Nine Weeks (02/20/14)

Spencer has grown so quickly, where has the time gone.  He holds he is head very well now, and can plank when suspended incredibly.  We do need to do more hard surface tummy time though.  The past week he has loved trying to stand.  He can hold most of his weight for moments, but not balance.  But he loves being in the standing position to be as tall and big as he can.  It is adorable. 

His vocal skills are coming along with Agoos and what not.  He has definitely found his loud voice when upset recently.  Up till now it took quite a while of fussing (which we tried to attend too quickly), before he went into full wailing; the past couple days the full wailing has come a little quicker.  I think mostly because his tummy has been upset a little, and thus could only eat small amounts, and thus needed feeding more often.

It is amazing to watch him learn.  Lately he loves watching his mobile in the lamb swing.  He is all smiles when he is awake watching it, and almost giggling.  It is great to see him start to chuckle in his sleep, fun times he must be dreaming about. 

At his two month doctor’s appointment he weighed a whopping 4.93 kg (10 pounds 13.93 oz).  The measurement for his length didn’t seem to be much more, yet he is outgrowing sleepers and onsies every day it seems. 

I will include the chair growth photos in a separate post. 

Lumps are never good, are they?

Last week was the start to a big emotional mess. As Spencer was nursing I noticed a lump on the side of his neck. It was late in the evening so we figured we would do something about it the next day.

So while Deb was at work I called Alberta Health Link. They suggested I see my doctor within 24 hours. Alas my the soonest I could make an appointment with my doctor was Tuesday. I explained the situation and they said the only thing I could do is come in as a walk in to see one of the other doctors. So that is what I did. From preliminary calls and google I ha figured it was a lymph node or something.  The doctor didn't say what it could or couldn't be just ordered an ultrasound. 

By the time I had finished the appointment it was too late to book the ultrasound. So first thing Friday morning I call. If I was willing to drive to Airdie I could have gotten an appointment on Monday but I wasn't sure how well Spencer would do on that long of a trip by myself. Otherwise I had to wait till Thursday. 

On Wednesday we all ready had an appointment for an ultrasound for his hips. Standard booking because he was breech. I had asked if we could do both ultrasounds at the same appointment but booking said no. There wasn't availability. 

This week of waiting has been very hard. The beginning of parental angst has started. The worry over your children for everything. I was trying not to worry too much till we knew what we were dealing with. But it is hard not to. I was worried, scared, and running scenarios in my head. I couldn't stand the thought Spencer needing medical help; not being able to tell him why we are hurting him to help him. Of course when dealing with lumps, your head automatically goes to worst case scenario; The big C.  I tried not to think of that too much and tried to settle on a calcium build up or lymph issue.  

Yesterday I went into emotional melt down over this and still had a day to go before the ultrasound never mind getting the results. 

Last night I got even less sleep than usual. Spencer was fussy too. We got up an out to our hip ultrasound appointment. While there I mentioned offhandedly this was one of two ultrasounds. They asked what the other one was for; so I explained. I also explained that I had asked to do the lump ultrasound at this same time as this one and booking said no. The tech thankfully said they could do both and got my doctors office to fax over a copy of the requisition. I started to tear up a little with the good news we could get this done a day early.  I just had to cancel Thursdays appointment when I got home. 

On the screen the lump looked huge and problematic. Spencer wasn't to happy with getting the ultrasound done. It was hard to watch him cry. 

After the two ultrasounds we waited to see the doctor there and so she could examine him and look at his hips too. 

It was good news on both fronts. His hips look good and the lump is a bruise in the neck muscle. The issue had a long and fancy name but short answer it is a bruise. It might take up to a year to resolve itself but it will be fine. Once again tears from the good news. And we didn't need to wait to see my doctor as that might have been a few more days on top of this. 

What a week.