SPRING YET?

Is it spring yet?

I seriously think that winter is going to go on forever.  Wow once again I have forgotten to update the blog for quite some time so please let me get you caught up to speed with the wild life of the Wiberg's!  I have officially been home with Westin for just over a month and we are loving it!  Other then Westin's therapy appointment we come and go as we please... although this time of year there really isn't anywhere in this town to go.....but its still good to get out of the house.  Westin is busy with PT.  We go 2 times a week.  We have started doing some E-Stim therapy so that he is used to it once we get out to Baltimore because part of the spinal cord injury program that he will be doing really focuses on E-stim.  He actually does amazingly well with this type of therapy.  Sometimes when the machine quits he almost cries, it must feel good on his legs?!  He has also started pool therapy.  He is slowly getting more use to this.  Heck I would jump right in as the therapy pool is a cool 92 degrees!

He has also started to become more vocal.  He loves to say "HI" with such enthusiasm to complete strangers.   He also says:

Mom
Dad
Dada
Mama
Daddy
Fish
Glasses
Chasey
Auntie
Yup

Those are a few that come to mind.  He sure has one heck of a wild personality though.  When he wants something, he wants it like yesterday.  I wonder where he gets that from.... :)

He loves to be around other kids.  Today we took part is a pre easter "party" at a elementary school in town.  There was a Easter egg hunt, arts and crafts, pet the real bunny.  He was also able to see some of the kids that he use to go to daycare with.  While there he wanted to go on his feet soo badly but what his head thinks and what his feet think are two totally different things.  It breaks my heart to see him with other kids his age just running all over the place, but he doesn't feel sorry for himself so I can't either.  No matter what I need to be his cheerleader.  /

I cant even believe we head out to Baltimore 2 weeks from today.. where did that time go?  I'm so nervous for the plane ride with Westin.. I'm trying to think of everything I can possibly bring with me to keep him busy, because we all know he WON'T be napping!  While we are out there we are also going to make it fun.  We have too, we have no other choice... not our ideal vacation but you make the best of the situation that you are given.  We have baseball tickets for the day after we get there, the Orioles play the Minnesota Twins! I bought really good seats for Travis Bday gift! he was soo surprised that little old me could pull of a surprise like that!   We also plan to tour Arlington National Cemetery. It's only about 15 minutes from where we are staying.  I would also like to tour QVC so we will see if I can squeeze that is somewhere.  From all the research that we have done it seems like a really fun city.  We are very hopeful that we will leave with a lot of great information, in terms of Westin and his development and also a plan to get that kid a moving one way or another!

Here are some of the latest pictures.  More to come after we get home from out trip! See ya in a month!

Mommy and Westin drawing a bunny

Marley making something for Westin

Mommy got me some silly glasses since I like to pull them off peoples faces:)

Another silly photo of me rockin the shades:)

 

I think Justin Timberlake wrote his "Suit & Tie" song about me. haha

And hes 1!

Once again sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  All we can say is life happens and soon enough a month has passed and we still haven't updated the blog.  Well what is new in our lives is that Travis got a new position with his company which is going to allow me to be a stay at home mommy!!  Westin is growing like a weed and is starting to do more and more silly things.  He now sticks out his tongue when we ask which makes us smile every time. 

His development is coming along, and Travis says that he sees Westin do a bunch of new things every time he gets back home from a trip.  Westin will be going to therapy 3 times a week to help strengthen his ankles.  He will also get some swim therapy which will be interesting.  Westin is crawling all over the place and will stand next to toys.  He will sometimes take a step or two with some help when behind his walk behind toy.  He is also saying new things all of the time.  Its fun to watch him grow. We are starting to get excited for our trip to Baltimore in April for Westins therapy.  We also don't have to go back for more tests in the cities until June.  Its sure nice to have a little break from those.

We tried scheduling a 1 year birthday party for Westin, but the weather hasn't cooperated yet.  So we keep having to reschedule it for another date.  During the weekend of his birthday, Travis and I decided to have a little mini party for Westin anyway.  Here are some photos of our cute silly boy.

Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

I cant believe another Christmas is just around the corner!  Only a year ago at this time I was on bed rest awaiting our little Westin!  With so many fears and worries, I just wish I knew then what I know now.  We were back in the cities on December 5th-7th.  On the 6th we had a full day of tests again to finish of the year.  The day started reallllly early! Westin decided to get up at 5am!  We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 to get him ready for his sedated MRI.  We were both really dreading this test, one because he had to be put under for it, but mostly for the results.  This is a test where you can really get the best picture at his brain and spine.  Once out of the MRI he has another bladder ultrasound and another RNC, which is the test where they insert a catheter and fill the bladder with a radioactive dye so they can watch to see if there was any reflux.  Then they also watch to see if he initiates voiding on his own.  All of these bladder tests are done frequently to watch for any changes in his voiding or to see if the level of reflux has changed.  There #1 goal is to protect those little kidneys.

Once done with all of these tests we were of to meet with the Dr's for the test results.  First we met with Peter who is the nurse for Westin's neurosurgeon.  Hes a great guy, really easy to talk to, and tells it like it is.  Once is his room he pulled up the test results for the first time so we could go over everything together.  For the MRI they were checking for symptoms of tethered cord: Tethered cords are a group of congenital developmental malformations in which the spinal cord is fixed to surrounding tissues within the spinal column and cannot move freely at the lower end. As a child grows, his or her spinal column grows, but the spinal cord may not grow at the same rate. This fixation of the spinal cord as the spine lengthens causes tension on the spinal cord and nerves, producing various symptoms.

There were also looking for Syrinx.: A syrinx results when a watery, protective substance known as cerebrospinal fluid, that normally flows around the spinal cord and brain, transporting nutrients and waste products, collects in a small area of the spinal cord and forms a pseudocyst.

Lastly they were looking at the ventricles to check for hydrocephalus and they were also checking for Arnold Chiari Malformation type 2, Chiari malformations are structural defects in the cerebellum. That's the part of the brain that controls balance. Around 90% of kids with Spina Bifida have AC11.

Once the test results were pulled up. He looked at us and shook his head.  He said that the MRI couldn't have looked any better.  His ventricles were at the correct size, which means there is no sign of hydrocephalus which means NO SHUNT!!!! This is something that is very exciting!!!  Also there were no signs of tethered cord or any syrinx.  Also through the MRI we learned that he doesnt have Arnold Chiari type 2.  This is really rare that he doesnt have this because Spina Bifida and AC type 2 pretty much go hand in hand. 

What a relief it was to have this test over and done with, and to top it to have awesome results!  We are so blessed.  He continues to prove that he is one special kid!

Once done with Peter we were of to meet with Dr. Marker to go over the bladder tests.  These test results continue to be good.  Both kidneys measured equal in size, there is still a small amount of reflux on the right side.  This has been the same since Westin was born, at this time isn't enough to worry about.  So we don't have to have any more tests with Peter for a year, at that time Im guessing another MRI will be done to check the ventricles again.  As far as any more bladder tests, we won't go back until this coming summer!  It will sure be nice to have a few months break!

We also had some fun, lots of shopping, good food and meeting new people!  We were able to meet up with another family who has a little girl who also has spina bifida who just turned 1 in November.  We had soo much fun with them.  And I'm pretty sure Westin has a crush on Leah.. They were so cute together.  Both just happy, smiley and so full of life!  What blessings they are!  If was fun to chat because Leah also has the same Doctors as Westin.  We had lots in common with them and look forward to getting together next time we are in the cities!

Here are a few new pictures, I hope you enjoy!

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
― Mother Teresa

Oh where does the time go!

As usual Westin has been keeping us busy!  He has made some GREAT progress this week with his gross motor skills.  He has 4 point crawled a few times.  The first time I saw it I thought I was imagining things!  He has also pulled to stand on his own a few times.... These are such huge accomplishments, we couldn't be more proud of him!  He is one determined little boy.  He has alot started to babble a lot more, and I have even heard MaMa a few times!! he also says DaDa, Dad, Daddy and Hi Daddy... there is something very wrong with this picture! He also loves getting into things, like the dogs food and water dishes.

He is still going to PT 2x/ week, and meeting with Marcy from Early Intervention 1x/week.  Its a lot of running but it is so worth it when we look at how far he has come.  Westin has also been approved to go to the Kennedy Krieger Institute out in Baltimore.  He will participate in there 2 week physical therapy program for spinal cord injury.  We wont go until April 8th.  I decided to wait until he's a little older as I think he will get more benefit out of it.  The program is 3 hours of PT/Day.  They also work a lot with E-Stim therapy so I'm excited to try something new!!

We are headed back to Minneapolis next week for more tests.  He will have a sedated MRI as well as another renal ultrasound, and RNC.  We will also meet with a few of Westins Drs to go over the test results.  So say a prayer for more good news!

