What a pretty girl

Kendra and Branston. Having breakfast. With adoring brother again

Sitting in her bumbo

Aren't I pretty?

Kendra went for a follow up scan of her kidneys today. The doc says that all is ok, yayyyy!! She must go again middle of next year for her next checkup. I forgot to ask him if she must continue with the antibiotics but I know the answer will be yes. He originally said to keep using them till she was 1 year old. Apparently the positive effects (reduce risk of bladder infection) far outweigh the bad. She is on a very low dose.

Her constipation seems to be easing up a bit, but she is on 2 teaspoons of Laxette a day. I think her teeth are really bugging her, she is always rubbing her gums and chewing on her fingers(or mine). We are planning on having her baptised on the 18th December in PE. If anyone is in PE around then, give me a shout and you can join us.

Next doctor's appointment is on 5 December. We are going to see the pediatric neurologist for another assessment. Will keep you posted.

7 months today!

Happy 7 month birthday Kendra!!

On Sunday we went to the special needs group braai (barbeque for non-SA readers). It was nice to meet the children behind the moms in the group. I also met some new people I had not met at the groups. There were some children there who made me feel like we are getting off quite lightly, but maybe it is too soon to tell. I am going to start a blog for the special needs group as well so that they can all use it to tell their stories or just to share a special moment.

Today I took Kendra to the orthoptist (kind of eye doctor) again. She is the one who has made K wear a patch 3 times a week. She said she was thrilled with K's progress and that her eye is looking really good. We are to continue with the patch treatment until our next appointment which is on 14 Dec and then she may cut it down to once a week.

We are looking forward to going on holiday on 15 Dec so that the grandparents can see how big the children are now. Branston is also shooting up at the moment. By the way, he told me today that he now knows that there is no real Santa Claus and he is now giving his Christmas list to me so that I can start shopping! Apparently the teachers at school told them this but he says that he knew it in his brain because he is clever.

Physio

I meant to do this post last night but little madam Kendra had other plans. She decided it was a good night to keep me busy till 11pm. Shame, I think her teeth are bugging her not to mention her tummy. She still seems to be a bit constipated. Tonight she wanted to stay up but she was in quite a good mood, full of smiles. I let her fall asleep on her own in the pram. She is really developing a little personality now. She is starting to vocalise quite a bit now. Sometimes she just shouts, that is the only way to describe it. It is not a cry or a goo or ga but a real shout, but not an unhappy one. She is also laughing a lot more now. Only problem is every time she laughs she gets hiccups!

We went to the physio last week and she is very happy with her progress. Kendra behaved herself for most of the session, Petro even got a smile. But of course it had to end as Petro kept putting K on her tummy and that is one position she does not like. Petro says that her head control is very good now, she has almost caught up to her age group. She still does not move around much. We have to try and encourage her to roll over and also to touch her feet with her hands. We are going back there next week for our last session of the year.

We have a few other things lined up as well. Next week is also the next visit to the orthoptist to have her eyes checked again and see if the patch has helped. The week after that is a follow up scan to check on her kidneys and then in December another visit to the paediatric neurologist for an assessment. We are looking at going fully comprehensive on our medical aid next year. At this rate we will be needing it.

And the young lady is really getting into her solids now. We are giving her porridge in the morning (rice cereal) and she is getting most of it down though still pushes a lot out with her tongue. I think that she is starting to realise that this is food we are shoving into her mouth. Though I think she just likes to chew on the spoon as she really clamps down on it if it stays in her mouth too long. And those little teeth are really sharp! I don't know how they don't hurt their top gums when they only have bottom teeth. She sometimes bites my finger when I rub her gums (she likes me to do that) and I end up with serious toothmarks on my finger.

Branston is still very happy with his little sister. He can't tell her often enough that he loves her. I worry sometimes that he will get jealous because lately he seems to get into trouble so often. Maybe he is looking for attention as he is constantly doing things he should not be doing and I feel like I spend my life shouting at him, then turn around and coochy coo to Kendra. Poor Kendra sometimes gets the short end of the stick now as I don't like to chastise him and then immediately go gaga over her in front of him. So she sometimes has to wait a little for her bit of attention.

This Sunday is family day for the special needs group. I am quite looking forward to that. It helps I think to see the children who are the reason for people belonging to the group so that one can get a better understanding of their situations. I have already met some of the children but there are still moms I have yet to meet as not everyone can usually attend the meetings. Gosh but this was a long post! See what happens when I do not post regularly. Best I make time to do this more often.

Feeding habits

I took Kendra for her 3 month vaccination today (bit late) and she was not impressed. Firstly she was woken up from a nice sleep to go to the clinic and then we started messing with her. She let us know in no uncertain terms what she thought of that! I had to feed her eventually to calm her down.

Speaking of feeding, she has been on Infasoy for about 2 weeks now and it is making her terribly constipated. We started off on S26 but that seemed to give her quite bad cramps then I changed to Nan. It went fine for a while but then the cramps started again so I thought that she might be allergic to dairy, hence the Infasoy. That started off very well but now she is a bit crampy again. Sister Sue says it is probably the constipation and suggest we stay on the formula but give her other liquid as well, like boiled water or Rooibos tea. I have also been giving her Duphalac dry which she says I can continue. Anyone out there with advice on how to sort out constipation?

Some good news

Kendra with her patch on, with Granny and just looking pretty.

Kendra went for an eye examination today under anaesthetic. She would not hold still for the doctor to get a proper look into her eyes so that had to get her to sleep for it. Such a palava (is that a word?) just for 15 minutes of looking into the eyes. She had to go without food for 6 hours beforehand which meant no breakfast for her as we had to be at the hospital by 7am. I must say I was dreading it but she was a perfect angel. She woke up at 5:30am when I got up and just lay there sucking her hand. She did not even cry when I moved her to the car seat or going to the hospital. The first time she cried was when I had to undress her and the nurse tried to put an armband on. The indignity of those hospital gowns! Anyway the doctor did a thorough exam and said that the optic nerves are fine and that she will not need to wear glasses just yet. They can tell this from an eye exam. So her eyes are ok, just need to work on that lazy left eye. The ptosis (left eye that does not open properly) is something that they would only consider correcting surgically if the lid covered her pupil completely which it does not. Apparently it is a very difficult op. Luckily she will not have to wear glasses as I don't think she would be able to with her funny little ears. They are tiny and very flat on her head.

Other news, the boob is out! Kendra officially prefers the bottle. I have been thinking long and hard about continuing to breastfeed. On the plus side, it is very good for her immune system and for preventing constipation(big plus). It is also very easy and convenient esp. in the middle of the night. On the negative side she has teeth(big minus), there is the leaking and discomfort, and did I mention she has teeth (BIG Big minus) and she's not afraid to use them. And since I stopped taking the Espiride(milk producing tablets) I am not such a good milk cow as I used to be. I also plan on starting her on solids this weekend. She seems to have settled well with the change of formula, no more bad cramping. Although she does seem to get a bit constipated now. Every day when the nanny comes on duty first question is 'Did she poo?' and when I get home it is my first question to her! Amazing how interested one can suddenly become in the subject of poop.

We have physio again next week. The nanny is not happy about it, she does not like anyone who makes Kendra cry!

Thank you to those who have commented. It is nice to get comments and see who is reading the blog. If anyone has anything to say please feel free to comment. Besides family and friends (always nice to hear from you) it would be nice to hear who else has read the blog and is interested in Kendra's story esp. if you also have children with JS. I put the blog into the 11q website so hopefully more people with 11q children will read it.