November 14, 2010

Last year this time we were adjusting to having a baby at home, and believe it or not an entire year has passed. Charlotte came home from the hospital on November 11, 2009 and while some parents remember taking their baby home from the hospital as a time of anxiety/nervousness, we recall a sense of liberation and joy. The pictures on this post were taken the morning of November 11 shortly after she woke up.

She had her 15 month pediatric appointment on 11/11 and everything went fine.
Height: 28.5"; 7th percentile
Weight: 19.95 lbs; 10th percentile
Head: 45 cm; 25th percentile


About a week ago Charlotte had a developmental follow-up with Early On, Michigan's birth to three program. They didn't have any concerns outside of her not eating. We go around and around with this conversation, but they want her to see a speech therapist in the UP. We are fine with this and would love her to have some additional help, but we also insist they communicate with her therapist in Milwaukee to ensure some consistency. We'll be seeing Early On again tomorrow, so I'll see if they followed up with Dr. Arvedson.

Last weekend was a trying one for Patrick and Charlotte. I traveled to a conference in St Louis Saturday through Tuesday. Late Saturday night Charlotte started throwing up bile and stomach juices constantly - every 10 minutes all night long. Finally about 5 a.m. Patrick turned off her feed and she settled for a few hours, allowing him to get a couple hours of sleep. Of course he woke up to happy playing sounds coming from the crib only to find Charlotte thoroughly enjoying playing in her own diarrhea and throw-up.

Later that morning Patrick took her to the ER at Portage Health since the throwing up had resumed with her feeds and her cheeks had broken out in a rash. She was diagnosed with Fifth Disease, also called "Slap-cheeked Syndrome". There wasn't much treatment besides letting her rest and trying to get her fluids through her tube. Charlotte started to recover slowly throughout the day on Monday, but about mid-morning Patrick started to feel the effects of a stomach bug coming on. While Charlotte was at daycare he spent the afternoon sleeping and throwing up. Luckily Charlotte was starting to feel better and slept most of the night, although she still couldn't be fed on her regular schedule.

And just so I didn't feel left out I managed to spend Sunday night sick as well and had a relapse later in the week after I got back. Hopefully we're done with the "sick" thing for a little while. Of course, with Charlotte in daycare it shouldn't be too long until we all get the illness-du-jour.

The weekend has been great. Pat's sister, Kelly, visited from Minneapolis and we hope she enjoyed her visit because we sure did.

Tomorrow we're back to work for a three-day week until we head off to Milwaukee on Thursday. Thursday evening Patrick will fly to Maryland for the JFK 50 miler - his first time away from Charlotte since she came home (a well-deserved break). Charlotte and I will have a busy weekend with 2 appointments on Friday and then a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa Distad in Minnesota.