The Mrdutt Kiddos - Updates

Yesterday, 5.1.12 was Mason's first special needs clinic of the year. He had a rock star attitude through the whole day. The day started with OT therapy. Mason impressed the therapist with his IPad skills. The IPad is one of the best things we could have given Mason. We talked about equipment needs...including a new high chair/feeding chair to be used at my sister's house. Mason has a great activity/feeding chair he uses at the farm each day but it weighs well over 50 lbs so transporting back and forth each day is not an option. The chair he is currently using is an "infant" high chair and it's pretty cozy in the (ahem) boy area. They ended up getting us hooked up with a special tomato chair. Since insurance has a difficult time approving equipment when it is not for the primary residence, they offered funding through Children's Miracle Network. I love our community. We will go back in about 2 weeks to see how it will work for Mason. Next was speech therapy. We have had concerns with his feeding because food comes through his nose 90% of the time. We also mentioned his snoring at night so they thought it could be his adenoids. We scheduled a follow-up with ENT to reevaluate his nose area to see if we can come up with a solution to the regurgitation and snoring. I'm not in favor of another surgery...but whatever helps the little guy. Next was neuro. Mason has not had a seizure since March 2011. *Knock on Wood* Because of this, we have reduced his meds a tad which means that his seizure drugs no longer need to be administered at school. YAY! We also scheduled a follow-p EEG since it has been two years since that has been done. On to PT. Mason is proving to do much better with his belly time and using his arms to bear weight. He continues to reach and grasp for things. They checked his AFOs and found that he was getting calluses so they fixed those a tad. He also had increased tightness in his calves, his left abductor (the muscle that pulls your leg near center) and his thumbs...so physical medicine shot him up with Botox. This was the only time Mason cried all day. He is such a champ. A pediatrician saw Mason also. The only recommendations there were to start using fluoride because his new teeth are forming under the gums and should have fluoride to form properly, and to increase his liquid intake. Mason gets about 24 oz. of milk a day but his liquid intake should be closer to 40 oz. For Mason that means "shots" of water throughout the day. It should be interesting to see the increase in "output". Other than that....no major concerns. He is up to 33 lbs. He is in the 25th percentile for height and weight. He continues to impress us each day with his smiles, stubbornness and intelligence. As far as the other little Mrdutt...she is doing great. She's got a strong kick and strong heartbeat. I feel her kicks mostly at night when I lay in bed. Chris is excited to feel her soon but she is not quite big enough for that. Her heartbeat today was 143. This little one is measuring in the 90th percentile! My weight gain has only been 6-7 lbs so hopefully her gain slows a little bit or she's going to enter this world like I did...with 4 rolls on her legs. :)We get to "see" her again in 7 weeks and I already can't wait. It's amazing how time is flying. I can't believe it's only 21 more weeks until we're a family of four. P.S. Typed on the IPad so spacing might be off. Consider it the world's longest paragraph. :)