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Always trust your instinct

Posted on September 25, 2008 8:38 am by TheAngelForever

Ever have one of those moments where you just want to slap yourself in the head? Yesterday was one of those days and I should have stopped it long ago.

NHL was diagnosed with seasonal allergies in the spring. He was put on a pediatric dose of Singular. I had been on it as an adult and had wonderful results. Of course at the same time NHL was put on it there was a lot of controversy with the medication and use with children. Our allergist noted the recent studies and told us to watch and see if there were any behavior changes.

Back in April/May NHL’s teachers mentioned to me that he was acting different. He was more emotional, bothered by things more, and just not himself. When we went back to the allergist in August I told the doctor about this. I told him that it was hard for me to guess if it was the medicine or changes in his life. NHL was just finishing up at a school he loved and getting anxious about kindergarten already, so I had a hard time knowing.

The truth is things really started to fall apart in mid-August, just after our appointment. NHL cried for several days that he did not want to turn five years old. A huge red flag should have gone off in my head, but I was not thinking straight. I thought it was thanks to NHL being nervous about kindergarten. NHL never seemed happy, he was always tired, moped, emotions were high and low, and he was extremely impulsive. For the first time we were also having defiance issues.

When NHL started kindergarten things really blew up in our face. Since he started almost a month ago I have only had two days of slightly decent behavior reports. Yesterday was by far the worst. My son actually colored on his chair at school and when told to stop simply switched colors.

I was beyond mortified and frustrated. I did not know who this five year old child was anymore and talking to him was useless. I went home cried, put in calls for all of his doctors and went to my trusty Google friend and started to search about Singular behavior reactions in pediatric patients.

I quickly found this website and forwarded it on to my husband. JL honestly thought that I had written the June 1st entry since it was SO similar to NHL (just a few subtle differences). The allergists office called back within 10 minutes. He asked questions about the behavior. He did note that I had mentioned concern in August. I told him how things had intensified and I was frightened for my child. He asked if NHL was depressed. I told him about the birthday crying and how he hardly smiled these days, except for the smirk after doing something inappropriate. They called back again 10 minutes after the initial call and told me to STOP the Singular immediately and see if we note any changes in behavior over the next 2-3 weeks.

After that I e-mailed NHL’s teacher with the article and asked her to confirm if what was noted by the one parent sounded like my son. She agreed and thought we were onto something.

Most of the night I kept beating myself up. Why didn’t I stop this months ago? How could I do this to my baby? Why was easy breathing and allergy relief clouding my eyes from seeing the true problem at hand? Could this truly be the problem and wil it make things better so the new school can believe me that my child is not like what they have seen all this time?

Please, please, please learn from my stupid mistake. Always trust your instinct. You know your child best and need to be their advocate. Thank goodness I finally saw the light and hope that my sweet little five year old boy will be back in our life soon.

For JL’s view of things you can check it out here.

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Decision day and dentist visit

Posted on September 18, 2008 8:36 am by TheAngelForever

Tuesday was a day that I was hoping we could skip over. It was the afternoon that I had a dentist appointment for NHL and had made the much debated MMR vaccine appointment for JSL. I cried many nights over this. I did not want to do the vaccine just yet, but felt so much pressure from so many different sources. I basically felt I was damned if I did and damned if I did not do it right now. In the end, I got sucked into doing it now. With NHL in school and the rise in Measles all over I went for it. Now we must wait to see how he does. The doctor told me to give him ibuprofen 2 hours before, acetaminophen 1 hour before and rotate them every three hours after the immunization was given for two days.

The little guy conked out after the vaccine like I have never seen before. I am sure the trauma combined with no afternoon nap was the reason behind that. He seems to be doing really well. My guard is still up though. The reaction I had to the MMR was a week later. All of the information from the CDC even states that most reactions that happen will occur 7-12 days after the administration of the shot. So we are watching and waiting to see how things go.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Before going to the nurse appointment for the vaccine, we went to NHL’s dentist visit. He really loves Dr. N and so do we! They called us in a few minutes early. Then a surprise was thrown our way. Now that NHL is five they like to do x-rays to check for adult teeth formation and cavities of existing teeth. Problem, the machine scared NHL and I had no warning to talk with him about it before this. That is my only beef with this office. If you know something new is coming next time at least tell the parents so they can get their child ready. NHL was close to allowing it, but we opted not to fight it this time around. He claims that next time he will allow it.

