Aidan's Page

Aidan weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and measured 20.75 inches long. He appeared to be a healthy baby boy. Four hours after he was born we found out that he was having trouble with his breathing. He would suddenly stop, he had apnea. He was taken to the NICU and we were given all the possible causes of his apnea. They were as simple as some babies have it and it will stop within a few hours, to as worrisome as a brain infection or bleeding in the brain. They did blood tests, a CT scan, and an EEG. At 6 am, the day after he was born, Aidan had his last apnea spell. We found out the results of all the tests two days later, since it was a weekend, and all were normal. We thought that everything was fine and that he would come home after the minimum stay had been met, five days total. That was not the case. The doctor that took over his care that Monday was concerned about Aidan's weight. He had lost more than they like and was not feeding well. Aidan finally started to gain weight and we were allowed to take him home that Friday, a full week after he was born. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces when he was discharged. At his 2 week appointment he weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce shy of his birth weight. The doctor said that it was close enough to his birth weight that she wasn't concerned. I was finally able to stop worrying about my baby boy. He was in the 25th percentile for weight and 75th for height.

When Aidan was 5 weeks old we made a 4 hour move. Aidan did well during the move, he slept for most of the drive. He is too young to be attached to our old home.

At Aidan's 2 month appointment we found out that he had torticollis. It was explained to us to be a short muscle on one side of the neck causing the child to look only in one direction. In Aidan's case it was to the right. We were sent to see a local physical therapist. She didn't know much about the condition and admitted that she had to get her information online. She mainly worked with adults and did her best. At Aidan's 4 month check up the torticollis had not improved and he was also diagnosed with deformational plagiocephaly (I can't remember if that was at 2 or 4 months old). All that means is that his head is not shaped right, caused by the torticollis. We were referred to the Children's Hospital, an hours drive away. The doctor there gave us the choice of putting Aidan in a helmet or not. He said that about half his patients do and half don't, with about the same results. He did send us to physical therapy with therapists that only work with children, many with torticollis. We were given exercises to do daily, with pictures. We also were scheduled to come back weekly at first and then less often as he improved. He started to improve right away with the work with the therapist and the exercises done daily at home. The exercises were hardest on me because Aidan never enjoyed being held down while I would turn his head to stretch the muscle. He was very vocal about his dislike and I didn't like to make him cry. We continued with the therapy and exercises until Aidan was 10 months old. At that time the therapist decided that Aidan was doing so well that we could stop the therapy early. His head is still shaped a little odd, but they said that it may never be 100% normal.

At 10 months old he was starting to take a couple of steps and by 11 months old he was walking across the room. He started climbing stairs at almost 1 year old. At his 1 year check up he weighed 18 pounds 8.75 ounces, which is only the 3rd percentile. His height was 30.75 inches, the 77th percentile. He had been below the 10th percentile in weight for much of his first year. He is just going to be tall and skinny. The only bad thing is that he doesn't like facing backwards in his car seat but can't be turned around until he reaches 20 pounds.

Aidan finally reached 20 pounds by 15 months old. At his 15 month check-up he weighed 21 pounds 4 ounces, which is in the 10th percentile and measured 32 inches tall which is in the 75th percentile. The weight percentile went up, so that was good news.

Aidan started to talk more, with some of the words being "Abby, no, and num num." After Aidan started to say "Abby" she started to say it. She wouldn't say her name until Aidan said it.

At 18 months Aidan weighed 22.8 pounds and was 33 inches tall. It is nice to see him growing.

At 23 months old he got to hold his brand new baby cousin and was really excited. She was only hours old when we saw her. He also got to ride on the jet ski at Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dennis's lake place. He seemed to enjoy it and looked really cute on it.

In the picture below, Uncle Shane is holding the jet ski on one side and Daddy is on the other side. They are just not visible in the picture.

When Aidan turned 2 years old he weighed 24 pounds 8 ounces which is in the 12th percentile and his height was 36.5 inches which is in the 94th percentile. He is still tall and skinny. The doctor checked his head and said that there is still a bump from the plagiocephaly that he had as an infant, but that it is nothing to worry about and isn't that bad. As long as he doesn't have very short hair the bump isn't visible. Other than that he is perfectly healthy.

We moved again, this time to where we live now. After we moved we got our kitty, Shakespeare. Aidan likes the kitty most of the time. Aidan misses his grandparents, but seems to like that our new home is a house instead of an apartment.

At three years old Aidan weighed 29.6 pounds, which is around the 10th percentile. He was 38 inches tall, which is between the 50th and 75th percentile. The doctor said that Aidan looked fine physically, but that his speech seemed to be a little behind where it should be for a 3 year old.

We finally got all the testing done for Aidan's speech and got the results back in January. His motor skills were up in the 6 year old range, his language was age appropriate, but his speech scored in the under 2 range. He qualified for speech therapy twice a week at the school that Abby attends. The speech therapist is the same one that Abby has been seeing since we moved here last year. I am thankful that the doctor noticed Aidan's speech because I had not noticed the problems. His are more subtle and for me, staying home with him, not very noticable. Once the problems were pointed out, I could hear them, but not before.

In February he started his speech therapy and is really excited about it. He gets to do something that Abby does.

In March we found out that I was expecting a baby girl. Aidan is not happy about that, he insists that it will be a boy. He did like that he got to see the baby and Abby did not since she was in school.

In June, Aidan became a big brother. His baby sister, Caitlyn, was born. He seems ok with the fact that she is a girl and not a boy. He really likes to hold her. When she was about a month old he got to feed her for the first time. He was very proud that he got to do that.

At four years old Aidan weighs 33 pounds and is 41 inches tall. At his well child visit the docotor said that he looks fine and that he is developing normally. We also heard from his speech therapist and he will be starting speech this Friday. He will be going twice a week for half hour sessions like last year. He is very excited for it to start.

We recently went on an overnight camping trip for Abby's girl scout troop. Aidan had a lot of fun as an "honorary girl scout." We didn't want him to feel left out since our whole family went, so he got to participate in all the activities.

We recently had our meeting with Aidan's speech therapist to redo his IEP. She said that he has improved a lot and is doing so well that he no longer needs to come twice a week. He will now be going only once a week. It was good to hear that he is doing so well with his speech.