Nico is healing but he is very needy. If I put him down or give him to Barbara for a second he crys. He wants to be in papa's lap watching his favorite music videos. He does not have much energy so he is not much interested in running around.
We went to the Zoo yesterday. It was a long day of carrying two 25lb babies around. They had the most fun in the gorilla watch tower running around playing peek a boo. THey seemed to enjoy the birds the most. The parrots were most interesting to Luca who was fascinated by their squaks.
Nico's original dressing has fallen off and exposed the wound. It is not small. He is very sensitive when you remove his daiper and screams. It is still weeping blood so we bought some gauze and vaseline impregnanted gauze that prevents the daiper of the regular gauze sticking to the wound.
The biggest risk to the success of this procedure at this point is infection. The Doc told us that we did not need to do anything, but he all wounds need the dressings changed so i called my Doctor friend who confirmed that a dressing change 3x a day is in order.
He also suggested washing the wound with water and not using any sponge or wipes directly on it. We bought some wound wash which is Ph neutral so it doesnt sting. He still hates it when we spray it on the wound, but it will help keep it clean from urine.
The biggest problem is getting him to eat. He is usually ppicky, but since the operation he refuses everything Baraba cooks him. We have been going out to dinner because they love to sit on our lap and eat our food. Last night the novelty of that had worn off and we were at our witts end trying to find something he would eat.
He will usually much on whole wheat bread, but he was pushing everything away from his face. We left the restaurant and went home and after an hour of musoc video's he took a bite of bread. Then I would tiny flakes of salmon on top and he gradually ate a decent amount of salmon and bread.
He had been holding onto his #2 because he was afraid it would mean more pain. After eating ha went and Barbara and I cahnged him without any extra prodding of the sensitive area.
Fionally there is bed time. This can be quite difficult and nico cannot go in the bath and needds two of us to change him and get him into night clothes. As soon as Luca is unattended and Nico starts screaming, Luca gets very clingy and starts crying too. It is very stressful.
They have not been falling asleep easily so I take them in the rented minivan down the freeway for 45 mins. This will put them to sleep for sure, but i can only do one at a time as I have to carry baby and carseat back into the room. The total weight is around 80lbs and I must negotiate three heavily sprung doors, two with card keys, and lock the van. My back is hurting.
Barbara has so much preparation to do wherever we go. The backpack needs snacks and juice and milk and water and clothes and on and on. When we get back she has to prepare food in no time flat all with a boo in one arm tuging at stuff.
On top of all that, she has to wake up all night every three hours and deal with Luca who wakes up at 5am. She has not had a good nights sleep since we got here. Every day ais 99mph and a lot of stress because we feel for Nico so much.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Operation
Nico Completed his operation yesterday and the Doc was happy with the results.
We flew to Dallas on Monday, a difficult three hour flight. I don't think there was a single passenger that hadn't said hello to them at least three times. we read books, walked up and down and played dvd's but they were still very restless. I could not wait to get off that plane.
By the time we got the minivan I rented then drove to the hotel and went grocery shopping it was midnight! They were cranky and tired. They did not sleep well. The next day we waited at the hospital for three hours to get the doc to see him prior to surgery. There was not much he could tell until he made the first incision.
They missed lunch and were an hour late for their nap so it took an hour to get them to sleep. I went back to the hospital and paid.
Yesteday the day went very well. The people are SO nice at Childrens medical center. Even the admitting staff go out of their way to please. So different from kaiser California. Nico was relaxed. I had found out what time the operation was scheduled and timed it so when we got there we went straight into the prep room I was not going to sit in another waiting room for two hours with a baby that had not eaten or drunk anything since the previous night!
That worked really well. Nico relaxed. They attached the pulse/Ox and he didn't like that. Then I sat with him on my lap and he started getting really sleepy. Then they gave him the pre-med and he went to sleep.
Not all babies take the pre-med. He drank it all. I sat with him for 30 min's while it took effect then we put him on the rolling bed and he went into into the O/R. Barbara was upset that he was on my lay not hers. I think she felt like she had let him down. The tongue lashing I got about this was just her way of relieving the obvious tension I think. They would not let us go with him, but he was very relaxed so i felt comfortable letting him go.
We went down to the Hostpital cafeteria which was wonderful. On the way Luca saw the model trains running all over the main entrance. He was a little freaked out, but after some lunch took a nice long nap. The restaurant background noise is great for putting babies to sleep.
After two hours they came down and told us the Doc wanted to see us so we went back up to a conference room (unlike Kaiser) where he went over the procedure in private with us. I gave him a second $100 bottle of wine I put on he credit card. I wanted him to be available post op if anything happened and with his personal email address I was "buying" a fast response
The operation went two hours which is about the minimum time for this procedure, so it obviously went well. There was nothing that he was concerned about. He was very confident in his work (and his results prove it).
