke. They did a weigh & measure - Jacob was 30.5 inches and just over 23 lbs (he'd just eaten A LOT!) His vitals were fine. We then made the walk over to the hospital and to the 7th floor Echo lab. First, we tried just sedating with chloral hydrate, but after 30 minutes it was obvious that wasn't going to work, so they gave him 10 mg of Benadryl and he was out 5 minutes later. The echo itself was very thorough and performed not by an echo technician, but by Dr. Trivedi, a cardiology fellow who followed Jacob from admission in August 2006, right up until his discharge 16 days later. He apparently is now on a rotation in the echo lab, so it was very nice to see a familiar face. After about 45 minutes of taking echo images, Dr. Trivedi checked with Dr. Barker, who came back in and took several more images. Then, they told us everything looked very good, and that Jacob's pulmonary arteries and coronary arteries look great, about as well as one could hope after this type procedure. Then, we were sent back to the clinic to see Dr. Delaney. After quite a bit of waiting, we finally saw Dr. Delaney, who was also very pleased with Jacob's progress and heart function. He told us we don't need to come back until Jacob is TWO! So, we made an appointment for August 12, 2008 - nearly 10 months from now! It is such a relief that his appointment went so well!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Cardiology Follow-Up on Tuesday, October 23

I can't believe it has been six whole months since we've been to Duke for an echo and to see Dr. Delaney. Time flies. I remember back in April, when Dr. Delaney said that Jacob was doing so well, they would not need to see him back for 6 months. He couldn't even detect much of a murmur listening to his chest. Previously, we'd been told we'd be going every 3 months, so that was really good news! Jacob was 8 months old at that point, and I tried to imagine what he would be like in 6 months. I really had no idea!

Here we are now, with our 14.5 month old, and he is so much fun. He can now walk, he talks, he throws & rolls a ball, he can go get Elmo or Pooh, or other toys. He loves light switches and lights. He loves to open & close drawers & doors. He loves to crawl (fast) down our hall! He loves bath time and splashing (and ducks!). He loves to eat, especially any kind of veggie with roasted red pepper hummus on it! He also loves any kind of fruit, grilled cheese, and grilled chicken. And, he loves Fruity Cheerios and Goldfish. He is growing up before our very eyes. He is such a cuddly boy and gives great hugs! He loves his Slugger and his Lambchop puppet and sleeps with both every night. He still takes two naps a day and goes to bed at 7 p.m. He does wake up around 5:30 a.m., but he talks to himself and plays while mommy & daddy sleep another 45 minutes (or try to!). He loves the Wiggles & especially Dorothy (which he calls "Dor-tee") He is truly our little blessing and we love him so. I can't imagine our life before him or without him!

Anyway, I am confident we will have a report of continuing good health on Tuesday! I hope you will be thinking of us and praying for us on that day!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Walking!

Where do I start? Since the last entry, of course, we have been busy!

We attended Elizabeth's 1st birthday party on September 8! Elizabeth is the daughter of Barry & Sandra, friends of ours who live about an hour away. Jacob had a good time and enjoyed having cake again!

The following weekend, September 15 - we went to Wilmington to visit my mom, my dad and Jeff's mom. They all enjoyed playing with Jacob.

It's hard to remember, but the last two weeks of September were busy ones for Jeff and I at work and I remember working quite a bit on the weekends. They were also filled with the usual trips to Target, the grocery store, etc. Boring stuff!

However, as indicated in the title of this post, we had a momentous occasion last week! On October 3, Jacob took his first solo steps! Jeff picked Jacob up from Chrissy's and took several steps to Jeff. Then, after they got home, we had a great time trying to get Jacob to take more steps! I'm going to try to post video here.... If this doesn't work, shoot me an email and I'll send you the link or video. Please post and tell me whether or not this works as I can't see it!