Hello Everyone,
We would like to start this posting off with many thanks to everyone who is praying for our little man and to all those who have been apart of Jackson's Journey. We are doing well, real well and we are extremely blessed!
We hope this blog finds everyone Happy, healthy and Happy Mother's day to all the Moms reading this blog.
We can't thank everyone enough! We know our journey wouldn't be going so well if it wasn't for all of you!
Love,
Kyle, Erica and Jackson
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Okay so hear are the events from the past month!
All good news thanks to all the prayers out there!
Easter for the Spiess Family,
We had a great Easter Sunday. Jackson and mom of course couldn't go to church so our family celebrated Easter Sunday like we would if we were going to church except we didn't go to mass. We got up- later than we normally would have- dressed in our Sunday clothes and took some pictures. Have you ever tried taking a family photo using the timer on the camera with a baby? Well, it was a lot of fun! I don't think any of our pictures of the family turned out that well but it will definitely be a memory that we remind Jackson of when he gets older. We then made our Sunday dinner for 3 - ate and chatted with our extended family on Skype.
April 10th-
On April 10th we had our Doctor's appointment with Dr. Unite- Jackson's Pediatrician for his 6 month check up! The appointment was great-up until Jackson had to get all his shots, but he is a trooper. First, we discussed what Jackson was doing. Dr. Unite seemed extremely pleased at Jackson's weight- especially his chubby cheecks! Of course, Jackson talked up a storm and managed to drool all over for Dr. Unite. He weighed in at 14lbs and 4 oz- GO J! He also is 24.5 inch long. Dr. Unite also mentioned we could introduce food (baby rice cereal) around 8 to 9 months of age.
Then, we received even more great news! We can start walks now- so isolation is over-(kindof). They hadn't seen a case of the flu in the office for a while and we just are to be very careful- walks are okay- no one will be touching Jackson, etc. I think the person that was the most excited about this news was mom. She couldn't wait to get out - at least for walks. She had ventured out twice at times when barely anyone is around to Walmart (in the middle of the night) and I believe the 2nd time she had ran into work once late at night. Now, Jackson and mom get to go on walks in the middle of the day or at night when other people are walking and can actually see Jackson (not touch him) but look at him was GREAT NEWS! So as you can see we ventured out the following week. Mom will admit she has been getting used to the isolated lifestyle and although extremely excited about this venture out, she also was extremely worried.
4/11/07
Wow, after all the excitment yesterday dad and mom didn't know what would be in store for them today. We had our appointment with Dr. Zweiner, Jackson's gastroenterologist. We get to the hospital and weigh Jackson again, and then we go into our appointment. Dr. Zweiner informs us that he made the 3rd percentile for his weight for his REAL age. This is Awesome! Then we get the orders to reduce his prevacide down until we aren't giving him prevacide anymore and see how that goes. If that goes well, then we will start to go to all breastmilk and wean him off the formula. We are keeping Jackson's diet dairy free for 1 year and we will see what to do from there. We were given the okay to introduce rice cereal again around 8 to 9 months of age. We walk out of the appointment just beaming. We also get the order that if we get off the prevacide and he is doing okay then we do not have to schedule a follow-up visit! Yes, as of today - no prevacide which means 1 less doctors to see! GO JACKSON!
We continue the next 2 weeks with Dad working, mom taking care of Jackson and working part-time from home and we interview nanny's for Jackson.
On April 24th,
We have our Development meeting with Mary Stoner. Jackson is given a good "progress report". He acting and developing like an average 4 month old- which he is given his corrected age. GO JACKSON!
Now mom and dad will admit they have been anxiously waiting for Jackson to roll. Infact they were worried about Jackson not rolling yet, but they were reassured that he will roll over.
On May 3rd,
We start our first session with Jackson's Physical Therapists. Infact Jackson was so lucky as he received a visit from three women. I think this is the most people Jackson has ever seen at one time.
We had his Physical Therapist , Occupational therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant. They visited us to evaluate Jackson's torticollis. We also needed to look at Jackson's eating as he has started to gulp a bit when he eats. He still manages to drink his milk within 2o mins- 4 oz's but we are concerned about the amount of air he is getting while drinking. Luckily, Ginger the PT noticed this and asked the Occupational therapist to look at Jackson.
The visit went well and Jackson loved being the center of attention. We had to show everyone how we play and they watched his neck, showed us some stretches that we can do which are incorporated into our everyday activities. We carry Jackson around the house in a different position that stretches the appropriate neck muscle and when we change his diaper we do an exercise to stretch out his neck. All of these exercises/stretches we were shown how to do them appropriately by the PT's.
May 9th:
We bought Jackson a sippy cup since he has been so interested in what Mom and Dad are doing at dinner time....Well, we gave him the cup and he managed to grab it and "try" to drink out of it the appropriate way. Another milestone for Jackson that dad and mom will have in his scrap book. Of course he isn't using a sippy cup yet but just the fact he was able to put it in his mouth and try to drink out of it was great. We only put water in the cup so who knows what would happen if milk was in there.
May 10th:
We had our second visit from Ginger, the PT Assistant working with our family. Jackson loved watching Ginger today. He didn't want to do anything but look at her. I think he has a girlfriend. Mom learned a new stretch to do on Jackson's neck for his torticollis and Jackson learned how to grab his toes better and almost put them in his mouth with our help. Mom also showed Ginger how she works on Jackson rolling. He really is almost there......just needs a little help. (Rolling from his back to his stomach)
Ginger mentioned that by helping his grab his toes and get used to that, will help him roll eventually.
So.......tonight Dad and Jackson are playing and of course working on rolling while grabbing his toes. Jackson decided he had enough of us pushing him to roll and did it. He actually rolled all the way from his back to his stomach on his own! We video taped it of course.
We will definitely keep you updated on his progress and hopefully soon Jackson, dad and mom can make rounds to visit some people to thank them for everything they have done for us. We would love for Jackson to see some of his Drs, nurses, and RT's soon! We can't thank the medical teams enough for all that they have done for our little man.
Hello All!
