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…

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.

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…