Day 336

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going home. Bed crunch at the hospital and they want me out ASAP.
Good news is they wouldn't send me home if they didn't think I was well enough to go. We'll add a few new appointments at CHEO to the bunch we already have in February but it's well worth it. I am so excited to go home and sleep in my own room!

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on and wished me well. As always I thrive on all your love and support!

Day 332

So I am 11 months old today. Looking back a few month Mom and Dad would have never thought that I would be spending my 11 month Birthday in intensive care! Things this past week quickly went from bad to really bad! I took a quick turn for the worse and had two horrible nights before being transferred to intensive care with anesthesiologists on call in case I needed to intubated.
As per hospital policy only Mom stayed with me on Thursday night. The night started out ok but things digressed as the night went on. By 2am I was waking up gasping for breath every 2o minutes. Mom would come running over and try and settle me. Sometimes it worked but often I would get too distressed because of the difficulty I was having breathing and they would have to give me a mask with epinephrine and oxygen to help me. The next night Mom and Dad both stayed despite the rules. It's a good thing too because the night was even worse then the previous one. I was having so much trouble breathing that when the nurses listened with the stethoscope the couldn't hear the breath passing. My chest was in drawing so much that it looked as if my stomach was going to hit my back. Mom and Dad were super strong and demanded closer medical attention. By the end of the night there was a whole team of people, nurses, doctors, resperologists and Mom and Dad looking after me.
An x-ray and some blood work was done and it was thought that perhaps I had pneumonia as well as croup. I was transferred to NICU and put on IV antibiotics and steroids. I had a consultation with the ENT (ear, nose and throat team) and it is now speculated that I have subglottic stenosis (a narrowing of the trachea). This would like have resulted from being intubated as a preemie and means that even mild swelling of the throat due to sickness can mean really difficult breathing for me.
Anyhow, the good news in all of this is that I am responding well to either the steroids or antibiotics and am now well enough to be transferred out of intensive care. I will be seen again by ENT on Monday and it will be determined if a scope should be done to look at my throat. If I am well enough they may not bother until a later date. Eventually it will be done regardless. The speculation at this point is that this is a condition I will likely grow out of by 2 or 3 years of age.

Day 329

Well I had a pretty good night last night. The nurse I had let me sleep unlike the noisy nurse I had the night before. I managed to sleep the whole night without any help breathing. I am still in the croup tent and needed a mask this morning when I woke up to help me out a bit. I am still eating well but my energy level is way down. At this point the expectation is that I stay at least one more night. Mom and Dad both stayed with me last night which was nice. Unfortunately it is against hospital policy and one of them will have to go home tonight. Apparently them sharing a day bed in my room takes up too many resources! Ridiculous! At this point though all that matters is that I get well. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Day 328

So first for the good news. Ashley has been released from the hospital and is doing well. The bad news I'm afraid is that I have been admitted. On Tuesday afternoon Mom heard me coughing and crying up in my crib. When she came to check on me she found I was having trouble catching my breath. She tried to calm me down but things just kept getting worse and worse. I ended up chocking and throwing up and making a really loud wheezing noise when I breathed. Mom ended up calling 911 and Dad came home to find two ambulances parked out front and 5 paramedics administering a mask to me inside.
Mom road with me in the ambulance to CHEO and Dad follow in the car. I was admitted to the ER for observation but my condition continued to deteriorate and I have now been admitted to the hospital for an undetermined amount of time. I have been give a series of masks to try and help my breathing and 4 doses of steroids. I am still finding myself breathing hard at times. I have been diagnosed with croup and have been placed in a croup tent for the night. Hopefully the cold mist will help me feel more comfortable. I appreciate all the well wished people have been passing on to Mom and Dad. It seems sometimes my 20 lbs. girth makes it easy to forget that I am a preemie and still a bit vulnerable. That being said I'm a tough kid and hope to be out of here in no time! I'll keep you updated on my progress as things change!

Day 325

I am back in Ottawa after a great flight home from TO and as promised I thought I would post some photos of me week with my cousins and friends!

Bath time...

