February 2012 In Pictures

Our Vanilla Boy

Our darling little man has a brand new accessory. A nasogastric tube.

After much discussion, and several attempts to delay the inevitable, we went to hospital on the afternoon of Monday 20 February to have a nasogastric tube inserted into Sean's stomach. All morning, I had dreaded this horrific procedure, as I can still recall the discomfort of my very own nasogastric tube when I had my appendix taken out. I was 5 years old. And I've never been able to forget that horrific experience.

Sean must have sensed something was going to happen, for he was quite clingy and whingey all day long, and he took extra time to eat his breakfast and lunch, which really tested my patience. During Sean's morning nap, I cooked a mountain of my special rainbow fried rice, and divided them into 4 portions, 2 to be taken to the hospital for our dinner, and 2 to have at a later time. Jonathan went to work in the morning, with a view to meeting us at the hospital afterwards. We'd packed an overnight bag on Sunday night, so after lunch, we headed off to the hospital.

Planning For The Immediate Future

Lovers around the world celebrated Valentine's Day today, with chocolates and roses and dinner dates. We celebrated today as a family, visiting the Sydney Children's Hospital.

Yesterday, Dr Gray rang us to check on Sean, and I mentioned that Sean was having an "off" day. When he pressed for more details, I told Dr Gray that Sean was a bit more clingy than usual, and he was generally not as happy and active as he had been. Feeding Sean had also become quite laborious, often the task would take an hour to get a decent amount of food into the little man. Prior to Dr Gray calling, I had attributed this shift in mood to Sean's teething - all four of his molars were cutting through, and Sean had become more drooly over the last few days. As Sean didn't have a runny nose, nor a cough, nor a temperature, nor had he suffered any vomiting or diarrhoea, I didn't think it warranted a trip to hospital.

I did, however, think it was necessary for us to visit a speech pathologist to get some helpful hints and tips and tools to get Sean to eat his meals faster. So Dr Gray's call yesterday was timely, as I had wanted to gauge his willingness to allow us a trip to the speech pathologist. Alas, when I told Dr Gray of Sean's mood swing, he made an appointment for us to visit him in hospital for a check up, with a view to revealing some news relating to Sean's life saving treatment.