Everything after this went extremely well. When he got into the room he sat down in the chair and was asked what toothpaste flavor he wanted. Check out the choices:

The first time I saw this list I was shocked. I know that when I was little and went to the pediatric dentist we had possibly two choices – bubble gum or cherry (I believe). Now they have seven choices or may opt for no flavor at all. NHL selected grape this time around, but last visit he had cookie dough (that’s my boy).

NHL was very good at waiting for the hygenist to come into the room to clean his teeth. He watched the cartoons that were on the televisions right above his chair and played with a toy.

When the hygentist came in NHL did a fabulous job. He stayed still, kept his hands down, and was great at letting her clean his teeth. He was not a huge fan of the tarter removal, but who is really? When she was done cleaning his teeth I noticed that she got a small cup of slimy looking gel. She had a toothbrush and put it on NHL’s teeth. I assumed what it was, but had never seen it before. I was correct, it was the fluoride treatment. My how it has changed since my youth. I remember hating that part of the visit because of having the air in my mouth for 15-20 minutes and being bored with my mouth partially open. The hygenist told me that this new treatment is amazing, they only brush it on for a minute and the kids have to wait 30 minutes before eating/drinking and it is done. She checked and I was right, it was NHL’s first time and he had no clue it was done!

The dentist came in and confirmed that NHL has one six year molar almost completely in and the one above it has cut as well. She said that could certainly be why his hands are in his mouth more, but if that is the only sign we should not complain. Of course she said his teeth look great, but she is not 100% sure there are no cavitites since he did not allow x-rays. That was my chance to mention something about a warning before coming in with something new, but I was a little distracted. JSL was fussing and my mind was too worried about going across the street to our family practice for the MMR.

Hopefully if all goes well NHL will have his x-rays done at the end of March for his next visit.

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Needles or not?

Posted on August 28, 2008 9:02 am by TheAngelForever

Immunizations are a pretty hot topic these days. Whether you are a parent, in the medical profession, or watching the news lately you are likely aware of all of the controversy surrounding vaccines. Are there too many? Do they have a link to the increasing autism rate? Should they be spaced out more? Does the government have the right to mandate them for children? All of these questions and more are out there.

So as a parent what are we to do?

I am a firm believer in vaccinating children. In my mind the risk of diseases are far worse than the typical reactions to the immunizations. That being said my stance on a few things have changed. With my oldest son, NHL, I did the unreal vaccine schedule according to the CDC. Sure I questioned so many at once when he was itty bitty, but out of pure laziness I did not want to go back for a second trip at a later date to space them out. Since NHL was a baby in 2003-2004 a lot has changed. More and more people are suggesting to space out vaccines on newborns so as not to bombard their developing immune systems.

JSL is now 15 months old. Up to his 6 month vaccines we went mostly by the books. Then our world changed in February when he got sick, had a febrile seizure and stopped breathing. The last reading of his temperature before he seized was 102, quite low for a seizure. The little guy has a lower than usual body temperature, so 102 was very high for him. At that moment my thoughts changed. I remembered how NHL and most other children react to immunizations. Temperatures from 100-102 are common for a lot of children for a day or two after being immunized. NHL always had a fever after big shots and that worried me for his little brother.

At our 10 month visit we had a chat with our doctor. She agreed with me that we would be quite cautious about what we would give JSL in the future and split them up and drag them out. The doctor was on maternity leave when we went in for JSL’s 12 month well baby visit. The PA that was on for her did not see eye to eye with me. He pressured me into two vaccines that day and told me that by 15 months JSL had to be caught up. I was beyond ticked off. Why? His only rationale for telling me this was that I was not following the CDC vaccine schedule.

Excuse me? You have to be kidding me right?

No, he was quite serious and we left pretty annoyed at one another. In the end I went against my initial choice and allowed JSL to receive two vaccines. That was a BIG mistake. JSL had a horrible reaction not only on his leg, but had a fever to boot. Anything over 99 is a concern with JSL and we have to medicate. His temperature was around 101 and the number of horror in my mind is 102. Way too close for my comfort. I called and noted this on his file.

