16 Months

Sunday marked Noah's 16th month. Once again time seems to be getting away on me. He weighed in this morning at exactly 10lbs! We are already back into the swing of things here with therapies, doctor appointments. and... oh yeah, did I mention illnesses?? Noah has already caught a cold since we got back, so hopefully it doesn't turn into anything more. He has a sleep study scheduled for February 7th if he is healthy, so we will be back in hospital overnight. Hopefully this will give us some better information about his sleep apnea and oxygen requirements.

We also met with Noah's plastic surgeon today. The plan for now is to schedule surgery for sometime in May, when Noah is about 20 months. If his sleep apnea has worsened by then, we will probably go ahead with the lower jaw surgery at that time and not do the palate surgery until a later date. But if things stay the same or improve, then we will likely not do jaw surgery. Our surgeon would repair the palate at that time instead and basically see what happens as far as his breathing issues go. He will likely spend a few days on the ventilator in PICU to let all the swelling in his airway go down. If he doesn't do well off the ventilator after a few days, then the palate would have to be opened up again to allow him to breathe. Unfortunately we won't know how things will go until then. We will meet with the surgeon again in April to decide exactly what he will be doing.

I'm also finally taking the plunge and going back to work at Women's Hospital. I'm both very nervous and also excited about it. A part of me wants to give up my nursing career and devote all my time to the kids. But another part of me wants just a small piece of my "before Noah" life back for my own sanity. So on February 1st I will go for a 12 hour orientation day (since it's been a year and a half since I've worked!!). It will be the longest I've ever been apart from Noah, but he will be with my hubby, so I'm sure they can survive a day without me. Not sure if I can handle being away for so long, but if I don't go back now, I may never do it! I am hoping to be able to pick up one shift a week, when Brad is not working. So we'll see how it all goes!!

To end on a very positive note...Noah is learning how to blow kisses!! It is the cutest thing ever!! If we blow kisses to him, he will put his hand up to his mouth in his own attempt to imitate us! It's exciting to see his mind working and progressing. Our next project will be to teach him how to wave bye-bye. We are so blessed to have this child in our lives and each day with him brings so much joy. Life is never boring around here and we wouldn't have it any other way!