jaguars, teeth and croup

So Jeremiah and I were playing a fun little game last night. I would throw his toy jaguar into the air, catch it, and he would count how many times I did it. He is really good at counting up until 10 and then he kind of gets lost. So he made it to 15 and then he didn't know anymore so he yells jaguarteen. It was pretty cute.

Jacbo has been having a rough couple of weeks. He has croup. I thought it was one of those things that was bad for a few days and then it was over, but apparently not. He has been sick for 16 days now, and is just starting to get better. He coughs so hard that he throws up, plus he is refusing to eat much of anything, which stresses me out a little. He is also getting his first tooth. Poor little man. He hasn't thrown up yet today, so I'm really hoping that it will be gone in a few days.

he-man woman hater

Jeremiah was pretending to be asleep today, so I asked him if he needed a nap. He said "Miah doesn't need a nap, girls need naps." Wow.

6 months

I can't believe it, Jacob is 6 months old now. It doesn't feel like he should be that old, but at the same time it feels like we have been dealing with Dr's, meds, feeding problems, etc forever. He has managed to stay off of the TPN for a few weeks now, and the Dr is really hopeful that he is going to be able to stay off of it. He isn't growing nearly as well without it, but he is still getting bigger. We took another trip down to Primary Children's last week for an ultrasound, and the blood clot in Jacob's neck hasn't changed at all. The radiologist thinks the vein is probably going to be permanently blocked. I don't know what that means longterm, but in the meantime Jacob still has to be on blood thinners, which I am not thrilled about. Hopefully it will only be for another month.  

I love my boys

home again

Well, we are home again. Jacob is on blood thinners until the clot in his neck is gone. The Dr really didn't want to put in a new PICC because of all of the problems he has had with them, so they increased Jacob's feeds a lot faster than we had been doing, and we went home without TPN. Jacob is losing weight, so hopefully Iwill be able to increase his feeds enough in the next few days to get him enough calories. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

All of Jacob's great progress kind of screeched to a halt this week. He has had a cough for about a week, but no big deal, just a cold right? Sunday night the cough become a really powerful barking cough, and he was really fussy. He wouldn't sleep, and he stopped eating. Monday morning I was going to take him to the doctor, but they weren't open because of Christmas, so I ended up taking him to the ER. They said it was just a respiratory virus, and that I should just put what he would take in the bottles down his feeding tube. Sunday night he started vomiting, so I had to completely stop his feeds. He breathing was labored, and the right side of his neck was also a little swollen so I took him back to the ER. Because of Jacob's history the Dr called down to Primary Children's and they decided to send him down by ambulance. I ran home and got Jeremiah (it was about 2am) and we followed the ambulance down. By the time we got to Primary Children's Jacob's neck was so swollen that he was almost unrecognizable. Long story short, they did an ultrasound of his neck and he has a blood clot where his PICC (long term IV) ends. It was causing blood to back up and fluid to collect in his neck and face. They have removed the PICC and the swelling has gotten a lot better. Unfortunately, they had to put Jacob on blood thinners so that the clot doesn't get bigger, and his body can break it down slowly.
It turns out Jacob's respiratory virus is RSV or another virus that does the same thing. He is pretty miserable. He has been having pretty high fevers and still won't eat. We were able to restart the continuous feeds without any vomiting though, thank goodness.
I'm not really sure how long he will be in the hospital this time. The Dr's really don't want to put in another PICC because he has had so many problems with them, so they are trying to increase his feeds enough that he won't need TPN anymore. Increasing his feeds quickly has never worked before, but he has done alright with it the last two days, so maybe it will work. Hopefully it won't take too long. I'm really not excited about being here again, and would love to go home.

Why does he look so pleased with himself? Because he just pooped through the third outfit of the day.

catch up

Wow, I haven't written anything in a while.
We blessed Jacob on the 12th. I'm not supposed to take him out of the house except for Dr appointments until the end of flu and RSV season, so we did it at home. The house was packed with the all of the family that came, but it was a really good day. I was more than a little stressed, so I didn't get any pictures. Luckily other people did, so I will post some after I steal my mom's camera. Jacob did end up getting sick, but I think it's just a cold and it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. Jacob has been growing like crazy. I made his blessing outfit 2 weeks before, thinking how much could he grow right? It turns out, a lot. His little suit did fit, but it was tight.
We are still working on getting Jacob off of the TPN. The Dr is only decreasing it once every two weeks, so at this rate he will be off in another 4 months. Not gonna lie, more than a little bugged by that. I shouldn't complain though, he is doing really well.
Jeremiah has always been fearless, but for some reason he is afraid of everything all of the sudden. He is convinced that there is a monster under his bed who is going to eat him. I have no idea where he got that idea. As far as I know, the only monsters he has ever seen were on Sesame Street. Santa stopped by our house last night. I thought Jeremiah would love it, but he was terrified. He was screaming, and then as soon as Santa left he gets all excited and says "that was Santa." Weird