Yesterday we had JSL’s 15 month visit and NHL’s 5 year one at the same time. Our doctor was back from maternity leave so it was time to talk to her about my feelings on the MMR in particular. I believe that it is a very important vaccine, but I also know the extremely high rate of children that develop fevers over 101. This scares the heck out of me and I do not want to go into that territory at this point. Each month that goes by without another febrile seizure means we are less likely to have another, but we are far from out of the woods yet.

Much to my surprise the doctor is pushing the issue for doing the MMR and Varicella together within the next month. The only reason she would not do it yesterday is because JSL has a cold. I calmly explained that I had a bad reaction to the MMR when I was a child. It is a live virus and often results in pretty high fevers. That happened to me and I ended up with the measles. Her view is to medicate him before the shot and for 2-4 days after to keep the fever away. Not a complete solution in my mind.

To say that I am torn and confused would be an understatement. The memories of February are too fresh in my mind. No, that was not related to an immunization, but was caused by a fever. The MMR and Varicella are known to cause spikes in temperature, especially the MMR. I plan on giving him the MMR, but just am not sure if I want to do it within the next month. I know the risks of waiting, but I also know the danger of going ahead. I hate being put into this position and I resent it.

So why the rush on the doctor’s side? I asked her this. She said that he needs additional vaccines when he is 18 months and if the others are not done he will be behind. I understand that, but respectfully say – SO WHAT? There are people that will not vaccinate their children before their second birthday. I am not simply talking about the MMR, I mean any and all of them. They start to administer them at about that time. It has always been my plan to do the MMR between 18-24 months, but to see how the little guy is doing before making the determination. I thought this was acceptable with our doctor, but I guess not.

*sigh* I just do not want my baby in the hospital again like he was before.

That was the exciting part of what happened yesterday at the appointment, unless you count hog tying NHL for his two shots. I will update on the boys later on. Must go wipe a little nose again.

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Clickity, clickity, click – Blog the Recession

Posted on August 5, 2008 8:18 am by TheAngelForever

Are you constantly trying to re-budget your household expenses thanks to the rising costs of everything from heating, fuel, electricity, food and breathing alone? Seriously, as a newer SAHM this is something my husband and I think about all the time, especially as we head out and about to stores. With the winter coming so many of us are holding our breaths to see what the cost of keeping warm will be in a few short months.

So my faithful readers, this is where you can help. Thanks to a fun and brilliant idea from Kristen over at Motherhood Uncensored, we can help each other through this time. Her fabulous idea is called:

What is Blog the Recession you ask? Well, click on over with the button above and read a little about it here:

For those of us with ads on our blogs we receive a certain amount of money for each page view. Thanks to the huge surge in people viewing blogs daily on readers (like Blog Lines and Google Reader),we do not benefit from this money. Sure it is only a few cents for each page view, but it adds up and every little bit counts. So thanks to Blog the Recession, we are encouraging people to take that little extra effort to click over to the blog, look around and even leave some comments to make blog owners feel the love and earn a little in the process.

Please head on over to Motherhood Uncensored and join in the fun. There is a list of all of the participants so you can see who has joined in so far. Remember every click of your mouse helps and we all appreciate it.

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To cut or not to cut . . . that is the question

Posted on July 27, 2008 10:27 pm by TheAngelForever

I love baby hair. There is nothing softer and sweeter than baby hair and it is never quite the same after it is cut.

*sniffle* *sniffle* . . . . Can you see where I am going with this?

Here is a clue:

And clue two:

JL is starting to ~~demand~~ insist that JSL gets his hair cut. I am in denial that my little guy is ready for a hair cut. When it is washed, combed nicely, and lacking breakfast in it (as in the photos above) JSL’s hair is very controlled. The problem lately is JSL is starting to use his permanent napkin as we call it in our family. He finds it hilarious to put his dirty, greasy, slimy, nasty hands through his beautiful and curly blond hair.

I suppose I will give into JL and allow the little guy to get his hair cut before he is two!