A Step In The Right Direction!

Today was Owen's appointment with Gramps Creeper. As we loaded up in the car to head to Madison....I was a little worried about the trip to the hospital because Brendan was feeling a little unruly. I did not want him to disrupt the entire children's hospital with his fits. Once we got out onto the road...we never heard a peep from him. He rode in his seat...quietly watching his DVD's and his mood had leveled.

When we arrived at the hospital...we were in a hurry because we were running behind. We buckled Brendan in his stroller and grabbed Owen's seat and proceeded to make our way to radiology. I was relieved that we made it there on time and once we were checked in...we went to the play area to let Brendan stretch his legs and unwind a bit. He played with one of the puzzles that was attached to the wall. Eventually we let him out of his seat and I read to him. While I was trying to read a little Indian boy approached and tried to sit down next to us. Brendan was not amused. The little kid was holding a book with a fire truck on it and Brendan tried to point to the truck and the kid would whisk the book away. Brendan pointed and said fire truck and the little kid belted off something in his native language. Brendan got this expression like "I have no idea what the hell you are saying" and repeated fire truck to him again. The little kid continued to speak his language and Brendan would just look at me with this confused expression. It was humorous. It was a good thing we were amused since we got to go to get Owen's scan 45 minutes after its scheduled time and 5 minutes before our next appointment on the other side of the hospital.

Once we were called in for Owen's MRI we were lead down the longest hallway I have ever seen. The technician asked which one of us wanted to go into the MRI with him and I volunteered. Brendan and April waited in a room while I carried Owen down to the machine. I have seen MRI machines on TV before but have never seen one in person. The machine made noise as they buckled Owen onto the table. The nurse tried to swaddle his arms down inside of a blanket and as soon as she thought he was set, his hands came popping out of the top of the blanket. She tried again and failed. She decided his hands would not cause that much issue and let him keep them out. The nurse pulled out these two little yellow ovals that looked like unrolled condoms to me...and placed them over his ears. He did not enjoy them and shook one off, so she needed to put it back on again. She positioned his head in a little brace and handed me a pair of ear plugs. I did not think the machine was that loud...but I put them in and they began to guide him into the machine. As I looked into the tube...I realized I would never be able to participate in an MRI on my own because that tube was too narrow and I would surely die of an anxiety attack. So imagine my horror when I was asked to lean into the tube and push on Owen's feet so he could not scoot down during the scan. Once the MRI machine fired up, I realized why I needed the earplugs as it clunked and beeped. The sounds were loud and their were what sounded like alarms beeping. As I watched Owen laying there hollering...I realized it had to be semi-terrifying for him to hear all of this noise. The whole scan only took two minutes and before we knew it we were rushing up to Gramps Creeper's office in an attempt to make our appointment on time.

As we proceeded from one side of the hospital to the other...we were trapped behind a trashtastic group of people and were privy to their wonderful conversation. Trailer Mama was talking about how she had noticed bicycles on the sign above the entrance to the rooms she needed to go to. She wondered...is this a biking area? I thought...OH GOD! I am dumb just like trailer mama...I fell for the "dogs only area" and here she was talking about the biking zone! She went on to say that she thought about this for a while and realized the bike symbol was probably to help the STAFF remember where they were. While my face was still flushed from the realization that I was confused by the signs...I felt a little better when I could at least say I figured out the reasoning behind them, where as Trailer Mama was still clearly confused.

We jumped on the elevators and headed up to Gramps Creeper's abode. The nasty little troll nurse ushered us back to weigh Owen once again. Just like last time, she was still completely lacking in any form of personality...and once again...expected us to know what she wanted since she was clearly unable to just instruct us as to what she needed. Owen gained weight! We bundled up a little bit and headed from the weighing room to another examination room to await Gramps. Brendan was immediately unhappy to be in the room and was about to fuss...when I pointed out a chalkboard he could play with. For the remainder of the appointment...he drew and erased pictures...sometime causing his nails to scrape across the board and giving me the worst chills...but he behaved wonderfully.

