Our little squeezebox

What a day.

Ever since we brought Leif home, he's been a noisy breather. I remember Augie being a noisy breather, too, so I didn't think much of it. But he's still noisy. And there's one particular squeaky noise he makes when he inhales that had us a bit concerned, so I sent a video to my dear friend Sabrina, a pediatrician in Chicago. She told us that the squeaky noise he was making is called stridor and is not normal. So today we went to the hospital to have it checked out.

At the initial consult, the pediatricians confirmed that Leif's breathing isn't normal and that he has chest retractions. They sent us to see the ENT specialist in the hospital, who stuck a tube up Leif's nose and down his throat to have a look at what's going on. The test confirmed what we all by this time suspected - that Leif has laryngomalacia, a congenital softening of the tissues of the larynx above the vocal cords. The condition usually resolves itself by 18-20 months, and as long as Leif is eating well and gaining weight, there's no reason to be worried. And as Leif is accelerating up the growth curve, nursing well, and sleeping well (as well as a newborn does!), we aren't worried. The ENT doctor even said, twice, "I'm not very worried about this."

Waiting to see the ENT doctor

After we saw the ENT, we were admitted to the hospital for observation: they wanted to check his saturation, respiration rate, etc., for a few hours and possibly overnight to see how bad the condition is. Leif's saturation (amount of oxygen in his blood) was great even when he was having the stridor, so after about 5-6 hours in the ward we were sent home.

We'll go back to see the doctor in about a month to see how Leif is doing and possibly do the procedure again to have another look.

Leif held up well through the day, though he didn't much care for having the tube stuck up his nose (I didn't much care for it either). We were so lucky to have Grandma here to help look after Augie while we were tending to Leif. He's now sleeping happily in the bedroom, squeaking away.

Napping in our room while under observation

For some great news, last night Leif slept eight hours straight! We had a tough time putting him down again (took about six hours), but then he slept from about 9pm to 5am! I'm not crazy enough to think it might happen again tonight, but I do have the slightest glimmer of hope...

Sick day

This afternoon, we had a home visit with a nurse from the pediatrician's office. Isn't that great? - here in Sweden, your first appointment with your pediatrician's office is held in your home, so you don't have to haul the little one out into the wild while you're still healing and getting used to each other. The nurse brought a sling and hand-held scale with her, and she wrapped Dai-Dai in the sling and lifted him up mid-air. They want babies to gain about 150 grams per week; Baby Boy has gained 280 since he was weighed last week, so we're doing just fine. (The nurse had questioned whether I thought I was making enough milk to feed both boys - ha!). He's up to 3,910 grams or so now. Next week we'll go into the office (about four blocks away) for him to be weighed and measured; we won't see the actual pediatrician, unless there's a problem, until the second or third month. Nurses do the basic exams and vaccines here.

Sadly, shortly before the nurse came around, dagis called to say that Augie had a fever and we should come pick him up. Apparently there's something going around the school. When he came home he seemed just fine to us, but when he woke up from his nap he was hot. He was still running and goofing around like normal, so we packed up and took the boys for a walk around Långholmen. When we got outside we realized that we'd totally misjudged the weather and it was much warmer than we'd thought. Both boys were totally overdressed.

This picture makes him look deceptively large; you can't quite tell that his arms and legs are still pulled in close to his body and the arms and legs of the bear suit are empty!

We knew Augie wasn't feeling well when we got to the beach and unclipped him from the stroller: he didn't want to get out. That's the first time ever that he hasn't wanted to run around and play.

This is what happened when we got home. He was still in a good mood, talking and smiling, but he was lying on the floor:

And then while Baba was making dinner - look how red his cheeks are!:

The upside to all of this is that we got to spend some quiet time snuggling with Augie; normally he's never still, and even reading books together can be an athletic event. But today he just lay in bed with me while I read books to him, and let us massage his back and stroke his hair. Oh, my sick baby. Here's hoping the fever breaks tonight and he wakes tomorrow feeling at least a little bit better.

Hanging at home

Let's start with some humor. I discovered this hilarous tumblr page written by another immigrant to Sweden (I have to assume an American). You probably have to be fairly familiar with Sweden (and Game of Thrones) to get it all, but it's still funny; and too true. Last night I went to the premiere of Welcome to Sweden, a new TV comedy about to air in Sweden (and it was purchased by NBC, so will also be showing in the US soon, so keep a look out for it!). It's about an American who leaves his NYC life to be with his girlfriend in Sweden. The premiere was funny, and I'm looking forward to watching the show (if only we can find out how, without a TV here or in the US).

Anyway, back to Augie. His chest is still rattling and you can hear him sleeping from the other room. I've picked up his cold now, too, but I think I have it worse. Which is to say that it's not been fun around here. We've been doing a lot of this:

And as always, this:

We've been making faces:

Making faces while doing the laundry:

Playing with pens:

And gazing out the window:

11 months - Lazy, sick days at home

Last night James got the bug that Augie and I had over the weekend and spent much of the night in the bathroom. It was not an easy or pretty couple of days in the Watson/Elliott household; one of us even pooped his/her pants, but I'll leave you wondering who. 

While Augie actually pulled through better than either of his parents, these two pictures pretty much epitomize Saturday-Tuesday in our house: