This and That

They are on their way.
5 families flying half way around the world.
6 babies, their lives about to change forever.

In Benjaminh news

It has taken the little dude a week to progress from this...to this...Scary fast progress towards walking unaided
(Thanks Angie and Greg for the great Walker!).

In other news we were visiting Auntie Carol and Uncle Bill for dinner tonight where I stated with joy that Benjaminh had not aspirated or vomited for 2 whole days...
not 1 minute passed before he spewed everywhere.

Lesson learned?
Keep the progress private.


He has a devilish twinkle.
It usually means he is about to torture the dog or touch something he clearly associates with the word NO.

It looks a bit like this.

The boy loves his sand.
LOVES.HIS.SAND.

He can sit in the sand at the park for 30 minutes picking it up and examining it closely, moving from spot to spot to find the perfect sand. He is going to love the beach at the cottage. Okay, he is whining...but it's the words that count don't ya think?
Don't forget to pause the music...

Food, glorious food

So, food.
First me...and food.

Someone (thanks mom...really) bought me a DairyQueen Cake for Birthday day. Then we ate about 2/3's of it and then everyone left and the cake stayed and that is BAD. Very bad. I tried to give it away to my neighbour with 3 kids but she really felt her daughter needed to avoid sweets so that was a no go. I have invited people to visit and indulge over the next couple of days...hopefully that happens before I've eaten it all. Oh, and the key Lime bars? And the most amazing apple pie EVER. H.E.L.P M.E...

Benjaminh...and food.

The irony is not lost on me.
I have a kidlet with quite serious eating delays.
Delays people.
The only eating delay I can handle personally is the 3 minute wait in the TiMHOrton's line to get my morning tea and bagel on the way to work...

Oh right, Benjaminh's delays.
We headed out to see the feeding specialist on Friday and now have confirmation that I AM NOT LOSING MY MIND...he is in fact consistently aspirating his fluids, even when I was already thickening them at the rate of 1TBSP of rice cereal per 3 oz fluid as per the ped's request.

This is very bad news. The good news part of this bad news is that it is happening at the point of swallowing and the feeding specialist is quite certain this is a swallowing reflex delay and not physiological...like a "fistula" or hole in the esophagus. In other goodish news he has a well developed gag/cough reflex and is quite efficient at clearing things out when they get flowing on the wrong track...though the big blood vessel bursting attacks he has had of 4 occasions now would indicate his isn't always completely successful.

So, I now thicken everything that he ingests. Formula obviously as well as foods such as pureed fruits/veges and yogurt.

I was asked to thicken his formula using baby cereal to the point that he was able to complete a 5 oz bottle with no coughing or gagging even if it means enlarging the nipple hole. That required 4 or more TBSP's of formula for every 5 oz bottle and after the 4th bottle he was clearly NOT into it. He began to gag and vomit the very minute he tasted that baby cereal. Oh, and the same cereal was thickening his puree's so he vomited his solids as well...for the first time ever. ALL DAY Saturday. Offer him a bite of chicken stew, a favourite he had been eating for weeks and weeks and he vomited everything he had eaten in the previous 4 hours...through his nose (and his mouth as well but seriously carrots through the nose is a bit disconcerting).

So, cereal at every meal and in every beverage all day long was clearly not the answer if it was going to result in nothing at all being in his stomach for longer than 2 hours.

Off I went to the pharmacist...where I purchased a thickener derived from corn. Chemically derived. Not ideal I know but seriously it was Saturday evening and the poor boy needed to eat and keep something down before I could talk to the doctor on Monday so I bought it. 3/4's of one tablespoon of this miracle powder does the same thickening as 3 TBSP's of cereal in his bottle. So a bit of the miracle powder and 1 TBSP of the cereal and he ate and it stayed down and he ate again before bed and he slept through the night and on Sunday I bought shares in the company...

So, he is eating.

Fruit + yogurt thickened with a fair bit of rice cereal for breakfast and a 5 oz thickened bottle

meat + veges thickened with a bit of stage 2 mixed cereal for lunch and a 5oz thickened bottle

mid afternoon 5 oz thickened bottle before nap time

slightly larger serving meat + cheesey veges with a bit of stage 2 cereal for dinner

6 oz thickened bedtime bottle

So, 3 meals high in calories, protein and iron and 21 oz of formula (24 would be better). This is the plan and it worked today.

