All is well

Things have been rather hectic around the McConnell household. Both DJ and I have started back to work and Ian has been going to a sitter 3 days a week. I haven't worked since the May before Ian was born, so it's a very big adjustment. Ian has never been to a real sitter. He's always had his mama or a grandmother to watch him, so it's a very new thing for him as well. He seems to be doing just fine. The only issue is that he gets upset when DJ drops him off in the morning. He's in that very clingy stage where he wants only familiar faces. We're hoping it will get better once he gets more accustomed to the sitter. I have to say, I was very nervous about how he would do, especially at nap time. Instead of being read to and rocked to sleep, he would be put in a play pen without either. The sitter has 5 other kids, so rocking him is not an option. It seems to be working though, as Ian is now finally sleeping in his crib again. Ever since the clingy stage started, he would not sleep in his crib and slept with us. As soon as we would try to put him in the crib, he would scream. We tried leaving him and checking every few minutes, but he would not calm down. Plus, I had a hard time leaving him screaming. So, the fact that he's now going to sleep in his own bed is a very big deal. He still gets his stories and rocked a bit, but now we don't have the screaming or if we do, it's only for a minute. Last night he went down without any tears! What a blessing!

Ian is a crawling machine. He is everywhere. He has started trying to conquer the stairs as well, so we're going to have to baby proof them. No walking yet, but it's not too far away. I think he's content with crawling all over the place for now.

On the mend

I have gotten reports today that Ian is doing much better. He woke up only three times last night and went back to sleep much easier than before. He had been waking up screaming and it has taken a lot to get him to calm down. I believe he is officially off of the Tylenol with codeine, but is still taking regular Tylenol as needed. He ate a 7 ounce bottle this morning. Now, this is a big deal! He had been taking maybe 2-4 ounces every 4-5 hours. We have been so worried about how little he has been eating.

I feel like there may be an end in sight! Thank you so much for your prayers, as I feel they are being answered. Please continue to keep the little guy in thought. He still has a way to go to get back his buddha belly :)

Emergency room scare

Wednesday night I get a call from DJ saying that Ian is bleeding and he is taking him to the ER at Scottish Rite. He said I didn't have to come and that he can handle it. Of course I know he is very capable, but I also know I would have not gotten any school work done sitting around waiting to hear. First off, the bleeding is bad because he just had palate surgery. Secondly, he has hemophilia which makes clotting and healing difficult enough without any issues. Luckily, DJ was smart enough to think to give him Amicar, which is the medicine Ian gets after surgeries to help him heal like he should. The Amicar helped stop the bleeding by the time they got to the hospital. Once I finally get there(the drive seemed to take forever), I see my mom, DJ, and Ian all covered in blood. Talk about scary! They have already seen a nurse, who has taken his temperature (101.2) and given him some Tylenol. We wait around for a while for a plastic surgeon to get there. She attempts to look at his palate, but has little success with a hungry baby who's in pain. The ER doc looks at Ian's ears, which look "perfect". However, at this point we have little explanation for the bleeding. Dr. Williams, Ian's regular plastic surgeon, is out of town and would like us to come in for office hours tomorrow. So, we part ways. Ian's grandmothers take him to the plastic surgeon's office the next day. Dr. Williams is in Colorado, but was able to talk to them on the phone. He seemed to think that the packing had caused the spontaneous bleeding. The packing, made of corn starch, dissolves after a few days. When it dissolves, it leaves exposed gum and such and can cause bleeding. As far as the temperature goes, he wrote a prescription for an antibiotic to get only if Ian still had a temperature the next day. No need in giving medicines Ian didn't need if the only cause for the fever was dehydration.

Fast forward to today, Friday. Ian has eaten about 14-15 ounces since 8 am and 2 containers of baby food. Although this is not much at all, it is a big improvement from the previous days. I know the poor little guy is hungry. And "little" is to be taken literally. Ian was never a big baby to begin with, so not eating much for a week makes him look scary-little. Luckily, we're improving day by day. I cannot wait until he is eating like he was before surgery. I don't mind the restless night so much, but I do mind that he is having such a hard time eating.

Prayers for the Rowells

This is little Ramsey and his daddy. Cope is the son of my parents' good friends. He recently came back from Iraq for a short break and to meet his son. Unfortunately, he had to leave again for another 4 months. Their story, like many in the military is very touching. I have the utmost respect for the men and women fighting, as well as for the families they leave here. I know it takes a lot from everyone. All I ask is that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Recovery update

I got a report that Ian is doing better today. Unfortunately, I am unable to be with him because I am taking classes in another city. My mom has been kind enough to take care of him during the day. Today he ate 2 containers of bananas and drank 8 ounces of formula while my mom was there (7am-6pm). I know this doesn't sound like much, but it is an improvement. I was stayed home yesterday and he was barely drinking anything. He preferred to drink from a big boy cup, which required less sucking. By last night he was drinking some from his bottle. He woke up a few times to eat maybe an ounce or two and take some pain meds. We are still using the Haberman. However, he does better with the older nipples that have been worn in. We got some new ones when we were at the hospital, but they require him to suck more than he's willing right now. All in all, he's doing better, but not where he needs to be to make us all feel better. He's a pretty small little guy as it is and I hate to see him lose any weight.

Thank you for your support thus far. Please keep Ian and his caregivers in your prayers. He's still in a lot of pain, and is trying to adjust to his new palate. He's also had to give up his passie in the process, which makes it even more difficult to soothe him.

The worst part is over...

...hopefully. Ian had his palate surgery Friday. Surgery was scheduled for 10:40am, but we had to be there by 7am for lab work. We hurried to the hospital to wait around for a while. Once we were called back, Ian had labs drawn to determine his factor level. With hemophilia, he had to get Factor 8 through an IV before this and any type of surgery. After receiving the factor, more labs were drawn to make sure his level was where it needed to be. Luckily, he had only 2 pokes this time instead of 7 like before the last surgery. He was a total champ about it. The second time he was poked, he only whimpered for a minute. Surgery and recovery took somewhere around 2 hours; at least that's what I think. Time seems to stand still in the hospital. After surgery he cried for a while and we tried everything to soothe him. He finally went to sleep. He was on morphine for a while for pain, then we switched over to Tylenol that night. He was in a drugged state until around 2am. He woke up wanting something to eat and gobbled down about 3oz. of formula and 2 containers of baby food. Poor guy was hungry. He went back to sleep for a while and woke up around 6am for more food. He ate very well, enough where we decided he would be fine at home. So, we packed up and came home. Today has been pretty rough. He has eaten maybe 1 container of baby food all day and a few ounces of formula. The most he's eaten at one sitting is 2 oz. of apple juice. He was in so much pain that he cried and whined almost constantly, wanting only to be held and snuggle with us. After calling Dr. Williams' office, the nurse said we could up his pain dosage (he's on Tylenol with codeine now). Things have been a little better since then, but he's still not eating much. Please keep him in your prayers. I cannot imagine the pain he is in. I know eating something would make him feel a little more like himself. As any parent, I hate to see him this way. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

"Mama"

Sorry the video is sideways. I think it's pretty cute, even though it's kind of a stretch that he's saying Mama.