I would rate this past weekend about mid-range on the scale. There was plenty of room for improvement, but it wasn't bad either.
Saturday morning was swimming lessons. It is about all we can do to contain Skadi during Leif's 9:30am swim lessons. At 10am her lesson starts. She is our water baby. She does so much better in the water at this age then Leif did. I don't know if it is spending the last year nearly solid at the pool on Saturday mornings watching the routine, or if it is just in her nature. She loves the pool.
Finally her slot came and she was so excited to be in the pool. Her little body was just so tense from the excitement bubbling up in her.
Of course that also meant that only 20 minutes into her 30 minute lesson she had exhausted herself and was no longer interested in participating.
Leif and I dropped daddy and a sleeping Skadi off at the house and we headed to Costco where we spent way too much money. I loaded up on Carter's outfits for Skadi for the summer (must relish the last few months that I can put her in the uber-cute Carter's baby stuff) as well as pajamas for both kids.
Leif seems to have zoomed straight by 3T. Just a few weeks ago his 3T's were all still baggy and long. But starting last week we noticed they are suddenly appearing short. He was wearing 2T for what seemed like forever. I was starting to wonder if he and Skadi would both be in 2T at the same time despite being 2 years and 8 months apart.
But alas, the growth spurt happened and appears to be done. Leif's diet has returned to "would rather eat next to nothing".
The weekend took a turn for the worse on Sunday when AB and I both woke with headaches. (If I am going to wake with a headache I would have liked to have had fun the night before, thank you very much.) Skadi got up with daddy while I slept a little longer. Lucky daddy was the first to find out that Skadi had apparently picked up a stomach bug.
I woke and kept asking, "are you sure she is vomiting, or just spitting up?" I got my answer about 10 minutes later when she threw up the breast milk she had just consumed.
Leif insisted shortly thereafter that he too, had a stomach ache. Three year olds are tough to figure out. Is it that he wants medicine? Is it that he wants the attention being lavished on his sister? Or is this the reason he hasn't eaten so far today? Does he really have a stomach ache?
We may never know.
I erred on the side of caution and cancelled our playdate.
Skadi was up and down most of the day. Leif and I did get one good stint where Skadi was sleeping and we went into the front yard and cleaned out the front flower beds. I also pruned the juniper bush that had dreams of living on the other side of the sidewalk. I need a few cubic feet of soil for the flower bed since my giant bearded irises are working their way out of the dirt, but aside from that I am well on my way with our April goal. At least MY portion of the April goal.
I had talked up the anticipated "movie night" slated for Saturday night, only to be disappointed when The Bee Movie did not appear in our mailbox Saturday as promised. Star Wars was a worthy substitute.
I know. I can feel you looking at me sideways.
Star Wars? Guns, violence, Star Wars?
Yep, Leif's selections of shows he will watch on TV has expanded from Curious George to Curious George, The Forte Giant Little Einstein's episode OR any one of six Star Wars movies.
Blame AB.
At least the language is clean.
Leif sits and tells us who is the bad guy and who isn't. He squeals "here comes 'Darth Mater'" when Vadar comes on. He thinks the ewoks are cute, Jar Jar Binks is cool (just shoot me now), and Obi Kenobi looks just like daddy (AB beams at knowing his son would easily mistake him for Ewan MacGregor).
I keep telling myself he really isn't *that* young for Star Wars. I saw the first one in the theater when I was 5 years old. Only a year and a half older than Leif.
Today Leif had a dental check-up. I picked him up from school and we headed that way. Leif nearly bouncing out of his seat with excitement for the visit. (Weird child.)
Leif inherited my klutziness. AB has recently said that no matter the place, we are guaranteed that Leif will be the first one to fall and bang himself up or be in tears.
We were called back to the chairs, Leif hops into the big chair. I walk over to put my coat and purse on the bench when I hear the collective parent gasp around me. Reflexes said it was my kid.
Sure enough I whipped around just in time to see my son cartwheeling off the chair. Seems he stood up in the chair, lost his balance, caught his legs on the armrest and flipped over the side. Onto his head.
Yep, that's my kid.
