Monthly Archives: February 2006

Updates

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Haven’t done one of these in a while so here goes!

Miss Olivia really has been picking up with language skills lately. She says so many words:

One
Ball
Baby
Baba
Apple
banana

shoes
patos (zapatos – shoes in spanish)
night-night
nap-nap
tubby
mama
dada
nine
Diana

Jenna
Poppy
auntie

She is such a little monkey. She has started in on the “two attitude”. She likes to throw her toys on the floor to get a reaction out of us. She will put herself in timeout (in the corner of the kitchen where we send Maddie). She willingly goes there which is hysterical to me.

She has her Uncle Chris wrapped around her little finger. Completely. And he has her wrapped as well. On Friday evening Heidi was over without Chris. And a friend of mine Christine came over and I said “Oh good, Chris is here”. Olivia went FLYING to the stairs – thinking it was Uncle Chris. Needless to say she was disappointed.

Olivia LOVES to color. Give the child a piece of Crayola Color Wonder paper and the Crayola color wonder markers and she’s good for hours. Crayons used to be a big hit but she’s now all about the markers. I’m thinking it’s because she loves to be able to take the caps on and off. And with Crayola Color Wonder products – there’s no mess. It only works on the paper. As Martha would say “It’s a good thing”.

She’s still our great little eater. Last night I was making dinner and had a can of olives open. She ate at least 10. And she’s good for a half pint of blueberries in a sitting. Stir fry some red bell peppers and she’s in her glory. And the child can maneuver a fork like nobody’s business. We were out to eat this past weekend and she ate ziti with tomato sauce with a fork. Fine motor skills? Not an issue with this kid. She’s just amazing.

We have an appointment on Thursday with cardiology. I’m due for the appointment moreso than she is. I need the reassurance that only Dr. Heller can give us – that yes, she’s doing great; and yes, we don’t have to discuss the Fontan (third heart surgery) for at least another year.

Finally yesterday was the anniversary of the start of it all. It was the anniversary of us finding out about Olivia’s defect and the anniversary of being told to terminate her. And the beauty of it is that I forgot all about it until after 4:30pm. When I remembered I shed a few tears … of joy that it’s all turned out so well. And tears of gladness that I listened to my heart and stuck by my beliefs. And a few tears for those babies who weren’t as lucky as Miss O. I’m due to contact Dr. Death so expect that letter soon.

Maddie & Olivia play nicely together

Frighteningly so … quietly … to the point that I got nervous they were up to no good!

The vet was over to give the cats their annual checkups. Maddie & Olivia went into Maddie’s room. They shut the door. It was quiet. For ten minutes. Twenty minutes … time to check in on them.

I knock on her door. I gently open the door (since Miss O is known to hang out behind doors). Maddie has a pair of scissors in her hand and is giving O a hair cut. Then I look again: it’s the scissors from her doctor kit. Pretend scissors. They don’t cut anything

Maddie had Olivia in her baby stroller (toy) and had it parked in front of the mirror on the back of Maddie’s door. And they played. In her room. Without fighting. The entire. time. the . vet . was . there.

Could we possibly be getting to that point? Or were they showing off for company?

Either way, I’ll take it!

RSV prevention appointment

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She weighed in at 23 lbs, 5.8 oz (10.6 kg). Her oxygen sat was 81 before the shot and 85 – 86 after.

Arnie said she was SO cooperative with them. Held out each hand for the numbing cream for the blood draws). She was just wonderful.

So this is her last shot for the study. Olivia and I will go back in March for a followup appointment with Dr. Wolkoff. Arnie said they may recommend that she get a synagis shot outside the study next month depending on what the RSV situation is like here in CT.

Her right eardrum was “dusky” … this is the same ear that we had labelled an infection earlier this month.

Appointment with Dr. Friedman

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Arnie brought Olivia in to see Dr. Friedman today. She’s had a cold for a while now and it seems to be moving into her eyes. She had those “goopy eyes” relating to a cold – not pink eye. Plus she’s been having a tough time sleeping at night.

Olivia’s right ear looked “mildly” infected to Dr. Friedman. She put her on Zithromax (200/5ML concentration – she’s getting 3ml once a day) for 3 days in place of her amoxicillan.

While he was there he also discussed with her a few concerns I had.

  1. Olivia’s fontanelle (the “soft spot”) hasn’t closed yet. Dr. Friedman felt this was nothing to be concerned about at this point.
  2. Speech. Olivia’s not talking a ton. She says Mama, Dada, apple, bye, hi, eyes, nose, mouth, but really hasn’t taken off language wise. Dr. Friedman said she should be able to say 3 words beside Mama and Dada at this point so we’re ok. She felt that since she understands both english and spanish we’re in good shape as well – and the fact that she’s learning two languages at once may be the reason she’s not speaking more. We’ll discuss more at her 20 month visit in April.

The entire Belfonti household is battling the same cold and it is a doozy. Even Maddie Rose with her immune system of steel has fallen victim to this one.