6 months old and surgery

Mason turned 6 months old on Monday! He is getting so big. I had to go through all his clothes and get rid of some his 3 month old stuff. Mason is 15lbs now. He is really great at grabbing things and putting them to his mouth. A couple weeks ago we started him on rice cereal, about a tablespoon a day, mixed with breast milk. He will open his mouth for the spoon and manages to get some in his mouth. Sometimes I wonder how much he's actually getting! He tolerates it just fine. In fact, I think he gets a little impatient with me because I go slow. He sure has an appetite! Mason sure is a mama's boy. I have a hard time being able to put him down because he just wanted to be held all the time. I'll lay him down on a blanket on the floor to let him play with his toys and it's a 50/50 chance he'll be okay with it. Sometimes he'll cry because he didn't want to be put down or sometimes he's okay with it, at least for a few minutes. He cries when I leave the room for even a minute a lot of the time. On Sundays Malone takes him for a couple hours so I can play piano in Primary. As far as I know he seems to do alright without me. Mason sure loves to giggle! Malone and I have got him to laugh really hard a lot lately. It's so fun! Mason is getting really good at sitting up. I think it's only a matter of time till he is able to sit up on his own. He sits up with assistance at his hips right now. I love watching him. He really concentrates on things. You can tell the wheels are really turning. Mason has started to babble a little bit. It is so cute! He'll say things like "gee" and likes to make raspberries with his mouth. I love it when he talks, it cracks me up. He loves to be involved in things. He doesn't like to be left behind, he wants to be with you and doing whatever you are doing. He likes to be actively doing something all the time. I can hardly get him down for a nap sometimes! Mason wakes up about twice a night on average. He seems to like Altivo and will watch him when he walks around. Tivo is protective of Mason, it's funny. We've had people over and Tivo is right up there watching people very closely when they hold Mason. Mason's occupational therapy is still going well. It's mostly just playtime, getting in some stimulation. The therapist will have him practice sitting up, laying on his tummy for tummy time, stimulate with a vibrator and brushes, and have him play with her special toys. It's not much right now. I think he'll need more therapy when he's learning to walk and such.

This week was a really stressful and crazy week. Monday, April 14th, Mason had an appointment to visit Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas to see a developmental pediatrician. We haven't been to Dallas before so this was a first. We met the nurse practitioner, who will be our go to lady, who was really upbeat and nice. She asked alot of questions about Mason. We had to do a lot of catching up with these doctors so they knew Mason's history and what his milestones have been like. The doctor answered a few questions I had in mind. So here's what we learned. Mason's hips are in socket like they should be. Sometimes with weak muscles the hips can dislocate, but this isn't the case with Mason. Mason has little to no feeling on the bottoms of his feet and obvious weakness in his ankles. The doctor was confident that Mason would be able to walk someday possibly with the help of ankle supports. He tested to see if Mason has any muscle tone in his bum to see if he can control his bowels at all. We learned that he has a tight sphincter and might have a chance at being able to control his bowels. We already learned previously that Mason might have control over his bladder to a degree as well because the urine doesn't just pour out of him. He can let it out, if that makes sense. And of course we'll know more when we get to those milestones of potty training. The biggest thing we learned was from a CT scan we did on Mason's brain that day. The CT scan showed that the ventricles that produce cerebral spinal fluid have gotten bigger since his surgery in November. This means that the fluid isn't draining quickly enough and it's building up causing his head to get bigger. Malone and I had noticed his head has gotten bigger over the last few weeks. He's in like the 99th percentile (way off the chart!) right now in head circumference. And recently I started to notice his soft spot over his scar from his ETV surgery seemed to be a little firmer. So in a way this news wasn't a huge surprise to me. The doctor told us we needed to get Mason scheduled for an MRI and most likely get a shunt placed. He said he'd review the scans with the neurosurgeon and let us know.

