7 Months

One month ago Maddox was in the hospital. This week his doctors wanted to admit him for yet another respiratory illness. Maddox and I drove to Fort Worth on Thursday with bags packed just in case his pulmonary doctor thought it would be better to have him fight this bug in the hospital. Our Pediatrician had felt like he should be admitted, but I went to the pulmonary appointment ready to plead our case for taking care of Maddox at home. We have oxygen, nebulizer, pulse oximeter, apnea monitor, etc... all at home. We basically took care of Maddox last month while he was in the hospital for five days, so why not let us do it in the comfort of our own home? Well, the doctor agreed and after checking blood gases, giving steroids, and waiting for our home health company to deliver some extra tanks of O2, we were on our way back home. Maddox has been doing pretty well and despite the hassle of all the tubes and monitors, it is so nice to just be home. Maddox likes being here too, and gets to interact and play and just do his normal stuff, which I feel is much more conducive to getting better.

My mom and two youngest brothers drove down to help for a few days, and it has been a party. Laundry, dishes, and meals have been taken care of by my mom, kids have been played with, gone swimming, and to a movie, and I have been able to take naps, and just enjoy having good easy-going company. LOVE IT!!

Maddox is now seven months old. He weighs over 12 pounds, is 23+ inches long, and is paralleling the underside of the growth curve - meaning still not on it. His GI doc seems to be a little bit fixated on the growth curve being our main objective, but I totally disagree. She has Maddox labeled as a "failure to thrive" baby, which really doesn't even begin to describe the issues he is dealing with. I don't think she really takes into account that he is a cardiac baby, which should have it's own category and growth curve in my mind. The good thing is he is continuing to grow and gain weight and is in proportion for height, weight and head circumference. I made sure to point out that this was a good thing. His cardiologist agrees with me, by the way.

Maddox is also working on PT, OT, and Speech/Oral Motor. He is working on sitting up by himself, rolls from side to side easily, and rolled completely by himself from his tummy to his back today during his PT session!! He transfers toys from hand to hand, plays with toys, sucks on stuff, kicks his legs like crazy, holds his head up when on his tummy(for a little while), is SOOO smiley and interactive, talks to us, tries to sing, laughs and just is a sweet little man. He has come a long way, and his therapists are all very encouraged. His helmet is sometimes a stumbling block, but I am sure he'll get used to it more and more and will just continue to improve. I sometimes find my self unsure of what a healthy baby would be doing at 7 months, and tend to compare Maddox to Tracen, which makes him seem further behind. Tracen was walking at 9 months and was just so quick to do so many things. I have to remind myself that Maddox has really come so far and is going to catch up, but to compare him to anyone else is not at all helpful. He truly is one of a kind!!