Well, it seems as though my original due date of August 6th might be more accurate. Brooklyn still hasn't even dropped and I'm only 2cm dilated (I was 2 cm dilated for 3 weeks before Hayden was born). Since everything looked good on the Ultrasound last week - amniotic fluid level and placenta were normal - there's no rush to induce. I'm having about 2-3 Braxton Hicks contractions an hour, but nothing strong enough to even get me excited.
Brooklyn can't come soon enough. Today is supposed to hit record-breaking temperatures in Bellevue and Seattle. My car read 106 degrees at 2pm today when I was on my way home from the doctor's office. Phil, Hayden, and I are staying cool at my in-law's house. They have a heat-pump so their house is much cooler than ours. Around 74 right now and even cooler in their basement living room. I had a pretty good night's sleep last night and my toes even got chilly under the fan. :)
It's actually a good thing that I didn't have her on my due date because the hospital apparently lost power until about 1pm yesterday and was running on emergency back-up systems, which didn't include the AC! Phew! Good thing we weren't there then!
The other nice thing about staying with my in-laws is that Hayden is getting more comfortable staying here. We even have him sleeping in the twin-bed ("Big Boy Bed") with guard rails, which he seems to enjoy. So when the time does come for him to need to stay here for a night when we're in the hospital, I'm not going to worry about him (as much!). And their community also has a swimming pool so we've gone up there in the evening to cool off and Hayden LOVES the pool now. I am so thankful for my in-laws!!
So the game plan is... wait. I have ANOTHER doctor check-up scheduled for next week, August 5th, and at that point, if she still hasn't arrived, the doctor said we can put me on a waiting list with the hospital to be induced as soon as they have an opening. But since it still would be considered "elective", I'd be at the bottom of the waiting list and it could still be a few days after that before the hospital can get me in. Ugh! I almost wish they never even changed the due date from August 6th, because then maybe I wouldn't be so DONE already!
Brooklyn, everyone is so excited to meet you. Please come soon!
Update: The official temperature in Bellevue on July 29th was 108 degrees, breaking an all-time heat record.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Encompass Evaluation
On Tuesday last week was Hayden's evaluation by an organization called Encompass, referred to us by our pediatrician after I mentioned some concerns I had with Hayden's speech development at his 2 year check-up. When the pediatrician asked if Hayden had at least a 50 word vocabulary, I couldn't definitively say yes. If you count the words Phil and I understand, then yes. But a stranger would recognize? I wasn't so sure. So Encompass has a special program for 0-3 year-olds that helps with any developmental concerns parents have (paid for 100% by insurance, state grants, and other grants). So I thought better to get it all evaluated now.
Between the time I scheduled the evaluation and the actual date the 2 evaluators (a speech therapist and an occupational therapist) came over for the 1.5 hour in-home evaluation, is when Hayden's vocabulary suddenly exploded! Of course. Prior to the appointment, I filled out a huge packet of questions and could already tell that there were only a few small areas that Hayden might be a little behind.
I actually called a few days before and said I really wasn't having concerns anymore, but they insisted on following through with the evaluation. To qualify for therapy services, the child has to be scored in the bottom 25th percentile in one or more categories: Cognitive, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Social-Emotional, Adaptive Behavior, Receptive Language and Expressive Language. The only category I had any concerns with was the "Expressive Language" area. Within about 5 minutes, they both said they could tell Hayden would not qualify. But they still were very helpful in giving me some suggestions on helping Hayden with some of the words he pronounces unusually, and also eased my worries that some of the sound substitutions he was making were very common. For example, he says, "Ba" for "Fan" and the speech therapist said the "B" for an "F" sound is a very common substitution. And also that picking up on the last sounds, almost speaking "Backwards" like he does sometimes is also very common as children learn to connect their hearing with verbal communication.
