When Raccoons Attack!!!!

This morning Wren slept later and I felt much better. I needed that extra energy because when I opened the back door Wren and I were greeted with a great mess. Some noctural forager had discovered our compost bucket which I leave on the back step. The contents were spilled down the stairs. I put on my rubber gloves to scoop up all the rotting vegetable trimmings and one of the gloves was full of icy water. It was horrid.

In the picture you can see Wren pointing going "OOOH" when he sees the mess.

Wren still has a very rough sounding chest and has retractions off and on. He is not grunting and seems to have good energy and improving appetite so I am not too worried. Still, I am keeping him out of baby group for another week.

Much better but not at night

Wren is very much himself today. He only coughs after waking and then he has a rattly chest for a short period. He seems to have plenty of energy. The doctor said it would take at least a week for the inflammation to subside but if I didn't know that he had it I would have said he just had the end of a cold.

This is not so for his sleep.

Last night he woke at 8pm (after 45 minutes sleep), 11.30pm, 12.30am and 4am before rising for the day at 5.45am. At midnight he was up for close to an hour.

Neither Joshua nor I have a clue what is going on at night. It could be that he has become accustomed to nursing on demand through the night as I allowed him to nurse 2-3 times while he was having trouble breathing and we wanted to avoid crying. Now he throws a tantrum when he wakes and I refuse to nurse. In the end I caved and he nursed at 1am and 4.30am. Ugh.

I am getting quite fed up with his attitude to nursing. He is very demanding with his signing. During the day he follows me and signs MILK when he feels its time. If I offer another liquid or some food he gets very angry, cries, falls on the floor, grabs my legs and complains until I give in. If I do not give in he is a monster until he is distracted from the idea.

God forbid I should try and sit on the couch where we usually nurse. Even if its not a nursing time he climbs on me and signs MILK. If I refuse the whole tantrum thing is set off again.

This morning he had a good nap and is sleeping again now. I slept for over an hour this morning so I feel fabulous by comparison with the past week of sleep deprivation . I have been dragging myself through the afternoon like a wet sock.

Anyway, time to wake Wren so he gets to bed on time.

The Golden Granadilla

This post is for my Australian/South African friends and family.

Today, I was looking at the Durban Daily Photo blog I follow and noticed the prices of main dishes at the restaurant board in the picture. They translate to about $5-10 dollars per dish. By contrast, yesterday I spent $3.20= R23 for A SINGLE GRANADILLA!

Oh, wait. I spent $6.40 for TWO #$#@$!! granadillas.

It was a mistake. They were not priced in the produce section of QFC and they looked great. They felt heavy and were wrinkled. For the granadilla/passionfruit connoisseurs among us, that = delicious. I put them in the cart meaning to ask the price at the checkout but I forgot. I looked it up as I unpacked at home and nearly fell down flat. I ate both, immediately, so as to not be reminded of my folly.

Yes, they were fabulous.

Grandad Punchy used to have a tennis court at 137 Northway and the whole right hand fence was covered with a prolific granadilla vine. As kids we would climb the tennis fence to pick the purple fruit and eat many of them. Many many of them, over ice-cream.

SNOW! and not much sleep

Wren woke every 2 hours last night and didn't sleep after 5am so here we are sitting in the darkish living room hooting at the snow and listening to the Kiro 7 Pinpoint traffic report. I don't know why I am watching the traffic report - I have no intention of going anywhere - but its a ritual for me when its snowing because Seattle gets in such a panic about snow. Traffic is bad without snow and when we have an inch on the road "it is a real mess out there and its not over yet!"


Wren was finally persuaded to eat some yoghurt. You can see it all over his face and down his front.

The view from our window. We have about 2" on the ground.

Look at all the snow out there!

Wren didn't have a fever last night but he had trouble with the cough and was wheezing and breathing quickly in the first part of the night. When we got up this morning he had a few fits of coughing and retching until he managed to spit up some of the phlegm in his throat. Since then he has felt better although he will need two naps and I hope I can share one of them.

Sunday update

Wren is feeling better although he is still retracting and coughing in a chunky way. He had a good nap and had good energy most of the day. He hates the antibiotic for sinus infection but we suspect it is helping because his nasal secretions have reduced and become clear instead of goopy. He has nose crusties instead of constant gray boogers!

He has gone to sleep easily and nursed well all day although he refused even his favorite foods like grapes, yoghurt, custard and applesauce. He even refused broccoli. When food was offered he shook his head and signed "all gone" and said "bu bye!" then waved. His message is clear!

He was very frustrated at being kept home all day. At one point when Joshua took him to the basement to put the garbage in the garage Wren climbed into the stroller and pointed at the garage door. It was clear he wanted to go for a walk. Later, he went to the back door and tried to get out, crying when I refused. He popped the cat door open and stuck his hands out until Joshua took pity on him and took him, bundled up, into the winter sunshine for a short while.

Overnight update

Wren slept well last night because of the fever. He did not cough as much but wheezed and was breathing fast (50 bpm approx) all the time. Around 5am his fever broke and he rested easier but had more coughing and spitting up milk.

This morning I noticed that his retractions were worse - I can see his ribs at the back and side when he breathes in - BUT he is feeling much better. He is walking around, has more normal color (no purple rings under his eyes) and playing with toys and talking.

I suspect the fever will return later but am glad to see he is feeling better now. I am watching that wheeze and retractions and may mention it to the doctor later.

Viral pneumonia

I took Wren back to the ped today because he was running a fever and was tired, flushed and weak. He had also been vomiting a bit during coughing fits. The doctor noticed he was doing a bit of worker breathing and grunting. Even though his sats were good (96%) she sent us to Children's for an x-ray.

The chest x-ray showed bi-lateral inflammation in his lungs which the radiographer described as viral in appearance. He said it was diffuse rather than deep and did not look like RSV inflammation although it could be.

Wren is on antibiotics in case he has a sinus infection (this cold & cough has been going on almost 3 weeks) and we are watching him carefully for any signs of increased stress on breathing. If the fever persists through Monday we will take him in on Tuesday morning. Otherwise there is nothing much we can do.

On the advice of our naturopath he is having bryonia alba, some thymactiv, castor oil rub on his chest with obelia tincture and can have honey loquat cough tea. We shall get some tomorrow.

He has remained sick and weak all day although he will still walk around a bit until he remembers he is feeling bad then he flops down in my lap. It is sad and I am worried about him.

We discussed Wren's weight and we have been referred to the nutritionist at Children's Cardiac clinic to do a calorie count and advise us on diet.

Weight worries

Well, this was something I really didn't see coming. Wren is having trouble gaining weight. When he was just released from hospital I was so proud of his ability to gain weight. He went to the 90th percentile and stayed there till 6 months. By nine months he had fallen back to 75th. He was 48th percentile at 12 months which I put down to lots of recent physical activity and made an effort to feed him more.

He does not want to eat! He just likes nursing in little snacks a few times a day and during the night. I took him to the doctor for a check on his chest since he has had a cold for 2 weeks and was up all last night coughing. The doctor was concerned that he has gained only 3oz in a month. He is now 35th percentile.

He has to go back in a month for another weight check and the pediatrician recommended that we tell cardiology if it continues as this can be an indication of his heart having problems.

Great.

My sense is that the relative weight decline negatively correlates with his increased walking. He walks around the block, climbs and chases cats all day. Still, I have to admit that he has very little appetite for solid foods. Today, he ate the following:

A few bites of dry cereal
Banana
3/4 tub of baby yoghurt
5 raspberries
1/2 cracker
5 spoons of cream & delicata squash puree
Nursed 4 times

I have no idea how to encourage him to eat more. I lay a lot of little bites of good food on his tray and he throws off everything except broccoli and raspberries... oh, and cookies.

Tomorrow I am going to make a rich cream/egg yolk custard and offer that with steamed apple. But why won't he eat if he is not getting the calories he needs? Or is he getting what he thinks he needs nursing but just not building up an appetite. This is what our other ped insinuated... that I should offer butter and creamy foods instead of breastmilk.

Josh is not concerned.

Petition to Support CHD Awareness Week

Dear Mr McDermott
H. Res 858 is "Supporting the goals and ideals of the National Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week". Please sign on to this H.Res 858 as a co-sponsor to help get this resolution passed this year.

Our little one year old was born with a potentially fatal heart defect and it was only the great resources of local hospitals that saved his life through surgery. We were lucky and had the condition diagnosed early.

In the wider community, not much is known about heart defects and many children are diagnosed lat and go into severe heart failure. Some require transplants, many die. Please help raise awareness of this important issue.

---------------- BACKGROUND ---------------------------

Hi, We are once again trying to get Congress to pass a National CHD week
resolution.

Representative Robert Andrews has introduced House Resolution 858, "Supporting the goals and ideals of the National Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week". You can read the resolution here.

Please contact your representatives and ask them to sign on to H.Res 858 as co-sponsors and we'll get this resolution passed this year!

To contact your representatives, start here.

Enter your zipcode into "Find your Representative" at the top left. Once
you've done that, go to their official website (a link will be on the page)
and send them an email message asking them to support H.Res 858.

Wren's first hike

Today Wren walked around the block on his own two little feet. He was very happy to be out in the freezing sun. He followed a cat. He threw pebbles. He explored every element of the urban landscape showing no respect for those invisible boundaries between the public path and the private lawns and pathways. He climbed the stairs of many homes, invaded their shrubbery, thumped the hub-caps of cars, pointed at crows and mainly followed the fluffy grey cat who lives in our neighborhood and chose to escort us on our wanderings.

I picked Wren up on a few occasions to cross roads. I tried to make him hold my hand to cross the road but he won't walk holding hands, tugging and pulling away as I try and grasp his cold fingers. Besides those short periods of being carried( and a few times when I had to turn him around to change direction) he walked the whole way.

Moving slowly, the beautiful blue skies, the smell of woodsmoke, squirrels running around, crows eating peanuts, the quiet streets. It felt like being on vacation in the woods. I am replenished after my days of exhaustion while Frost was on school break.

Wren was exhausted by his walk and is having a good nap.