Doctor O'Neil and Me

Hi everybody! I would like to introduce you to Doctor O'Neil. He is my developmental pediatrician at Riley Hospital for Children. For those of you who don't know Riley Hospital for Children is one of the very best children's hospitals in the nation. Doctor O'Neil and his peers are a big reason why that reputation is accurate.

When I was first admitted, he let Mom and Dad call home to arrange for our family to come and help them. He walked us all down to Admitting himself - even though he was extremely busy. He has conducted almost every swallow study that I have done. He even visited me in the hospital when it was not part of his regular rounds.

Dr. O'Neil answers Mom and Dad's questions and coordinates my care with all of his colleagues. He even helped change my diaper! Every time I come to visit he checks me out from head to toe. And look at the great picture he posed for with me.

Riley Hospital is also a teaching hospital. Over a dozen different medical students and residents stopped by to check me out when I stayed there. I cannot think of a better role model for these students and residents to learn from than Dr. O'Neil. Dr. O'Neil has a unique ability to explain the complex in simple terms. And, he has genuine compassion when dealing with parents who are experiencing a difficult time in their child's life. There is no doubt that the students and residents have received excellent instruction from their professors. But, beyond their classroom studies, if they want to learn how to practice medicine, they need not look further than Dr. O'Neil. Mom and Dad are very grateful that I am under his care and so am I.

The picture above was taken on my most recent visit to Riley. I had an appointment to complete another swallow study. Since most you you who are reading this probably have not done one of those, I thought you would like to see a picture of how it all works.

That is me in the recliner. Note the seatbelt. Safety first. Mom is wearing a lovely purple lead apron. It makes her look pregnant again, but she isn't. Hold your horses there grandparents. Mom and Dad can't fit anymore baby stuff in the house. The thing with "Philips" on it takes a picture of me while I swallow.

So here is how it works. Mom has some milk there in the bottle. Some powder that will show up on the pictures has already been added to it. Mom puts the bottle in my mouth and the camera starts rolling. They only take pictures when I am swallowing. You can watch the whole thing live on a monitor just behind Mom. That wire dangling off of my toe is an oxygen sensor. Hospital rules.

We usually try the bottle for a little bit and see how things go. We sometimes try a little bit of baby food. It is usually bananas. I think I am just like Grandpa because I don't like bananas. So I sit there and eat, Mom and Dad keep their fingers crossed, and everyone else checks out the pictures. I did okay this time around. I didn't aspirate my food, but I came really close. So, the feeding tube will stay in for now. In fact, February 9, I get to see Dr. Rescorla again. He is a surgeon. He will be replacing the tube with a button.

This is me and Mom in Dr. O'Neil's office. My butt is hanging out the backside of this little number. Check out my little arms. My dress has a train just like Mom's wedding dress. The only difference is that mine is pink and has frogs and hers was just white. I bet she wishes that her dress looked like mine.

As you can see I am growing leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, my hair fell out a little bit but it will come back. I sleep a lot and I guess when I move my head around it just rubs off. I have been checking out Dad's knoggin and it doesn't seem like he has lost any hair and he sleeps a lot.

Mom says Dad had a mullet in high school. I don't know what a mullet is but I'm sure Mom will explain it to me. Dad never really says anything about it. He just keeps humming a song that goes something like..."We've got to hold on to what we've got' cause it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We've got each other and that's a lot for love -we'll give it a shot. Whooa we're half way there - whooa livin' on a prayer....." Who is Bon Jovi anyway?

This past week, I rolled over from my tummy to my back again, again, and again! I am still teetering on the edge of rolling over from my back to my belly. I'll get it down soon. I have a lot of those Baby Einstein books but darned if I can find instructions on how to roll over in any of them. I mean if you want to count in five languages those books come in pretty handy but not for rolling over.

This is me in my Combi stroller. As you can see I am surround by some of my favorite toys. A lot of my toys look like bugs. I like to play with them now, but I wonder if I will like to play with the real ones when I get older.

Stroller rides around the house are fun. I can't wait until the weather is nicer and Mom and Dad can take me for a ride around the neighborhood. I met my Great Aunt Janet and Mom's cousin Kathleen. They are really nice and I had a lot of fun. Dad showed me a picture of Aunt Janet and Uncle Larry standing on the Great Wall of China. It looked really fun there. I am excited to meet more and more of my family.

I am working on one more thing. I am trying to figure out how to give people a kiss. So far, all I can manage is opening my mouth and slobbering. What can I say I get a little excited.


Come here, Mom. Come here and give your baby girl a big old kiss. Ohhhh yeah. Here's a little extra spit for you. Keep the change. See you guys next week.