Last month he was training 80 docs from all over the world. He is very precise and unemotional. He just knows what he is doing and does it well.
Next we went back to the recovery room. Nico was awake and vey out of it. We could not take Luca in with us so we switched out every 10 mins. Nico sucked down some apple juice and promptly threw it all up. The wretching hurt and he was not happy.
It took another hour for the medication to wear off and for them to remove the IV and the monitors. Then we took him back to the hotel.
The dressing is supposed to stay on for a day or so and then fall off. It is taped in place with surgical scotch tape. It looks like a large blister pack of gum, with a bloody red mess underneath.
The first night we had to wake him every 3 hours and give him tylenol or Ibuprofrin. It was a loooooong night. I stayed in a separate room down the hall hoping to get some sleep, but at 3am the phone rang and all i could hear was Nico screaming in pain. In the coming days it would become very apparent that the only position Nico would relax in was on my lap. I Would play him the youtube cartoons I downloaded and he would settle. He did not want Barbara, he wanted his papa or he would scream continuously.
We flew to Dallas on Monday, a difficult three hour flight. I don't think there was a single passenger that hadn't said hello to them at least three times. we read books, walked up and down and played dvd's but they were still very restless. I could not wait to get off that plane.
By the time we got the minivan I rented then drove to the hotel and went grocery shopping it was midnight! They were cranky and tired. They did not sleep well. The next day we waited at the hospital for three hours to get the doc to see him prior to surgery. There was not much he could tell until he made the first incision.
They missed lunch and were an hour late for their nap so it took an hour to get them to sleep. I went back to the hospital and paid.
Yesteday the day went very well. The people are SO nice at Childrens medical center. Even the admitting staff go out of their way to please. So different from kaiser California. Nico was relaxed. I had found out what time the operation was scheduled and timed it so when we got there we went straight into the prep room I was not going to sit in another waiting room for two hours with a baby that had not eaten or drunk anything since the previous night!
That worked really well. Nico relaxed. They attached the pulse/Ox and he didn't like that. Then I sat with him on my lap and he started getting really sleepy. Then they gave him the pre-med and he went to sleep.
Not all babies take the pre-med. He drank it all. I sat with him for 30 min's while it took effect then we put him on the rolling bed and he went into into the O/R. Barbara was upset that he was on my lay not hers. I think she felt like she had let him down. The tongue lashing I got about this was just her way of relieving the obvious tension I think. They would not let us go with him, but he was very relaxed so i felt comfortable letting him go.
We went down to the Hostpital cafeteria which was wonderful. On the way Luca saw the model trains running all over the main entrance. He was a little freaked out, but after some lunch took a nice long nap. The restaurant background noise is great for putting babies to sleep.
After two hours they came down and told us the Doc wanted to see us so we went back up to a conference room (unlike Kaiser) where he went over the procedure in private with us. I gave him a second $100 bottle of wine I put on he credit card. I wanted him to be available post op if anything happened and with his personal email address I was "buying" a fast response
The operation went two hours which is about the minimum time for this procedure, so it obviously went well. There was nothing that he was concerned about. He was very confident in his work (and his results prove it).
Last month he was training 80 docs from all over the world. He is very precise and unemotional. He just knows what he is doing and does it well.
Next we went back to the recovery room. Nico was awake and vey out of it. We could not take Luca in with us so we switched out every 10 mins. Nico sucked down some apple juice and promptly threw it all up. The wretching hurt and he was not happy.
It took another hour for the medication to wear off and for them to remove the IV and the monitors. Then we took him back to the hotel.
The dressing is supposed to stay on for a day or so and then fall off. It is taped in place with surgical scotch tape. It looks like a large blister pack of gum, with a bloody red mess underneath.
The first night we had to wake him every 3 hours and give him tylenol or Ibuprofrin. It was a loooooong night. I stayed in a separate room down the hall hoping to get some sleep, but at 3am the phone rang and all i could hear was Nico screaming in pain. In the coming days it would become very apparent that the only position Nico would relax in was on my lap. I Would play him the youtube cartoons I downloaded and he would settle. He did not want Barbara, he wanted his papa or he would scream continuously.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
End of Flu Season
 |
| From Bambini4 |
Video:
Hallway fun
The boys finally recovered after a couple of very difficut weeks during all the rain we had recently. Luca Got Roseola that Nico had around the new year. He broke out with a slight rash all over his body and had a temperature. Then his tummy was gurgling and he just could not sleep. After a week of having zero energy to even smile, he got better.
Hopefully that conlcludes the first season of vuruses. With a few weeks break here and there, they have basically been sick since the day after xmas. This is to be expecte before the age of two, and I am very glad they did no have to deal with these yucky viruses when they were just months old.
Next week we fly to Dallas for nicos surgery. We are trying to keep him from cathcing anything else that might delay this trip again.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Xmas
 |
| From Bambini3 |
We went to los Angeles for Xmas this year.
Videos:
WrappingFirstStep
StacyBouncyChairs
SMPierSnakeGuy
Popcorn
LucaNicoGirlfriends
LucaNatalie
XmasDayLA
NicoRibbonRoll
NicoLAStairs
LucaNicoKitchenFloor
LucaBenjaminLA
ChasingSeagulLA
Car Seats
After a long discussion on the internet, a couple of retired National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) officials weighed in on the subject of car seat life:
I think those are probably the last words on this subject.
In short, anything past their born on date, or expiration date, they are not liable for and that is their stance.. sad but true. I will leave you with this thought. Cars in general are built with the same type of materials and yet they do not have a 6 to 7 year window before you are pressed to buy a new vehicle..even though many have done that. It's not for the same reasons but perhaps car makers rely on many turn overs and build a cheaper , less durable vehicles based on that theory. Just playing devils advocate here.
I loved what I did helping folks out but never pressed them to buy a new seat for their child. In fact we gave seats to folks who were down and out. My stance was if you had one and its webbing wasn't frayed or plastic dilapidated from sun's effects, use it. My best guesses were based on some visual indicators and some were just thrashed. I never said which car seat to buy other than one that fit the child, fit the wallet and fit the vehicle. Of course when $$ was not an object I went with a Britax.. I put both my nephews in them, for many reasons. My choices.
With fact I will say we cut folks from cars.. many DOAs. In a few instances, there where small children in the back seat, where they were supposed to be and properly secured in a properly installed car seat. One in an instance was a car seat I had installed about 4 months earlier, I knew that family. These little babies I speak of survived with very minor injuries.. if any at all. That was the positive taken away from a fatal collision, even though the future of that survivor was terribly uncertain.
I wish you the best of luck and keep you and yours safe.
dan
Your conviction has legitimacy to it. There is a huge disconnect to the manufacturers and liability issues. I think the company wants to insure the child remains safe and a car seat not be handed down through a family or a bunch of families. Being in one family from purchase and well taken care of I cannot see any reason why it cannot be used for 10 years. Think about a big wheel. And they are pretty abused toys right?
That is what I always dealt with. "We got it from so and so who we really didn't know where they got it...maybe a yard sale"?
Yes, I could look at a car seat and tell what type of shape it was in visually. It it was involved in a collision, all bets were off unless ejection occurred and it perhaps did go tumbling down the tarmac.. kind of like you, I doubt that happening.
Deterioration from ultra violet culprits do happen, I can use tires as a reference but this may be an apples to oranges comparison. It does take place with either material ..how much, I cannot say. Webbing would be least of my issues unless involved in said accident, the stretching is sometimes undefinable but damage can be done. I am confidant you understand web sizing to weight ratios and how these things are computed for safety.
Unfortunately in this litigious society they want to stay as far away from any liability as they can so these more stringent guidelines, or maybe better stated warranty ratings are put to regulation and NHTSA gets a say in how and what those regs state. Does not make it right. What it does is greases a bunch of palms from a car company who builds restraints systems into vehicles, to makers of car seats to even NHTSA who gets paid for programs to train installation specialists even at the national level where I was while involved in the programs before I recently retired from the job.
I think those are probably the last words on this subject.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Relentless Teething
 |
| From Bambini3 |
The last couple of months have been very tough. The babies have been in a lot of pain with teething. They wake up almost every 1/2hr and on can take hours to get back to sleep. During the day they start screaming around 6am and creshendo at 5pm. I can only take about 10 minutes of it before I start screaming right along with them. I dont know how Barbara does it all day.
We have had a very cold spell so they are now sleeping in their one piece thermal suits. Initially the choice of these was very difficult because of the necessity of changing their daipers in the middle of the night without waking them up if possible.
They both have got quite strong and they squirm when you try to dress them. It seems babies are as enthusiastic about getting dressed as we are about doing taxes. Most days i have to hold one while Barbara pulls on the cloths. Sometimes I just dangle them by their arms while she pulls on their pants.
Nico has perfected a high pitched shrill death scream. He ahould have, he has been practicing it for months now, every 5 minutes. he has discovered the effect of large concrete spaces like the parking garage. he is fascinatted with his own echo. He makes a series of timed bursts of sound and them looks very pleased when the echo continues.
They are both on the threshold of walking. Nicos new trick is to take the office chair and walk around in a circle with it. He also has great fun when we hold his arms to support him and help him run around the house.
We had Thanksgiving with some friends and the boys got some surrogate grandparents from Russia. They are now referred to as baby booski's!
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