While the occupational therapist brought out an assortment of toys, puzzles, and books to administer "The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development", the speech therapist observed his language and asked me questions about what he says and how he communicates. The first puzzle the OT presented was a simple wood board with 3 pieces: circle, square, and triangle. She dumped the 3 pieces out in front of Hayden and put the board in front of him. She turned to grab her stop-watch and a pencil and as she turned back to Hayden, he was just putting the last piece in the puzzle. She and the Speech Therapist both laughed and were like, "OK, clearly no problems here." The next puzzle had 9 shapes in a 3x3 grid and as Hayden put them all in their proper place, he also counted 1-9 ("one, two, free, fah, figh, sixess, neneven, eight, nine". Again, the therapists were pretty stunned. And I apologized for wasting their time! But they said it was helpful and encouraging for them to see children at the other end of the spectrum since they are so used to seeing children with developmental delays.
It was actually really fun to see Hayden do some of the tasks so well, even impressing me with things I didn't think he'd understand or know how to do, like sort colored pegs into different clear cups, and mimic unusual hand gestures. At one point the OT asked him to match her hand, which was the "OK" sign, and Hayden not only did it, but said "F" because that is also the sign for the letter "F". I explained to the her that he knows almost the whole sign language alphabet and when I showed them, as I did the hand signs, Hayden said almost all the letters correctly. Noting that he makes a connection with visual and verbal communication, the speech therapist suggested I use more signs with words and try to do them closer to my face as I say the word out loud, so he is watching both my hands and mouth. She was able to get him to say "Trailer" much more clearly than I've ever heard before just by motioning her fingers by her face a few times as she said the word (and it doesn't matter if it's true American Sign Language, as long as there is a hand gesture with the word that helps him see it together with the word.)
Another trick the Speech Therapist suggested to work with Hayden on the words he says unusually, is to print out some pictures from the Internet and hold the pictures up near my face, saying the word with very intentional mouth movements. "FFFloWer"
By the end of the evaluation the Speech Therapist scored Hayden in the 70th percentile for receptive language (Age equivalent = 32 months), and 30th percentile for expressive language (Age equivalent = 22 months). So he didn't qualify for any therapy. The therapist said that if the issues he is having with expressive language (consonant substitution and deleting the beginning or ending or words) are not resolved by age 3, to get him evaluated again. Just as I have been working with him over the past week with the suggestions she recommended, I am already noticing a lot of improvements.
The final summary of the evaluation was:
"Hayden is a charming 25-month old boy. Based on today's testing, Hayden demonstrated age-appropriate skills in all areas of development. Encompass's Birth-to-Three services are not recommended at this time."
Between the time I scheduled the evaluation and the actual date the 2 evaluators (a speech therapist and an occupational therapist) came over for the 1.5 hour in-home evaluation, is when Hayden's vocabulary suddenly exploded! Of course. Prior to the appointment, I filled out a huge packet of questions and could already tell that there were only a few small areas that Hayden might be a little behind.
I actually called a few days before and said I really wasn't having concerns anymore, but they insisted on following through with the evaluation. To qualify for therapy services, the child has to be scored in the bottom 25th percentile in one or more categories: Cognitive, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Social-Emotional, Adaptive Behavior, Receptive Language and Expressive Language. The only category I had any concerns with was the "Expressive Language" area. Within about 5 minutes, they both said they could tell Hayden would not qualify. But they still were very helpful in giving me some suggestions on helping Hayden with some of the words he pronounces unusually, and also eased my worries that some of the sound substitutions he was making were very common. For example, he says, "Ba" for "Fan" and the speech therapist said the "B" for an "F" sound is a very common substitution. And also that picking up on the last sounds, almost speaking "Backwards" like he does sometimes is also very common as children learn to connect their hearing with verbal communication.
While the occupational therapist brought out an assortment of toys, puzzles, and books to administer "The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development", the speech therapist observed his language and asked me questions about what he says and how he communicates. The first puzzle the OT presented was a simple wood board with 3 pieces: circle, square, and triangle. She dumped the 3 pieces out in front of Hayden and put the board in front of him. She turned to grab her stop-watch and a pencil and as she turned back to Hayden, he was just putting the last piece in the puzzle. She and the Speech Therapist both laughed and were like, "OK, clearly no problems here." The next puzzle had 9 shapes in a 3x3 grid and as Hayden put them all in their proper place, he also counted 1-9 ("one, two, free, fah, figh, sixess, neneven, eight, nine". Again, the therapists were pretty stunned. And I apologized for wasting their time! But they said it was helpful and encouraging for them to see children at the other end of the spectrum since they are so used to seeing children with developmental delays.
