Firsts...

Today was certainly a day of firsts, and many of them...

We started off the day with Alexander's Six Month doctor's appointment. Everything went well and his weight/height growth was very good. Dr. M was happy with his progress. Height, Weight & Head cm all look great with good progress.

We talked about the flu shot, immunizations, and asthma and Dr M's wife (a RN) explained that they do not recommended the flu shot for babies/children, unless they have asthma. We commented that we believe Alexander may have asthma because he is constantly wheezing and has coughing episodes nightly. Plus, Daddy had asthma as a child. She said that if Alexander does have asthma, then we will more than likely be giving him the flu shot. So we'll see...

And as strange as this may sound, to our delight, Dr. M was finally able to hear Alexander's wheezing. Last time we explained the wheezing but Alexander didn't want to cooperate & wheeze for the doc. As he was listening to him, Dr. M was concerned but not overly concerned. He & his wife made a comment about a friend of theirs who is a chiropractor who we may want to visit with (chiropractors can do something which will clear the ears and allow for the breathing passages to open - ????? - I have no idea if I understood her correctly). Then Dr. M noted that he wanted Alexander to have x-rays taken. X-rays?? Our little guy is going to go for x-rays?? But he's only little! He handed us a sheet with the orders for the x-rays and said for us to go after the appointment.

We finished with our appointment and headed to the hospital for the x-rays. Thank goodness it wasn't a Sunday. I don't do hospitals on Sundays. We were headed there but decided to take a long way there because Alexander had fallen asleep and the more sleep he could get the better. Once at the hospital, I check in at the radiology/lab desk while Dan parked the car.

After we checked in, it was probably a 15-20 minute wait. Daddy was a bit freaked out because he kept picturing Alexander lying on a table. Mommy was surprisingly fine until we actually got into the room with the x-ray machine and then I couldn't imagine seeing Alexander up there. Daddy also was letting Alexander sit on a chair by himself (yay) but he slid over to the left and bumped his head (awww), but he's a trooper and cried for 3 seconds.

They called us in and explained that one of us would have to hold him on the table. We had to take his clothes off because he had snaps on his shirt so he sat there with just his diaper on. The first one, he sat with his back to the film and I stood behind him, holding his hands straight out to the side. Then the next one, he had to sit to the left with his arms straight up but sitting. Every time I lifted his arms he tried to stand up. So Daddy came over to help hold him. I held his hips down, while Daddy held his arms up. He did pretty good although he was starting to squirm. Thankfully, we got the picture before he squirmed so we didn't have to take anymore.

She asked us to wait outside to make sure the radiologist didn't want another view. We started to feed him and a few moments later, she popped her head out and said that we could go and thankfully it came back negative and he does not have pneumonia. Well that's good to know. We're not exactly sure what Dr. M would be looking for on the x-rays but at least we know he doesn't have pneumonia. She said that they're not suppose to tell us first and it has to come from the doctor but because it was negative she felt she should share. Dr. M may call us with something completely different - guess we'll have to wait and see.

So he finishes his bottle and sleeps the entire car ride home. He's a bit fussy which could just be from the long day, so we try to put him down for a nap. He wouldn't lie in his crib, in his swing, in his pack & play or with me. Daddy decided to take him for a drive and that seemed to work very well, he slept the whole drive.

Once he got home, I decided to try cereal. We tried it several weeks ago but it was around the same time as his diaper rash, so we only tried twice but stopped to clear up the diaper rash. He was playing in his exersaucer as I made his cereal and a bit of formula in his sippy cup. Then he started to get really fussy so I picked him up and noticed his back felt wet. Okay, let's change your diaper. OH NO! He didn't pee, he pooped. He pooped everywhere. It was all over his back (passed his shoulders) and caked everywhere. I brought him to the sink and had to hose him down. The shirt was unsalvagable! I have never, ever seen that much from one little baby. It was crazy. It took a good 15 minutes to hose him off and clean him up.

Then after that, we tried the cereal. He didn't seem to love it, but he wasn't pushing it away either. He ate the whole thing but didn't seem interested. He also didn't want the formula in the sippy cup. We were getting closer to bed but still far enough away that I didn't want to put him down just yet. He was getting even more fussier. Then I could hear his belly start to gurgle. He didn't look good, his face was pale. He started to gag all the while his belly is gurgling. He ended up throwing up on me, and not just your typical spit up. But full fledge throwing up. The poor little guy was so upset, you could tell he didn't know what was going on. He kept looking around as he was crying. That was more upsetting to me to watch then the x-rays.

He threw up three more times along with another dirty diaper and then finally we felt comfortable to feed him and but him down to bed. I wasn't all that comfortable putting him in his crib alone, but he seemed to be much better. After his bottle, he was in his crib for probably 20 minutes before he started coughing. I then decided I couldn't have him in his crib alone if he was going to get sick. I brought him into bed with me and I laid down with him. I wasn't planning to go to sleep for the night, but that's just what happened.

I wasn't necessarily comfortable or slept soundly but at least I knew he was sleeping and okay. Overall, a very long day with a lot of stuff going on for such a little guy. We'll wait to see what Dr. M has to say...