July 8th Update

OK, so this was from 2 weeks ago, but I forgot to post it. So here it is now...trying to stay up to date on my blog.

My little monkey is 5 months old tomorrow! Can't believe it! For everyone who said it would go by fast...you weren't kidding. Baker is sound asleep for his first little nap of the day, he is a really great sleeper and is the happiest little baby around. Baker recently had an MRI done last thursday and the NICU memories came flooding back...didn't we just leave that place? :)

About 2 months ago, Baker came down with the most terrible virus...the no-good, terrible, very bad Hand Foot & Mouth Disease. It was horrible. Bakie and I had come home from an awesome visit with my sister Ashley. Ashley and I went to see Kenny Chesney up in Greenville, SC and MiMi helped babysit John Houston and Baker. We had the best time, Ashley has the best friends and I always have so much fun when we go out with her girls. Well on the day we came home, Baker started eating funny. He was crying when he was eating...and this kid barely cries. Well I called the doctor and said that my baby was just not acting right....I explained the symptoms and the nurse said, 'Well, it sounds like he is beginning the teething process." TEETHING?! What?! He was barely 3 months old and gestationally he was 8 weeks old, so I thought that sounded a bit strange. Well that week started the beginning of a rough couple of weeks for Baker...and for Mommie. He could barely eat an ounce at a time and was up every hour because he was absolutely starving. Poor little thing. I was not buying this teething thing, so a few days after I spoke to the nurse, I brought little one in. Dr. Elliott took one look at him and said "Yep, there's our answer....its Hand Foot & Mouth." Ummmmm...come again, sir? If I had woken up tomorrow morning with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't have been more surprised than I was at that moment! HFMD~~UGH! The little angel's throat was covered in blisters and it looked incredibly painful. So that's why this little guy wasn't feeling good. So the next 2 weeks were pretty hard and I kept thinking..."teething...that nurse thought it was teething." Well sure enough, on Memorial Day morning....Baker was smiling away and low and behold...I spotted a...TOOTH! So it looks like my little superman was teething AND had Hand Foot & Mouth all at the same time. Poor baby. Now little one has 2 bottom teeth and they are so cute! I guess he might be ready for his first Happy Meal soon. :-)

Ok, long winded answer about the MRI...back to the update.While Baker was sick, he had his eye check-up with Dr. Bordenka. All preemies who are administered oxygen are closely monitored to make sure their eyes are in good shape. Baker passed his check-up with flying colors. The doctor said to come back in a year-woohooo! Right after Baker recovered from that silly virus, we started noticing that his eyes were fluttering. He could focus really well on people and on things but his eyes would quickly go back and forth horizontally whenever he got excited or changed his glance. I said that it looks almost like he is scanning a barcode when he looks at you finding out all of your inner most secrets. Haha. We mentioned this to Dr. Elliott at B's 4 month check-up and he noticed it right away. He suggested that I give Dr. Bordenka a call to get it looked at. Huh?! It turns out that Baker was diagnosed with something called Nystagmus. Its an uncontrolled shaking or rolling of the eye. Both doctors were concerned that there might be a mass of some sort pushing on his optic nerve so they ordered up a Brain MRI. Well, MRI's with adults are a whole lot more simple than MRI's with infants. He wasn't allowed to eat after 3am and his MRI was scheduled for 9am on June 30th. I thought this was some form of torture for Baker and for Me, but I was able to pretend he had a bottle by giving him clear pedialite.

They had to give Baker a twilight sedation through an IV and that was the hardest part. My little baby cried so hard when they were trying to put the iv in him, it was heartbreaking, but my little superman was such a trooper. We took him back to the MRI room and they began to sedate him. I hear mom's jokingly saying all the time that they wish they could just give their kids something to make them go to sleep...believe me, no you don't. Seeing them knocked out is the saddest thing, but they have to do it in order to get the pictures they needed. My mom and my wonderful in-law's came to sit with us and it meant so much having them there. As soon as we handed Baker over...this mommie couldn't keep it together. I knew that everything would be ok, but the weeks of anxious waiting for this MRI had finally come to a head and could not stop the tears from coming.

The great news came that afternoon, there were no masses or tumors in his sweet, very intelligent brain and after speaking to both his pediatrician and eye doctor, it looks like his eye fluttering was due to prematurity (go figure) and he will grow out of it! I am already seeing a big difference. So after all of that....PHEW!!! What a relief. My sweet angel is doing great and if you haven't had a chance to meet him yet, come soon!

Love my sweet Bakie and so glad everything is ok...xoxoxox