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Index nieuws

Apr 2003

Tuesday, 4/29/2003 Grocery shopping This morning I have been grocery shopping. Bram and Vera have been together in a cart for the 1st time. Earlier I put Vera in the cart in her car seat and Bram in the seat. For my groceries I would use a seperate cart. In the store they already knew me as the lady "who never got out of this stage of playing train", as I put it. I do not know if everyone knows the 'multiple child' carts: they have an attachement in which you can put 2 kids and the regular seat. Bram sat in the 'big child' seat, this was quite difficult for him, because he has to sit up very straight in it. Vera sat in the cart's seat, I used the restraint I used to use for Bram when he couldn't sit up by himself yet. Both of them only got tired of this by the time we got to the register. We had spent an hour or so in the store by then, so that is not too bad. They were so tired, but I was very proud on both of them because for both of them this was a 'difficult sitting up'. The cart itself is not the most practical, but still handier than driving 2.

Thursday, 4/24/2003 Hearing screening Bram has to be done again This morning Bram had a - scheduled - hearing screening. To follow up on his hearing, to make sure that the mild hearing loss he has from birth did not worsen. Last year he has had a test under sedation, testing the electric response of the hearing nerve, nothing serious had been detected then. Now it's just half a year later and we had winter time with several ear infections, so screening was sensible. We got half good news. His right ear was fine and Bram understood better what was expected from him. A nice person sits in front of him with a cuddly toy and from either side a sound is made. Bram is supposed to react by looking to the direction the sound came from. Earlier it was not possible to get him to look away from the cuddly toys. So his right ear was the same: mild hearing loss that has only to be monitored. My story so far implies that his left ear did not score as ok. It turned out that he was completely deaf at that ear. This is no reason for panic yet, because it usually is caused by fluids behind the ear drum that make it impossible for this drum to resonate as it's supposed to when it gets sound waves. It was a reason however to have Bram checked out right away by his pediatrician. So, this afternoon we went to the pediatrician. The regular office (Summit) was closed, so we had to go to Elizabeth, about 30 minutes drive. It turned out that Bram has a full size infection going on in that left ear. With a prescription for antibiotics we went home. This time it was quite scary for me: Bram had been less active than usual for about a day or so and other than that I had not noticed anything about him. We caught it early, the doctor says I would definately have spotted it a few days later. At our regular pharmacy, they were out of the antibiotic Bram needed, so I had to head back to where I had come from, now to the '24 hour drive through' pharmacy. This was an experience on itself, not in the negative sense this time. We did end up in rush hour traffic though ;-) Alltogether we have spent all day either in the hospital or in a doctors office, or travelling between the locations. When I got back at 6:30 pm I was exhausted, but utterly happy and surprised by the fact that both Bram and Vera had been quite upspirited and cooperative all day. Especially for Vera this must have been a hard day: she was dragged along and expected to be nice and quiet. Let's just say that she got ample chance to 'sit in' het new car seat. She has one just like Bram has now and she seems to like it. This afternoon they were playing with eachothers hands........so cute!

Tuesday, 4/22/2003 Pediatrician Here's a note to inform you about our visit to Vera's pediatrician yesterday. Vera had her 6-month checkup. Bram did join us, but to his big relief, he only got to play, talk and receive some stickers for his good behaviour. (He emptied trays, floored Vera's file and read the papers in it.............hughe grin) Vera got to get a shot (hooray) and she was a big girl about it. She also got weighed and measured. Her length is an odd reading, 28", which is the same as a month ago. In centimeters it defers though, my own measurements of last time were 70cm and now 72, which is both varying around 28". She now is 15 lbs and 8,5oz so she gained about a pound as opposed to last month. Growth is good so to speak. Developmentally she is right on track too, she is very alert and happy. All of these things we are very happy with of course and we will try to keep up the good work as we were told to do. By the way, many have noticed the spot on the back of Vera's head that is called a sharkbite in literature. It is indeed a birthmark and completely harmless, occurring in many babies. It's a spot that usually disappears over the years and in her case will else disappear under her hair anyway She also has outgrown her carseat, by far. Getting a new one is on our 'to do'-list now. We also can start her on meats now. We do have a few other things to try though, so it's going to be a little while. We try each new thing for 5 days before introducing another one. © Wilma & Erik van de Pol, 2000-2008