7 month update and new non heart related diagnosis

I can't believe Jack is 7 months old. So much has happened these past few months. After his last hospital visit he was doing well. He'd returned to normal then suddenly June 6th he got another high fever. We were able to control the fever with medication but it kept coming back. By Monday he was lethargic and dehydrated. I made an appointment with my family doctor who immediately sent us to the hospital with a consult with the paediatrician. He was again admitted to the hospital for a few days. This time we were able to find the cause. He had a kidney infection. They gave him IV antibitics for 5 days and we were then discharged and given oral antibiotics for him to take. Since the last time he was sick the official diagnosis was UTI that means he's now had 2 in just under 2 months. They ordered a VCUG and he will have another test to check for kidney damage after he's been infection free for 6-8 months.
He had the VCUG (voiding cysto-urethrogram) on July 10th nearly 1 month after being released from hospital. They test showed he has vesicoureteral reflux. Grade 1 and 3 on different sides. Grade 1 means that when he pees some urine travels from the bladder up to the kidney. On the other side (grade 3) some urine travels up the bladder into the kidney before peeing. This is the cause of his kidney infections and will likely lead to more. We were given 2 options:
1- Prevent infections with daily antibiotics. He'd stay on them for years and we would keep an eye to see if it corrects itself as he gets older
2- Try natural ways to prevent and hope he doesn't get another infection. If he does we risk kidney damage from the infection

We've decided to try the natural way first without risking too much damage. I'm giving him 3ml 100% pure cranberry juice once a day plus probiotics. The cranberry juice is concentrated so you should mix it 1/5. Basically that 3ml really equals 15ml of juice if I had added water without the extra sugar in a normal juice. We're checking his urine every 2 weeks. Wednesday morning I did the test and his PH was 7. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks and see if it actually makes a difference.

He is still the happy easy going baby that he's always been. He's still a tiny little guy. He had his 6 month shots (a month late since the 3 month was done at 4) so we found out he weighs 15.0lbs and 65.5cm. His weight has decreased and the doctors are keeping an eye on that because........ he's started crawling!!!!!!! When Lauren started walking she stopped gaining weight. That first month she started walking she gained 100g. He's not been interested in solids really so they are concerned that he'll start to lose weight now that he's moving around.

My weight wise I'm doing really well. My current weight is 149lbs. Last time at 7 months I was 155lbs so I'm doing well. I did a half triathlon in June and will be doing another one in a few weeks then I'm doing a full one mid September. I'm hoping and expecting my weight to continue to come off.
Here's some pics of the 2 kids. I can't believe Lauren will be 3 next weekend! These 2 absolutely adore each other.

Lauren and Jack playing follow the leader

Cheeky smile

Jack's first camping trip

They sleep the same way

These 2 love each other so much. They're inseparable most days

Update

It's been a while and so much has happened.
Jack is now 4 months old. He's rolling over and still a very happy little boy. We've had a few issues the past 2 months. We're going back to children's hospital to see the cardiologist again. Jack went pale a few times and his lips turned blue once while he was sleeping. I can't even describe how I felt seeing that. I looked at him laying there pale and with blue lips. I thought I'd lost him. I went to pick him up and my first thought was that he was warm. I woke him up and after a few minutes his colour fully came back. I've also noticed that his limbs go blue randomly. Hopefully we will get in soon and have some answers.

He spent 5 days in the hospital recently. He had a fever of 104 (40) for 5 days starting on a Sunday afternoon. Wednesday morning I took him to emerg and they did a chest xray, blood work and urine sample. All came back fine except a few white blood cells in his urine. The doctor we saw set up an appointment with a paediatrician for that Friday and sent us home. Because he was happy and we were able to bring the fever down with tylenol and advil he felt Jack was ok, in fact the only reason we were going to see the paediatrician was because of the holes in his heart gives him an increased risk of endocarditis. I had a bit of a breakdown Friday at 3am his temp was 104.2 so I was giving him a bath to bring it down. That afternoon I took him in for the appointment at the hospital at 2pm. I asked the nurses for some more tylenol as he was now able to have another dose. I didn't realize the paediatrician was standing there too and was shocked he still had such a high fever. She took one look at him and immediately told me we'd be admitted and he'd be staying for a least a few days. He looked so sad. He was very lethargic and just laid there staring in the distance with his eyes glazed over. They redid all the blood work, chest xray and urine and all came back fine except the urine with a few white blood cells. We also did a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis since they had no clear cause of the fever, which came back negative thankfully. His blood work showed elevated white blood cells and his crp was also high which the doctor said means it's likely bacterial. They weren't able to get an IV in so since he was eating well we decided the IV wasn't necessary and they gave him antibiotics through injections in his thigh once a day. The fevers went away slowly the over the next couple days and we were discharged Tuesday afternoon after his 5th dose of antibiotics. We were given another 7 days of oral antibiotics for him to take to make sure the infection is well and truly gone. The paediatrician is a little stumped as to where the infection was. The only thing that came up was a few white blood cells and minimal growth of the same bacteria in both samples. However if it truly was a UTI both samples should've had a ton of white blood cells and significant bacterial growth. We are going for a renal ultrasound on the 15th to make sure everything's ok with his kidneys and following up with the doctor the week after. Otherwise he's still his happy self. He's such a laid back easy going baby and I love him so much.

