Hey Mom!

claudia — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:35:49 +0000

As Oliver loves to address me, really for a long time now. Where do these guys pick these phrases up? So sweet- I can picture him at 16 saying the same thing. Well the news is out! Oliver is 100% of the time feeding orally!!!!!He put it all together! I honestly was a bit concerned last month about the growth in this area, but now we are just waiting to see how his growth (weight) react to this. I would obviously prefer not to feed him at night. I feel confident that if I leave him to figure it out, he will.
Oliver has had his Gtube since he was 8 months old. Before that he had an NG, which was a feeding tube running through his nose directly into his belly. He has come a long way!!!!! we went in for a GI appt last week and they were thrilled with the turn around. They would actually like to remove his mickey in 3 months if we dont use it in that time!
I cant wait to give him raspberries ALL over his sweet belly!!!!

Live From The Field

claudia — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:10:22 +0000

Banana Boys!!!!

Lots of News

claudia — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:18:39 +0000

Gosh! Where do I start? its been so long since I have updated. I guess today would be a great starting point since it motivated me to send out all this great information!
First we started to do blended foods as a bolus to add “real” food to Oli’s diet. I am adding a fruit and a veggie, protein powder, coco milk and whole spoonable food powder(which has a ton of organic and super green food). He was tolerating the change without much protest. Except for the method we get the bolus in. Thanks to my amazing friend Lisa I am now using a syringe without an extention and pushing the food into his mickey.
He unfortunately caught the flu last week, so that put a huge damper for him. He threw up every meal and that lasted about 24 hours followed by horrendous diareah. He lost almost a pound! But none of that is really important except that it caused me to not feed him as much which in turn made him a very hungry little boy! So much so that in the morning when he wakes up his first words are waffle, banana, or yogurt- this morning he even mentioned a meatball!
So as my king requests I try and deliver! The first day he requested a waffle. Bella sometimes has the WW toaster waffles, so I quickly made him one with butter and sure enough he ate about 75% of it in one sitting! I was shocked, that may be the most he has ever eaten. It has continued to go like this for the last week or so. This morning he actually ate a small banana- the Whole THING!!!!! Then an hour later had yogurt and some sausage- just like any other lucky little boy! Yahoo!!!I will keep updating with this SUPER news!!!

Mother’s Milk

claudia — Sun, 23 May 2010 04:15:54 +0000

Well, all my milk is gone. It seems weird to no longer have that instinct. I miss it in some strange way. it is the end of a very long chapter. I still give Oliver 2oz of milk a day which I had frozen. I will be able to give him this thru the first week of June.
A funny thing happened this week, I got a Mother’s Milk Bank Newsletter. I put it in my stack of paperwork without looking at it. Tonight, I finally opened it and started to read it. At the very back it listed the donors. And there we were: Claudia Yore and baby Oliver! I was so proud. We gave over 300 oz of milk. What a great way to end my nursing and pumping career SIGH…

A visit with Dr. Cornfield

claudia — Sun, 23 May 2010 04:07:27 +0000

Oliver has been off of oxygen for more than a year. When we walked into the hospital for Oliver’s Mickey to be placed in March of 2009, he was on oxygen. We walked out after his surgery with no tanks. Three days at the hospital with constant monitering of his stats, we felt sure that he longer needed the extra help. We had not seen Dr. Cornfield (his pulmanary doc)since an appt in early 2009. So we went to get an update from him. Our appt was full of surprises. First of all, I saw Dr. C in a completely different light. He was extremely patient with Oliver who was nervous and scared to be there. He was crying and saying no over and over again. He would throw in “Outside?” once in a while too. Dr. C just said hi, and Oli said “No”!, so doc walked out of the room. Me and his asst just looked at each other after a while, he was gone for a couple of minutes. Eventually he came back in with 2 lollypops. He asked Oli, do you like lollypops- which of course he said NO, well doc just said Oh I do, as he unwrapped his lolly and sat down to suck on it. We sat down too. At first doc just sat there enjoying his lolly and looking at Oli. Oliver just kept saying No once in a while. Doc C would say, do you like alligaters? No- Oh, I have one. Do you like lambs? No- Oh, I have one and it actually knot me this sweater. Do you know the sound an owl makes? No. Do you have dogs? No. Does grandma take you for walks? No. Does she play with you? No. Doc was so calm, I just started laughing at some of the jokes and eventually after 5 min or so Oli stopped saying no and actually answered yes a couple of times. He was able to listen to Olivers lungs for a long time. He said Oli is doing great. (DUH)! He also said that if Oli wanted to be a swimmer, a sprinter he would have no lung issues. He said his body and lungs have recovered from the surgery and tissue has rebuilt it self. It was all wonderful news. Oliver gave him several knuckles and high fives before leaving with a handful of stickers and a lollypop which he finally accepted.