The dentist was over within minutes checking him for breaks and checking his pupils. He gave me all the instructions on what to watch for in the case of a concussion. I have the list memorized at this point, but I just nodded my head and held my screaming preschooler.
The sweet and very concerned 8 year old boy in the chair next to him asked if he was going to be ok? He would be, I told him.
As typical Leif behavior, a few minutes later and he was as good as had it never happened. The assistant was able to get two good x-rays and clean his top teeth well.
When she got finished rinsing the top Leif insisted, "no thank you, you don't need to do more, I don't like it". The bottoms then proved to be a little more difficult.
No cavities (thank goodness).
And even better for me? Finding out we have a zero balance after fighting for 6 months with insurance on covering his work back in September done under general.
Phew.
Showing posts with label Leif dentist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leif dentist. Show all posts
Monday, April 07, 2008
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Chompers
Blow by blow of my oldest son's mouth and dental ordeal this morning.
It was a rough night. First off trying to get Leif to take his pre-op medication the night before. AB tells me it tasted like peppermint schnapps. I knew it smelled like it. Finally we got smart... if we were to have peppermint schnapps, how would we drink it? Straight? Gag. Why in hot chocolate of course! And with whipped cream. It worked.
The 4:45am dose though... had to be on an empty stomach. So no doctoring the stuff up then. AB and I got up when the alarm went off. AB restrained while I dumped it down Leif's throat. Luckily, a sleeping child resists little and remembers even less. We wandered back to bed, both with a look on our face of how fruitless heading back to bed even is at this point. Neither of us had slept much. The night had dragged by.
At 6:30am, AB headed out the door with my little boy in his arms. I tried not to cry. Really I did. I just kept thinking of those albeit rare stories you hear about general anesthesia. I was not ready for this. I finished getting myself ready, got Skadi up and ready and ran her out to daycare. Then headed back to the office. When I arrived they had already taken Leif back for the work. I felt my heart sink a little. Then forced myself to be confident while AB and I sat there and waited. A nurse brought us odd snacks... 8 Ritz crackers, some very mild, thick hunks of salami and what looked like leftover Olive Garden breadsticks. At 8am, none of it looked appealing.
AB told me about the arrival. The anesthesiologist had wanted to take Leif back to the room without AB. AB says he "insisted" upon going, and I agreed with this immediately. Why they would expect a 3 year old to willingly go with a stranger into a room with instruments and not pitch an enormous fit is amazing to me. The anesthesiologist was NOT happy with AB's insistence, but the dentist agreed and allowed AB to walk back with Leif. AB said after the fact when Leif was knocked out, the anesthesiologist made the comment that he never has a 3yo behave this well. Well duh. I am sure the "no parents in the OR" is more for the parents, but if you have a reasonable parent who understands they are putting the kid out, it really shouldn't be an issue, and should make the process easier.
About an hour later Dr. W came in and said that all four teeth badly needed crowns, and one he initially thought was going to need a root canal, but didn't once he got "in there". Additionally, he said that once he was able to get in and see Leif's teeth he saw that his four first molars, the centers (where they had initially told us were really deep pits and he would need seals - which they were also planning on doing at this time) were actually hypoplastic in the center - which also explains the need for a couple of fillings last year. So he ended up hollowing out those teeth and filling them, then sealing everything. There is some concern that his next molars could come in the same way given that so far all eight molars that are in, were affected to some degree. They are somewhat hopeful that his permanent teeth won't be. (Crossing my fingers.)
Dr. W made reference to this being either "genetic" or something that happened during pregnancy. He told us that these teeth were forming during 6-8 weeks gestation (which just amazes me thinking about it) and said, "so you might have done something and never known you were pregnant". Umm no. I knew early, early. So I racked and racked my brain. I didn't take meds while pregnant with Leif. I was so paranoid, I didn't do ANYTHING. The other aspect is the genetic side. Hypoplasty is an X linked trait. My neice has also had problems, so maybe it is just plain genetic. I had very strong teeth as a kid. Wacky teeth, misplaced and missing teeth, horrible bite, but no cavities until I was in my early teens. But maybe that other X choromosome was just more dominant in me. Maybe Skadi does have hope of nice teeth.
