December 2005

Boy, where does the time go. It's been so long since I last posted. Here's a quick update.

In November I took Andy to Movement Discoveries. They are an intensive physical therapy program in Burlingame, CA. We stayed there for 3 long weeks. My mother in law was able to come with us. She was a big help. Andy did 4 hours of therapy, 5 days a week for the 3 weeks. He did great. By the end of the 3rd week he was able to take 18 independent steps by himself. His legs are so much stronger. He doesn't trip over them like he use to. He still has balance issues but hopefully in the next year he will continue to get stronger and over come the issues. We really want to go back soon.

Lucas stayed home with my husband at night and my mom during the day while Bruce was working. That was a big help as well. While I was gone Bruce was able to clean the downstairs. Where he nicely put most of the toys in boxes in the garage. I have to learn how to rotate them. He was able to get the garage in order so I can do this. It was nice coming home to a nice clean house....but it all changed once I unpacked the van. All I could say to him was, "Honey, I'm home, did ya miss me!!!". I have told him over and over that I am a true "packrat"!!!

While in San Francsico, we went to San Francsico Zoo and to Half Moon Bay beach. Lucas enjoyed the zoo but not the beach. Andy enjoyed the beach but was not interested in the zoo at all. Guess we can't please both of them at the same time. Maybe one day.

Lucas is 18 months old this month. He is signing a number of signs now. "thank you", "please", "red", "more", "potty", "nigh-nigh", "pig", "dad". He was saying "mom" mostly when I was gone but doesn't say it much now that I am back. He loves cars, trucks and animals. He pointed to everything and wants to know what everything is. He loves looking at books where they have the objects he can point to. He knows: pig, sheep, zebra, horse, dog, cat, bunny, cow, tractor, truck, car, clock, fan, banana. I am sure he knows more but I can't think of them now. His favorite drink is chocolate milk! He is getting a sweet tooth, which I am not too happy about. He is so much like his daddy. Lucas also is playing on Andy's computer. We have a game called Reader Rabbit. We have a touch screen monitor that he is able to use. He is able to play this game independently. In fact, Lucas will push Andy out of the way when Andy is trying to play it. Not a good thing, it's too early for them to fight over things. I told Bruce yesterday we need to get Lucas his own computer. He thought I was crazy!!!

Well, I will try to update later with some pictures. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the update.

Andy's Accomplishments for 2004 & 2005.

Andy has done an awesome job this last year as well as this year. I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard.

These are some of the things he has working on to accomplished in 2005....
*In Feb. 2005...we switched phyiscal therapist....what a difference. He is learning to stand on his own. He still has a long way to go but hey....he is doing it.

*In March 2005, he took his first step by himself. Boy, I had tears in my eyes.
*By the end of March 2005, He has taken up to 6 steps by himself.

These are some of the things he accomplished in 2004.
*January 2004...He learned to walk independently with his kaye walker. He now uses it to go everywhere. The only time he uses his wheelchair is if we go shopping and will be walking for a long time. Any quick shopping trips he will use his walker.

*The rest of his accomplishments are not in any kind of order.....
*July 2004...learned to blow bubbles.
*June 2004...learned his colors and the signs of each color.
*Learning to swing on a regular swing.
*Drink from an open cup without spilling.
*Learned 75 signs.
*Recognize his name on paper.
*Dress & undress himself.....He knows how to do this but I still help him alot. (It's a time thing.)
*Using his signs in sentences.

I would like to thank Deanna for all the hard work and time she spent with Andy.....She was Andy's nanny last year. She really worked hard with him to get to where he is today. (By the way, Deanna....he loves his blanket....many times a day he looks at the pictures. Thank you very much.)

Lucas Accomplishments for 2004 & 2005.

Lucas is 10 months old this April month. He weighs 19 pounds 1 oz. and is in the 25% for both weight and height. He is doing really well. He is starting to stand up holding onto furniture, and sitting on his knees . He loves to play with cars and balls.

At 9 months old, he started signing "more" and "all done". He blows kissing and waved bye-bye...backwards. (It's really cute.) He loves eating finger foods and pretty much stopped eating the nasty gerber baby foods. He also learned to crawl.

At 8 months, he started to using his pointer finger...and poking any hole he can find.

At 7 months, he started drinking from a straw. He was working really hard on crawling, getting onto all 4's and rocling back and forth. He weighed 17 pounds 8 oz.

At 6 months, weighing in at 17 pounds....He is rolling everywhere....Loves vegetables but doesn't like baby cereal or fruit very much.

