Brown stuff

This morning I awake to what sounded like digging in the garden.  I thought that perhaps Mick was burying Gary the goldfish....I did think it was an odd thing to do but you never know.  Mick brought Noah up and said....the drain out the back is over flowing.  So the digging noise was him trying to clear the sewage in the garden.  We're in a council house so when the office opened I called them.  They asked for someone to be in all day.  Noah was due to have his 3rd lot of jabs so I had to call mum and ask her to take him.  Of course it was pouring with rain.  She has a car but cant get his car seat in and out so decided to walk him there in the pram.  Luckily we live behind the hospital where the doctors surgery is so it isn't to far....but I did feel a pang of guilt as she struggled up off the road pushing the pram and trying to keep her brolly up.  I fully expected her to be gone an hour....but she was home after about 20 minutes.  Noah was soundo again.  She said he gave a very brief angry cry when he was injected (3 times) and then that was it.

The men from the council finally turned up a little after 2.  They cleared the blockage quickly.  Though when they lifted the drain cover you could see the 'brown stuff' all the way to the top.  They were asking me if I used the more expensive padded luxury loo roll.  I did say that with 7 of us in the house I couldn't afford to.  In fact we use the quite cheap stuff from lidls.  It doesn't matter what make it is we do tend to go through more than a roll a day.  Anyway turns out it was me that caused the blockage.  I had brought and used some 'flushable' toilet cleaner wipes.  They certainly are flushable, as in they go down into the drain.  And then they stayed there and blocked it.  I didn't even use that many.  Anyway they were lovely about it and made me promise not to flush them again.  Lesson learned.....just because they say they can be flushed it doesn't mean they should be.

R.I.P Gary

Sadly Gary the fish is no longer with us.....he is swimming in the big fish tank in the sky.  He was Alex's fish and Alex was upset when he found out....but then Chelsie gave him some chocolate cake and he cheered up.  I wish we could be cured of upsets with chocolate cake....life would be so much easier.

What a chunk!!!

The health visitor has just been and weighed Noah.  She comes here to do him so that we don't have to explain his problems in a room full of other people.  At the baby clinic you can't guarantee which HV you'll get.  Though I don't think I would be bothered about it now.  She is very pleased with how he is doing.  She thinks we are doing all the right things with him.  I told her that I was worried that I didn't think I was doing enough.  I feel as though perhaps I need to do more.....but she thinks we're doing ok.  We always have a little chat about things before she weighs him so she knows how we are getting on with things.  She says that we are coping with everything a lot better than a lot of other people she meets.  I think because I don't feel the need or have the inclination to sugar coat things when I tell people about Noah.  If they talk to him when he is in the pram I just tell them....he is blind so he doesn't know you are talking to him....so just lightly touch his face or hand and he'll know.  Mick  doesn't agree with how I say it but to be honest I just don't have the energy to worry about everyone else's feelings as most of the time having to say that to someone is bloody hard on me.  Anyway Elaine our HV says a lot of people just won't admit it to other people that there is something wrong with their baby.  I really don't understand that.  I mean I would love to bury my head in the sand and deny there's a problem....but my job as his mummy is to do the best for him and make sure he gets all the help he needs and pretending he is 'normal' won't get him what he needs. 

Anyway the main reason for the visit was to weigh him.....and the chunky monkey is a whopping 20lbs 8.5 Oz's. That puts him above the 98th centile line.

Apple & Pears

We have a hit on the food front with fruit....well the two we've tried so far.  I tried the pear first and that went down very well.  After a few days I added some baby rice to it and Noah gobbled it down.  So today I decided to try apple.  And he seemed to love that more than the pear.  I decided to make up a fair bit and freeze it.  First I gently simmered the fruit till it was soft.  Then with my hand blender I just pureed it.  I stuck it in some ice cube trays and froze it.  When it was frozen I put it into tubs that I've labelled.  I used to do that with Alex and he used to love apple and pear together.  In a few days I'll try some veg.  At the moment he's just having one ice cube size block a day.....perhaps a little bit more if its mixed with baby rice.

I was talking to my niece in law about weaning the other day and she mentioned that with her youngest she did baby led weaning.  Having read up on it I did think that a blind, lactose intolerant baby probably wasn't going to do to well with that.

I remember with the others when they were weaning we used to have to hide to eat naughty things so not to feel guilty about it.  I guess if you try and look for the positives in this then at least with Noah we don't have to do that.  Mind you at the moment he seems quite happy to sit and chew on his hand....fingers...thumb.....bib....toys.....anything that he can get into his mouth including our fingers.

Emotions again

I thought I was getting a grip on my emotions.  I thought coming to terms with what was happening would lessen it all.  I know Tuesday was incredibly hard but I really did think I had coped.  On Wednesday Noah and I went to a new Asda that's opened in town.  As it was just the 2 of us I had the basket resting on the pram.  He was soundo.  I'd purposefully gone out after his 11.30 feed.  Halfway round the shop I just happened to glance at him and he was still soundo and he looked just so content and relaxed.  And I felt like I could just burst out crying there and then in the middle of the shop.  I felt quite wretched and almost panicky.  I didn't cry I just gave myself a mental shakedown and carried on with the shopping.  When I think about it I don't think I have really cried about this much at all.  Perhaps when we get a true diagnosis I'll be able to. 

Long legs

My mum brought Noah some pj's a part of his Christmas present.  She got him 3-6 months because by Christmas he was just over 2 months. Due to the vast amount of babygro's he has he hasn't worn them recently.  I put them on his last night.  He's 4 months now and they are too short for him.  He sleeps in a baby grobag so the length doesn't really matter.  He has so  many clothes that he has hardly worn.  He took forever to grow big enough to look okay in 0-3 month clothes and then all of a sudden he is huge.  He seemed to have quickly, very quickly outgrown 3-6 months.  Though in some 6-9 clothes he is just to big already.  Looks like we'll be buying 9-12 month soon.

More doctors

On Thursday mum and I took Noah to see the community paediatrician.  The health visitor had refereed us in an attempt to get the referral we needed to allow the teacher specialising in visually impaired children to visit.

The lovely lady doc (who's name escapes me right now) did a full developmental check on Noah.  In the things that rely on vision to help them develop he is obviously very behind.  But the fantastic news is that the things that don't require vision for he is spot on or even ahead.  She was impressed with his strength and his desire to sit up and to stand.  She is not worried about his weight as she thinks once he does become mobile he will lose some of it.  I also told her that I was trying him with tiny amounts of food and she was okay with that.  He hates baby rice and to be honest I don't blame him as it resembles wallpaper paste and I don't imagine that it tastes a whole lot better.  but I cooked him some pear and pureed it and he is enjoying that.  But the best part was that she filled in the referral form.  So hopefully in the not to distant future we should get some help.  I told the doc I felt as though I didn't know what I was doing.  And she told me I did and that I was doing good.  It was  good to hear as I think every day I worry that I am doing things wrong and that it will delay Noah in someway.