Reminiscing

As the next group of families prepares to take off for Hanoi mid week I'm feeling a bit left out. I love Vietnam. I love Hanoi. I can hardly wait to go back. I took some time to go through my photos today and picked out some of my favourites...in no particular order (hmmm, perhaps not all of my favourites afterall...blogger is only letting me post 10 pictures).

Not a fan of the caves at Halong Bay
Canadian Embassy
What-a-ya mean I can go home now...Singapore only took 4 days?
Love that Maple Leaf upholstery.
Beautiful walks around Hoan Kiem Kiem
Temple of Literature...a wonderful afternoon

Ready to head out to the G+R.
Delicious food, vast menu at Hoa Sua Training School
Lots of baby supplies on hand at the Citimart Grocery in the Hanoi Towers
Brother's Cafe...simply don't miss it (opens at 6:30)
Evening sidewalk badminton...go AROUND...as Auntie Kristen soon found out

My Birthday Wish

For those who don't know me in real life this upcoming birthday is biggish...

So, my wish is biggish...

I want to see baby girl K-T's face.

It is time for J + D to meet their sweet girl.

In order for this wish to come true it requires that the agency make a correct prediction:

"The Hai Duong referrals are expected by the end of the month"
which may have never, ever happened before.

In fact the referrals would need to come a few days early to make it for my big day.

Not impossible.

Dr. Report with gratuitous cute kid photos at the end...

We started our day with a lovely luncheon/shower at my school. Yummy salad lunch in honour of Earth Day, a delicious cake in honour of Benjaminh, sweet friends and a generous gift...I'll show everyone the big ticket item I'm purchasing for the growing boy once it is purchased.

Then...
Went to the specialist...
Loved her....
Little guy loved her...
Verdict?

He has gone from being 75th % in weight on the North American charts on March 3rd to 25th % today. Seems alarming when you look at these numbers but it translates into a very small weight loss in terms of actual pounds 20.5 to 20.12. It is a loss though and the new doctor wants to be aggressive in solving Benjaminh's issues (I'm so in to this).

So, looks like we have a case of reflux which has pretty much cleared up by his (nearly) 11th month but rears it's ugly head when he is feeling unwell with puking, chronic night coughing and back arching pain (he feels unwell when he is teething...which seems to be most of the time).

Reports from the agency say that on 5 different visits to the orphanage in October, when Benjaminh would have been 4 months old, the nanny carried him everywhere. Never put him down. He slept in a hammock way up at the end (the orphanage version of propping him up I'm guessing). Both of these behaviours may indicate that if he was laid on his back the reflux flared up (which is certainly my experience).

When I picked him up in January I was told that he was sickly and needed very thick formula fed in small 1 or 2 oz servings hourly.

So, I will continue to thicken his formula for drinking aiming for 20 oz per day actually staying inside him (4 5 oz bottles)...and I will focus my attention on providing iron rich high calorie solids in 3 meals per day + snacks.

This translates into a 3 tablespoon meal that is at least 2 thirds meat/cheese/yogurt and/or fortified infant cereal and one third fruits and veggies. Veggies should be cooked with olive oil and may contain butter to add to the calories.

He is on a mild reflux med.

On Friday we will go to the hospital's children's ward to meet with the head Speech Pathologist for a feeding study...I take him hungry with all of his various nipples and bottles and she watches him feed looking for signs of poor suck, swallow, breathe reflexes.

I'm guessing and the doctor agrees that the very thick oatmeal consistency of the orphanage food and the cut off nipple has likely delayed his development of effective sucking mechanisms. Sucking muscles are also speech muscles. And the whole tongue tie thing comes into play here as well though it seems to be correcting itself.

Finally we wait for our invite for a barium study which could take up to 6 weeks...where the little manh drinks barium fortified beverage and has his insides photographed to make sure the passageway is intact and flowing correctly. It will also show the functionality of the valve between the esophagus and the stomach.

I was able to show the specialist a short video of 'aspiration' in action and she agrees that there may be more to this than meets the eye and wants to eliminate possible sources of trouble.

I inquired about her thoughts on the remaining adoption blood work that needs doing. She had very strong opinions about the whole "vein less" issue. She couldn't find any either. She wants us to wait until we have the above tests back in case she needs a battery of blood work done as well so that it can all be done at once. We would travel in to sick kids for that.

She also requested that I not let labs poke at his feet as a child with no veins needs the foot veins to remain intact for emergency IV's, if ever required.

