RSV is the Worst!!

Cooper has RSV.  He came home from school on Wednesday in the best mood.  My parents were in town and he was SO happy to see them!  He laughed and played and was just in a great mood.  We went to dinner that night.  I noticed at the restaurant that Cooper was looking a little flushed and felt a little warm, but I thought it was because the restaurant was warm and Cooper was in a sweater.  We took his temp that night and it was 102.

The next morning, he actually seemed ok.  We didn't send him to school, but after a night of sleep he didn't appear to be too sick.  That afternoon, things started to get worse.  We took his pulse ok and it was 77 and his heart rate was in the 180's, so we put him on oxygen and took his temperature.  It was 104.  By very early the next morning, we knew that we could not take care of him at home.  He needed more oxygen than we could give him, so we took him to the emergency room.

We got put into a room in the Infant/Toddler Unit pretty quickly.  We spent 2 nights there, but the nurses finally were not comfortable with the amount of care that Cooper was needing.  That unit is so big that each nurse has at least 4-5 patients and Cooper just needed to be more closely watched than that.  So he was moved to the Intermediate Care Unit.  Which is where we are now.

Every day that Cooper has been here, he has gotten worse.  His oxygen requirement continues to go up.  He started out on 6 liters of oxygen at 30% and is now up to 10 liters of oxygen at 100%.  He has an ilius, which is when his bowel becomes paralyzed because of the illness.  Last night, his temperature shot up to 103 really quickly.  His pulse ox dropped in to the 60's.  He turned purple in his extremities and was burning up in his core.  They put wet blankets on him and gave him a bolus of cold fluid to get his temperature back to normal.  The PICU doctors rushed over and he almost had to be intubated.  It was so scary.

Today is the fifth day of the illness.  I'm hoping that he is going to start turning the corner today and tomorrow.  I know that Cooper is tired of being poked and prodded.  I hope that we are out in time to enjoy the holidays.

24 weeks

Well, I'm just over 24 weeks along.  And nothing has been done.  We're moving Cooper and baby 2 into the same room, but I haven't really thought about starting to paint or anything.  I know what I want to happen, it's just difficult making it actually happen.  Hopefully I can get some things done before Christmas.  Symptom-wise I'm doing pretty well.  No more morning sickness.  But I still have to get up to use the restroom several times during the night.  So I'm pretty tired most of the time.  I've gained an appropriate amount of weight so far- about 10-12 pounds.  That puts me slightly below where I'm supposed to be, but not too bad.  The baby is in the 58th percentile, so that's good.  I have weird cravings for pho, for which I blame Sheva 100%.  She wanted some back in November when it was cold for about a week and I've had it once a week at least since then.  I'd eat it every day if I could.

Cooper is doing really well.  He's been back at school since before Thanksgiving and he is just full of life and personality.  When he drops something he reaches down to get it.  He can pick things up by raking his hands over them.  He's sitting up like a champ.  He is the most ticklish child ever.  And he knows when it's coming and laughs in anticipation.  So cute.  He had a Growth and Development clinic appointment on Thursday.  He has definitely progressed since they tested him 6 months ago.  He's in the 50th percentile for weight and the 10-15th for height.  So he's a short, fat baby.  I could've told you that by the way his clothes fit.  At the clinic, they gave him a giraffe stuffed animal (completely randomly) and he LOVES it.  Of course.  So much so that he at first wouldn't participate in any of the testing.  He was too busy with his new friend.  We had to take the giraffe away and hide it before he would do anything for the therapist and psychologist.  Also, they let him play on an iPad and he loved it.  So if anyone wants to get Cooper a Christmas present, that would be a great gift (hint, hint).

Things Today

Today, Brad and I went to the funeral of Chloe Faith Meena.  I and a couple of friends had Courtney's baby shower for Chloe at my house only two weeks before she was born at 29 weeks.  She was three months old when she passed away Monday night.  I can't imagine Nik and Courtney's pain, and it was an incredibly moving funeral.

In happier news, today is the first day almost all football season that Brad, Cooper, and I are home together watching football.  Last month, we watched football from the hospital.  This month, I've been watching football alone while Brad has been sleeping.  We're having a good time together unpacking some Christmas decorations, eating rotel, and just enjoying each other.

One of Cooper's pediatricians mentioned in passing a couple of weeks ago that since Cooper was sitting up, he would most likely go on to walk.  I was curious about this and asked Cooper's physical therapist about this.  She confirmed that this was true.  Apparently, if a kid has the trunk control to sit up by age two, they will walk by eight.  Not that it will necessarily take Cooper that long to walk, but the two things are correlated.  Yay!

And then there's this...

So a lot has been going on here lately.  And apparently my absence from blogging has been noticed.  I guess people really do read this thing!  So here is the last couple of months, briefly:

One, Cooper has had more apneic issues.  He stopped breathing and turned blue (like he did back in June) four times in a week.  He was hospitalized after that fourth time for five days.  They ran all sorts of tests.  And found nothing.  Because he just stopped doing it.  Oh Cooper.

 Two, we went out of town.  Without Cooper.  We got to see the beautiful Whitney Fisher marry Neal Rogers (I'll do a bigger post about this later).  But as a teaser, the wedding took place in the most gorgeous location ever.  This was the aisle (the next day, but still, check out that view)!

Three, and then there's this.

It's a boy!!

Cooper is 2!!

I know I've been away for a while.  We've had a bit of Cooper drama, which I will talk about later.  For now, I want to finally share some pictures from Cooper's birthday party.

We had a really great weekend.  All of the Schneiders came into town, including Cooper's baby cousins.  It was great to have them in Little Rock!

Cooper and Charlotte (in their pj's):

I'm covered in baby!!

Cooper and Ethan had matching outfits (not on purpose).  It was hard to get them both to smile at the same time.

Cooper had a monster themed birthday party.  We had monster sandwiches...

monster fruit, 

a monster cake,

and monster pretzel rods.

Sorry it's sideways.

Cooper had a personalized monster shirt.

He really liked the frosting.

As you can tell by his face that evening, he had a really good day!!

First Dentist Appointment

This afternoon, Cooper had his first ever dentist appointment and he did great!  Brad and I also had cleanings, so the amazing staff at Eiler Family Dentistry kinda babysat Cooper while we got our stuff done.  We chose to take Cooper to Robin and not to ACH because he knows Robin well.  She and her family often babysit Cooper and they are close friends, so I thought it would be better if it was someone he was comfortable with.  I think he really liked the cherry flavored toothpaste they used.  And though I don't think he was the biggest fan of the spinning toothbrush or the mirror they used to examine him, he tolerated it with only a minimum of grumbling.  And now, pictures!!

This picture doesn't show his mood.  He liked the toothpaste, if not the toothbrush.

Robin examining him:

Yay!  We're finished!! 

And now for something completely off topic...

This has been all over the news lately.  And I just don't get it.  I have conservative friends and I have liberal friends, so I am honestly looking for some answers that make sense.  The whole Chic-Fil-A thing baffles me.  I am not a lesbian, and I have no desire to date girls, but if I did, why is that anyone's business?  And why should who you love be against the law?  All the arguments from the Bible are from the Old Testament.  Last I checked, if you were a Christian, all that got wiped out by the New Testament.  Jesus doesn't say ANYTHING about same sex couples.  He also doesn't mention airplanes, guns, fast food, hair products, etc.  Should we make all of those things illegal too?  Jesus preached about love and acceptance.

Marriage is HARD.  You meet hundreds of thousands of people in your life.  To be able to find and connect with one person that you can live with and love for the rest of your life is AMAZING.  I just don't see what the problem is if that person happens to be the same gender as you.

Here's the thing.  I get why people could be angry about abortion.  I get why people want liberal gun laws.  I get plenty of other hot button political issues.  I can see both sides.  I may not agree with both sides, but I get it.  This one, I just don't get.  I don't understand why people are so angry about love.  What do you think is going to happen?  As far as I can tell, in the six states where gay marriage is legal,  NOTHING has happened.  Our world as we know it has not come to an end.  The terrorists didn't win.  In fact, in some places, those extra marriages have made the economy slightly better.  So it was a win!  Anyway, please feel free to comment.  But don't get mean.

My next post will be more about the cutest man in the world.  Promise.

Good News!

Last week, Cooper had an echo to check for pulmonary hypertension... and the test was negative!!  Yay!!  A good test result for once is a very welcome change of pace.

In other news, Cooper is sitting up A LOT!  And for huge periods of time (like half an hour).  It's amazing.  This picture was taken today.  Apparently, it's a really hard way to sit.  Go Cooper!

One year ago

Cooper is taking a rare afternoon nap, so I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last year.  Today, Cooper is 23 months old.  14 months ago, he had his first seizure and was diagnosed with infantile spasms.  Health wise, the next two months were the worst of his life.  The anti-seizure medicine made him really sleepy, so sleepy that he barely ate.  By the time he was 10 and a half months old, he weighed just under 17 pounds.  He was hospitalized for dehydration and the decision was made to give him a g-tube.  The day after his surgery, Cooper had his last seizure ever (knock on wood) on July 25 of last year.  Just 1 month later, his weight was already up to 19 pounds.  July 25 was a big day for Cooper one year ago.  He's a COMPLETELY different child now.

Pulmonary Issues (so not surprised)

LAST week, Cooper had a pulmonary visit.  A couple of things stuck out that were of concern to his doctor.  One, his pulse ox is in the mid-90's, but he doesn't have labored breathing at all.  So she is concerned that he has pulmonary hypertension (I thought the PDA closure was supposed to fix that!).  So Cooper has an echo scheduled for Thursday.  Two, his sleep study was abnormal.  So we got an x-ray of his neck.  The radiologist said that his adenoids are "prominent," so we're going to see Dr. B (the ENT) and see what he has to say.  Pray he doesn't have to have surgery.  I've heard it's a tough recovery.

In other news, Cooper is finally back to where he was therapy-wise before the two hospitalizations.  Yay!  So he is sitting and standing much better again.  Plus, he's back to eating solids and is slowly working his way back up to a higher volume.  And now, picture time!!


Cooper's new bib.  It covers everything, so it's awesome.  And look, he's smiling even though there is food in his mouth!!

Cooper standing on the Eiler's couch.  He did this for a while and was very proud of himself.

This was at 6:40 one night.  School plus no afternoon nap is tiring!! 

Cooper chewing on a toy with no hands.  Really?!

Cooper sitting up at school.  If anyone has one of those toys and isn't using it anymore, let me know.  Fisher Price discontinued them, so they are REALLY expensive on Amazon.