After the baptism and Labor Day weekend were over, everyone left except Andy's mom, Maria. She stayed with me for a week because Andy had to go on travel to Tennessee for 10 days. It was so nice to have her here to help with things around the house and also to watch Aiden while I caught up on sleep! We drove to Santa Barbara to see a friend and do some much needed shopping. Then we drove to Loma Linda to have Aiden's hydrocele checked by a Pediactric Surgeon. If you didn't already know, Aiden was born with a hydrocele, which are very common in preemies and are supposedly painless. I will let the Mayo Clinic explain:
For baby boys, a hydrocele can develop in the womb. At about 28 weeks of gestation, the testicles descend from the developing baby's abdominal cavity into the scrotum. A sac (processus vaginalis) accompanies each testicle, allowing fluid to surround them.
In most cases, the sac closes and the fluid is absorbed. However, if the fluid remains after the sac closes, the condition is known as a noncommunicating hydrocele. Because the sac is closed, fluid can't flow back into the abdomen. Usually the fluid gets absorbed within a year.
In some cases, however, the sac remains open. With this condition, known as communicating hydrocele, the sac can change size or, if the scrotal sac is compressed, fluid can flow back into the abdomen.
The reason we had it checked was because at his six month checkup his doctor was convinced that he had a hernia, so we had an ultrasound done. The ultrasound showed that the fluid was not communicating, but we just wanted to be sure.
The surgeon was so wonderful and explained everything so well and made us feel so comfortable. He told us to come back in six months to make sure that nature takes care of the problem. I'm so glad that Maria was with me to calm my nerves and help me ask questions that I forgot due to nerves!
Aiden hit the seven month mark on September 16th. He has hit so many milestones and grown so much this month. Here are some of the things he's been up to:
-At his six month checkup he weighed in at 16 lbs. 3 oz. and 25 1/2 inches long. About a week later at Loma Linda he was 17 pounds even--wow!
-He began rolling over, back to front and front to back, all of a sudden. It's funny because it seemed as though one day he just decided to show us what he was capable of! Now whenever we put him down to sleep he immediately rolls to his side or stomach.
 |
| From September 2009 |
-He is sitting up really well now. He still tips to the side sometimes, but he's loving being able to do something other than lie on his back or tummy!
 |
| From September 2009 |
-He is becoming more vocal each day. He almost blew out my eardrum with a loud shriek the other day--ouch!
-He finally discovered his feet while in San Antonio, and has been grabbing at them ever since!
 |
| From August 2009 |
-We have introduced him to solid foods and he is LOVING it! His pediatrician told us to introduce new foods every couple of weeks instead of every few days due to the fact that preemies can have gastrointestinal issues and since we introduced foods when his corrected age was only 4 months. So far he has had rice cereal (which he isn't a big fan of now that he's tasted other things!), peas, carrots, pears and prunes. The prunes were introduced because he had a bad case of constipation...and they worked!
 |
| From August 2009 |
-His teeth are here! One bottom tooth cut through on Tuesday and one on top made an appearance, but his swollen gums swallowed it up again. I'm sure we'll see it again very soon. He's been drooling like a faucet and chewing on everything in sight for months now, and finally he's got something to show for it!
I'm sure I've left some things out, but at least I've gotten some things on here after a whole month. Hopefully I won't wait another month to update again!
 |
| From September 2009 |
No comments:
Post a Comment