The Norton Zoo A Weblog for the Zoo that is the Norton Household 2009-07-21T16:24:17-04:00 norton http://thenortonzoo.com/blog/index.php tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo Pivot Copyright (c) 2009, Authors of The Norton Zoo Lack of posts 2009-07-21T16:24:00-04:00 2009-07-21T16:24:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.533 I've been noticing that we haven't really been keeping up to date with this blog. Kari and I have taken to doing most of our posting in Facebook these days. We seem to like it better because it's more of a two-way method of communication, so we can keep people informed, and inform ourselves about our friend and family at the same time. I don't know if we'll be posting much to this blog in the future. If you want to keep up with our online postings, look us up on Facebook! dan Mind Reader 2009-06-13T20:45:00-04:00 2009-06-13T20:45:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.532 I can read minds apparently. It was time to do Alex's brushing, and the brush was no where to be found. Alex had a devilish grin on his face, and, unprovoked, told me that he didn't know where his brush was. So, I asked him to think real hard about where the brush might be, but not tell me. Miraculously, the next place I looked, I found the brush. Amazing! dan Big night for Kujo 2009-06-10T22:37:00-04:00 2009-06-10T22:37:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.531 Kujo had a big night tonight. We had a black cat decide to sit on our front steps for a while. Kujo got uncharacteristically territorial, and started hissing. I figured I'd make peace, so I went out and paid some attention to the friendly cat for a while, which got Kujo even more upset. He sat on the other side of the glass door, fur raised, and meowing, while I gave the black cat a good head scratch. Jack thought this was pretty amusing, saying "Black Cat!" or "Black Kujo" over and over again, in between laughing. I did make the effort to pay Kujo some attention later on to make up for my "cheating" on him. dan Joking Daddy 2009-06-04T22:57:00-04:00 2009-06-04T22:57:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.530 Every night when I give the boys a bath, Jack gets in the bathtub before I turn the water on. When I go to turn the water on, it's pretty cold before it warms up, but Jack always sits right under the faucet, so he gets a shot of cold water. For some reason, he thinks that this is just me being silly, and thinks that it's hilarious. Silly boy. dan Thomas 2009-06-03T20:06:00-04:00 2009-06-03T20:06:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.529 We all went to see Thomas the Tank Engine last Saturday. It was a nice day out for the family. The Upper Hudson Railroad hitched up a Thomas replica to a set of coaches, followed by a real locomotive. We went on a 1/2 hour trip, out a few miles, and a few miles back. They punched the boy's tickets, and the boys got to run up and down the coaches, looking out the window at the Hudson River go by. A good time was had by all. We managed to avoid the onslaught of Thomas paraphenalia that was being offered for sale, how, I will never know. I was fully prepared to come back with a trunkload of toy trains. Jack has taken up the habit of saying "Ow!" any time anything remotely unpleasant happens. As an example, he doesn't want to go to bed right now, so he's up in his room, yelling "Ow! Ow! Ow!", when nothing really hurts. He says "Ow!" when Kujo walks away from him when he wants to play. This was something that was cute for about 15 seconds, and has devolved from there.
Jack has taken up the habit of saying "Ow!" any time anything remotely unpleasant happens. As an example, he doesn't want to go to bed right now, so he's up in his room, yelling "Ow! Ow! Ow!", when nothing really hurts. He says "Ow!" when Kujo walks away from him when he wants to play. This was something that was cute for about 15 seconds, and has devolved from there. ]]> dan Slip-n-slide 2009-05-23T15:46:00-04:00 2009-05-23T15:46:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.528 Kari found a good deal on a slip-n-slide the other day, so we got it out yesterday. Somehow, I remember them being much bigger. This one is 18 feet long, or just about three of me. I guess I haven't used one in more than 20 years .. yikes! It's plenty long for Alex and Jack though. They don't really have the run - jump - slide thing down, but Alex enjoys me bowling him down, and Jack likes standing in the pool at the end splashing, so it's like my own little living bowling game. The boys really got a kick out of that. dan Long time, no pictures! 2009-05-13T14:00:00-04:00 2009-05-13T13:59:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.527 I've been posting lots of pictures on Flickr, but I thought that I'd remind you that they're there, in case you've forgotten. Check out the Norton Family Pictures 2009 folder for the latest! Things around here have been pretty "normal" lately. Alex is almost done with preschool, and has done all of his kindergarten testing and registration. Ack! Jack is writing for the NY Times now, or at least he should be with his vocabulary. The weather is getting to be really nice most of the time, so we're spending as much time outdoors as possible. Dan and I are getting ready for our trip to Switzerland in about a month. The boys will be with Aunt Abby and Uncle Bill. I think Alex is looking forward to getting rid of me for a while. That's about it for now! kari Big boy Jack 2009-04-23T20:07:00-04:00 2009-04-23T20:07:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.526 Every night, as part of our schedule, Alex goes to the bathroom before I give the boys a bath. This avoids the inevitable of Alex getting in the tub, getting all soapy, and then having to drip water all over the floor to take care of his business. Tonight, Jack asked "Pee too? Pee too?" so, I figured, why not? So, I put him up on the stool, and he was just tall enough to reach, and he went pee in the potty! What a momentous occasion! I have to tell myself though that we are far from out of the woods on this one, though. dan Placeholder 2006-03-03T20:43:00-04:00 2006-03-03T20:43:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.321 I figured I'd better put something in here, because it has been saying that christmas is coming.  :) dan Upcoming dates! 2005-11-28T23:05:00-04:00 2005-11-28T23:05:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.299 Christmas is coming!! kari Upcoming dates 2005-06-08T11:08:00-04:00 2005-06-08T11:08:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.243 Alex has his next dilation on June 13th. ]]> kari Upcoming dates 2005-05-20T22:26:00-04:00 2005-05-20T22:26:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.235 Alex has his first appointment with our new Occupational Therapist (through Early Intervention) on Wednesday, May 25th. Dr. Cohen (his pediatric surgeon) will see Alex for a follow-up in 7-10 days, and will do another dilation in three weeks. We're expecting a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Norton next weekend.  Yay!!
Dr. Cohen (his pediatric surgeon) will see Alex for a follow-up in 7-10 days, and will do another dilation in three weeks.

