NAM is in

Well, I was looking back at my last post and had not realized how long it has been since I've posted. No I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Its been a hectic week and a half. We did get the NAM in earlier this week. The installment went well although Riley cried. Here is a picture of his NAM:

We put denture cream in the 3 sections to get it to stay in. Never thought my 2 month old baby would be using denture cream! He did pretty well and even slept through the night on Thanksgiving Eve. Thanksgiving was a different story. He woke up happy but was very unhappy the rest of the day. He has been cranky for the last week and a half so I can't say for sure if it is due to the NAM. Feeding is a bit easier but we still have to squeeze the bottle a bit to help him out. It does create a bit of a palate but sucking is still a lot of work. Riley will now be going to the orthodontist once a week to get his weekly adjustments on his NAM. Hopefully things will progress well. Here is a picture of Riley with the NAM. You can barely see it but the nasal stints have not gone in yet:

Tony worked Thanksgiving night so it was pretty hard for me when he was so fussy. We made it through it though. Last night we moved Riley into his own room and he also rolled onto his back all by himself twice. It was pretty exciting. He is getting used to the NAM and hardly notices it anymore it seems. Hopefully he continues to do well with it. This week we go in for another NAM adjustment and his 2 month appointment. We've been working on giving him tummy time everyday. Here is a pic of him holding a popcicle stick (with close observation of course) chilling on is back:

Tony and I are doing well with his NAM. I still have 2 weeks left before going back to work. I can't believe that he is 8 weeks old. How time flies. I post more pictures on my facebook page so feel free to view them. More updates soon!

Orthodontist

We had another orthodontist appointment today. I was kind of relieved as the Riley's taping has not gone well the last few weeks. He has been bleeding off and on and keeps ripping off the tape. His cheeks are also continuing to break out from the tape. Poor guy. We have to do the taping but at the same time he keeps bleeding and breaking out. We can't win either way. The orthodontist told us not to worry that we didn't make much progress from the taping. We were told at our last appointment that the impressions would be taken for the Nam on the next appointment after today but we ended up doing them today. Riley did great. He hardly fussed. I was so proud of him. If anyone has had impressions taken for things like braces, it works pretty much the sae way. It was kind of funny watching the orthodontist try to fit the impression in his mouth but she got it in there and she did it with one try. Riley made a face as the orthodontist says it tastes funny. I wish I would have brought the camera but I forgot. Looks like the Nam will be put in at our appointment next week.

Thank you to my wonderful husband

I've been so caught up with giving people updates about Riley that I seem to only mention Tony briefly if at all in my blogs. I can't even begin to describe what this man means to me though. I couldn't help to think about the first time I ever saw him....in my Spanish class our sophmore year of high school. And how we went from friends to becoming girlfriend and boyfriend. Little did I know that the boy I met in highschool would turn into the best thing that has ever happened to me (besides giving birth to Riley of course). Tony has been there for me and has stood by my side through so many ups and downs. He is my rock. It's amazing how far we have come and how much we have changed and grown together. My love for him is so deep that I can't even begin to describe it. And its thinking about the strength of our love that I have to thank God that he brought us together.

Rough Day

I don't know what happened. I was standing in the kitchen this morning and all of the sudden I became overwhelmed with everything. No, I'm not exhausted. I've been sleeping pretty good actually. I think it was the combination of holding my son down while we are trying this new taping method and listening to him scream, watching my husband wipe blood from Riley's lip because its sore, and trying to figure out how we are going to balance work with doctor's appointments and surgery. I haven't cried about Riley's condition since he's been born. Honestly, I thought I was over the crying but I guess I need to remember that it is a roller coaster with him. I love him and would not trade him for the world but I couldn't help thinking to myself is why couldn't life just be a little teensy bit easier. I know that all of the wishing for this is not going to help but sometimes I can't help it. Tony and I both want to give him the best life possible and he does need special care. This taping is not easy (no its not just putting a piece of tape across his lip although I know that's what it looks like in the pictures). Feeding him requires a lot more concentration than just sticking a bottle in his mouth and watching television. Being there everyday for him is something so important to us and we will do our best. Tony returns back to work tomorrow and I'm sad that we won't have has much time together. I think today was just accumulation of problems and I'd be lying if I told you guys that it gets easier each day because it doesn't.

1 month old

Riley had his first Halloween. He was too little to dress up in a costume but we at least had a Halloween onsie courtesy of Grandma Prentice. It was a relaxing night. We took Riley trick or treating at his friend Logan's house (Logan is 6 months old and our good friend's son). It was nice just to hang out in visit with our friends. We haven't had a chance to do that in a while.

Today Riley had another orthodontist appointment. We were going to start the lasso taping which is where we would loop a piece of guaze around his premaxila which would pull it to Riley's right side more to make it center but when the orthodontist tried to do this he started bleeding a little bit. Another problem I asked myself? Of course!! The orthodontist informed us that she believes there may be a tooth starting to get ready to come out and this may be the cause of the bleeding. Also, she informed us that the premaxilla is often times symmetrical and Riley's is not which is another indicator for the possible immersion of the tooth. It would not be a viable tooth so the orthodontist informed us that we may have to have the plastic surgeon remove it. So the NAM has been pushed back further and now we are looking at the end of the month for the impressions to be taken. Instead of doing the lasso taping, we are going to try and bring Riley's lip on the left side to the front of the premaxila so we will start trying to tape to accomplish that. The orthodontist says she was very impressed on how good he is looking and how well we are taping. I should say how Tony is taping. I hold him down which is hard too. Tony is not afraid to get in there and tape him correctly.

Riley is doing great. He is doing well with his new formula and is no longer constipated!! We have a pediatrician's appointment on Friday so we are curious on how much he weights.