Three Months of Joy

Our handsome little man is 3 months old today!! He is growing more and more everyday and I am so thankful that he is here.I couldn't imagine our family without him.He can now hold his head up,is cooing at us, smiles and kicks all the time.A recent purchase was a bumbo seat which he loves.

Now don't be fooled.This IS his happy face:)
Taking care of a baby again has been an adjustment but seeing how happy the girls are to have a little brother makes my heart happy.This momma feels so blessed with her family and life she has.Today I am giving thanks for all that I have and looking forward to watching my kids grow!

Got GERD?

The last two days have been filled with doctors appointments.Since we need to be seen as soon as possible we don't get to choose where we see the doctor.They have 3 offices(San Diego,Escondido and Murrieta) Unfortunately almost all of Owens appointments have been in Escondido.

Mondays visit was with Dr.Garcia the Gastroenterologist to talk about his tummy issues.Owen has been painfully throwing up since birth.And when I say throwing up I mean PROJECTILE  vomiting all over the place!It has not been a fun thing to deal with.I switched from regular burp clothes to kitchen microfiber towels so that I could mop  up his mess.Along with the throwing up came endless amounts of crying,burping,gagging,choking,congestion and over all fussiness.Now let me just say I know he is a newborn!But this is not normal run of the mil crying this is "mom im pissed,i don't feel good" cry. This momma was losing it a little bit.

He officially was diagnosed with GERD about 3 weeks ago.He has been on Zantac that seemed to help some but he is still a fussy little guy.Dr.Garcia switched his medicine and we will be starting it tonight.She also wants him to get a Upper GI just to check and make sure everything is ok.He has already had an ultrasound of his tummy but she wants a better look.We will follow up with her in about a month.

As for today's visit it was thankfully here in town with his regular pediatrician Dr.Paik.I adore her.I love the office and I love the staff there.They have all watched Owen grow in his short little life and love seeing him.His appointment was to follow up on all his visits so far and to look at future appointments.Not much to report other then his stats for 12 weeks:
Weight: 13lbs 4 oz
Height: 22.5 in
He is in the 54% for Weight and only 7% for height.

Mr.Smiles

This is officially the first pic i have of him smiling!!We just love our little pirate man and I am so happy to share his smiles with all of you..

This weekend started off great with a Movie in the park.Our city does a Movie in the park on Friday nights in the summer time.They have games for the kids before hand and it is overall just a great time to spend with family.

Owen loves to be worn in his baby sling

As the night time came the girls had to snuggle up to dad to get warm

Next week i think we will dress a little warmer:)

Adventures in Audiology

Today was Owens hearing test.We needed to do a repeat test from the one he had as a newborn in the hospital.According to the tech at the hospital the first day he didn't pass then the next day he barely passed.Which today i found out he probable didn't pass at the hospital at all that they just dont want to be the ones to tell you your child cant here so they tell you they pass but then to follow up later with a second test.


The test today was a little bit of a challenge because Owen had to be alseep.For anyone who has to put your child to sleep you know that this isnt an easy task.As much as Owen sleeps, today he just did not want to go to sleep.It took almost 45 min of rocking,nursing and singing.Once the test started it was challenging because he is and has been, congested since birth so for the tech to get the info she needed it took 2x as long.


Now for the result.His right ear has mild to moderate hearing loss and his left ear(side with the palsy) has moderate hearing loss.One ear drum moves and one doesn't.We are to follow up with the ENT and see if he just has fluid on his ears.If so it needs to be drained.Once we see the ENT we will have to go back for a second more in depth hearing test.One good note tho is it isn't nerve related.Also the ENT should be able to address his congestion problem.


Im finding out with every visit I go to they all seem to think all his problem are related and it points more and more to Moebius Syndrome.From the choking,gagging,spiting up to the hearing,eye and facial palsy.We will know alot more after his MRI.Also Today we were referred to dysmorphology to look into it more.So we add one more doctor to the list.


I cant say enough how incredible the group of doctors are that we now go to.Every person i see has SO much information.They all interact and work with each other and get you to the right doctor that you need to see.It is making this process a little bit easier for me.


Upcoming adventures are O.T. on Friday, Gastroenterology on Monday and Reg Pediatrics on Tuesday.

The Art of making Laundry Soap

A couple weeks ago I came across this blog that showed you how to make your own Laundry soap.So I decided I would try it.It was so inviting-576 loads of laundry for roughly $6!!!Seeing as I spend around $20 a month to do 96 loads I was pretty darn excited.My biggest concern was the cleanliness of the clothes and the fading effect.To my surprise after some research it actually helps save your clothes and makes them brighter.

First we will start with the

Ingredients

1 Bar of any kind of Soap ( I used costco brand)

1 cup of Borax

1 cup of Arm and Hammer Super washing Soda

A big pot that holds more then 2 gals of water

A grater

A funnel

A long spoon

2 Gallons of of Water

2 Jugs to store Soap

First start by grating the soap into your pot

Add 1 Gallon of water and let cook until soap dissolves

Once soap is dissolved add your Borax and Washing soda

Bring to a Boil.(It will start to thicken.)

