The beginning of the month meant big things for our little boy. Josiah was sedated for an MRI so we could have accurate and updated scans of his brain. China would not share Josiah's previous CT scans so we merely had a diagnosis of his special need based on their report. After his scare in month ONE, we needed to see this MRI to determine a plan of care and whether his diagnosis was accurate. Josiah had to get an IV which was the part I was looking forward to the least...as his past experiences have been nothing short of horrific. Our sedation nurse was amazing though and listened to me when I shared my concerns about his IV. His veins have been near impossible to find in the past so she didn't hesitate to use the ultrasound machine to find a viable vein and it worked SO WELL! Now, don't get me wrong...he hated it and screamed like a banshee per usual...but it didn't take more than 1 poke. VICTORY! And again, the nurses commented on his screaming stamina. That seems to be a recurring comment for our little guy. Yikes.
When Josiah was done with the MRI, he snapped back to reality rather quickly. In fact, he wanted to run around immediately...except for the fact that his head felt like a cannon ball and he had zero head control. That made things interesting. The nurse let us bring all of our "baggage" down to the main floor with a red wagon since we had Emmaline too. Neither kiddo wanted to ride in the wagon...so our diaper bags got a luxurious ride. Eventually, Josiah wanted to sit in after it was all said and done and we were ready to go. Ha! We got the MRI results back and his diagnosis (per China) was confirmed. He has a rare brain malformation. We were fully aware of this need when we said yes to his file. Thankfully, he is not showing any negative effects right now. We'll continue to monitor his behavior and ability to learn as he grows. We may find that reasoning or other critical thinking skills are difficult for him. Or we may not. Only time will tell. We are grateful for a positive report and know that God has our boy in the palm of His hand.
It was nice to have the rest of the MRI day to relax with these two goofs. They do enjoy each other's company quite a bit!
Josiah always plays "doctor" when he comes home from one of our many, many visits to a medical facility. He's getting quite handy with a stethoscope.
Here he is being "one of the big kids" and watching a little Family Feud with mom and dad. He is the definition of "monkey see, monkey do"...and sometimes it's adorable...and sometimes it's not. ;-) This would be one of those adorable times.
Josiah was supposed to have another procedure called the BAER done along with his MRI. During this procedure, they'd hook up a computer to both ears and go through a series of sounds at all ranges to figure out where Josiah's exact problem is from his brain to his ear. However, when the nurse went to check his ear canals using some thingamajig...she wasn't getting a lot of movement from either ear. I told her this was considered "normal" for our boy and we've never had anything BUT no movement. That's why we were here in the first place. But alas, she had to call the audiologist who did a few tests of her own and determined that his ears were not healthy enough to conduct the test. I was...what you might call...frustrated. Josiah had just finished a 10-day medication for an ear infection. At this point, he had been on three different antibiotics for ear infections...we were at FOUR ear infections in three months (his first one was in China and we didn't know). Poor boy! Admittedly, I cried and our superhero sedation nurse swooped in and told me she'd make sure we had a game plan before we left. To make this long story slightly shorter, we made a series of phone calls to our ENT who, in fact, scheduled Josiah for a BAER procedure in December. This means more sedation. He'll also have an ear exam done while sedated so hopefully we can get answers as to why he isn't passing any of his hearing tests. I was not a happy Mama Bear with that audiologist who did not even consult our ENT. Thankfully, he handled the sedation very well so we are praying that we have a similar experience in December.
Other highlights this month include: Josiah's first trip to Leaders Farm...complete with goat-feeding, giant slides, and cinnamon sugar donuts! Donuts not pictured. We ate them too fast.
Josiah also got to experience Sydney's 8th birthday which meant he spent four hours last Saturday with five eight-year old girls. Can you stay overstimulated?! The girls absolutely LOVED Josiah (and Emmaline too). And Josiah loved them equally as much. But we're noticing that he definitely has a limit when it comes to stimulation. We've had to pull back in a few areas in order to control this a bit more. For example, we've not ever been much of a "tickling" family because I, personally, hate being tickled. So I don't tickle my kiddos. The only time we ever tickle Josiah is if he's throwing a tantrum and needs the extra sensory. It can usually snap him out of it. If we tickle Josiah at any other time, he becomes overactive and out of control. It's hard to calm him down. I've also taken a break from going to second service at church with Josiah because we haven't put him into the nursery yet...and having him in Sunday School with me means he runs around the room going up to anyone and everyone. Again, this can all be good and normal stuff. But for our boy, it gets to be too much and can affect his mood and behavior for the rest of the day. We're still learning each day about what is too much!
To wrap up our fourth month with Josiah, we went trick-or-treating with the kiddos. Josiah and Emmaline were Mickey and Minnie. I got zero good pictures because...they're toddlers...and Josiah felt LESS than amused about a costume. See proof below.
Luckily, after about twenty minutes of screaming and crying, he warmed up to his plump mouse body and decided to try this door-to-door thing. Once he learned that food was being passed out, it became a little more interesting. Actually, he loves to stand on the back of our sit-and-stand stroller so that in itself was entertaining. It was super cold so we almost left the babes with Grandma H. but we decided to give it a try with the whole gang. And we survived! Emmaline LOVED walking on her own and carrying her pumpkin. Josiah loved eating snacks the best. And family pictures are a struggle. For real.
Sleep has seen some improvement, but nothing is consistent. Josiah always gives us at least one terrible week of sleep where it's incessant screaming throughout the night. I'm fairly certain he has an ear infection right now as sleep has started to worsen again. Last night, he took more than two hours to fall asleep after not napping AT.ALL during the day. How is that even possible?! I am the one who puts him to bed and the consistency has seemed to help...but it also means I'm lucky if my contacts are taken out and my teeth are brushed because he takes so long to fall asleep and I dare not leave the bed to do ANYTHING. Most times, he falls asleep directly on top of my head.
We're also continuing to work on eating. We learned that Josiah LOVES fish. (And Emmaline loves tartar sauce.) Haha! He isn't a great eater for us and will refuse to eat much except yogurt. It's still trial and error with him at mealtime.
We are hopeful for a great month and more progress. We'll have Thanksgiving in a few weeks and that definitely has the potential to be an overstimulating experience for Josiah. And then there's Christmas and all the stops that usually entails. We have definitely found that sometimes we just have to say "no" when it comes to certain things. It just gets to be too much for all of us.
As always, we appreciate your prayers. I'm convinced that they have kept me somewhat alive and sane. My excessive amounts of caffeine each day could also be helping. ;-) But thank you, thank you for following along and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. This is the hardest thing we've ever done...but it's worth it. We know that. But it doesn't take away the fact that it is a daily grind of HARD stuff. Until next month!
P.s. We got to spend a quick session with our dear friend, Suzy, who took our adoption announcement pictures years ago! She captured some sweet moments of our little family. The babes were NOT their smiley selves and none of our tricks seemed to be working. Stinkers. But Suzy always seems to catch some great shots! xoxo