We're expecting a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Norton next weekend. Yay!!

]]> kari Upcoming dates 2005-04-20T19:37:00-04:00 2005-04-20T19:36:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.224 Alex has an appointment with PT on Thursday the 21st as well as an appointment with the feeding clinic and his GI doc at Hershey.  The next dilation is schedule for April 25th. On the 26th, he has an appointment with his pediatrician for his last Synagis (RSV vaccination) and the third polio shot. The movers are coming on the 27th, and we will be leaving either that night or on the 28th to stay in NJ with Dan's parents until the movers get our stuff to the new house.
The next dilation is schedule for April 25th.

On the 26th, he has an appointment with his pediatrician for his last Synagis (RSV vaccination) and the third polio shot.

The movers are coming on the 27th, and we will be leaving either that night or on the 28th to stay in NJ with Dan's parents until the movers get our stuff to the new house.

]]> kari Upcoming dates 2005-04-03T13:55:00-04:00 2005-04-03T13:55:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.216 April 5th and 7th, Alex has meetings with Occupational and Phyical Therapists to work on improving his eating and gross motor skills. ]]> dan Upcoming dates 2005-03-28T14:04:00-04:00 2005-03-18T16:19:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.196 Wednesday, March 30 Alex goes to have his checkup with Penny, the Head Pediatric Cardiology Nurse
Wednesday, March 30
Alex goes to have his checkup with Penny, the Head Pediatric Cardiology Nurse