It was actually really fun to see Hayden do some of the tasks so well, even impressing me with things I didn't think he'd understand or know how to do, like sort colored pegs into different clear cups, and mimic unusual hand gestures. At one point the OT asked him to match her hand, which was the "OK" sign, and Hayden not only did it, but said "F" because that is also the sign for the letter "F". I explained to the her that he knows almost the whole sign language alphabet and when I showed them, as I did the hand signs, Hayden said almost all the letters correctly. Noting that he makes a connection with visual and verbal communication, the speech therapist suggested I use more signs with words and try to do them closer to my face as I say the word out loud, so he is watching both my hands and mouth. She was able to get him to say "Trailer" much more clearly than I've ever heard before just by motioning her fingers by her face a few times as she said the word (and it doesn't matter if it's true American Sign Language, as long as there is a hand gesture with the word that helps him see it together with the word.)
Another trick the Speech Therapist suggested to work with Hayden on the words he says unusually, is to print out some pictures from the Internet and hold the pictures up near my face, saying the word with very intentional mouth movements. "FFFloWer"
By the end of the evaluation the Speech Therapist scored Hayden in the 70th percentile for receptive language (Age equivalent = 32 months), and 30th percentile for expressive language (Age equivalent = 22 months). So he didn't qualify for any therapy. The therapist said that if the issues he is having with expressive language (consonant substitution and deleting the beginning or ending or words) are not resolved by age 3, to get him evaluated again. Just as I have been working with him over the past week with the suggestions she recommended, I am already noticing a lot of improvements.
The final summary of the evaluation was:
"Hayden is a charming 25-month old boy. Based on today's testing, Hayden demonstrated age-appropriate skills in all areas of development. Encompass's Birth-to-Three services are not recommended at this time."
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pregnancy Update
Anyone who followed my blog with Hayden might remember that I was getting pretty annoyed by the end of my pregnancy with the lineup of questions by EVERY SINGLE PERSON I come in contact with. Whether it's at the grocery store, restaurant, the Mall, gas station, or anywhere, pretty much the first thing out of anyone's mouth when they see me is, "When are you due?", and then the rest of the conversation is just as predictable:
ME: July 28th
THEM: "Oh, wow, that's coming up soon! Do you know what you're having?"
ME: "Yup, it's a girl."
THEM: "Oh, how perfect, one of each." (if Hayden is with me. If he's not, then there's also the "Is it your first?" question right after "When are you due?")
ME: "Yup. We're very blessed."
THEM: "How are you feeling?"
ME: "Great! I'm excited to meet her."
THEM: "How old is your little boy?"
ME: "He turned 2 in May."
THEM: "Oh, that's a great age difference. He's going to be a great Big Brother."
ME: "Yes, I think so."
THEM: "Well good luck with everything."
ME: "Thanks."
(Now can I walk 10 more feet without the same conversation happening again?!)
So the script goes. Multiply that about 5-10 times a day, depending on how many people I see, and that is my day. Some days I don't mind so much. But other days, I just don't feel like going through the whole script again, and I try to signal with my tone of voice, quick answers and no eye contact that I'm not in the mood to be chatty. They must think I'm such a hormonal bitch. Yes, some days, I am.
Oh, and I also get the occasional, "You're so tiny!" or "You're so big!" (yes, on the same day) and "Where are you delivering?" One woman even told me she knew I was having a girl because I was carrying so high. And down the next aisle at the grocery store a different woman asked if I carried my 1st child so low, too. HMMM... Yes, everyone is an expert. Sigh...
