Colton and Baby Updates -

Colt had a wound nurse appt on Tuesday and all went well - he had more hyper granulation occurring on each wound so she had to put zinc oxide or something on each of them which he did not like at all, but she thinks he's healing well and figured about 10 more days, however I think that could be true for his wrist but maybe a tish longer for the back of his arm. We also got his nose stitches out last Friday as they were starting to either get infected or he was having a reaction to them (which can happen on the face), that wasn't so fun but he has kept his steri-strips on pretty good until Tuesday when he has started to consistently pull them off. We only needed them on until yesterday, but I'm keeping on a couple days longer since he keeps pulling them off. He'll have a decent scar but at least the gash has closed up fairly well.

I am 34 weeks this week and had an appt Tuesday - they said the baby is totally transverse (and has been since my last ultrasound at 28 weeks). This is the worst position it could be in, typically they can't flip transverse baby like they can breech (doing an external version - which is them basically numbing you up and doing lots of pushing around your belly to move the baby manually) and I have heard that version's can be very painful and in the case of transverse babies - they usually just go right back into that position because they are most comfortable that way. Basically the head is laying on my left hip and butt on my right - legs and arms up, and spine curled down at the bottom. Only about 1 in 2000 babies are still in this position when you go into labor, however since it has been in this same position for 6 weeks, there is a chance it won't turn and we could have to do a csection. They are starting my weekly appts 1 week early, next Tuesday, and will also ultrasound to check weight and position. I am measuring 3 weeks ahead (37 weeks) as of this week, so they want to make sure the baby isn't getting too big, but I'm sure it's just because it's in such an odd position. They will probably make a call in the next couple weeks if we would do a csection early. Typically they can wait till you go into labor to see if the baby will flip and if not, you are looking at a last minute csection, however, with the fact it has stayed in position so long and it probably won't and that I'm measuring ahead and that I typically have babies early - there will be lots to talk about next week after the ultrasound. I am obviously 100% hoping no csection, so we'll just have to see. More to come next week...definitely ready to wind this pregnancy down and SO IS Corey. I have been much more testy this pregnancy and let me tell you, if someone could capture all my thoughts, I'd have an international comedic best seller! Corey doesn't know this - but it's very funny. Sometime in the last week he and I were a bit crabby and I yelled something down to him and he said he couldn't hear what I was saying and I got totally annoyed because if he answered, obviously he heard me and in a fairly loud tone I responded back 'BITE ME! ...DID YOU HEAR THAT?!' ;) oh, I'm so lady-like sometimes it kills me!! :)

Kelly

Stitches out...

We just got back from getting Colton's stitches out - again we got to have Corey hold him down, a nurse hold his head, I held his feet and a childcare specialist came in to make noises and blow bubbles - quite the production:). Corey laughed and asked everyone in the room if 'childcare specialist was another name for social services? - and they all got a kick out of that. The dr. thought he was on the verge of infection from them, so she said they had to come out - but regardless, she (as the other PED told us) told us that facial stitches come out within 3-5 days anyway. It broke open a bit when she took them out but she said the cut was so deep that she put a steri-strip down them and we'll have to leave the strips on (and replace them if they come off) until next Weds - which is when we see the wound nurse anyway for his arm so she can make sure he's healing up Ok. She said no baths until next weds (just sponge baths) and we have to really watch him - obviously for any signs of infection being he was already seeming to be started down that path (she said it takes out a lot of the room for infection by taking all the stitches out that have 2 infection points each), but also because it's so deep and could break back open if he isn't careful - wouldn't that be just fabulous?! >:(

So, we'll just be hanging low, watching meatballs and keeping him away from all chairs, sharp corners, dangerous objects, couch jumping...etc...for the next 5 days:) She said he's fine to goto daycare, but it's good he's home the next few days anyway to give some extra healing time - even though we agree he seems to get himself in less trouble there than with us.

Ok - talk to you later,

Kelly

Colton, Colton, Colton...