]]> norton some helpful links 2004-08-03T15:36:00-04:00 2004-07-30T12:31:00-04:00 tag:aweblogforalexnorton,2009:thenortonzoo.9 Hershey Medical Center Their website Tetralogy of Fallot What it is How to discover it Esophageal Defects What it is Another link Another link Fetal Echocardiography A link Medications Nefedepine Stopping Preterm Labor Dr. Spock For a quick background on what we're dealing with, I've reposted the origional "Catching Everybody Up" below if you click "more" Hershey Medical Center

Their website

Tetralogy of Fallot

What it is

How to discover it

Esophageal Defects

What it is

Another link

Another link

Fetal Echocardiography

A link

Medications

Nefedepine

Stopping Preterm Labor

Dr. Spock

For a quick background on what we're dealing with, I've reposted the origional "Catching Everybody Up" below if you click "more"

Well, everyone knows that Kari and I are going to have a son, so I can skip that.

A week and a half ago, we found out that there are some problems. The first thing that we found out was that Kari was carrying some extra fluid in her womb. Apparently, this has the effect of sending most women into early labor, due to increased stress on the cervix.

There also may be a blockage in his esophagus. In all of the ultrasounds, (and trust me, there have been a lot of them), they have never seen his stomach. This apparently is because you can only see the stomach when it is full of fluid, and he isn't able to swallow into the stomach. The good news is that this is correctable via surgery, and it has a very good success rate. The bad news is that surgery will be required very soon after birth, in order to allow him to eat.

Additionally, it seems that there are some heart defects as well. It is a condition known as tertrology of fallow, which simply put, means that there are a couple of holes in the inner walls of the heart, resulting in mixing of the red and blue blood. This results in the tube that goes from the heart to the lungs being underdeveloped, which may limit the amount of oxygen available to him after birth. The good news is that right now, he is not using his lungs, so his development is unhindered by this defect. This condition is not terribly common, but it is not uncommon either, and they have several tried and true methods of dealing with this. The first is to use medicine as a temporary fix, and then use surgery to fix the heart. The second is to do surgery immediately to fix the heart.

A week and a half ago on monday, Kari had an amniocentisis, to determine if the cause of these defects is genetic. The preliminary results ruled out Down's syndrome, as well as two other trisome conditions. We are still waiting on the full analysis. However, when they hooked her up to a fetal monitor, which is standard procedure after an amnio, they found out she was having regular contractions. The amnio was not the cause of this, it turns out, as she was having contractions all weekend, but didn't realize that that was what they were. They managed to stop the contractions with medication, and Kari was put on bed rest for all of last week. The contractions kept coming back, and they upped the dose of the medication (Brethen)

Late last saturday night, Kari started having regular contractions, which sent us to the hospital in Lancaster. They couldn't really stop the contractions, so we were rushed to Hershey Medical Center, because if the baby is born, Lancaster couldn't handle the type of surgeries that were going to be necesary. They hooked her up with an IV and started giving her Magnesium Sulphate, a horrible medicine that works well, but made Kari feel like she was burning up, nauseous, and exhausted. It slowed the contractions down a bit, for a while.

Because the baby is most likely going to be premature, the doctors were really worried about the state of the baby's lungs, so they started a series of steriod shots, which are meant to beef up the baby's lungs. They then started her up on a third medicine to stop pre-term labor, endomethecine (sp?). This medicine works even better, and doesn't cause the feeling of being on fire, nor nausea, nor exhaustion. However, it has some other side effects if taken for long term. It reduces the amount of amniotic fluid (not a problem for Kari), but can cause heart problems for the baby. So, she is not going to be taking this long term.

For the last week, we have been at Hershey, getting routine scares, where Kari starts having strong contractions, and we are generally able to stop them, but, she has dilated to 3cm, and is slowly dilating more. My best guess, using all the knowledge I have, (read: very little), is that we will deliver the baby very soon, probably within the next week. The prognosis after that is that the baby will be spending a lot of time in the hospital after that, getting healthy, before we will be allowed to bring him home.

]]> dan