5 Month Update

General/milestones

I said it with your big brother, and I'm sure I'll continue to say it but I just don't know where the time goes, I can't believe you are 5 months already!!!
At present your seizures are under control (high five!!!), since the last update you've had one ambulance ride to hospital, your third lot of immunisations and an eye clinic appointment!
I'm convinced your seizure activity changed each time you had a round of immunisations, a week or so after the first set you experienced seizures for just over a week and then they stopped. A couple of days after the second set you began to have the infantile spasms, followed a few days later with another type of seizure. Then the day after your third set you stopped having any spasms. Coincidence I'd just increased the dose again? I'm not certain nor am I convinced but fantastic news  that the spasms are currently at bay! But before that last set you were a bit poorly.
 After the first and third set of jabs parents are currently advised to give their babies three doses of paracetamol to help prevent a temperature. Having the combined jabs, including the one for meningitis means you were more likely to get a temperature. I gave you two doses but because you'd been sick in the evening and I was already loading you with your anti epileptic medicine I didn't want to go over board you and give you paracetamol whilst your temperature was normal. That was a mistake!! I woke up about 4am to hear you chomping on your hand, which was unusual for you as after going several hours through the night without a bottle, you'd normally be screaming! I felt your head and you seemed to be on the warm side but still took a bottle and drank it all. I then checked you with the thermometer and your temperature was on the high side. So I gave you  some paracetamol which you vomited back straight away so I didn't finish the dose. You then had a long, nasty set of spasms so I rang 111 for some advice as I was worried. They dispatched an ambulance based on the information I gave them.

This pramsuit makes me laugh because it makes you look huge!!!

When they arrived the paramedics checked you over, as your temperature was still high and your heart rate was out of the normal range they took us to hospital. By the time you were checked in A&E and again on the children's ward everything was back to normal, thankfully. After a couple of hours we were sent home, with the overall medical consensus that you had a reaction to the immunisations.
  Apart from that little drama you had your eyes checked and we found out you have growths behind your left eye. At the moment they don't seem to be causing you any problems, time will tell but fingers crossed they won't affect your vision.
Development wise, you can see that having the seizures under control is making a change to your progression. You are more awake, I guess because there are no seizures to make you tired and your body has got used to the medicine. Being awake for longer means more time to interact, you are smiling more and you have giggled a couple of times which is the best sound, it melts my heart! You babble a lot and over the last couple of weeks you began a high pitched shriek/cry/shout and use it when you're both happy and upset. You still only give eye contact on your terms, when you're being held you usually avoid eye contact but will look at people when you are lying down.
This month you had your first bath with your big brother, you thoroughly enjoyed it but I didn't as I was worried you were going to slip out of my grip! You are still in size 3 nappies. Overall you seem to be on the whole just a lot more chilled out, you really like your oball and have started to grip hold of it. You absolutely love chomping on your hands and fingers and will stare at them for ages!

Enjoying your oball

Feeding

You appetite still hasn't changed, you would drink milk continuously if you could!. You were still having 5oz bottles, five times a day, sometimes alternated with a 6oz bottle but now you are on five 6oz bottles. If you do wake during the night I will give you less to help you go back to sleep.

Absolutely love looking/chomping/sucking your hands and fingers

Sleeping

You are continuing to sleep through most nights from anything between 9pm-11pm usually through until 7:30am-8.30am. You have slept through more this month but there are still times you have woken up.

 

Weight

I haven't had you weighed since the last update.

Clothes

Clothes wise you are mostly wearing 3-6 month clothes with some exception here and there. Such as a newborn size cardigan!

More Nicknames

I'm still coming out with random nicknames.  Here are last months and below there's a few more!     

26. Baboo

27. Baboose

28. Baboosey

29. RoRo Beans

 

    

Your Likes

• You still love cuddles especially if you're tired
• You still  love your bottles
• Bath time continues to be a favourite
• You still enjoy getting out
•  You still like watching and listening to Eliot
• The dummy is still soothing, mainly when you're tired.

Your Dislikes

• Eliot being 'too cuddly' or on the rough side
• Still having clothes put on/taken off if you are not in the mood
• Still...Being disturbed when you are comfy

It's been a more positive update Nola,  I hope next month there are more positives to write about!

xxx

 

I've linked this post up with Jenny's 'Bumps & Babies' linky!

 

 

A Febrile Convulsion...Our Experience

I'm sure all fellow mamas and dads will agree that seeing your son or daughter unwell is one of worst things a parent will experience. Probably more so when they are babies/toddlers as they can't verbalise how they're feeling and working out what's wrong can become a bit of a guessing game as it's not always easy to spot. I'm so thankful when Eliot is better and  back to his usual self.

Obviously there are different degrees to how children can be ill, from minor childhood diseases to life threatening illnesses/accidents. I do so hope we never experience the latter. 

Apart from Eliot's Pyloric stenosis, he wasn't really unwell during his first year, just a cough & cold. It was January  this year when he was first hit by a nasty cold bug which literally stopped him in his tracks. The boy usually can't keep still but he was lethargic and just wanted cuddles. It was awful seeing him like that as it was clear how poorly he felt from his behaviour.

Just over two weeks ago we went through the worst thing we've experienced as parents so far. The most terrifying event of my life.