The next day I got a phone call letting us know we needed to show up for the MRI first thing the next morning at Scottish Rite. I started to make plans for this, and then a few hours later I got a call from Mason's Dr  at Scottish Rite. He said that instead of doing the MRI first thing in the morning at Scottish Rite, we'd have to go to Children's Medical Center a few miles from there and have him do the MRI there. Mason had to be sedated for the MRI,  so the dr. and the neurosurgeon decided that instead of putting him under sedation twice (once for the MRI and one for the shunt surgery) that we should just do the MRI and then do the shunt surgery right after so we'd only have to put him under once. This news came as a huge blow because we just weren't expecting to have to do surgery that fast! I had to quickly find someone to watch our dog for us, let Malone know he needed to take off work for a couple days, and I had to finish up a few things around the house. I wasn't happy about being rushed into it because I was hoping to get a second opinion.

 Mason's dr. told us to check in through the ER that evening so they can do his labs and everything before his surgery the next day. He said that they'd be "expecting us". The ER was a nightmare! Malone had gotten off work a little late, and we had a friend come over and help Malone give Mason a blessing. By the time we got to the ER at Children's it was 9:15pm. We got all checked in but had to wait in the waiting room with like 50 other parents with their kids. We waited and waited and waited. We waited probably 45 minutes before they called us back to get Mason's weight and information. Then they sent us back out to the waiting room to wait for bed for Mason in the ER. So we waited another half hour probably. Meanwhile Mason was getting hungry. I hadn't planned on having to wait since the dr. told us they'd be expecting us. I thought we'd just walk in and go straight up to neuro. So Mason was fussy and very unhappy. Finally they took us back to a room in the ER so the ER people could check him out, which was all routine. We kept telling the people that neuro was expecting us  and that hey had told us to check in through the ER. No one seemed to know what we were talking about, and it was extremely frustrating. Finally a neuro P.A. came and talked to us who seemed to know what was going on a little bit. Apparently when Scottish Rite referred us over to Childrens they didn't tell them to have a bed ready for us. So we ended up waiting in the ER for another 2 hours until they could get us a room. Mason was starving!!! So I finally said I had to take a time out and feed this kid before we do anything else. They wanted Mason to start fasting at midnight. So I fed Mason at 11:30 up to midnight. After that they poked Mason a few times and got an IV going for him. Poor baby was so so unhappy. Both Malone and I were extremely unhappy about ready to snap at this point. We were exhausted, Mason was exhausted, and we had to just keep waiting and answering the same stupid questions over and over to every person that walked in our room. It was ridiculous!!! Finally at about 2:15 we went up to Mason's room. We were able to give Mason some pedialyte before he literally passed out for the night. Malone and I slept there in his room that night.

We only got a couple hours of sleep before the P.A. came in around 6:45 to talk to us briefly about the surgery/MRI. I was barely able to understand what the man was saying I was so tired. We eventually were able to meet Mason's Neurosurgen, Dr. Swift. This was the first time we had met him, and it was the day of my baby's surgery. Again, I felt so rushed through everything at this point. He briefed us in detail about the surgery and what to expect and why we had to do the shunt. I really wished we could have spoken with our doctor back home before we had to do this surgery. I wish I had stopped everyone and said this before we had gotten this far. Mason was scheduled for an MRI at 8:50am. He was starving since he had been fasting all night long. So Malone and I were trying to comfort him. It was about 5 minutes till his MRI when the nurse came in and told us Mason got bumped to 10:20am due to an emergency case. I burst into tears. I was holding a screaming baby who was starving and they told me he had to wait another hour and half?! I just cried as I held Mason. He didn't understand why I couldn't feed him. All he knew was that I wasn't feeding him. I felt like I was torturing the kid. The nurse assured us she'd do everything she could to make sure Mason was next. Luckily Mason fell asleep during our wait and stayed asleep until they took him away. It was so hard to hand my baby off to someone not knowing if he'd be okay when I saw him again. Malone and I were so heartbroken he even had to go through with this in the first place. We gave him a kiss goodbye and we left to go find some lunch and wait in the waiting room. We waited for about 4 1/2 hours. Finally Mason's neurosurgeon came and talked to us. He said everything went great, very straightforward. We were able to go and see Mason in recovery. He was sleepy, of course, and extremely out of it. He wasn't crying or anything, he just sat there all wrapped up in blankets. We had to wait there for about 20 minutes or so before they could wheel him back to his room upstairs. Mason slept for a long time that afternoon. I knew he'd be sleepy but it still made me worry. I just wanted to see my baby awake and himself again. Malone and I were able to get a little shut eye while he slept.

That night some friends of ours came and visited us there in  Mason's room. They were nice enough to bring us food, which was soooo good. We had hardly eaten anything all day long. It was nice to have friends support us since we just don't have a lot of people here yet. After they left we got comfortable and tried to get some sleep.  I woke up around 2 to try and see if I could nurse Mason. The nurse had to come unhook Mason from everything so I could hold him. I was so happy to find that Mason had an appetite and he was able to nurse without any problems.

The next morning the neuro resident came and talked to us and checked out Mason. He was doing really well and was eating well. She informed us that she would get started on Mason's discharge papers so we could be discharged that afternoon. What wonderful news!! Malone and I were so ready to go home with our baby. That day we were able to sleep off and on and managed to get  little something to eat. There was one point that afternoon where the nurses were trying to cath Mason. His bladder scans were showing that his bladder was getting really full and he wasn't relieving as much as they wanted. So they tried to cath him but they couldn't get the catheter to go in. All 4 of us each tried with no luck. So the nurses left and came back a couple hours later and tried again, and it was still difficult. Finally the charge nurse got it! Later when we were finally told discharge care, the nurse told us we have to cath mason 2-3 times a day to make sure he is emptying all the way. I was so frustrated because I knew this was unusual for him to not empty. I am convinced the anesthesia or something had messed him up. But I am hoping once he is back to a regular routine and gets that anesthesia out of his system he'll be back to normal. In the meantime we'll be cathing a lot.

Our first night home our friends brought us dinner again, which was so yummy! I got up with Mason in the middle of the night to feed him and cath him. I struggled trying to get the catheter to go in, just like at the hospital. Malone even tried and he couldn't get it either. So we waited a couple hours and tried again. Still no luck. I just kept praying that we'd get it because I was so worried something bad would happen to Mason if we didn't get it. Finally around 8 that morning I finally got it! Thank goodness! This whole ordeal had been so scary. Malone and I were just exhausted from lack of sleep and stress. Malone however went to work anyway and I stayed home to look after Mason.

Over the weekend members of the ward have called and even brought a couple meals over. It was nice to feel like people cared about us and were willing to look out for us, even though many don't really know us that well yet. Today, Monday, Mason seems back to normal. He's got a half moon shaped incision on the left side of his head with a little bump and what looks like tubing that has been threaded along under his scalp, behind his ear and down into his abdomen. I have no idea what to do with his hair, it's a mess. But he is doing really well. He is back to normal, laughing and smiling. We have given him some Tylenol from time to time when it seems like he is a little fussy, but otherwise doesn't seem to be in much pain at all. In fact he acts like nothing even happened.

 I am grateful for those who have prayed on our family's behalf and for his guardian angels who have watched over him. I am thankful to have the priesthood in my home so that Mason could get a blessing before his surgery. I am also thankful for those friends and ward members who have helped us out the last few days who have been concerned for our family. Mason is such an amazing little boy and Malone and I are so grateful for him everyday. He really brings sunshine into our home and into our lives. I don't know what I would do without him! I am also grateful for such an amazing husband who is so supportive of me and Mason and works so hard so that I can be home with him. Malone is everything to me. I love him so much. And I love my little boy Mason so much. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for blessing me with such an amazing little family.

5 Months Old!

Mason is 5 months old today! He weighs 14 lbs 9 oz and is 25.5 inches long. Mason is now able to hold his head up for a couple minutes while laying on his tummy with his elbows under him. He holds his head up and will look around both directions like a champ. Mason can grasp things in his hands when I put things in there and he will reach out to grab things more than before. And of course the object goes straight into his mouth. He will flat out giggle when you get him going, it's hilarious. He loves momma and cries when I put him down or walk away. He continues to eat every two to three hours during the day and he wakes up 2-3 times during the night, but goes right back to sleep. Yesterday we had an occupational therapist come out to work with Mason for Early Intervention. She was really great with him. She taught me some techniques to use with Mason like using a small brush to stimulate him with by brushing. I will most likely be using it on his legs and feet, but you can use it anywhere. We don't know how much sensation he has in his lower extremities (feet and lower legs mainly) so any stimulation is great. We will be playing with different textures and toys to help Mason develop properly. The OT gave us these little rubber brush like things that you can put in baby's mouth so they can feel those textures in their mouth. I think they are mostly for babies who struggle eating or something, but in Mason's case we'll just use it for stimulation. I have a few toys that I am excited to introduce Mason to that I think he will like. Overall, Mason continues to do great. The OT thinks he is really doing great. She was impressed with his strength and enjoyed working with him. He was so good the entire time, being cooperative and happy.  Mason has an appointment at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas for spina bifida clinic next month. So we look forward to getting Mason checked up on with neuro, PT, etc. He hasn't had a checkup at spina bifida clinic since January, so I am eager to get him checked out. Now that the weather is starting to cooperate, I am hoping we will be out and going for walks and enjoying some sunshine. We love Mason so much and it has been fun to be with him everyday and watch him grow.

Updates and our new chuch callings

Just a few things to update on. Since I last wrote we had Early Intervention come out and do an evaluation on Mason so we can get an occupational therapist to come visit him regularly. Things went well and the lady asked a ton of questions about Mason. After working with him a bit and talking they ranked Mason about 3 months, which is about right for his age at the time.

Then we celebrated Valentines Day! We kept it small and just went out to Red Lobster, which was delicious! Malone and I haven't been out to a nice restaurant in a while. Malone got me flowers and I wrote him a love letter. We had a really great time together. First V-day with our little guy!

Malone is still doing great at work. He has been given a lot of things to do that keep him busy. He usually has up to 4 projects going at a time that he is working on. Sometimes he gets a little overwhelmed with learning everything and trying not to miss anything. But with some time he'll get the hang of it.

Malone and I have been taking advantage of the gym here. We've been taking turns in the evenings to spend time at the gym while one of us hangs with Mason. And lately we have been trying to watch what we are eating and include more fruit and veggies in our diet. There isn't much to show for it yet, but hopefully it will eventually.

Recently Malone and I received callings at church. Malone was called to be in Weblows and I was called to be Primary pianist. Last Sunday was my first day as pianist, and it was a lot of fun! I didn't get a chance to practice beforehand, so I was a little rusty with my Primary songs. But kids don't care and no one else seemed to care if I messed up either. But I care! So Malone and I went to the church on Tuesday night so I could practice. It's nice to play piano again, I've missed it.

Mason is 4 months old!

Mason is doing awesome! He is getting so big now, I don't know where the time went. I haven't gotten Mason in for his 4 month checkup since we haven't gotten a pediatrician here yet. But Mason has certainly grown since he has moved up from size 1 diapers to size 2. He is wearing some 0-3 month stuff, but mainly 3-6 month and some 6 month stuff. He's got a lot of cute clothes to wear which is fun.

 Since moving to Texas, I have been spending everyday hanging out with Mason. He learned a new trick last week! He learned to roll over onto his tummy! I had just laid him down on the floor and went to do something in the kitchen, and when I looked up he was on his tummy. So I didn't get to see him do it the first time. But a few days ago he rolled over again and I saw him! Then two days ago he rolled over at least 5 times while we were playing. Mason and I play a lot during the day. I get his toys out and try to help him learn to grasp things. He's not great at grasping things yet, but is starting to show interest. He will lay there and reach out to touch things sometimes. If I put things in his hands he'll shove them in his mouth, as long as he can grasp it. He is super smiley, he kind of does a laugh. It's more like a squeal really.

 

Mason has been able to hold his head up really well. I tried out his bumbo seat the other day, and he actually was able to sit in it for quite a while before he started getting tired. I might be a little early trying out the seat, but he really likes sitting up. Lately he has been waking up more at night. He use to sleep most of the night and wake up once around 4am. Now it's like 11:30pm, 2:00am, and somewhere around 5:00am. He has been getting sleepy at night around 8:30ish and is usually asleep before 10pm. Last time we checked his weight he was 12 lbs last month. My guess is he is around 13 or maybe 14 by now. And as far as I can tell and assume he is developing normally. His head seems to be doing well, his soft spot is still soft. Malone and I keep an eye on that constantly. If it ever starts to feel firm or full, that is a bad sign that his ETV isn't enough to maintain the flow of cerebral spinal fluid. So we feel his soft spot constantly to make sure it feels soft, which it does. He is such a happy baby. Just now I had him laying down on the floor while I did a few things around the apartment and he just sat there cooing to himself. It was so cute. I look at him and he just smiles and smiles. This little guy has me wrapped around his finger.

 

 

Texas

We are finally in Texas!! We spent our last weekend in Idaho doing a lot of packing. We had an ABF trailer dropped off at our house so we could load all our stuff and ship it to our new apartment in Texas. With a lot of help from family, we were able to load everything we own into our trailer. It is a little nerve wracking putting everything you own in a trailer, let someone take it and hope it all ends up where it's supposed to without any harm.

We decided to take a more southern route through Utah, New Mexico, and western Texas in hopes of avoiding bad roads in Wyoming and Colorado. Our first stop was in Salt Lake City where we stayed with my brother. The next morning we set off on a long drive to Farmington, New Mexico, which was about 6 1/2 hours from Salt Lake City. We wanted to keep our drives somewhat short for Mason's sake. I didn't want him in a car seat for too long on our drive. This part of the drive was Malone and my favorite because we got to go through Moab and see the a little bit of the cool rock formations in the Arches National Park. We eventually stopped in NM for the night. Not a fan of Farmington, at least the parts that we saw. Looked a little sketchy. The next morning we drove to Amarillo, TX. The drive through New Mexico was the worst! It was so boring and ugly. I have never seen that much sage brush in my life. And all the pretty rocky mountains turned into flat nothingness. Ugly. This was one of the longer drives, I think it was 7 hours or so. We did pass through Albuquerque, which was okay. Just a big ol city in the desert. I am so glad Malone didn't get a job in New Mexico! We reached Amarillo safe and sound. The next morning we grabbed breakfast at Denny's and headed out once more. This time to Lewisville, Texas our final destination! This was about a 5-6 hour drive from Amarillo. Texas is also quite flat like NM, and there is a lot of sagebrush in between cities.

But we reached Lewisville, and there were lots of trees! Even though everything is dead here right now during winter months, I think it'll be way pretty when it warms up. Warms up?! Yes it is like 30-40 degrees here most days. It's been quite cold and windy and rainy/snow mix here. A lot colder than I expected! There has been this arctic chill throughout the country right now. Way cold everywhere. We even had a little smidge of snow the other day, which of course was a big deal because this place isn't built for snow. The roads got extremely slick, people drive crazy and crash. Kind of reminds me of Rexburg, only the locals have or sense there. It's supposed to warm up again next week, thankfully. Anyway, we got here to our apartment that last day of driving and got checked in so we could move in the next day. We stayed in a hotel again that night because our trailer hadn't showed up with our stuff yet. The next morning the trailer showed up with our stuff! Yay! And very minimal damage as well, which was great. Malone started moving some stuff out of the trailer himself. I was in the apartment with Mason, since I didn't feel comfortable leaving him in the apartment by himself while we were hauling things in. Malone has a friend from school, named Duncan, that works at the same company as him. So Malone called him up to see if he could come help us move, but he couldn't come that day. But I guess Duncan mentioned we needed help to a buddy of his named Mike who works at the same company. And Mike called Malone and offered to help. So he came by and helped us move a few things for a couple hours that evening. Around dinner time he invited us over for dinner at his apartment. So Malone and I went, and we made some new friends! They were so nice! We stayed in a hotel again that night and came back the next morning to move more stuff. Mike showed up and brought his brother with him to help us move. And then a neighbor kid about 15 yrs old offered to help us out, which was so nice of him. We got everything moved in and it's taken us a while to get everything settled in, trying to find a place to put everything. Our apartment is a 2 bed 2 bath. Masons room serves as our storage room at the moment. We have a lot of stuff we are still trying to find a place for. It's tough going from a house to an apartment!

Moab, UT

New Mexico

Texas

Altivo enjoying our new apartment!

Got a little skiff of snow the other day

So, our first impressions of Texas. I have to say, I've been impressed! The people here have been nothing but kind. We went to church our first Sunday and the ward members were very friendly and inviting. So many came up to us wanting to meet us. We had a few members stop by our apartment to welcome us as well, a few faces I was able to recognize when we went to church our first day. Even out and about in town, the people have been really friendly. It has been easy to fit in here so far. Our bishop says people are friendly here because no one is actually from here. So many people move here from other places for work etc. Makes sense I guess. The weather here, like I said, has been cold, 40's mostly. But looking at the forecast it will warm up to the 60's and 70's this weekend and next week. We sampled a little southern BBQ as well and that's been delish! So I am looking forward to trying new food around here as well. So far so good here in Texas. We are enjoying our new life!

Mason fitting in with his cute cowboy outfit

Saying goodbye

We finally had to say goodbye to our home. Since Malone's offer in Texas, the last month or so has just blown by. After everyone was gone and all our things were cleared out, our house was empty and quiet. This was our first house Malone and I bought together. We have lived there longer than anywhere, 3 years and 5 months. We started our family there. It's Mason's first home. We both graduated from school while living there. There were so many memories, and we were just leaving this house empty. We got a realtor who is trying to sell the place for us while we are gone. It's weird to just leave our house to someone and hope it sells and in the meantime is taken care of. Even though I didn't want to live there forever, I loved that house. It as a sad goodbye. We didn't only have to say goodbye to our house, we had to say goodbye to our hometown too. We moved over 1,300 miles away from our closest family and friends to a place we had never been to. Into a city that is completely different than home with a community that is very diverse. The climate will be different, the landscape is totally different. As for Mason, we will have to find him new doctors for his condition, as well as a pediatrician which is a big deal. It is a huge change for us. 

This is our empty house in Rexburg



The last time I saw my house





 

Saying goodbye to family was even harder. We know we'll be back someday, but we don't know when. We won't be at family dinners on Sunday anymore and play games with my family. We won't be vising the range in West Yellowstone for a while, or hanging out at Malone's Dad's house eating crackers and cheese and talking. We will miss everyone so much. We had some tearful goodbyes.  But at the same time it's exciting to have a brand new start. To start a whole new chapter, a new life. To make new friends and meet new people. I never thought I would be this excited for a change this big. Normally I get anxiety with change, but not this time. Malone and I are so excited for a fresh start.

 

3 Months Old!

I can't believe our baby is finally 3 months old! Where does the time go? Malone and I think Mason is starting to teeth. He drools a lot now, sucks on his hands and is seems like he is starting to figure out how to hold things to his mouth. He certainly recognizes me and Malone. He just smiles and smiles. He is starting to giggle a tiny bit, which I think will be full swing this next month. We had his physical therapist over a week or so ago and she suggested that he needs to spend more time on his tummy and on his back so he can strengthen his muscles. He puts up with tummy time and  loves laying on his back. He is alert and awake most of the day and continues to sleep through the night. We put Mason to bed around 10:00 and he doesn't wake up again till about 4:00-5:00 am and then he goes right back to sleep till 8-9am sometimes. Mason is such a good baby!