They warned us that coming out of anesthesia would be awful. He would scream and cry and so we were prepared for that. Amazingly, he didn't. He woke up and said, "mommy!" Broke my heart! I said, "I love you honey" and he said, "I love you too". Then he saw the bin of toys for being good and said, "I want the orange bracelet". Of course I went and got it for him without asking permission of anyone.
Things did kind of go downhill from there though - he wanted me to hold him and not Hans. He started crying, "I want to see the doctor". We were discharged and left, got to the parking lot and he was livid he wanted to go back and play with the toys. I have never seen him so angry ever. And strong too, Leif is a very strong kid. I could not have gotten him into the carseat myself.
AB thought strongly about taking him back inside to play for a little bit, but thought better of it when we became concerned that other kids would be frightened by this screaming, crying, red-eyed, swollen mouthed, blood encrusted child. We (ok, AB) overpowered him into his carseat, where he screamed bloody murder for a few minutes before konking out completely.
Things quickly returned to somewhat normal when we got home. Leif wanted oatmeal really badly. Kept asking for it. But we needed to push clear liquids first. I bribed him with the oatmeal to drink some apple juice and eat some jello first. Then he chowed his oatmeal and life was better again.
Very happy this is behind us.
Also as I have said a few times this week in regards to our daughter and her staph infection... very happy to live in the era we live in. An era of antibiotics and dental care.
It was a rough night. First off trying to get Leif to take his pre-op medication the night before. AB tells me it tasted like peppermint schnapps. I knew it smelled like it. Finally we got smart... if we were to have peppermint schnapps, how would we drink it? Straight? Gag. Why in hot chocolate of course! And with whipped cream. It worked.
The 4:45am dose though... had to be on an empty stomach. So no doctoring the stuff up then. AB and I got up when the alarm went off. AB restrained while I dumped it down Leif's throat. Luckily, a sleeping child resists little and remembers even less. We wandered back to bed, both with a look on our face of how fruitless heading back to bed even is at this point. Neither of us had slept much. The night had dragged by.
At 6:30am, AB headed out the door with my little boy in his arms. I tried not to cry. Really I did. I just kept thinking of those albeit rare stories you hear about general anesthesia. I was not ready for this. I finished getting myself ready, got Skadi up and ready and ran her out to daycare. Then headed back to the office. When I arrived they had already taken Leif back for the work. I felt my heart sink a little. Then forced myself to be confident while AB and I sat there and waited. A nurse brought us odd snacks... 8 Ritz crackers, some very mild, thick hunks of salami and what looked like leftover Olive Garden breadsticks. At 8am, none of it looked appealing.
AB told me about the arrival. The anesthesiologist had wanted to take Leif back to the room without AB. AB says he "insisted" upon going, and I agreed with this immediately. Why they would expect a 3 year old to willingly go with a stranger into a room with instruments and not pitch an enormous fit is amazing to me. The anesthesiologist was NOT happy with AB's insistence, but the dentist agreed and allowed AB to walk back with Leif. AB said after the fact when Leif was knocked out, the anesthesiologist made the comment that he never has a 3yo behave this well. Well duh. I am sure the "no parents in the OR" is more for the parents, but if you have a reasonable parent who understands they are putting the kid out, it really shouldn't be an issue, and should make the process easier.
About an hour later Dr. W came in and said that all four teeth badly needed crowns, and one he initially thought was going to need a root canal, but didn't once he got "in there". Additionally, he said that once he was able to get in and see Leif's teeth he saw that his four first molars, the centers (where they had initially told us were really deep pits and he would need seals - which they were also planning on doing at this time) were actually hypoplastic in the center - which also explains the need for a couple of fillings last year. So he ended up hollowing out those teeth and filling them, then sealing everything. There is some concern that his next molars could come in the same way given that so far all eight molars that are in, were affected to some degree. They are somewhat hopeful that his permanent teeth won't be. (Crossing my fingers.)