Here are some new pictures!!

And we lived through another Spina Bifida clinic

Wow am I glad to be home!  For as much as we look forward to clinics we also dread them....Its makes for a few long days, but we are home, happy and healthy!

There is something about clinic days that I love.  It makes us feel like we aren't on this crazy journey alone.  As we were sitting in the radiology waiting room there were two other families waiting for tests as well with little ones with Spina Bifida.  It was fun to listen to their stories, and to know that as Westin gets older we will be okay.

As normal, Westin was run through the ringer with all of his tests.  He had a head, bladder and kidney ultrasound.  He also had a RNC "Radionuclide Cystogram" which is a diagnostic imaging exam that determines if Westin has vesicoureteral reflux.  When he had this test in June we were told he reflux on the left side which was a grade 1-2.  The test results this time reviled that this was unchanged.  Which Dr. Glasser was very excited about.  He even stated that its possible that Westin could outgrow this reflux, which he said is very rare, but possible.  He said there is no need to start cathing! YAY!!!

We also met with Dr. Marker who went over the head ultrasound.  This will be our last head ultrasound because Westins soft spot is closing and once that happens the only was to view the ventricles is through an MRI.  These results were also wonderful.  Thank God!

They were all so happy with Westins progress.  The tests couldn't have come out any better.  We will head back down to Minneapolis on December 6th for a MRI which is standard for babies with Spina Bifida around a year old so they can get a baseline for when he is older.  We will also have another bladder ultrasound and another RNC.

So for now we will continue with physical therapy 1x/ week as well as early intervention 1x/ week.  He still isn't crawling on all 4's but he sure can get around.  Hes into EVERYTHING.  Its sure fun to watch him get into things and to see how excited he gets when he finds something new. 

We have sooo much to be thankful for.  Westins is always happy, smily and he just rolls with the punches.  We thank God everyday for bringing him into our lives. 

Here are some new pictues! I hope you enjoy!!!

Teeth, smiles and DaDa!

Once again I'm going to start out by saying I'm sorry, I'm so slow on these updates. Life with a husband,two dogs and a baby gets real interesting.  Westin is keeping us busy as usual. We have physical therapy 1x/ week and we also meet with early infant development 1x/ week.

Westin is growing like a weed.  He loves everything he eats, his favorites are peaches, strawberry pear granola and blueberry yogurt.  We also started to put Cheerios on his highchair, he hasn't quite mastered the hand mouth thing yet but the dogs sure love cleaning up his messes!

This past weekend Westin said his first word!  We were playing on the floor and he looks up at me and says dada... Well im not quite dada but we were so exited!!! He also has teeth!  Just the bottom two but its so cute with he gives that big grin of his!  He is also now getting up on all 4's and will rock back and fourth and will scoot backwards but no forward crawling yet, but I have a feeling that will be here before we know it!

We have a few appointments coming up. We get his new set of AFOs on the 26th and we are hoping that the 3rd times a charm. Since these are being made at a different place we are hoping for better luck.  We also head back to Minneapolis October 16th for another round of tests.  We will have the standard head, renal and kidney ultrasound, as well as a RNC.  We are curious to see how the bladder tests come back and see if things have changed since last time.

This just in...Westin is starting to army crawl..so cute...

Here are some photos and a few videos...

Westin when he started getting on all 4's and starting scooting backwards

Westin's Gerber Smile!!

Westin acting surprised by Daddy

Someone just turned 8 Months:-)

Even with a cold can't take my smile away

 

The CASTS are OFF!!!!

Well another three weeks went by with Westin in casts.  So not only were we ready, but Westin was ready to get his casts off.  Hopefully once and for all!!   So we drove up to Grand Forks to get them removed and for his new AFO bracing.  Westin didn't handle the removal of the casts like he normally does.  Usually he does it with a huge smile on his face.  This time however they decided to use the loud saw, and it scared him.  After the casts came off we went across the hallway to get his AFO's.  The appointment didn't go as well as we wanted.  The guy whom worked on Westin's bracing wasn't the nicest man around and didn't seem very professional.  In the end, we don't care about all of that.  We just want Westin's bracing to hold his feet in place and provide support. Now that we have new bracing and are out of CASTS we are hopeful that he soon will be able CRAWL!!

After all that we have been through he just keeps plugging away with smiles and happiness.  We are blessed to have him in our lives and nothing will ever change that!!

All our Love
The Wibergs

Westin Loves His Food

I LOVE LOVE MOMMY AND DADDYS BED