Bath time for two.... (incidentally Mom's cousin James says that when I get this stunned look on my face I look just like Mom)

And then there were four....

Cousin Brendan...

Cousin Ashley...

Smiling Sadie...

It all started out so well....

And then things turned bad.....


All in all a great week. Just before Mom and I left Uncle Bruce and Aunt Steph took Ashely to Sick Kids hospital because she was not feeling well. The doctors have examined her and believe that she may have caught a bug. We wish you a fast recovery Ashley we will be thinking about you!

Day 333

First and formost let me tell you that I am missing my Dad like crazy. He has a Wall Juice exibit at the Metro Toronto Home Show and I haven't seen him since Tuesday (today is Friday).
Mom and I took a flight to Toronto on Wednesday and I was amazing on the plane if I do say so myself. It was a short flight and we landed 10 minutes early. Gina and Sadie were at the airport to meet us and drove us to Barrie to spend the week with Aunt Steph and Ashley. Aunt Jen also brought Brendan for a visit. We've had a great week! Mom, Aunt Steph, Aunt Jen and Gina had fun posing all four of us kids for silly photos. Of course Mom forgot the camera cable so you'll have to wait until Sunday to see the pictures.
After 322 days Mom has stopped breastfeeding me. She enjoyed an indulgent day of caffiene, dairy and chocolate today for the first time in a really long time. I handled the transition well and had 30 ounces of forumla. I am on this special super hypoallergenic forumula so they might have to sell the house to pay for it. Kidding of course, but I am sure I'll hear about how expensive it was when I am older. The good news is I am tollerating it really well and am tipping the scale at nearly 20 lbs.
My first tooth popped through today. Dad was happy to miss it thinking that I was probably a cranky kid but I handled it like and old pro. No whinning or fussing here!
I am also really getting the hang of the crawling thing. Mom insists that the saftey gates are going up as soon as we get home. I keep on trying to get my feet under me to stand up (and skip the whole crawling thing) but so far no luck!
Sadie and Ashley are doing great and we have been having a blast hanging out together. For the most part we've been getting along really well. On the odd occasion when Mom and the others try and pose us for photos one of us starts crying and then we all start. Oddly enough Mom, Aunt Steph and Gina always end up laughing at us. It all gets kind of chaotic. I hope the photos turn out.
Tomorrow, John, Abbey, Lauri, James, Lucas, Sierra, Bruce and Lindsey are coming to join us. It should be a busy place. I am sure the parents will put all us kids to bed early and go downstairs and play the Wii like they have been the other nights. I think they think we don't know what they are doing. It's ok though we are pretty tired from our long days entertaining each other.
Anyhow, good night Dad, I miss you! Good luck with the show this weekend. I can't wait to show you my new pearly whites!

Day 326

Not much is new here! Just getting back into the flow of things after the holidays. Mom and I started a new swim class this week. Well she does water aerobics while I just sit in a boat and watch. It was fun to be in the water again. We've been working on my crawling and it's coming along a bit. Mom and Dad just need to give me the right motivation and I'll move across the floor. Put a cell phone or TV remote on the floor and watch me go. Anything else and forget it. Not worth the effort!

As you can see by the video I am also quite fascinated by cameras. I have posted a few other photos from the week as well. Mom was sure I was teething but as you can see from the mouth open shot it does not appear to be the case.

Oh I almost forgot to mention that I am taking a plane to Toronto for the first time next week. I'm excited. A small test run before our flight to Mexico next month. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Testing out the bath water!

I don't see any teeth!

I'm still loving my truck!

Day 318

Happy New Year! 2008 wasn't off to a great start. I was sick and mom got her first ever speeding ticket taking me to the doctor. I am feeling better now. It's been super cold out so we have been inside a lot. I have been practising getting around. I'm not crawling yet but have taken to rolling around the room. Mom can't leave me for long or who knows where she'll find me.
And yes I am naked in the video. I was spitting up a lot that day as you can see at the end of the video. Mom was off getting me a clean diaper and sleeper. And yes seeing Mom almost always makes me smile like that. She tells me she's a lucky lady!