When Gramps came into the room...he told us that Owen's head circumference had not increased at all. This was a really good thing and pretty remarkable. He asked if we had any issues at all and we said we had not. He quickly examined Owen and said he did not feel pressure on his head and his soft spot was indeed soft and concave (where as it had been firm and stressed before). He and the nurse then reviewed the MRI and talked amongst themselves. The conversation consisted of sounding astounded that his head had not swollen and his soft spot was soft. Then they would look at the scan and whisper. There would be long bouts of silence where they looked at the screen and then at each other. April and I both started to get alarmed because they were not talking to us. Gramps asked again about Owen's history. He was born in Meriter right? We told him no...Reedsburg and then he was transported to Madison by ambulance. That is what I meant he said. And then he would look at the screen some more.

Finally he addressed his views. He turned the screen and said that Owen's head was looking very good and that there was no new swelling. Then he showed us the scan and said that the ventricles were still swollen...but there were four stages of swelling (forgive me if I do not quote them precisely the same, but i know the first two are right)...mild, moderate, severe & critical. He said Owen's swelling was moderate. I was shocked and thrilled! He said the blood was now gone from his head and that while the ventricles were swollen...they were not anything that would require surgery at this time because they had improved and we would not have to return to him again for a month!! We were elated. You could tell by their bewildered expressions that this was really a phenomenal thing. They did not need to tell us twice and we dressed Owen and hightailed it out of the hospital.

Once we got home...I went out to the car and woke Brendan up since he had fallen asleep on the way home. When he was awake....I was bombarded by the books he wanted to read and attention he so eagerly pursued. He and Owen had on matching outfits, so April asked if she could take a picture of them together and Brendan instantly said NO! So I did what any quality parent would do and bribed him with chocolate. He agreed to sit next to Owen...but when I actually seated him close to Brendan... he would move away. April snapped a couple of pictures and gave him his chocolate. Before he had a chance to leave, I picked Owen up and set him on Brendan's lap. He was so offended and immediately tried to push him away. I offered him sweets again and he calmed a bit. I positioned his right arm to hold Owen up and told him to put his other arm on Owen's tummy to hold him. You could see Brendan's brotherly instinct kick in at that very moment...and he held Owen carefully and rubbed his stomach. He leaned over and talked to him. He pointed out the balls on his shirt and rubbed his tummy some more. We got some really terrific pictures of it. Brendan started to move a bit so I picked Owen up and as soon as he was out of Brendan's arms...he said AGAIN! He wanted to hold Owen some more. Something tells me there will be much more bonding to come...and I hope so because it was absolutely precious!

While Owen has been doing an excellent job...I still think his neck is not as supportive as it should be. I have been putting him through a baby boot camp to try to strengthen him up and prove just what he is made of. I hold him upright and support his shoulders...but allow a bit of tension to be put on his neck in an attempt to get him to gain a bit more head control. I stand him up to make him work his legs and also control his head. I lay him on his stomach and tuck his knees up to his chest to encourage him to turn his head from one side to the other (which he does with much irritation). I lay him on his back and flex his hips and legs to make sure he is moving his legs into the positions they should be. I work his arms and shoulders as well as position his head up towards the ceiling so he holds it and does not get lazy. I know he does not love it...but I figure the more I work with him, the stronger he will get. I figure he should get a work out and I should make him do it...since I can't get my fat butt to work out.

So what's next? A visit to his pediatrician on Monday to review his progress. 0 to 3 is coming on Monday to evaluate his motor skills and see if we could use their assistance at all...or give us suggestions to continue to progress in the right direction. I am interested to hear their thoughts. We will also be going back to Madison to see Dr. Elmo for the first time since Owen was discharged. I am anxious to see his reaction to the active little baby he has in front of him...so he can compare what he sees to that fragile little flower that was admitted to the NICU to begin with. I also want to know what he thinks about the MRI Owen had and hear what his prognosis is given the current information. I am hopeful it will be an encouraging one. In the meantime....we will continue to do what we do best...being a family. I try to stay realistic...but we have all really enjoyed just slowly working ourselves into a more normal day to day routine. I think we had plenty of excitement the first month...and now...I just want to raise our kids and move forward. So watch for the pictures soon and we will keep you posted.