Great News!

claudia — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:59:50 +0000

Today we had an appt with Oliver’s cardiologist, Dr Rosenthal. We left early this morning with me, tom, oli and silvia. Mom stayed with Ingrid and Nathan. When we first got there we checked in and were seated in the waiting room. Kim, or Auntie Kim as she likes to be called weighed Oli at a whopping 21 lbs and 7 oz. (dont get too excited though, he was still dressed). I will have to double check this week at Dr. Os. Then we headed straight for radiology for a chest xray. Dr R wanted to get a baseline picture since we hadnt taken one since Nov. 08′. This was the worst part of the day for Oli. He fought us so hard- we had to get another nurse and me to hold him down. It was really torturous to look at him. He hates being laid down like this because this is the way they normally give him shots. After a quick couple of pics, we headed back to cardiology. Steve performed the echo. He has done this for us at least a half dozen times. It is so much more relaxing when Tom and I know the tech. He stops to explain things and answers our questions too. he seems to be a really good guy. He is also very loving to Oliver. His voice seems to sooth Oliver who was showing signs of nervousness. Elmo was a great distraction to him. Even more so then the grape lolli that Steve offered him. After about 40 min, we were done. An old cardiologist (his first name is Daniel) came in and said- I just wanted to take a look at Oliver. Wow! He looks great he said! and then he tolkd us that the echo looked the same as last time, all looked good. He also mentioned that he really felt that he credits Dr. Cornfield (our pulmanary doc)for turning things around for Oliver and getting him discharged from the hospital. I had never really considered this. Though I agree that he helped Oliver out ALOT, and truley believed that Oliver would be just fine when others didnt.
After that, a gal walked in and did her thing with the EEG machine. Quick and painless. Within 10 minutes we were back in the waiting room. 20 minuted or so later they called us in to wait for Dr. R. Eventually, after alot of ball playing , running around, and avoiding Oliver’s constant request for Outside? dr R showed up. We all started in the room, but eventually we were in the hallway (our visits always end up there) we cant seem to contain Oliver in the room – though we truley dont even try. Most of the cardiologist team know and love him. Dr. R confirmed what we had already heard. He also added a few interesting things. He said that most babies who have this medical issue tend to show other symtoms between the ages of 1 and 2 because it is a stage of huge growth. Oliver has actually improved. He is no longer on oxygen, no more meds and his heart function has SUPER improved!!!! WOW! This is HUGE!!!!!
Another thing he said was that Oliver may end up catching up to his potential height and weight! That is exciting to hear that he might not always be a little peanut. More to come…

growing up, growing bigger

silvia — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:51:44 +0000

A couple of months ago, Oliver’s good growth finally got him on the chart, in the fifth percentile. Today, Ollie is in the 13th percentile! He is catching up! Claudia says that Bella and Nathan were in the 25-30th percentile of the chart at Ollie’s age, so this really is good progress!

I haven’t seen him in a month or so, but mom’s been sending photos and I wanted to post them here so you could all see how wonderful he is looking. Today when I talked on the phone with them, Ollie said: bat-ke-ball. He’s very proud of himself that he can say basketball.

The boo boo on his nose is from a game he was playing, crawling really fast with his nose on the rug. The photo with the ribbon was taken on the day he completed his first set of swimming lessons.

Part of my yummy lunch!

claudia — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:22:02 +0000

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggety Dog!

claudia — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:55:34 +0000

Well we have become pretty cozy with the information from our cardiologist. Life is really good. Oliver is healthy again after yet another ear infection followed by bronchitis. It seems that after these hiccups, Oliver virtually makes some huge jump. his eating has dramactically improved. And not just in my biased eyes, Tom and Grandma B have noticed as well. He is finally back up to his full feed of 165 mls every 3 hours (7am- 10pm). In addition to that Oli is sitting at his high chair for at least 3 meals a day and enjoying things like sliced bananas (still in its peel), smoothies, anything smothered in cream cheese and of course his all time favorite: Hot Dogs! He knaws and chews on these, and swallow some too. The bananas are the latest. he asks for them as soon as he sees them. I know he is getting them in, because I pull out his stomach contents (I know this sounds horrid, but I am estatic!) I can see chunks of food! Even his poop looks different!

I am so accustomed to having a baby who doesnt eat, that I havent thought too much of when Oliver wont have his mickey button. But now, I really think about it, and I dont think he will have it when he is 3! He is really starting to trust having food near his gag reflex. Also I think he is feeling healthier these days and wants more.

Lately, he has even pushed my hands away when i try feeding him his scheduled bolus at least once a day. He clearly says nu-uh. I cant (and dont want to) force feed him. i want him to have control of his body and to be respectful of his boundaries. Of course, he also needs to gain weight and grow! When possible, I wait for him to go to sleep then I feed him. He doesnt wake up so it makes it easy. Other times I have to explain it to him and then I end up distracting him while I ease into his belly. I feed him alot outside too. This seems to distract him enough.

Oliver is continuing to love his swim class. He seems more comfortable getting splashed and having his ears in. he will blow bubbles when asked. He is intrigued with the other babies in his class as well. He watches them as they swim and dip their heads into the water

Fort Lauderdale

claudia — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:15:52 +0000