Tonight (and every minute of every day the rest of the time) I am so very thankful that Benjaminh was in an orphanage with an attentive and caring nanny with the both skills and the time to attend to his needs so closely. His early care has given us a threshold of chub to see us through getting him well and transitioning to solids for his nutrition. It has also provided me with a son that seeks comfort from mama in new situations like the specialist's office, can be easily calmed when he has had a choking episode, loves to be held close to be fed and allows mama to do all the bottle holding.

Oh, and he is also cute as pie...

and in other news he pulled himself up for the first time tonight and then proceeded to do it ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

Yikes!

The post that documents Fred's very bad day...

Like any other day...except not...

Well, yesterday started like any other day. An early morning bath to wash away the green crust. A nice hot morning bottle.
A chance to love on the pup, up close, you know, lick the dog to show your love. Unfortunately the green slime makes Little Manh's gag reflex stronger.
Baby boy puked.
The whole bottle.
Onto the dog's head.
Here he is, looking decidedly depressed after he was mopped up.The whole thing was a bit trying so a quick crash on the couch was in order
(after momma and little dude had another bath and got dressed...again). In order to remain sane our little family of 3 headed over to Auntie Carol's to loiter for the whole day.
A place with lots and lots of people that want to love on the little dude even in his slightly crusty and likely to puke state.

And Pup had a blast trying to become a black lab in the back field. And then I left him there...no way that was getting into the back of my car!

Today, new sleeping position, and momma is trying to get little Manh to puke on the cloth diaper...rather than on her, himself and the carpet.
(Any idea why blogger is spinning this photo 90 degrees clockwise? Irritating for sure.)

Green slime and Doves on Crack

So the title says it all.
Baby boy caught the horrid cousin virus and has green slime oozing from his eyes.
Lovely...
NOT
Doctor says he will be fine.
Wouldn't weigh him though as the illness is causing an eating disruption and he wanted mama to avoid becoming hysterical...his word choice.

The injured dog noises have escalated into what I can only describe as a morning dove on crack.
Only this dove is active all the time.
24 hours per day.

We have done 2 nights with approximately no sleep.
Last night was a bit better with about 5 hours straight.
The nose was better today but the eye slime and cough persist.

The dove is in bed right now.
Take a guess how long this might last.
Need more info???
He crashed and burned about 4pm and slept until past his bedtime, 7:15.
Have we already used up 3 hours of our allotted 5?
H...e...l...p...

We went out for a long walk, mama drowned her sorrows in a mint oreo blizzard with extra oreos (heaven on our earth) and then we had a visit with a similarly virus ridden family.
He headed back to bed at about 10.

Wish me luck.

No pictures...trust me, you don't want to see what he looks like these days.

Baldy...continued

Benjaminh here.

Mama is sleeping 'cause, well, I don't.
Stayed up pretty much the whole night last night and napped for 15 minutes total today and whined ALL DAY. And now, when I whine and she leaves the room for a minute to get away? I follow her. Whining the WHOLE way. I crawl now. And whine at the same time. Like a small injured puppy I'm told (the whining, not the crawling...stay with me people).

Very effective. Ta-len-ted.

So I'm guest blogging tonight.
Mama needs her rest ...I've heard a rested mama is a happy mama so I'm testing the theory.

About the title. Yup. It's true. I headed up to the grands for the weekend and met up with some cousin action.The little cousin is still bald. His mom says his hair has grown but I'm too young to have my eyesight checked by an ophthalmologist...just saying.

Little E is getting a bit sensitive about the whole thing.
Pop's was heard calling him cueball. Not nice. Not nice at all. I think baldy overheard as well. From that point on he was staring. All the time. Staring at my new doo. My big boy haircut. My SECOND big boy haircut since I arrived. My hair rocks and he noticed. Wanted some advice. So I told him about my early months...he needs to replicate them in order for any of my advice to be effective.Tropical climate (or a humidifier...),
hammock,
carried around ALL THE TIME,
fed every hour, on demand Auntie Janice was not amused. I was just trying to help!

I was strangely calm as the earth shifted...
3 months ago today

Today 5 families received their long awaited Letters of Invitation to travel to Vietnam so that they too can feel the earth shift...less than one month from today. I met their baby girls, loved on them and told them their families were coming. And now they are and there is joy in the land.

Say a little prayer for my friends J+D...that they too will very soon see their baby's sweet face and also that the traveling families will have a chance to love on their little one and tell that sweet soul that mommy and daddy are on their way.