A very Denman December

'Twas 3 morings before Christmas and all through the house not a baby was stirring not even a pup. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that Saint Nicholas would soon be there.  The children were nestled all snug in their cribs while visions of milk danced in their heads.  And daddy at work and I in my jammies I settled down in my recliner for a new blog post :)

It's no secret that December is my favorite month. You think I go crazy for fall? Please that's just my pre-game before the big one. And honestly I always get a little sad right before the big day, because every year I'm just not ready for the Christmas season to come to an end. This year has been especially special.  I've been very "into" their first Christmas. Obviously they don't give a crap. Though they do enjoy looking at Christmas lights lol. But for as long as I can remember I've dreamed of sharing my favorite time with my children so for as long as I can I plan to do Christmas big for them. And yes that includes both Santa and Elf On The Shelf. Who are both in my opinion full of Christmas spirit and magic ;)

So it goes without question that our month has been filled with Christmas music, movies, lights, a ginger bread house, presents and cookies. Because lets face it, I wouldn't have it any other way. This month we've gotten into our own routine and I've gotten a grip on getting both of the boys out of the house solo.  There hasn't been a week thats gone by since Hunter's been home that someone hasn't gone to the doctor. Hunter's got pulmonary, speech therapy (for his feeds), and GI and John has cardiology (I will touch on that later) and of course our pedi likes to keep a close eye on these little guys. I also like to get them to the park at least once a week so they can be out of the house in a non-medical setting. And since they can't be in "crowds" the park is our best bet and they love being outside. People keep their distance so we haven't faced any "don't touch my baby" issues yet but I'm also smart about choosing the not so popular parks so we are never anywhere swarmed with kids, just the occasional passer byer. I "think" don't quote me on this that I may be getting a handle on this twin mom thing or at least I'm getting in my own groove.

The big question these days seems to be, when the heck is Hunter getting off the tube.
Well the simple and my routine answer when asked this is "It's up to him" but people typically want more of an explanation after that. The fact of the matter is I have no idea when he's going to wake up and decide to effortlessly take his feeds, it truly is 100% up to him. He was doing well finishing most of his bottles a few weeks ago, but in doing so he was working so hard that he actually lost weight. So we had to take a step back and figure out what we needed to do differently. We put a plan in place and it's working he's gaining and learning. So if at 9lbs he's consistently finishing his bottles then out with the tube. Right now at 8lbs he's taking 3/4 of his feeds, and most of the time it IS pretty effortlessly but there are times that he does struggle a little. We have to remember that he didn't get to eat regularly until about 2 weeks before he came home with all of his issues, he's relearning instinct and that's a lot to put on someone whose only two and a half months old. But there is no doubt in our mid or his doctors minds that he will catch up, he needs time and patience but he will get there and by this time next year you would never even know he ever had any sort of delay.

As for John and cardiology. Let me start out in saying he is 100% okay. This is nothing new (to us), though we've kept it pretty low key until we had a better idea of how it would all play out. When he was still in the hospital John had electrocardiograms done weekly after they found a murmur shortly after birth. Within being 48 hours old he was diagnosed with aortic stenosis, The aortic valve sends blood flow to your body and typically opens up into 3 places. John's however opens into 2. He visits his pediatric cardiologist monthly to monitor the valve.
So here's what we do know far: at some point around his first birthday (give or take some time) he will have a minor catheterization surgery to balloon the valve to open the part that is "stuck". Right now risk vs benefit leads towards waiting until he's a little bigger so that the surgeon can go in through his leg rather than his neck. He also gets tired pretty easily because his heart does work hard, and that's okay. But sleepy days do give me a panic sometimes. Thankfully his doctor is amazing and always puts me at ease.
There's a lot we still don't know like: can he play contact sports, when/if he will need the surgery repeated, will there be a more complex surgery in his future? I always come in with 10 million questions and most of them end in the same answer "it's hard to predict". But thankfully will be monitored his entire life so nothing major will ever sneak up on him! And you can bet every last dollar that you've got that even when he's 40 I will be on top of making sure he gets his check ups!

That's about all that is new in the Denman world these days. Lots of eating, sleeping (for the babies that is) and baby snuggles around here! I hope every one of my readers has enjoyed this month just as much as I have!

Merry Christmas!

Until next time,

Momma D

XOXO