Last week we all traveled down to Utah for another appointment at Primary's. This time he had to do a VCMG, which is basically a bladder test to see how well it is working. It tests records the pressure in the bladder, the amount of urine in the bladder, and function of the bladder neck which leads outside the body. It sounds kind of scary and complicated, but I was surprised how smoothly things went. We went into this room where they had a computer monitor, an x-ray, and a table. We laid Mason out on the table took off his diaper, and the techs inserted a catheter which fills the bladder with fluid and has a sensor that tells them how much pressure there is in there. They took x-rays as they went so they could see the fluid in the bladder. It was so interesting! Malone and I were able to stay and watch the whole thing. We had to dress up in these jumpsuits and wear lead vests and hairnets. To say the least, we looked ridiculous.  But Mason did amazing. He was so good the entire time! We were able to talk to the urologist right there and get his results immediately.


 Mason's bladder muscle looks very healthy and smooth. His bladder pressure is in the normal range and is able to evacuate almost all the urine. And most importantly the urine is not refluxing back into the kidneys at all! Such a beautiful x-ray! I guess it is common for urine to back up into the kidneys in SB kids. But Mason is doing so great! We won't know if he can really hold his urine until we reach that milestone during potty training, same with his bowel. But for now, Mason is at low risk for infection and the urologist told us we don't necessarily have to cath anymore. But it might be wise to continue it a couple times a week just in case later down the road we have to pick it up again. The urologist made it sound like things could change as Mason grows. And since Mason isn't voiding his bladder completely (which is normal for babies this age) it could keep his bladder from growing properly as he grows. So, Malone and I decided we will continue to cath Mason a couple times a week just to make sure we get all that urine out once in a while. But he is low risk for infection and low risk for kidney problems which is such a huge blessing.

We also did spina bifida clinic where we met with a few of his specialists. We talked to the dietician, who is happy with his growth. He is right on track! He is now 12.7 lbs and 23 3/4 inches long. We talked to the occupational therapist who was also happy with how he is doing. We will continue to help him strengthen his muscles by laying on his back and kicking like any normal baby does. Most importantly we talked to the neurosurgeon who was happy with Mason's head size and his soft spot is still soft, which means the ETV we did a couple months ago is holding up and maintaining the cerebral spinal fluid flow in his brain. Mason's head is a little on the big side on the growth charts, but nothing really abnormal. In fact, I was surprised when the doctor told us that, because I certainly don't think he has a big head. He's perfect in my eyes! We discussed with all the doctors that we'd be moving this month and they gave us information on who to contact in Texas and where to go for SB clinic when we get there. I am sad to leave all of Mason's doctors we've had from the beginning, but maybe the doctors in Texas will be great too. The neurosurgeon says that there are few doctors across the country who even know about ETV/CBC (the surgery Mason had on his brain to control Hydrocephalus) but there is a doctor in Houston who is familiar with it that we could see.  Houston is about 4 hours away, which is the same as what we've been doing going to Primary's. But there is an SB clinic a half hour away at Scottish Rite Children's hospital in Dallas that we can also go to, but their neurosurgeon may not be familiar with ETV/CBC. So we might just do the regular SB clinic in Dallas, and if the neurosurgeon there starts to feel worried about Mason's hydro, then we will go to Houston for a second opinion. Hopefully we won't have to and Mason maintains his hydro!


This baby amazes me everyday. I have said before that I have heard and seen what other SB babies have to deal with, and Mason is seriously a miracle. So far he doesn't have the problems these other babies do. I sometimes wonder if I am in denial, but he really is just a normal baby. I forget anything is even going on with him. When I see and hear of things going on with other SB babies, it scares me that he could have similar problems. But I just take it one day at a time and enjoy the health that he has. And really, he is a very healthy baby despite some of his little issues. I am so grateful for the health and strength he has and the strength he gives me everyday. I love his smiling face and the sweet spirit that he has. I sometimes wish I had made the decision to have kids sooner! But I know the timing was perfect for us and it was on the Lord's time as well.