Our First Cast...

There are three weeks left of the spring semester for me (if you count this week we're currently in!).  I am SO happy to almost be done with this semester. I've done really good to keep my "A"'s in all my classes except Anatomy and Physiology.  That class has been KILLER! I'm begging and pleading for a "C" in that class.  If I don't get my "C" it looks like I'll be retaking that class in the fall.  That really sucks and I'll be honest that it depresses me quite a bit.  It is what it is though.

Last week Andrew went to his physical therapy appointment on Monday morning, and then we went about our day as usual.  In the evening I was in the kitchen getting dinner together and all the boys were downstairs playing.  Suddenly Andrew started crying.  After a minute or so of him crying I yelled down the stairs asking what was wrong with Andrew.  I kept getting the response of "we dunno he just started crying!"  I called Andrew's name a few times and I saw him crawling his way up the stairs.  I sat down at the stop of the stairs and pulled him into my lap where he cried for a few more minutes and started to close his eyes.  My first thought was "oh you are NOT going to sleep now buddy!"  I started talking to him and he had stopped crying so I put him back down and stood up to go in the kitchen.  He stood up and immediately fell back to the floor and started crying again.  I picked him back up and put him on my hip and walked into the kitchen.  I was trying to get dinner together and hold him and answer the other boys and referree their fighting, and was getting frustrated.  I put Andrew down again and I noticed it looked like he went to take a step and then fell to the floor again and started crying.

At this point I kinda turned my head and looked at him going "what the hell?"  I carried him into the dining room and again tried to put him down.  I saw him take a step and fall and scream again.  I called my husband upstairs and told him I thought something was wrong with Andrew's leg and that he wouldn't walk on it.  I showed him what I meant and tried to put Andrew down again.  The same thing happened with him falling immediately.  I squeezed up and down his leg and he kinda wimpered a little bit.  I gave my husband a look and he said "Go ahead and take him to the urgent care"  So I picked him up and off we went.

When we got there I told them that I thought maybe he had hurt his leg and of course they asked how he hurt it.  My response was "I know this makes me sound really bad, but I have no idea.  He was downstairs with his brothers and he just started crying and then wouldn't walk."  The nurse said "You didn't ask your other kids what happened?"  Well of course I did!!  But it isn't like they said "oh you know, I hurt him."  Or anything!  I told her the only response I got was "he just started crying."  She tried to watch him walk and he kinda limped around and then just completely stopped and started crawling.  She manipulated his legs and said she wanted to get some xrays because she thought he may have a "toddler's fracture".  She said they are very common in kids his age but they are also extremely hard to diagnose.

We took some xrays and she told me she thought she saw a fracture in one film, but didn't see it in any of the other angles.  She said she wanted us to see a orthopedist and she splinted his leg before we left.

Long story short, when we saw the orthopedist he looked at the xrays and said he didn't see a fracture, but like the urgent care doctor said, they are very hard to see and diagnose and therefore most of the time you DON'T see them until they start to heal and calcify.  For that reason and because he said Andrew's reactions sounded like a spiral fracture of the Tibia (a "toddler's fracture") he put him in a cast for 3 weeks.

He decided to go with a "short leg" cast for now, because at least with a short leg cast he can still walk/crawl and everything.  He said at Andrew's age (16 months) they have a tendency to wiggle out of the short leg cast and if he does, then we may have to go to a full leg cast.  For now though Andrew hasn't messed with the cast at all.  It sure isn't slowing him down any either!  He's walking/crawling/climbing/running etc with it!

Four boys and this is our first cast!  I told the doctor I KNEW Andrew was trouble from the day he was born.  First the NICU and now a cast!  He's definitely trying to put me in an early grave!

 

Being a person is getting to complicated. Time to be a Unicorn!