SO, here are my REAL answers, for those of you who want more than the script:
Due Date:
My original due date was August 6th, but after a couple Ultrasounds had her measuring on the bigger side, it was changed to July 28th. Due dates are tricky when you have early pregnancy bleeding. But really, due dates are meaningless. According to the doctor today, I could deliver tomorrow, I could deliver in 3 weeks. The only thing certain is that if she hasn't arrived by August 6th, they will induce me. I am already 1 cm dilated, her head is down, but she hasn't dropped. The doc said with 2nd babies, my body knows what to do and things can happen quicker, so to be prepared for her to come any day now. No long distances away from a hospital, husband instructed to keep cell phone on at all times, install the infant car seat, and get the hospital bag ready. If I had my say, I'd want to have her after July 31st, so that Phil's 5-week paternity leave will carry through Labor Day weekend, when we have a big Lott Family retreat at the Oregon Coast. Otherwise, he has to go back to work for a few days, then use holiday pay to take the extra days off that week.
How am I feeling?
Well, in case you can't tell from my opening rant... I feel irritable. For starts. Poor Phil is having to hear me constantly complaining, whining, or asking him to get something for me. Phil is my sounding board and therapist.
Also, my back is really hurting now. Shoulders, middle, lower, tailbone, you name it. Phil is my masseuse, bender, and lifter.
I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so I'm stuffing my face with ice cream, brownies, cookies, ice cream, donuts, ice cream, candy, and did I mention ice cream? I ate so much better when I was pregnant with Hayden. I feel guilty.
I've gained 35 lbs so far this pregnancy. I think with Hayden, I gained 25-30, but my starting weight was higher, so I think I weigh about the same now as then. My ankles are swollen. My face is rounder and jaw line less noticeable. My upper arms are chubbier. Even maternity clothes are starting to be too small.
And one of these days after the "How are you feeling?" question, I am going to tell a perfect stranger, "Hemorrhoids suck."
The house is as ready as we need to be. Since Brooklyn will be in our room for the first 2-3 months, we haven't totally gotten everything ready in the room. I think it might be a better transition for Hayden anyway not to have his room change too drastically overnight. But all that's left to do, really, is to repaint the accent wall green from blue, and replace the curtains. I think it will be best to paint sometime when Hayden can have a sleepover at Grandma's so the room can air out anyway.
More than anything, I'm nervous about how Hayden will react to his baby sister. More specifically, how he will react to Mommy not always being able to pick him up or give him attention immediately when he wants it. I know this will be a good lesson for him to learn, but I can only imagine what that feels like from his perspective. It breaks my heart that he might feel rejected, displaced, unwanted, or unloved.
But he did the sweetest thing the other night. He kissed me goodnight and started up the stairs with Daddy as usual, and after about 2 stairs up, he stopped, turned around, ran back to me, and kissed my belly good night. (We have been asking him to give baby sister a kiss occasionally, but this was totally on his own!) Phil and I just stared at each other in awe of what a thoughtful thing that was. On another side note of something sweet Hayden did... he noticed a little scab on the back of my ankle I got the other day at the pool, and he pointed to it and said "Boo Boo Knee" (which is the phrase he says anytime any body part gets hurt) and then he leaned over and kissed my boo boo like I kiss his!! How adorable is that?!
For fear of going off on another rant, I'm going to leave this blog post on that high note.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Mariner's Game
We took Hayden to his first baseball game yesterday. I was a little nervous since I got the tickets from a guy on Craigslist, and because the game started at 1:10pm and that meant Hayden wouldn't be taking a nap that day. Fortunately, everything turned out great.
The seats were excellent for the price - 300 level, row 1 (right on the railing!), on the first base side. I was pretty paranoid at first about the railing, but by the 3rd inning or so, allowed Phil to loosen his death grip on him a little, as long as he was always in reach and being watched (I don't think I watched much of the game, actually!).
And even though Hayden didn't get a nap, he was so good and had so much fun. He loved all the different music and clapping parts. I don't think he understood at all what was happening on the field, but he sure enjoyed people watching, eating (mmmm... kettle corn!!), and cheering. And the airplanes that would fly overhead, the trains blowing their loud horns, and the roof opening were pretty exciting too.
We made it through the Seventh Inning stretch ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game!") and decided it was time to head home before Hayden got cranky. Oh, and if anyone cares, Mariner's won 5-3 over the Texas Rangers. :)
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