Dr. W made reference to this being either "genetic" or something that happened during pregnancy. He told us that these teeth were forming during 6-8 weeks gestation (which just amazes me thinking about it) and said, "so you might have done something and never known you were pregnant". Umm no. I knew early, early. So I racked and racked my brain. I didn't take meds while pregnant with Leif. I was so paranoid, I didn't do ANYTHING. The other aspect is the genetic side. Hypoplasty is an X linked trait. My neice has also had problems, so maybe it is just plain genetic. I had very strong teeth as a kid. Wacky teeth, misplaced and missing teeth, horrible bite, but no cavities until I was in my early teens. But maybe that other X choromosome was just more dominant in me. Maybe Skadi does have hope of nice teeth.
They warned us that coming out of anesthesia would be awful. He would scream and cry and so we were prepared for that. Amazingly, he didn't. He woke up and said, "mommy!" Broke my heart! I said, "I love you honey" and he said, "I love you too". Then he saw the bin of toys for being good and said, "I want the orange bracelet". Of course I went and got it for him without asking permission of anyone.
Things did kind of go downhill from there though - he wanted me to hold him and not Hans. He started crying, "I want to see the doctor". We were discharged and left, got to the parking lot and he was livid he wanted to go back and play with the toys. I have never seen him so angry ever. And strong too, Leif is a very strong kid. I could not have gotten him into the carseat myself.
AB thought strongly about taking him back inside to play for a little bit, but thought better of it when we became concerned that other kids would be frightened by this screaming, crying, red-eyed, swollen mouthed, blood encrusted child. We (ok, AB) overpowered him into his carseat, where he screamed bloody murder for a few minutes before konking out completely.
Things quickly returned to somewhat normal when we got home. Leif wanted oatmeal really badly. Kept asking for it. But we needed to push clear liquids first. I bribed him with the oatmeal to drink some apple juice and eat some jello first. Then he chowed his oatmeal and life was better again.
Very happy this is behind us.
Also as I have said a few times this week in regards to our daughter and her staph infection... very happy to live in the era we live in. An era of antibiotics and dental care.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Kiddo Stats
Skadi:
4 months and very happy.
18 lbs 14.5 oz and "just over 95th percentile".
26" long and "95th percentile"
She obviously doesn't miss a meal!
Four shots were misery for her. Poor baby screamed and screamed.
Leif:
3 years and also very happy
32 lbs and "55th percentile"
39.25" and "85th percentile"
He is my beanpole... poor child has no butt.
One shot and not a whimper. The next day my masochistic child asked to go back and get another shot.
Leif Teeth:
Update on his teeth. He saw my dentist for a second opinion. I have always though of my dentist as a dry curmudgeon. But I adore his hygienists and he is technically very good. I know, I have far too much experience with dentists. I have to say he was amazing with Leif and took far more time with him then his last dentist at the pediatric dentist, showing him all his tools and letting him squirt the water. When he was done examining him, he made him a puppy dog out of a balloon. Love him.
He agreed with Leif's ped dentist that he needs four crowns on his molars. They are hypoplastic and soft, he believes some decay is setting in and doesn't recommend waiting. Oh and he does NOT want to do them. Told me to schedule it with his ped dentist and to do general anesthesia on him. He, and his son, who is there doing an internship in dentistry both highly recommended the ped dentists. Son shadowed him earlier this summer and said he was amazing. Ok, I am sold.
4 months and very happy.
18 lbs 14.5 oz and "just over 95th percentile".
26" long and "95th percentile"
She obviously doesn't miss a meal!
Four shots were misery for her. Poor baby screamed and screamed.
Leif:
3 years and also very happy
32 lbs and "55th percentile"
39.25" and "85th percentile"
He is my beanpole... poor child has no butt.
One shot and not a whimper. The next day my masochistic child asked to go back and get another shot.
Leif Teeth:
Update on his teeth. He saw my dentist for a second opinion. I have always though of my dentist as a dry curmudgeon. But I adore his hygienists and he is technically very good. I know, I have far too much experience with dentists. I have to say he was amazing with Leif and took far more time with him then his last dentist at the pediatric dentist, showing him all his tools and letting him squirt the water. When he was done examining him, he made him a puppy dog out of a balloon. Love him.
He agreed with Leif's ped dentist that he needs four crowns on his molars. They are hypoplastic and soft, he believes some decay is setting in and doesn't recommend waiting. Oh and he does NOT want to do them. Told me to schedule it with his ped dentist and to do general anesthesia on him. He, and his son, who is there doing an internship in dentistry both highly recommended the ped dentists. Son shadowed him earlier this summer and said he was amazing. Ok, I am sold.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The week so far
This week has been a whirlwind and it is only Wednesday.