Ok - I'm hoping to get to the point sometime VERY soon that these updates aren't always about 'little mister hell on wheels' ;) So...first off, update on his arm and the healing process...he has been seeing the Meritcare wound nurse weekly - and they are just all so awesome. They don't have many little ones in there, so they all (reception, nurses...etc) all get a kick out of him as he typically leaves some cars or toys under the chairs and likes making balloons out of the latex gloves. Last week Sheri (the wound nurse) said she thought he would be all healed up in 2-3 weeks and I silently disagreed - that it would be more in the 3-6 week range, so we'll see and I'm hoping she's right! He developed a latex allergy so we had to change his bandaging last week, and of course, he developed a new apparent allergy to the adhesive in general and so we had to change it up again this week to an interesting concoction of sponges and bandage wrap. She is really happy with the healing (we saw her Tuesday) and thinks he will start growing skin over the 2 areas in the next week or so. Great news! They were very surprised to see the new look he was sporting though this week...so lets get going on that...

Monday morning while at home, he was up on one of our over sized dining room chairs - basically just standing there, but he flipped the back of it backwards by leaning too much on it and proceeded to fall with the chair directly backwards toward the ground and unfortunately it was the upper bridge of his nose that connected with the bottom foot bar of our wrought iron bar stools that broke his fall. What is the next word I can think of...ummm...BLOOD. We both grabbed him right away, held a rag to his face to eventually stop the bleeding, pumped him full of Motrin, his pacifier, made a make-shift bandage of a long bob the builder band-aid running from his forehead down to the tip of his nose and away we went to the hospital. Luckily they had a Pediatrician at the Meritcare Children's Clinic Walk-in that could do stitches so we opted to go there rather than the ER and got in right away. 1 look by the nurse, then 1 look by the dr and they said, 'yep, boy, that's a deep one...definite stitches'. So we had to get him numbed up for about 15 min, then get him into a new room with 5 of us in there - Corey laying with him on the table, a nurse and I holding his head in place, another NP at his arms and legs (along with Corey) and the doc to do his magic. Another handful of large needle pokes for numbing purposes and away we went with 4 stitches. We are getting them out already on Friday afternoon so hope his healing goes well - and I guess we'll chalk this up to yet another fabulous scar for him to brag about to his pre-school buddies when the time comes;) His poor little face swelled up so much he started looking like a lion and the doc expected some 'major' black eyes, but so far it hasn't gotten too bad. There could be a possibility of a break (EVERYONE CROSS YOUR FINGERS ON THAT ONE), being it was right on the bone, however he was so swelled they can't really tell that for the 1st 3-5 days until the swelling goes down, so we'll see - we just noticed the swelling decreasing a bit today. I have now uploaded some pictures of his arm in the few days after his accident happened as well as his face from this week. I'll try to get some more of the healing of his arm out in the next days.

We also celebrated his 2nd birthday Saturday night at our house and TODAY IS OFFICIALLY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO COLTON (JAN 21ST)!!!!! I was hoping the start of the New Year was literally a 'new year' to put the accidents behind him, but now lets say, I'm hoping the start of the 'new-him-no-accidents-no-pain-lets-just-be-happy-and-play-trains-and-basketball' year STARTS TODAY. 2 is going to be where it's at - happy, healthy and lots of fun - right?! ;) (I'm trying to convince myself of that anyway...but just in case, I'm stalking up on bubble wrap). I'll post his birthday party pics and updates this weekend maybe - and hey, maybe I'll even get around to sending out our Christmas pictures!

PS: Yes, it's 1:30am and I'm not asleep, just got done making his daycare treats and figured I may as well send out this update being I have become an apparent vampire who doesn't sleep anymore (either from the pregnancy or the fact I'm obsessed with the Twilight Series books;)

Have a good one,

Kelly

1.5.10 Colton Wound Nurse Appt...

Just letting you all know Colton’s appt went well today – each spot has healed a couple millimeters and they brought up the skin grafting idea again so we may be seeing a burn surgeon next week at our appt, but I’m still pretty sure that won’t happen. We got a thumbs up so far and will continue to see the wound nurse every week for the next 4-8 weeks so she can monitor the healing. She said he will have some pretty good scarring in both spots on his arm but good thing is neither of them are on a joint so the scarring won’t hinder his movement. She also agreed with all the other doctors that the redness/burns on his face and back will even out with his skin tone and go back to normal, so I’m glad to hear that (specifically from her).

But no bad news anyway – nothing has changed since Corey went to her all that time last year for his foot surgeries…she still seems to be on track with running ‘at least’ an hour late on all her appts, but does an awesome job!!

Kelly