Sam's 6 month check up...finally!

I finally got around to taking/downloading/putting pix of Sam up here. These are from the day of his 6 month check up (you'll see the shiny bandaids from his shots). The top few are playing later that evening.

This is not blurry b/c of me...he kept bouncing everytime I tried to take a picture!!

Hello, all! I finally got around to making Sam's 6 month check up, went this morning, so here are the stats.

He's 16.9 lbs. (though he hadn't eaten yet, so I really think he's a little more than that), 27 1/4 ", and head circumfrence was 43 cm. Those numbers put him in about the 60th percentile for height, 17th for weight, and don't know for head. But the dr. wasn't concerned at all, and said he looked good. He was his normal charming self, and behaved beautifully, even when he got his shots! He was so hungry he wolfed down his oral one, too! Josh, Sam and I all got our flu shots today, too, and all did great! Josh hasn't had a shot in a couple of years, so he had no idea what it was, I don't think, and still did great, no crying or anything, and is a huge fan of the "banbaid" and dora sticker he got! Sam fussed for a few secs till I could pick him up to comfort him, but was just fine and smiley again in a min.!

Speaking of good babies and check ups, it occurs to me that I haven't posted about Sam's 6 month cardio check up, either. To remind those who don't remember, Sam was born with an enlarged right atrium, and despite hours of testing just after he was born, no cause could be found! The pediatric cardiologists at MUSC (a really great teaching hospital) signed off on him, and asked to see him again in 6 mos. to determine if anything had changed, and if they could find any cause when he was older, and his heart and everything more fully formed.

So while Missy and Josiah were here visiting, we went downtown for that appt. (Missy, Josiah, and Josh stayed home...thanks again, Missy, for watching Josh for me!!), and once again, Sam was as good as gold! He charmed everyone, and let them take a ton of pictures (echocardiograms) of his heart and some ultrasounds of his stomach, too, to try to find a reason for his right atrium to still be very enlarged. No cause was found, once again. The ultrasound technician working with him called him her little "puzzle baby"!! They were concerned about possible pooling blood, which can cause enlargement, and could ultimately cause clots and strokes/heart attacks, but found none. They also looked at his stomach, to be sure there were were no issues there, and at the walls of his heart and everything they could think of. He's a head scratcher! The cardiologist told us there are only a handful of cases in all the literature out there like him, with no determined cause for an enlarged heart chamber.

All in all, they think there's no worry for the short-term, and want to see him back in another 6 mos. (just after his first birthday), and long-term, they're not sure yet. They talked about doing an MRI to map his heart, but b/c they'd have to use general anesthesia, they wouldn't do that till he's much older, probably around 7-8 yrs. old.

So that's pretty much it. I unfortunately do not have any pics of him at his cardio check up, b/c I forgot the camera, but did snap a few from today, which I will upload later, when I find my card reader.

Sam's hit all the developmental milestones pretty much on time, or even early, so he seems to be a fairly normal (except for his "puzzle" heart) 6 month old--almost 7 months, really! Wow, how time flies! Taking him back down to MUSC was a bit nostalgic, since we haven't been there since he was pretty tiny, and not to the cardio wing since before he was born! I like going there, everyone's very nice and helpful and good about explaining things that sound bad in a way that makes it seem not scary! That's a very valuable thing, when you've got a baby with a strange heart condition!

Check back for pix of Sam from today, and hopefully of all of us from when Missy and Josiah were here!