Aside from AB starting his new job where he has to be onsite at 6:30am (which means leaving the house at 5:45am at the absolute latest) and gets home about 6pm, work has been busting my butt in a variety of ways... all good. (Except for the dead monitor courtesy of a massive thunderstorm here last night.) I have an exciting proposal going in tomorrow with a co-PI I have never met, but apparently wow'd with my concept paper. Then I got the nod from my directorate for a major equipment request... that doesn't mean I get this $100K piece of equipment mind you. It means I get to rework the proposal (sans charge code) once more for the lab level review.
On the personal side, Skadi was sent home from daycare "sick" when she really wasn't "sick". We have had a challenge with one of Leif's teachers that has resulted in a meeting with the teacher, director and his two former teachers. Then Leif had a dental exam this afternoon. He did spectacularly, rave reviews from the hygienist and dentist on his wonderful behavior and no cavity status (smiling as I accept the pat on the back).
Anyways, good he had a good experience and actually requested to go back to the dentist tomorrow (weird child) because poor kid has inherited my ultra-crap teeth and has a long appointment coming up for four, yes FOUR crowns done under general. Apparently his new second year molars are not all shiney and beautiful like they should be. When I finally convinced the dentist to speak scientist to me he tells me they are "hypoplastic" and that the enamel on his molars instead of forming lovely crystalline lattices (and those of you who know my research know I love crystalline lattices), the enamel is instead amorphous. Cause most likely being use of antibiotics while the enamal was forming. And here I thought the awful yellow appearance of his molars was tartar... and therefore attacked with even more vigor.
Anyways, now I know how my parents felt when everytime they took me to the dentist it was something. And typically... not inexpensive. Though at least they had better dental insurance than we have now... (where I will stop before I rant, at least we have some dental insurance).
AB wants a second opinion. I have a dental appointment next week and will chat with my dentist - who loves me - after replacing 7 of my teeth last spring.
I can make it through tomorrow... I really can. Then come Friday I can rejoice!
Aside from AB starting his new job where he has to be onsite at 6:30am (which means leaving the house at 5:45am at the absolute latest) and gets home about 6pm, work has been busting my butt in a variety of ways... all good. (Except for the dead monitor courtesy of a massive thunderstorm here last night.) I have an exciting proposal going in tomorrow with a co-PI I have never met, but apparently wow'd with my concept paper. Then I got the nod from my directorate for a major equipment request... that doesn't mean I get this $100K piece of equipment mind you. It means I get to rework the proposal (sans charge code) once more for the lab level review.
On the personal side, Skadi was sent home from daycare "sick" when she really wasn't "sick". We have had a challenge with one of Leif's teachers that has resulted in a meeting with the teacher, director and his two former teachers. Then Leif had a dental exam this afternoon. He did spectacularly, rave reviews from the hygienist and dentist on his wonderful behavior and no cavity status (smiling as I accept the pat on the back).
Anyways, good he had a good experience and actually requested to go back to the dentist tomorrow (weird child) because poor kid has inherited my ultra-crap teeth and has a long appointment coming up for four, yes FOUR crowns done under general. Apparently his new second year molars are not all shiney and beautiful like they should be. When I finally convinced the dentist to speak scientist to me he tells me they are "hypoplastic" and that the enamel on his molars instead of forming lovely crystalline lattices (and those of you who know my research know I love crystalline lattices), the enamel is instead amorphous. Cause most likely being use of antibiotics while the enamal was forming. And here I thought the awful yellow appearance of his molars was tartar... and therefore attacked with even more vigor.
Anyways, now I know how my parents felt when everytime they took me to the dentist it was something. And typically... not inexpensive. Though at least they had better dental insurance than we have now... (where I will stop before I rant, at least we have some dental insurance).
AB wants a second opinion. I have a dental appointment next week and will chat with my dentist - who loves me - after replacing 7 of my teeth last spring.
I can make it through tomorrow... I really can. Then come Friday I can rejoice!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)