Baby Jack update

People have been asking how Jack is doing. I guess it's time for an update on him.


Justin took him to the clinic yesterday because he's had a few hard nights. Monday night / Tuesday morning he started having a barking cough. It's music to a mothers ears, right? (sigh) Poor baby.

Tuesday night when Justin came home for supper he said "Did Pam tell you that Jack was exposed to croup?". I said "I TOLD YOU!" He looked at me as if I'd just lost my mind. Apparently I hadn't told him. I guess I told one of the girls at the salon that I thought Jack had croup - not Justin. When he said that Jack was exposed to it I knew right away that he had it. He just got in 4 more teeth and I was sure that he had an ear infection on top of it all. I asked Justin to take off work a little early yesterday to take Jack to the clinic. He did and Jack does, have croup that is. Poor little guy. They gave us a prescription for ear infection medication just in case we needed it. They say there is nothing they can do for croup. As of now Jack's ears are ok. Lets hope they stay that way.

Now for an update on Jack and the Birth to 3 program.....he's doing pretty well. I'm not sure how age appropriate he is right now. We have a meeting next week to talk about all of those things. One thing we know for sure is that he has very low muscle tone from his belly button down. Sometimes he'll be standing and one foot is pointed forward and the other foot is pointed the opposite direction - completely backwards. He did that Tuesday and I about lost it. I really don't have a weak stomach, but for some reason his flexibility creeps me out.

He's not yet able to walk unassisted. It's very strange to watch him walk when he is assisted. He looks like a lab puppy. His feet go in all kinds of goofy directions. It's crazy to watch. He's strong enough to walk along the furniture and he'll speed crawl up to you and pull himself up, but he's not strong enough to stand on his own unassisted.

At the meeting next week we'll talk about getting orthotics for his shoes. I'm not positive what all that entails, but I was informed that it will cost $2,000 (yes, you read that right - two thousand dollars) if we have to pay for it on our own. The physical therapist thought that the program might pay the entire cost. Lets pray that they do.

The only other thing that is a concern is that Jack still clinches his left hand quite a bit. He really shouldn't do that now unless he has something in it. That's obviously a result of the brain damage, but we still don't know if it will cause limitations. At this time it's not. He doesn't seem to mind crawling with one hand in a fist - or sitting with one hand in a fist. Doesn't bother him at all. =)

Well there you go. There is your update on Jack-a-woo .....as Peach calls him. =)