Back in the Bib

When E was small she had terrible acid reflux to the point we were considering demonic possession as a diagnosis. Apparently severe acid reflux is a common symptom among the infantile scoliosis babies. At first bibs didn't help because it was so bad but later bibs helped us save having to change clothes 4+ times a day. Due to last night's shenanigans we have instituted emergency vomit procedures in our house. We were very lucky we did this because we would have had another ordeal on our hands at around 11pm. I did change out our bibs once E was put in cast. I got ones that were waterproof and covered more area. I do like Bumkins best of all. They are a bit pricey but they are high quality and they have a couple of options with either long sleeves or some shoulder coverage that is secured under the arms. So here is E in her full coverage bib.

Spoke too soon

I was commenting on how much easier this second cast has been and then it happened.... E wouldn't eat dinner tonight which is very much out of character for her. She kept swatting away the food. Then it happened. K was taking her out of the chair to hand to me and she vomited everywhere. It is bad. Her whole front of her cast reeks of vomit even though she's had an emergency sponge bath. We have one week to go and I don't know how we will make it with this situation. I sent out an SOS on the infantile scoliosis boards. I am awaiting help from more experienced parents. We are sending up the white flag here. I am not good with vomit smells. We can't live like this for the next week! I may call children's in the morning and beg for an earlier casting date.

Update:
I took the cast apart and cleaned the shirt out with Dawn. It was awful and there was a lot of screaming involved. We had to retape the whole cast. We ALMOST made it without having to do that this time around (if you remember last time we re-taped the cast fully 4 times and partially 1-2 times due to diapering issues). Ug. If it still smells tomorrow I am going to try some other suggestions.

I also had to put all new padding around the sharp edges and big sis picked out the penguin tape from our now large stash of decorative duct tape.

3rd cast jitters

I must be more nervous about the 3rd cast than I like to admit because I had a cast nightmare the other night. I was off for the whole next day because of it. I was worse off before the first cast when I wasn't sleeping at all but I guess switching hospitals just has me a but unsettled. I guess since E is too little to worry herself I have to worry for both of us.

E had some PT this morning and I realize now that she is playing me. At 1 year old she knows how to. She can do things and doesn't let on for me. The primary goal is to get her to catch up on her gross motor skills.

1!

Today baby E is 1. Time goes by quickly especially in cast time. She's been in this second cast for more than 5 weeks. This time around it has been a breeze. All of our struggles from the first cast are a thing of the past. The only nagging concern is that the casts are causing E to lag so far behind in her gross motor skills. She missed every estimate of when she would catch up and I am told to be patient that once she is out of cast she will catch up but I am not really the type of person to sit around and wait for things to happen. I like to have a plan. I like action! I had an early intervention screening on E last week and the good news is she scored ahead on fine motor control but she was way behind on gross motor. We still have issues with stranded turtle position. She is now pulling up to stand but she can't roll over which has me anxious about sleeping situations. She starts PT next week so I hope that this will help.

milestones while in cast

I am always worrying about E and her milestones while in the cast. To be honest I never really worried about big sis meeting milestones but the cast seems to delay things. First we were told it would take 2 weeks to catch back up to where E was then a month but E never did decide to crawl again after the cast was put on. She must have decided that scooting on her butt was way better. E is 11 months old. At 11 months old big sis was starting to walk. Poor E has a 2+ lb cast on her torso which is totally cramping her style but yesterday she finally pulled herself up to stand all by herself! Just one day after I scheduled an early intervention evaluation for her. It is like she wanted to make me feel foolish for worrying.

In other news we had to deal with a serious infection in E's finger last week which involved spending the whole day in an out of state ER (since getting sick at home or going to a local hospital would be too predictable). All is quiet on the casting front. I will probably change her tape next weekend just because Christmas tape seems silly in the middle of January. Now we are just looking forward to E's first birthday followed by her cast removal and the 3rd and possibly final cast (fingers crossed!).