21 months // When it rains it pours

 Whew. It has been a tough few weeks at the Glenn household! Lots happening with each kiddo, all different and all come with their various challenges. Add on the political climate and Covid.. yikes. I’ll just go ahead and dive right in. 

Elliott - 

A few weeks ago we noticed that Elliott wasn’t saying as much as he had previously and noticed a few other odd behaviors. It was brought to my attention that he was showing some signs that he may need some additional developmental help. Finding that help, in the middle of a pandemic, when you aren’t sure where to turn or what he really needs, while also trying to manage the house and two other other children is a lot. It is super overwhelming and I’ve spent a lot of time researching and trying to find the best fit for him and our family. Most things I’ve found are virtual right now which is super disappointing because I just don’t see how that will work for us. So, I’ve been working with different people to see what our options are. I don’t really wanna say too much more until we have more info, but I will once we know! 

Samuel -

As I’ve mentioned before, he was born with some kidney issues and we’ve been waiting (thanks to covid) for the hospitals to allow him to get some testing to find out next steps. Finally we were able to get in so a few weeks ago, Samuel, Tom and I took the day and headed to Mpls Children’s hospital for two separate tests that would determine kidney function and help us to determine what next steps are. It was a long morning/early afternoon, but he did great! Unfortunately, the results weren’t what we were hoping for. With boys, if kidney reflux heals on it’s own it will be healed by 15-18 months. Since he’s past that age we were hoping the body would have healed it, however that is not the case. His Left kidney is barely functioning, less than 3% so after reviewing everything the dr’s have decided to remove that kidney. The Right kidney is functioning well right now and sometimes the healthy kidney starts to work too hard to try to make up for the other one. We don’t want that, so it’s best to get rid of it. He also has pretty severe reflux in the healthy kidney, the urine is still backing up into his right kidney. So, we need to get that fixed also. Samuel is having surgery in December to remove the bad kidney and then reattach the Ureters to the functioning kidney to hopefully allow that reflux to stop occurring. It is a 4-6 hour surgery with a 2-3 night hospital stay for him. The dr we see is awesome and he has high hopes that this will put the majority of his kidney issues behind him and that he will be able to function just fine with the one good kidney. I’m anxious but trust this is the right move for him. I will be staying with him the entire time, so it will be nice to have some one on one time with my guy for a few days, and hopefully lots of snuggles as he recovers. 

Molly - 

I put her down for her nap earlier this week and a few minutes later I heard a thump. Sometimes they kick/bang the side of their crib so I didn’t think too much of it... until she walked out to me a few seconds later! I was shocked. She’s never tried to get out of her crib before, let alone be successful! She was whimpering, but I didn’t think much of it because I figured she was scared. So, I put her back in and watched the monitor till she fell asleep. She slept for 3 hours! When she woke up she was acting totally fine, we went outside and played and had dinner. After dinner, she started to cry very hard and I noticed she was holding her arm up in an odd way. She kept showing us her arm throughout the night and I couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. She wasn’t crying hard in pain but was whimpering and just seemed off. I decided it would probably be a rough night so I’d just take her to the Urgency Room to be checked out since her pediatrician was closed. Sure enough, she fractured her elbow and has a buckle fracture on her wrist. Poor little lady!! She is such a trooper. She has an appt next week with a children’s orthopedic surgeon to determine what the next steps are. Right now she has a splint on. So sad for her! I ordered a crib tent and it will be here soon. Hope she can stay in her crib till it arrives! 

Three big issues, three different kids, three different approaches and appointments and ways to cope with it all. We are so lucky none of these issues are life threatening, and that we are all overall healthy. We also have the BEST support system in both of our families and our friend group that is like family. It’s just a lot to be dealt at one time. I’m allowing myself to wallow and ask “why us, why them” for a short time now and then but then I remember, I am these kids advocate and I have the power to give them the best they can have, and that’s what I will do. 

And now a few fun updates as this has been a heavy post! Halloween was super fun! The triplets were the three blind mice, without glasses, so just mice ;) but the costumes were super cute and warm! They didn’t mind the ears as much as I thought and it was fun to see them out and about in the neighborhood. We had a few family members over and it was fun to have everyone together. We are also back at the Y and it’s been going great! I’ve been able to do some of the cycle classes and met with a trainer to get some ideas of things I can do with the machines and free weights. It feels good to be back. We also are still doing ECFE, and that has been fun, and informative. We are ready for the Holidays - putting up our tree this weekend!- and like everyone else ready to say goodbye to 2020 and hope for a great year ahead!