Busy, busy around here! There's 5 weeks left in the semester and I can NOT wait for it to end! This semester is killing me. A&P is literally kicking my butt from this side to the other. I'm reaching SO hard for that C....if I can grasp it in these next 5 weeks I'll be freakin ecstatic. You'll be able to tell if I get the "C" by the screams of joy you'll hear all the way at your house.
Had an "odd" encounter with my math professor tonight though. See I'm doing SO well in the class (and I'm sure I've mentioned this) that he's asked why I'm even in the class. So everytime we have a "review day" before our unit tests he always tells me I can go home and I don't need to "stay and be bored" while he reviews with everyone else. Today was no different. He came up to my desk and said "Did you complete the review packet?" and I replied "yep" and he said "well then you're welcome to go home!" So I started getting my stuff together and he walked back to the front of the classroom. As I was walking to the door he came out from behind his desk and kinda raised his arms and started to put them around me like he was going to hug me. So I kinda gave him this quick hug and said "have a nice weekend" and he walked me to the classroom door and opened the door for me and was like "I don't even know what I'm doing this weekend." I said "are you still remodeling your bathroom?" (He mentioned in class he's been remodeling the bathroom). He replied "no that's on monday." So I just said "oh ok, well bye" and walked down the hallway.
It was.....odd
Of course the thing that is going through my mind was "OMG why did he HUG me??" and "I can just imagine what everyone else in the class is thinking "Gee no wonder she's doing so well..." "No wonder she gets to leave early" GAH! And it's not like he was flirting with me (I mean he's like in his mid to upper 60's!) Then I am thinking "what if he WASN'T going to hug me and I hugged him taking it that way?? Now he's probably sitting there going "why did she hug me? That's odd!"
AHHHHHH now I'm gonna think about this constantly, and it's going to be weird going into class on Tuesday!
In other news, I had Avery's annual IEP meeting this afternoon. It went really well all things considered. They've removed everything from his IEP except speech. They've added some goals for Articulation, and also some "correct speed of speaking" goals because Avery tends to talk a mile a minute, which makes him VERY unitelligible! For a kid who has Apraxia, speaking a mile a minute only makes things a million times worse! They've decreased his frequency of speech sessions from three 30 minutes sessions a week down to two 30 minute sessions a week. This was because she said in kindergarten she really wants Avery to be in the classroom as much as possible. With this schedule he'll spend 80% of the time in the classroom. We're all concerned about spelling (if you can't pronounce the word, you can't spell it!) but she didn't put that on his IEP as of right now because spelling isn't a kindergarten objective. Just something for us to keep an eye on. She thinks he'll do very well in kindergarten and just kept telling me that my concerns are just my "mama bear" coming out and for me to focus on how far he's come, not how far he has to go.
Andrew is now fully walking! It's only taken 16 months and 3 months of physical therapy, but he's now walking! And now that he's walking he screams absolutely bloody murder if you try to carry him! And forget about putting him in his carseat! Oh he HATES being in his carseat now! It seems now that he's mobile he wants absolutely nothing to do with being caged in! Lemme see if I can remember how to post a few pics before I sign off of here!
Me tonight....bored

The three older boys Easter Sunday heading to church with Grandma (mother in law)


Andrew Easter sunday outside running around at Grandma's (mother in law's)


yay! It worked :) Wow the pics are HUGE!! Sorry!

Changing things Around!

Whoa!  Sorry for being so quiet lately!  Things have been CA-RAZY! here.   I'm gonna be changing some stuff around and getting back to writing hopefully today!  Stay tuned!

Feeling Very "deja vu" right now

First things first. I don't think I've written since starting school! Things are going really well. My weeks are SO hectic though between school, the boys' schools, housework, Andrew, etc etc. I don't think I really sit down at all during the week sometimes! Right now I have straight A's, although I know I just bombed my Micro biology exam and that will probably drop me to a B in that class. I'm trying not to dwell on it and keep telling myself I'll bring it back to an A with the next exam.

I'm thinking of adding another online class next semester. Yes I'm crazy I know ;)

I took Andrew back to the doctor today because he STILL isn't any better from this cold he's had. It's going on 3 weeks now and he's still crying constantly and pulling his ears and is SO snotty. Low and behold the ear infection STILL hasn't gone away. After 2 rounds of antibiotics she said "it's the worst ear I've seen in a while" greeeeaat. She's doubling up his antiobiotics this time (he'll be taking 2 different ones) for the next week. If it's not any better after that (or if he gets another one soon) we'll be talking tubes. He's had 6 ear infections and he's almost 11 months old. Deja Vu... We went through this with Aidan AND Austin. They both ended up with tubes. So I'm totally expecting to have him seen for tubes soon.

Then I was talking to the doctor today about Andrew not using his legs when he crawls. He just kinda drags them behind him. And he doesn't pull to a stand or even stand while I'm holding him at all. Being that all 3 of my other boys were walking by 11 months I was/am curious if it was ok. She tried to get him to stand and then she kinda got this look on her face and said "hmm maybe we should have him looked at by early intervention" I said "really? Do you think that's necessary?" and she said "better to catch it early if it is anything, and it's free and they'll come to your house."

Yeah.....I know all about early intervention. A little to well if you ask me. So of course now I'm all flipped out because AGAIN I feel like this is Deja Vu. I just have the gut feeling they're going to come to my house, run their evaluations on him and then they'll say something about his speech (all he does at this point is "eh") and they'll say something about his gross motor (OMG I just totally typo'd "gross mother") because of his lack of leg use.

Deja Vu.

My first response to the doctor was "great, just what I need...another kid needing therapy" I know it probably wasn't the "politically correct" thing to say. But it's how I feel/felt. I haven't even gotten him evaluated and all I can think about is "I can't go through this again."
I just can't.....