Turn off heat and add the second gal of water.

Stir well then funnel into your Jugs.

As it starts to cool you will see it thicken more and more into a gel type consistency.Turning into its final stage around 24 hours.I use around a half of cup per load and it cleans great! I have a HE front loading washer and this soap works great for it because there are no suds.What I have learned is suds dont =clean;)

Also one last tip is make sure and shake your soap before you use it to make sure it is well mixed.

**I have read that you can add essential oils for smell but i haven't tried it yet,with the above recipe it leaves no smell on your clothes**

Our New Life

Today was a day filled with stress,answers and prayers.We had an apt with ophthalmology today.All day I couldn't help but think that my little baby boy could be blind.After getting wrong directions and taking a 10 min detour I finally made it right on time to the apt.While I was filling out papers another mom offered to hold Owen for me which was such a nice thing.I got to fill out papers with no screaming baby in my arms.


Sitting there in the room all alone wondering what the outcome was gonna be was so hard.My poor baby had to get eye drops every 15 min,which he hated,for a little over an hour.Finally it was time to see the doctor.I was greeted by a very casual looking man with a thick Irish accent.He right off the bat diagnosed Owen with a 6th and 7th nerve palsy.Informed me that he wasnt blind just a little far-sided.He said Owen could have had a mini stroke or have Moebius Syndrome.Some of the other notes were that his left eye only moves in one direction and that in a couple years he could do surgery to correct his eye.He ordered a MRI with contrast and I was to follow up with him a week after the MRI.


Finally a doctor who knew what they were talking about.As a mom you know when something is wrong with your child and for the last 2 months we have just been brushed to the side like there was nothing wrong.In my opinion it is purely because they just didnt know.After some of my own research I am finding how rare this all is.If it is Moebius Syndrome its something like 1 in a million. There still is a possibility that this is JUST nerve damage and that it will go away on its own.(im praying for that outcome).If not he will later down the road have surgery so he can smile on both sides.


The weeks ahead are going to be a little hectic with all the appointments we have to go to...MRI,Gastroenterology,Neurology,OT,follow up with his Pediatric doctor and Ophthalmology.All this along with the girls starting school in 3.5 weeks.
I am so incredible THANKFUL for finding the childrens group that we have and to have doctors that are so involved in my child's health.


So for now I sit with my little pirate man and still think he is the most perfect baby i could ask for.

Lets Back this up a bit

After alot of days of saying"I want to start blogging" Here I am.My and the keyboard letting my thoughts flow:)


I want to try and back up a bit to the start of Owens precious little life.I am trying to document all the things that are happening in our life.So here it goes.


 At 33 weeks i went into preterm labor.I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days.It was miserable but i got threw it.I was sent home on a medicine called procardia that I was suppose to take every 3 hours for the next 3 weeks.It was a terrible medicine.I felt like SHIT! But anything I could do to keep my baby in there I would do.In those 3 weeks I wasnt allowed to do anything but get up to go pee.I am so incredible thankful to my husband and friend jen for stepping up and taking care of the family.It was such a struggle for me to give up control of MY house but there was nothing I could do.Also at this time the girls were in their first season of soccer which I had to miss out on:(


 I made it to 36 weeks(right on the dot) We got to the hospital at 1:30am I was checked and was at 4cm and 80%. I was told to walk for 2 hours and see what happened.After 2 hours i only changed .25cm but they decided to keep me.This is where the nightmare for me began.....being only 36 weeks I was told(after being admitted  there was nothing they could give me to move along labor.All i could do was walk,so thats what I did for basically the next 36 hours was walk and squat and lung my way down the hallway of redlands community hallways.I was begging for them to break my water and give me pitocin but no one would finally on day 3 my new doc broke my water gave me pitocin and  the show was finally on the road.I opted for the epidural and waited for my little man to come.At 8:10pm I felt like pushing and at 8:23pm after 2 pushes he was here.


From that first cry we noticed something wasnt right.He only cried out of one side of his mouth.No one said anything tho.He checked out perfect they said and sent us off to recover.Though out the night i noticed one eye didnt open and he didnt really cry with his mouth open at all. Just a muffled cry.He was having issues latching but nothing too serious.the next day the pediatrician said he noticed so asymmetry in his face but not be worried he would be fine and it would go away in a week or two.At his follow up with his reg ped a couple days later he said the same thing.I never really thought too much of it cause they were making it no big deal.


A week went by and he woke up with a goppy closed eye.I immediately took him to urgent care.the told me no big deal but took a culture of it anyway.i was told it was more then likely a clogged tear duct and sent on my way with some eye drops.The next week things went from bad to worse and this is where i will leave you for the night.The next recall of Owens life is gonna take me a while to write so night night for now

Owen Christopher Johnson born 4-30-2011  6lbs4.5oz and 18 in long