Zak's Fluoroscopy

This morning Zak and I went to University of Maryland Hospital for one of his tests for the wheezing. They did what is called an airway fluoroscopy which is basically a live movie of him breathing. They look at his trachea from different angles and look for any abnormalities. The radiologist told me that he didn't see anything problems and it doesn't look like his trachea is collapsing at all. So that is good news, but we still don't have an answer about the chronic wheezing. So we are now scheduling an upper GI where they will give him a barium solution and watch it go through his esophagus and into stomach to watch for any problems. The pediatrician talked to a pulmonologist and she wanted to start Zak on Zantac in case he has silent reflux which could cause wheezing if untreated. We will schedule to meet with her once the upper GI is done.

Zak Wheezing

Well, Zak has always wheezed on and off. But when ever we would ask the pediatrician about it he wouldn't be doing it. So they never found anything with it. It has gotten worse over the past 2 weeks. He is now wheezing all the time and it is getting louder. I took him to the pediatrician last night since it was getting worse. They listened to his breathing and did a breathing treatment for him in the office. His breathing did not improve at all. So the pediatrician sent us to get a chest x-ray which turned out to be fine. The pediatrician said that he thinks Zak has 2 things going on. First, possibly a viral illness even though he has no fever and is very a happy. Secondly, he might have an anatomical issue which Zak would eventually outgrow. Basically it means that Zak's muscles around his trachea are weak so it will collapse once and a while causing the wheezing. But with this usually the breathing gets better sitting up and worse laying down and Zak is the opposite; he is better laying down and worse sitting up. So I am waiting for a call from the pediatrician today to talk about some more possible testing.

Trip to FL

Well, we just got back from FL yesterday. The flights were really good and the boys had no major problems or meltdowns. We were able to take 1 carseat on the plane so we got to sit together which was great. The weather in FL was awesome, in the 70's and 80's the whole time. The boys got to wear shorts and t-shirts and no socks...they loved it. We had lots of fun visiting my mom and everybody else down there. Piper had fun with the boys also. She did really good with them and they loved watching her. She did get a little annoyed once and while when they started to use her toys, but what almost 2 year old wouldn't. The boys pretty much kept to their normal schedule while there which made today easy and just back to normal. They are getting so big and developing new things.

Zak is now eating solid food twice a day and loves it. He has mastered bananas and we will try squash tomorrow. He is so close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He has the cutest laugh when he is happy, it makes us crack up listening to him. He has also mastered getting anything and everything in his hands into his mouth. He loved using the walker while in FL so my mom is sending it to us to use here in MD. He has definitely found his hands and now holds them together and plays with them. We are working on sitting unassisted, but not really successfully yet.

Ryder has just started to try out solid food. We have given him bananas, but he has not mastered it yet. Mainly he just holds it in his mouth and some might get swallowed. But he will get it soon enough, we will stick with bananas until he gets the hang of it. He is such a talker! He has lots to say all the time. He also has a very silly laugh and loves to yell in delight. He has gotten much better at getting toys into his mouth. He has also mastered holding his hands together and playing with them. He is still rolling from his tummy to his back. We had professional pictures done in FL and he showed off and wouldn't stop rolling which made picture taking difficult of course. We are working on sitting with him as well, he seems to be a little better at it.

They will have their 6 month check-up and vaccines on February 25 so I will update their weights and lengths then.