I went back to work last week. So far it's been going really well. Everyone thought I was crazy for going back with a 4 month old when I could be off for another 8 months but I really do feel like me going back to work and Dan taking the 35 weeks parental leave was by far the best decision we could've made. When he was working he was gone for 11 hours including commute time. Now I work 5 and we get the rest of the day to spend as a family, on our own or doing whatever we want. Dan, the kids and myself are all so much happier since the return to work.

Lauren is doing amazing. She is becoming such an independent little girl. She'll be going to pre school in September. She's still an amazing big sister and absolutely adores Jack and I know he feels the same way. I'm so proud of her.

Yesterday marked 4 years since we lost Hailey. We bought flowers and had cupcakes.

6 weeks

Wow, I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since we welcomed Jack to the family.

I weighed Jack Tuesday and he weighs 9.3 lbs. He's putting on weight really well and although I haven't measured him recently he most be growing too since he's doesn't look very chunky. I just realized I've yet to post of picture of Jack. His features have definitely changed these last 6 weeks. When he was born he looked more like me but now he looks just like Dan when he was a baby. He's still in newborn clothes but he's keeping on track with Lauren weight wise. At 6 weeks Lauren was 12.6lbs (gained 4.4 since birth) and Jack has gained 4.2 lbs.
He's still a good sleeper. We've been co sleeping mainly and Dan is not in bed with us so we get a queen size bed to ourselves. He still wakes to feed and goes back to sleep. His main awake periods are from 7-10am and 5-8pm. These work out really well with how great he sleeps. He's definitely going through a 6 month growth spurt. He's been waking every 2 hours to eat lately and thankfully the past 2 nights he's had one 4 hour stretch in there too. I wasn't producing enough milk for this growth spurt so thankfully we have a decent supply I pumped throughout these past weeks. I also made lactation cookies Wednesday and started drinking a glass of Guiness a night. My milk supply has increase but we're still supplementing in the evenings with pumped breast milk as well. We aren't needing to use the frozen milk because I have extra in the mornings now since eating the cookies and beer so I manage to pump 3 oz from the opposite side to what I do his first morning feed and give that in the evening. Hopefully my supply will increase more.

Dan's parents come out next weekend and I'm really looking forward to having a house full of people. I've found the transition from 1 to 2 so much easier then 0 to 1. I'm much happier this time but I'm thinking that may have to do with the anti anxiety/depression meds (50 mg of Zoloft) I've been taking. I really can't say enough about taking this. I'm so glad I did and it's a night and day difference since I started them. I would recommend them to anyone really struggling with anxiety or depression. It's made a huge difference in my life and I know that also effects the kids lives too.

Now that I'm 6 weeks post partum I plan to start running. My current weight as of Monday was 178.5. At 2 weeks pp I was 181 so I've managed to slowly lose weight without diet or exercise. Because of the milk supply issue I have no plans diet at the moment and am hoping that exercise alone for the next few weeks will be a start to my weight loss goals. I plan to run every second day starting tomorrow morning.
Here's some pictures:

Heart update

Sorry for the delay, we had Jack's appointment last Tuesday. The appointment was set for 8am. First they did the echo then the ecg. Afterwards we met with an inter who did a full physical on Jack then went to discuss the results of the tests with the cardiologist who then came back and redid the physical. We received some really good news. He does NOT have dextrocardia or any other serious heart defect. The only heart defect is the murmur caused by a small hole between the ventricles. They expect this to close on it's own and we don't even need to go back to Children's hospital unless my doctor thinks it's necessary. We also have the cardiologists card that we can call if we have any concerns.
I'm so relieved and I'm so glad now that we were able to do these tests. I actually feel more confident that Jack is heart healthy then Lauren at the moment. It's such a relief to hear from a cardiologist that your child has no heart related concerns and should grow up to be totally heart healthy.

Jack is amazing, both my kids are. Jack still sleeps really well. He wakes up to feed then pretty much goes back to sleep. Sure he fuses sometimes but he's able to settle pretty quickly. I do have to admit but we're now co sleeping. Dan can't sleep in the room because Jack's too much of a noisy sleeper (he really is! He grunts and moans most of the night) and he has a cold still and needs to be propped up a little. I have to admit I'm loving the cuddles. What we are doing differently though is Jack naps in his crib. I plan to have him sleep there at least part of the night at 6 months. I'm hoping that once his stomach gets bigger he'll be able to sleep through the night and he's learning how to fall asleep and stay asleep on his own while in the crib during the day.

Lauren is still in love with her brother. There's rarely any jealousy, in fact the other morning I offered to have Dan take Jack to the kitchen with him so we could cuddle in bed for a while but she wanted Jack to stay too and cuddle the three of us. It's the same when I offer to have someone watch Jack so we can go to the park or spend time just the two of us. She always declines and wants Jack to come with us. Quite often if he's fussing on the floor or in his chair she'll go over and talk to him. She is such a great big sister and I'm so proud of her :)