Tucker Update - 4 1/2 months
We’ve had several interesting milestones since my last update at 2 months – Jason’s first Father’s Day, I went back to work, Tucker was baptized, and we made our first trip to the children’s ER!
In the last several weeks, his little personality has started to emerge. He loves lying on his playmat so he can kick and play. He’s also started “talking” quite a bit by cooing and babbling. He can now roll over from his tummy to his back too, so it won’t be long before he’s on the move! At his 4 month checkup, he was 13 lbs and 9.5 ozs and 24 inches long (up from around 9 lbs at 2 months). He looks a lot different from a couple of months ago – and it’s not just the rolls he’s getting on his arms and legs. All the sandy-blond hair he had at birth fell out and it’s now being replaced with light blond fuzz. His eyebrows and lashes are so blond, you can hardly see them, and he frequently shows off the cute dimple on his right cheek when he smiles. The pediatrician gave us the green light to start solid foods, but we haven’t had much success yet. He’s still learning how to eat with a spoon. He spits out his cereal now, but I think that once he “gets it”, he’ll be eating like a linebacker!! I have attached a couple of recent photos.
He may be a local celebrity soon too. A good friend of mine works in the PR department of the hospital where Tucker was born. She asked me about doing a testimonial of our experience for their new advertising campaign. So, we are now featured on their website at www.erlanger.org. (The banner in the middle of the page changes randomly, so if you don’t see us at first, keep clicking the refresh button on your browser.)
And finally, speaking of hospitals, we made our first trip to the children’s ER last weekend when Tucker had a high fever for several days. He had just gotten his 4 month immunizations, which can sometimes result in a low-grade fever for about 24 hours. But, Tucker’s fever was more severe, more prolonged, and he wasn’t sleeping or eating well. They did bloodwork and chest and belly xrays, but found nothing. The ER doc thought he must’ve had a virus, but he never did figure out what it was, so the ER staff finally concluded that he must be having a reaction to the shots. I stayed home with him Monday, and even though his fever was gone, he was still very cranky and crying a lot. We sent him back to daycare on Tuesday, but I had been at work only a couple of hours when I got the “come-get-your-screaming-kid” phone call. When I picked him up, I noticed that he had little red bumps on his arms and legs, so I called the doctor.
As it turns out, it wasn’t the shots after all, just as I suspected. He had a virus called roseola. The pediatrician told me that it’s pretty common in babies and it starts with a high fever for 2-3 days, then once the fever breaks, they get a rash that lasts another 2-3 days. She told me that it’s hard to diagnose because it starts with a fever, which can be caused by many things. It was especially hard to diagnose for Tucker because of the timing of his shots.
He’s now healthy and happy once again! We haven’t been able to update our website (www.thelunas.com) in a couple of weeks, but we hope to do it soon!
Love,
Deanna
6 years ago