Eliot and I were in Tescos with my mum when he started to become cranky, when I felt his head he seemed quite hot. When we arrived back at my mums I checked his temperature with our thermometer and it was up. I battled with him to get some calpol in  to bring his temperature back down, he sat and cuddled up with me. A big indicator he was not 100%. An hour or so later he was up playing with toys so I took his temperature which had come down. I put him to bed and he slept through, which led me to assume he felt better in the morning. However he still wasn't quite right and had a slight temperature so I gave him some more medicine. I left him with my mum as I had an appointment and a couple of errands to do. When I returned with the OH Eliot had become worse. He had a high temperature and hadn't moved. Another battle commenced of trying to get him to take some medicine. I'd also noticed a rash on his wrist which didn't disappear with the glass test. This made me quite panicky so we immediately got in the car and went to A&E. 

We were called in to see a nurse who checked Eliot over, he said he couldn't t see anything that particularly worried him so we were sent back out to wait and see a doctor. Eliot was sat on my lap, he dozed off. All of a sudden I felt him jolt, I thought he was just jolting awake. You know how you do sometimes when your drifting off. But he jolted again, his whole body then continued. He was having a fit. I panicked and shouted to the OH to get help, a nurse took him off me. In the blur of it all I heard her say 'crash team'. Not something anyone wants to ever hear, especially when it's in regards to your child. We were stood in a room, Eliot was still fitting on a bed with an oxygen mask on. I don't know how many doctors came in to the room but I was asked to relay the details of him being poorly, leading up to where we were. We were told it was common for febrile convulsions to happen when a temperature rose rapidly. We were asked if we wanted to leave the room or stay. I couldn't look at Eliot convulsing or the medical staff surrounding him. It was frightening, it was too difficult to witness but there was no way we were going to leave him. After a few minutes, I'm not sure how long it stopped and Eliot become semi conscious. We were back by his side, next a long struggle began to find a a vein to take some blood and get an IV line in for antibiotics. This was also incredibly distressing as took a long time. I for one have my own phobia of blood tests as its difficult to find a vein on me so hearing my son, my baby crying was awful. He had pin pricks all over his hands and feet before they eventually got one in his wrist. All the time we were being reassured that it was good he was crying and fighting because if his illness was something more serious he would be unresponsive.

                                      

Once the line was in and everything was sorted we were put out on the child's A&E ward and waited for adoctor to come and see us. Eliot wanted to be held and cuddled which I was terrified about, terrified he would get a high temperature again and have a convulsion. It was very warm in the kids A&E department, I had felt very hot when Eliot was sitting on me so I felt responsible for Eliot's temperature rising as I had been a source of heat.

Eventually a doctor got round to speaking with us and checking Eliot over. When he looked at Eliot's throat he said it was very sore and it was likely it was just a virus causing him to be unwell. He talked

 over febrile convulsions, how common there were in babies, toddlers and young children. Our main

worry was how likely was it for Eliot to experience convulsions again. We were informed febrile convulsions could happen just once or they could happen again. It was unlikely it could be epilepsy which was another big concern.

Eliot was kept in overnight as a precaution to be monitored and to await the results of his blood test, which we were told they had the lost the next day (but that's another story!) We were sent home but had to return to hospital for antibiotic injections for five days as they were unsure of whether he had an infection. Thankfully the next day his blood results were located and came back clear so we didn't need to return for any more antibiotic injections. Eliot recovered within a couple of days and is now very much back to his 'usual self'.

                                          

I am so thankful we were at hospital when Eliot had the convulsion, I panicked and don't know what we would have done if we were at home. But I worry about the next time he gets a temperature, if it will happen again. It's quite possible apparently, a 50/50 possibility. If it happens I know I need to lie him on his side, I know he needs to be somewhere safe where he can't injure himself and I will call an ambulance. 

If your  son/ daughter have experienced febrile convulsions I'd be really keen to hear about whether it happened again or if it was a one off.

New Hair & A&E

If you follow me on twitter or Instagram you may have seen that I paid a long overdue visit to the hairdressers. And when I say long overdue I mean a year and a half :-0
The last time I had my bonce cut is when I was three months pregnant with Eliot. I realise this is probably 'shock horror' for many people but seriously time really does fly. Needless to say the ends of my hair were in a terrible condition and my poor locks really were crying out for a revamp.
I went to a salon I hadn't been to in my home town before. Luckily I walked in at the right time and just had to wait ten minutes for my haircut.
I talked through what I wanted with the hairdresser and she got to work.
It was literally like a weight off my shoulders as she snipped away! I love it, it looks and feels so much better and I can actually do something with it whereas before I was just scraping it up out of the way. Overall I'm very pleased with the cut but why oh why do hairdressers always take off more than you requested?
Feeling good about my hair I went shopping in the hope that I may have some success with outfits for Britmums. My mum was looking after Eliot so I made the most of baby free shopping! I bought a few things but I'm not overly happy with them, I need to try them on again.

When I arrived back at my mums she said that Eliot had had an accident. He'd fallen off the bed face first. My little man had a red nose and upper lip. He hadn't been sick, there was no bleeding and he didn't have any bumps. We thought to be on the safe side we'd take him down to A&E to get checked over. He did seem ok in himself but as I hadn't been there when the accident occurred I wanted some medical reassurance he was ok.
As expected there was a fair bit of waiting involved, Eliot got cranky as he wanted to crawl all over the floor.
We saw a nurse who assessed him first of all. He was a bit uncooperative but thankfully she said he appeared ok but we would need to wait for a doctor to check him over.
It wasn't too long before we were called again. The doctor asked some more questions and carried out some checks, much to Eliot's disapproval. E was not a happy bunny and screamed the place down. But after his battle with the doctor we were told that all looked well, thank goodness! We were advised to bring him back if there was any further concern.

                Having a late dinner & choc buttons after his ordeal.
                                   
                       So I guess it's true, Friday 13th is unlucky for some!

Have you had any bad luck on Friday 13th?