On IEP's and Therapy

Avery's preschool teacher has been basically "hinting" to me for the past week that the IEP meeting I have scheduled for Avery this Thursday is going to be tough for me.  She has told me on more than one occasion "I can't find a single thing to put on Avery's IEP as a goal" and "I don't know if he's going to qualify on Thursday, since speech is his only issue."  and also "He's a smart cookie! He knows everything! There's nothing on the 4 year curriculum that he needs to work on next year on his IEP"

What?!?!  Are they serious???  That's awful funny, because both his private therapists and I disagree with that!

He has social issues!  He wouldn't be in a social skills therapy group if he didn't have a problem socially with other children!  Even the preschool teacher has said that Avery will choose where I wants to play and with who he wants to play with.  He doesn't play WITH other children, but will play NEXT TO the other children.  But because he'll go over to the same play area with them there's no social issues?? 

Avery's private therapist has said she would write up a paper to say what goals they need to include on his IEP for social issues, but we all know the school doesn't HAVE to accept her evaluation.

Avery has a diagnosis of Apraxia.  But according to the school they don't accept any "diagnosis" until the kindergarten year.  So are they saying that because they won't accept the diagnosis they don't have to give Avery the therapy he needs on his IEP??  I don't think so!  "Speech isn't enough to qualify him"  No "Speech" isn't, but APRAXIA is!  His speech therapist at the school claims Avery is hitting sounds with "80-85% accuracy."  Which would means he's met his "IEP goal" because they're "goal" is 80%.  Except the fact that that is completely UNTRUE!  The way they have worded it makes it seem that he's met his goals.  In reality yes he does make certain sounds with 80-85% accuracy in a face to face therapy setting.  In spontaneous speech and in more than 2-3 word sentances that drops DRAMATICALLY!


And I don't know how to argue anything they say because I don't know what they are going to say!!  They sent home a "draft" of Avery's IEP for me to review before the meeting.  But what they sent me is the same exact IEP I have from last years IEP meeting!  I can't bring "proof" or any evidence to back what I'm saying if I don't know what proof or evidence I'm going to need!

Grr I'm so frustrated and feeling totally unprepared for his IEP meeting thursday.

Not enough hours in the day!

There just never seems to be enough hours in the day!  The boys are supposed to be in bed.  I say that in italics because I can hear them talking and their bed creaking so I know they aren't sleeping and it's 11pm on a school night! UGH!

My niece has been in the PICU for just over 2 weeks now.  It's to long of a story to get into, but my sister asked me to start a blog to keep everyone informed so if you haven't been keeping up with that blog you can read about the situation (from the begining) here...

Hailey's Healing Blog

Because of this I've spent a couple hours every other day at the hospital with my sister and my brother in law and niece.  Add in the hours upon hours I spend at therapy with my 4 year old every week and the typical daily household chores and my other 3 boys and I'm getting burnt out quick.  The house is suffering the boys are complaining because they want to go to the park or do something else and I just don't have the time to take them.  I need more hours in the day!

Avery has started a social skills class now also on Monday nights.  Because of the time of the social skills class I hit traffic both ways and I end up gone for almost 4 hours for a 1 hour class for him.

I think I'm totally due for a vacation!

Andrew flipped himself out of his swing tonight.  He's now at the point where he needs to be strapped into everything because he just flips and rolls and wiggles.  I can't believe I'm about to have to start baby proofing again!  He's getting so big so fast!

Austin is acting out and I'm sure it's an attention thing with him.  Not sure how to handle that either.

I think I'm just gonna end this blog entry before it gets into a pity party!  It's just been one of those nights I guess.

Ultimate Blog Party 2011

Well Hello There!!

Welcome to my "hiding spot"!  Please close the door behind you and make sure not to let any kids in here!  This is MY area!  I sit in here and whisper so no one can find me.

My name is Heather and I'm a 30 year old mom to 4 boys.  Aidan is 9, Austin is 7, Avery is 4 and Andrew is 4 months.  All boys. All A names.

My 4 year old has speech apraxia, sensory integration, and social anxiety.  His therapists go back and forth on whether he has an aspergers diagnosis or not.  It will probably be a while before we truly know or not.  Right now I spend a lot of my life at his therapies.  He also attends a special needs preschool 4 days a week in the mornings.

Andrew was born in November and spent almost 2 weeks in the NICU.  Although he was born "on time" according to my dates, the NICU team thought he was closer to 35-36 weeks and his lungs were not ready.  He was on a ventilator for a while, then moved to a CPAP, then finally to nothing.  It was a scary time for me.  And it was absolute torture leaving him at the hospital when I was discharged.  We made it though and now he's growing like a weed and doing so well.  Just today he rolled from back to belly!

I participated last year in the UBP and couldn't wait to participate again this year!  I LOVE meeting new people and especially new mom bloggers!

Grab a cup of coffee and stick around!  I've been a slacker at posting lately, but I promise that will change!