At 5 months, Weighing in at 16 pounds 12 oz. He was sick most of this month with bronocolitis (?). Started rolling back and forth.

At 4 months, Weighing in at 15 pounds 10 oz. He started sitting up. He also learned to roll from side to side.

At 13 weeks old, he laughed out loud for the first time. He loved to cuddle with his blankie and play with his hands and thumb.

Horse Therapy for Andy

October 2004, Andy started horse therapy. Each session goes for 6 weeks for 30 minutes. February 2005, a new session started for another 6 weeks. (This picture was taken March 05.) He has improved so much since the first time he got up on the horse. He is sitting up straighter and he is holding on much better. He is wearing his theratogs which have really made a difference in his posture. He seems to enjoy the horses.

Andy standing by himself for the first time!!! This was taken in Feb. 2005. We finally changed physical therapist after having the same one for 2 years. Look what he can do now.....Thanks to Burger Rehab in Folsom!!! After one visit, Andy was able to stand by himself for a few seconds.

This picture was taken in February 2005. Andy just turned 5 and Lucas is 8 months old.

Lucas Rayner McConnell was born on June 3rd 2004 at 11:02 am.
A whopping 10 pounds 6 oz. and 21 inches long.
Lucas was born by c-section. Due to Andy's birth injury and the fact that I had gestional diabetes with Lucas, the doctors felt it would be best. The c-section went great. It was awesome to hear Lucas cry the first time.
Because I had the gestional diabetes....the nurses monitored Lucas's blood sugar after he was born. His blood sugar had to be over 40. Which it was 44 the first time. After I nursed him, they re-tested his blood sugar...and little by little it was going up. However, the nurses noticed his respiratory rate was a little high. So, they continued to monitor it. Normal respiratory rate is 40 beats per minutes. His rate was over 100 per minute. After we were transferred into a regular room, the nurses took Lucas to the nursery for bathtime. After a few hours the nurses decided his respiratory rate was still pretty high and they wanted to take him into the special care nursery (NICU) to watch him closer. At this time, they also noticed a heart murmur. The doctor talked to Bruce about ordering some blood work, an echogram, and a chest x-ray. The doctor also found out I was nursing so he decided Lucas could come up to my room for the night.
My aunt (who was staying the night with me) and I stayed up most of the night...watching Lucas. The next morning by 8 am, the nurses took him to the nursery for monitoring. After that, he spend the next 3 days in the Special Care Nursery (NICU). His echogram and chest x-ray came back normal however, his white blood cells were alittle bit higher than normal...which may mean infection. They had a blood culture done which would take 48 to 72 hours to come back...so in the meanwhile, they put him on an antibiotic as a precaution.
After 48 hours the blood culture was still negetive so he was able to come home with me. The heart murmur has closed up and his respiratory rate is improving. My doctor thinks it was all because he was a diabetic baby. Having gestional diabetes can cause a lot of issues. It is so important to do what it takes to get the diebetes under control because it affected the baby. I was luck to have my doctors catch this at 31 weeks.

Andrew Jacob McConnell
Born February 4th, 2000
9 pounds 8.5 oz.
23 inches long
While giving birth, Andy got stuck in the birth canal. (There were 2 doctors and almost the whole floor of nurses trying to get Andy out.)This caused him to suffer a HIE event. The doctor used a vacuum to get him out which gave him a subdrual Hematoma (bleed on the brain) that developed into Hydrocephalus. He was without oxygen for approximately 15 minutes. His apgar scores were 0, 0, 0, 4 at 15 minutes! Not only did the things above happen, I have moderate to severe asthma and I wasn't able to breathe very well during the last few minutes of pushing, with that in mind, No extra oxygen was given to me at all during the whole labor and delievery.
To this day Andy is diagonsed with Cerebral Pasly, PVL and has a VP Shunt. He is delayed in Gross & Fine Motor Skills and is Non-Verbal.

Clan McConnell

I would like to take this time to introduce my family. My name is Kristi and my husband is Bruce. We have two son, Andy who is 5 years old and Lucas who is 9 months old. We have a German Shephard and a Chow Mix who are 7 & 8 years old.

Bruce started blogging a few months ago and thought I should start a family blog....So, here I am. Oh, by the way, Bruce's blog is xmarine.blogspot.com.

Thanks for taking the time to get to know our family. I welcome any comments.....

This is my favorite picture of Andy. October 2004.

Bruce and Andy at the park. October 2004.

Here is a picture of me and Andy at the park. This was taken in October 2004.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lucas. He is 8 months old here. Feb. 2005.