The Marek Times

Here comes a crazy week.  I’m going to attempt a little shopping without the boys tomorrow.  I definitely need some new jeans.  I hate shopping for jeans but I’m on a mission.  Tuesday is Canada day, so we’ll spend a few hours with Ben at the zoo, like we do every year.  That should be lots of fun.  Hopefully Marek enjoys his time with Meme.  Then Wednesday we’ll be at the hospital for most of the day with his blood test in the morning and then pre-admission in the afternoon.  Then Thursday, he’ll be admitted to the hospital for his MRI. They expect him to stay the night.  That totally sucks, but in a way I’m glad because if he reacts badly, they’ll be able to do something for him.  After his last MRI, he had an arrhythmia and a seizure.  We don’t know if it was because of the anesthetic or not, but it worries me. 

I’m not freaking out about the MRI yet, but I think it’s just because I refuse to think about it.  I’ll worry when we get there, I’m sure.  Whatever happens – we’ll deal with it.  For now, I’ll enjoy spending time with my boys and enjoying the awesome summer weather.

Marek is 4 months old today.  Isn’t that awesome?!  I’m so amazed.  In some ways it seems like it’s gone by really fast and in other ways it seems like he’s been here WAY longer than 4 months.

So, the home care nurse came by yesterday morning.  He weighed in at 11 lbs, 3 oz.  He’s still not quite at the third percentile, but he’s growing at the appropriate rate, so that’s good.  The oxygen sats monitor finally gave up yesterday.  We couldn’t get a good reading on him at all.  We got numbers from 47 to 78 for his O2 and then 80-85 for his heart rate (which is half of what it actually was).  His colour was good though and he was happy and energetic, so she just took the monitor away and will see if someone can fix it.  It wasn’t doing me any good anyway.  I’m happy to be rid of that stupid thing.

Then yesterday afternoon Marek got his immunizations.  That wasn’t fun, but we got through it.  It always takes forever because you have to hold his injection sites so long so he doesn’t bleed all over and bruise (because of the blood thinner) and they always ask a million questions.  Like yesterday, the one nurse was all concerned about how much volume of fomula he’s taking, because it seems so low for his age.  But he’s tiny compared to other 4 month olds, plus his formula is a high calorie recipe.  I told her that he’s followed by a dietician who’s happy with his eating, but I’m not sure I convinced her.  Anyway, aside from his size, he’s developing perfectly.  He’s doing all the things he’s supposed to at 4 months, and there’s no obvious delay at this point.  They even thought his head control was pretty good, which is awesome considering he doesn’t tolerate being on his tummy.  Personally, I’m worried that his head is going to be flat at the back from laying on it all the time, but Merv says I’m being nutty and his head is just fine.

Marek is incredibly cranky today, I imagine because of the immunizations.  He ate a little less than usual yesterday and so he’s making up for it today (starting at 4:30 this morning) so we’re both tired now, but he still won’t let me put him down.  I’m actually typing this with one hand and rocking him in the other, so if there’s lots of spelling mistakes, bear with me…  I hope he lets me put him down soon.  My arm is getting soooo tired!

This week is pretty quiet.  The only appointments are both on Thursday.  In the morning, the home care nurse will come and then in the afternoon, Marek has his 4 month immunizations.  Hopefully there’s no excitement!

Next week will be crazy.  We were supposed to see the pediatrician on Monday, but that got rescheduled (thank goodness!).  Tuesday is Canada Day, so we’re going to take Ben to the zoo to enjoy the festivities like we do every year.  Then Wednesday, Marek has to have his blood thinner level checked at 11 and he has pre-admission clinic in the afternoon.  Thursday is the actual MRI with an overnight stay planned.  Hopefully all goes well and he comes home on Friday.  Stay tuned!

We got pictures done today (at a department store that shall remain…  Sears).  They actually turned out pretty good.  Although, you can really see that Marek’s colour is quite blue in some of them.  Oh well.  He is kinda blue… and it’s supposed to be a record of who he is…   Here’s a couple of my favorites…

Today is my birthday and as expected it’s raining.  Oh well.  So far, we’re just having a quiet morning.  I woke up with a terrible headache – I’m guessing from the release of stress from the week, but it seems to be getting a bit better now.  Hopefully the day will pick up a bit.

The baptism went really well yesterday.  It was a nice ceremony and Marek was actually in a pretty good mood throughout.  He didn’t even cry when they put the water on his head – he actually smiled and kind of giggled!  Here’s a couple of pictures…

Ug.  I’m totally nervous about tomorrow.  We have to be at the hospital at 7:45 for his sedated echo at 8 am.  And Marek is going to be sooooo grumpy!  He can’t have any more milk after 1:30 am.  He can’t even have his meds before the procedure.  Man, I hope this goes well.  Stay tuned for an update…

Ok, I promised to get some comparison pictures of Ben and Marek.  I can’t believe Marek looks like the chubby one…  So, do you think they look alike?