Hole in my heart

Brennan's pediatrician recommended we go see a pediatric cardiologist in order to asses the loud heart murmur he was hearing at Brennan's 18th month appt.  So we went to Children's Hospital and had him evaluated today.   There was a huge freak snow storm this morning too which shut down the freeway in some spots and there were accidents everywhere, which almost gave Mom a heart attack just getting there.

At the appointment they first did an EKG on Brennan.  He was covered in electrodes and wires.  In order to keep him still, the person administering it blew bubbles at him and gave some to Sara so she could blow bubbles for him too.  That kept him mesmerized long enough for the machine to get a reading.  Then he had to have his blood pressure taken on all four limbs which was no easy feat either.

Then when the doctor came in to see him she listed to his heart every which way, standing up, sitting down, laying down, from the back and front.  Amazingly enough while she was doing all this, Brennan sat perfectly still, like he must have known it was important.

After it was all over his doctor told us that all of his tests came back normal. She did hear a small hole in between his chambers and she said that possibly it is louder because it's trying to close up.  She said that there is almost no chance of him needing surgery and that by age 5 there is a likely hood that it will close up on its own.  She said until then that we should come back once a year to have it monitored and that they might do some imaging of it by the time he's 3 if it's still there.

I told her about the MVP in Dan's family and asked if it was related.  She said no, that it is a birth defect of some kind not related to any type of family history.  She said that in all likely hood he will never notice any effects.  She did say if the hole stays then they may need to tell us some things to do a precautions for him in the future.   She also said it is not related to his breath holding spells.

I hope we don't have any more issues with it and he can live a totally normal life.

Home Spun Fun

Our trifecta of family blogs would not be complete without a post on "light balls" as we call them.  The kids love these rubber balls that light up brilliantly when you throw them.  We've collected about 7 of them now and they are like kiddie crack.  It's hard to take pictures of them because you can't really tell how cool they are.  I thought I had gotten a pretty good video but apparently I need to learn how to take video on my new camera.

Here is Brennan playing light ball.

Brennan also likes to run around with his sisters fairy wings on.

Tonight, the kids also had fun making a tent in the living room.

Someone is wild-eyed.

He likes to wear star fish hats and his sisters backpack

Last week Daddy brought home a fun toy from his convention.  Light up margarita glasses, apparently those make great hats.

Brennan says a few new words, which I also thought I had recorded.  He says backpack, boots, and book.  He can make lots of animal noises, his current favorites are meow and gobble gobble.

Not another doctor's appt!

Brennan had his 18 month check up this week and I was thinking to myself, only 1 more doctor's appt when he turns 2 and then we're done!!!  Well, it was too good to be true.

His pediatrician listened to his heart and detected a murmur that he felt uncomfortable with, so he recommended we see a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital up in Salt Lake for a further evaluation.  His actual diagnosis was "The heart murmur sounds a little harsh today- to be sure that he does not have a heart defect that might need further treatment, I recommend he see the Pediatric Cardiologist for further evaluation."

His pediatrician said if Brennan does have a defect that it's not severe, or else we would have noticed him being low energy and that is DEFINITELY not the case at all.  He has enough energy for 6 kids.  Mitral Valve Prolapse runs in Dan's family, almost every member of his family has it and my grandmother has it as well.  So chances are it's only something like that and nothing really to worry about.  Still, as a mother it's hard not to worry a bit.   Also, the doctor says as a hole is closing in the heart sometimes is gets "louder", and that might account for it. 

Also, Brennan has had trouble maintaining his iron levels (although the last 2 checks it was almost normalized) so at his 18 month appt they drew three vials of blood for further testing.  Hopefully the results will come back all fine.  He hasn't had any breath holding spells since he had the flu in January.  We've probably gone three weeks without one, so I'm hoping that that is finally getting better and maybe his iron will start to climb.  Anyway, I'm curious to ask the Pediatric Cardiologist if all of these different symptoms are related. 

Thankfully Brennan's growth was much better this time.  He had almost fallen off the chart last time and the doctor said if he has another visit with low percentiles that we'd have to investigate that too.  However he weighed in at 23.6 pounds, so 16% percentile, and 32in in height, or 37%, so the doctor was happy with that.  The doctor actually said his growth was "excellent".

Brennan has all the sudden started talking more, he says : knock knock, Poo Poo (Yay),  Ouch (when he hits you), and the cutest thing he says is Uh Oh.

He has also started head butting and hitting and even biting.  He bit me pretty good this week and I bit him right back.  So far, he hasn't done it again.

On the plus side, he has the cutest smile and he loves his Mommy!  He loves to cuddle and nuzzle and he likes when we sit on the floor and play trains or cars and tickle him.

He has started feeding himself with a spoon, even messy things like yogurt and he also drinks from a regular cup now, with no straw.   Also, he's not too proud to have sister feed him, he actually thinks it's pretty funny.

I'm excited to see what he is like at 2 years old.  I wonder if he'll be talking up a storm like his sister and I wonder how he'll adjust to the new house.

We love our little Moosa and it's good to know he's growing and thriving, despite the difficulties he's had.

He just went tubing for the first time this week and, being the adrenaline junky that he is, he of course loved it.

This picture says it all :