Belly Laugh

February 2011

Well what a whirlwind month February was. The beginning of the month was rather special as we had family visiting from New Zealand. Uncle Karl, Aunty Angela and Cousin Oliver met Isaac for the very first time. It was pretty special and in the week that we all spent together we got out a lot, enjoyed some warm weather and went places like the Melbourne Zoo and Docklands Harbour etc. You could really tell our lil warrior was enjoying being out in the fresh air and being out and about in general. It was funny coz when the family went back to New Zealand and our routine was back to normal Isaac would get rather antsy around the time he expected to be thrown in the car and going somewhere. He quite often likes to look out the window when we are at home and I am sure it's because he wants to get back out there...The old saying if you do something for 7 days in a row it becomes habit definately rang true for our lil guy.

Towards the latter part of the month our lil guy became quite unwell. He developed what seemed initially as an Upper respiratory tract infection which over the course of 5 days got worse and worse and landed him in hospital for 5 days/nights. Isaac developed Bronchilitus and it was confirmed as a case of RSV. He was put on humidified oxygen and being a viral infection had to ride the virus out under the watchful eye of his doctors and nurses. It was very scary times for both mummy and daddy all over again and just being back in the hospital was dreadful. Our lil Warrior man got strong and he fought in his usual style. He truly is amazing, at times you wouldn't have even known he was a sick lil guy, he always managed to still smile and play along with his toys and very rarely if at all you would hear a cry from him....our lil guy is home now
and back off his oxygen during the day and only has it at night..just like before he got sick. I would assume at this stage we might be delayed in trying another sleep study to get Isaac off his oxygen completely but we won't know for sure what the game plan is until we go back mid March for a follow up appointment with his respiratory doctor. At the moment everything stays the same and the big challenge (especially with the change in seasons) is to keep our lil guy as Healthy as possible and away from potential bugs and germs which could land him right back in hospital should he get sick again.

Whilst in hospital, actually on the day of his admission Isaac turned 9 months (which makes him 6 months corrected). For quite some time leading up to this date Isaac was sitting up with some support but it was whilst he was in hospital that he started sitting unsupported. This is a great milestone for him and it makes playtime all the more interesting and a lot more fun. He truly is so inquisitive all the time and wants to touch and observe just about everything he sees in front of him. He likes to grasp objects and due to teething just about everything goes in the mouth. He also likes to stand (assisted obviously) and check out the entire scenery (just in case he misses something) :)

We are now progressing with the solid foods, since being home from hospital he is showing interest in it finally and we have even tried a couple of vegetables which is progress! Isaac lost a little bit of weight whilst in hospital but since being home we are making some steady progress.

January 2011

We have had a relatively busy month this month and over the course of time our lil man has been meeting members of the family and friends.

Isaac and mummy started mothers group and it has been such a delight to watch Isaac interacting with other babies. First day of mothers group and in the words of the Health Nurse Isaac "'worked the entire room" and made sure he checked everyone out and glanced a cheeky smile at all his onlookers. It was very cute to watch. It was like freeing an animal from hibernation, after many months of being couped up at home as well as in the hospital it was such a happy sight to see him interacting with other people and checking out the other babies. He is so used to seeing only his image in the mirror and was mesmerised at the other babies.

With regards to the sleep study, the first night we had some equipment errors which meant we abandoned the study for that night. The next night we were able to complete it and Isaac had the entire night off Oxygen. He was such a happy little chappy not having his nasal prongs on and I bet it was one of the most comfortable sleeps he has ever had....not so much for his daddy who slept on the floor next to his boy the entire night and also mummy who slept glued to the monitor all night. It was a long night indeed. Isaac didn't alarm all night and maintained his saturations...at this stage however he didn't quite saturate at the high end of what is required and it is looking like he will have to remain on his oxygen at night for a little while yet. The full results haven't come back as yet but in the interim it is likely he will remain on oxygen overnight until further notice. He really is doing well off o2 during the day and Isaac and mummy are getting out and about a lot more as its a lot easier not being hooked up to the machine. There are still so many family and friends to meet, but we are gradually getting there (at a snail's pace)!

Here are some photo's taken over the course of January