Lethalu Teresa's Blogcast

Lethalu's Pediatrician Visit 11/19/2007

2007-11-19T19:52:00Z

     Littlest Lethalu had her scheduled Pediatrician visit today, it's been two months since the last visit to Doctor Nisreen who is a staff consultant at the Royal Hayat Hospital, a very, very new hospital and the one in which Littlest Lethalu was born in.
    The appointment was for 1030 but we didn't get there until about 1050 and of course had to wait, but it wasn't because we were late it was because someone else before us was late so the schedule was already screwed up and even if we had been on time it wouldn't have mattered, we would still have had to wait! We finally got to see the Doctor about 1130 and Littlest Lethalu had about had enough sitting around and was starting to get just a tad cranky, don't blame her in the least, I was getting cranky also!
    Anyways!, she now weighs 18.8 pounds and is just about 27 1/4 inches long at 7 months and about 2 weeks old! And the Doctor commented very positively throughout the examination and near the end blurted out "my goodness!, she's perfect!", of course I could have saved everyone lots of time if they had just asked me to start with, of course my little Angelbaby is perfect! She is a real magnet, she draws everyone in, they gather around and coo at her, want to hold her, etcetera, and hey!, really!, it's true! All the other babies there, both older & younger just shuffle through, but not Littlest Lethalu!, we spend more time trying to get away from people who come over to see and hold her then we spend in the Doctor's office it seems!
    Also!, Littlest Lethalu just all of a sudden started crawling this past week!, crawl?, well that's a bit understated, she scoots and motors about like she has been doing it all her life!, no problems, just up and took off one day! Chandra said she placed her on the floor and stepped around the corner into the bathroom, she peeked out and there was Littlest Lethalu crawling like crazy under the bed and over to the bureau, then around the side of the room to the tall clothing cabinet where she stopped in front of the full length mirror and stared at herself grinning!, and she hasn't stopped since!
    Today after the Doctor's visit we came home and placed Littlest Lethalu on the floor she so loves to motor around on, and just like turning a switch from off to on she up and sat upright!, no muss, no fuss, no attempts and hard failures followed by finally making it to a sitting position, she just rolled from her hands and knees to a sitting position, again like she had always done it, and she has continued to do it the rest of the day!, she doesn't struggle in the least, it's a smooth and easy transition from hands and knees to sitting!
    Of course I'm not the least bit predjudiced!, naw!, not me!

Ear Piercing #2 10/29/2007

2007-10-29T17:38:00Z

Well Chandra decided that today would be a fine time to go in to the Pharmacy and get Littlest Lethalu Teresa's other(right) ear pierced again. I think that it was as a result of this critical juncture in our lifes with Dad having his heart attack, something to pass time and take one's mind off the heart attack no matter how briefly.
    Littlest Lethalu had her ears both pierced a couple weeks ago as mentioned in a previous BLOG, problem was that the Pharmacist's assistant really got the right ear piercing off and down low on the lobe, badly, the result was we had to take the post out of her right ear and let it heal and then wait and have it re-pierced. Well we've both been putting the piercing off, and off, and off as it does hurt even if very briefly and we didn't really want to go through it again. But in we go, and Chandra went to the Pharmacist and told him to look where the goofy assistant pierced the right ear, the Pharmacist dutifully chastised his assistant along with Chandra's $25 worth of the same, no not 2 cents worth, Chandra doesn't operate that way, the guy deserved lots of chastisement and he got it.
    Littlest Lethalu did recognize the Pakastani assistant and let out a howl, which she did the first time even before the piercings!, she just didn't and doesn't like the poor guy at all, no break for him, especially this time around, but they did get the second piercing on the right ear done and in another week or so we'll put in her other 22K gold & diamond earring that my jeweler friend gave her as a present, very nice earrings.
    Sure glad that this is out of the way!, it's bad enough when you have to take your little ones in for their inoculations and all, that's needed, a necessity, but this ear piercing!, I didn't and don't like it but then it's a Sri Lankan cultural thing that somewhere after 3 months old, and as close to 3 months as possible, that you get a baby girls ears pierced, we procrastinated until she was 6 months old, or lets say "I" procrastinated!, not loud and long, just silently and by not loading up when mentioned to take her in for the ear piercing, until Chandra finally said "you coming or not?", yes, I'm coming dear!
But be that as it may, it's done, and I'm not sure if this cultural thing is Tamil Sri Lankan &/or Sinhalese Sri Lankan, or maybe even goes back to the family roots of Tamil Indian!, doesn't matter though, it's done!, and better late then never it would appear! Gold ankle bracelets next, as soon as she gets old enough that she won't lie on her back, lift her legs over her head and rip them off prior to eating them!, heh, heh!

Dad & Heart Attack 10/28/2007

2007-10-29T15:33:00Z

     I got the bad news early morning the 29th here in Kuwait, just as I was about to shut down and go to bed, that Dad had a heart attack. Candy Kiehn e-mailed me about it and that initiated a rather long and circuitous set of phone calls to Virginia Mason Hospital back in Seattle where they had taken Dad. Everyone I got in touch with was very kind and helpful and finally I got transferred to I was thinking the waiting room where Mom, Sis, & Brother Hugh were, but it was a nurse who answered the phone! I asked for Lethalu or Hugh Kiehn and she said I must have the wrong number, so quick before she could hang up I explained the situation and she said "sure!, this is the right room, here let me put him on!", OK I said, by he I figured it would be Brother Hugh, but it was Dad!, and we talked a bit, I asked what in the world he was doing and he replied having a heart attack, playfully of course, the humor was there, then Dad added that they were still working on him, so I put 2 + 2 together, got 3 and figured that somehow, by mistake they gave me him and I needed to get off and let him be so he could relax as much as possible as they "Worked" on him!
    So I called the last number that got me to Dad and explained the situation and they connected me to the nurses station on the 7th floor as Dad is in room 756 bed #1, and the nurse there said she'd run down and get somebody for me, and she got Mom, who sounded surprisingly well all considered, we talked a bit then Sis took over and I talked to her a bit. They hadn't had any news on Dad and were surprised that I'd just got to talk to him so were probably a bit relieved to hear that at that point he was doing well it would appear.
    I guess that Dad was feeling under the weather and asked Mom to call Sis & Hugh, they came and 911'd him to the hospital with an apparant heart attack in progress, my understanding is that they were able to arrest the heart attack with the help of blood thinner, which like Mom I don't tend to like, but the situation was use it or lose Dad for sure the Doctors said. It worked, they put a stent in and unblocked the lower half of his heart which was totally blocked, the before and after pictures are awesome!
    A problem developed with I would assume the use of the blood thinner, they couldn't get Dad to stop bleeding and he went into a condition the doctors described as "Tenuous" as they couldn't stop the bleeding. They apparently clamped the main vein where they had used to clear the blockage in an attempt to stop the blood flow. This was for about 6 hours and apparently took hold and worked as I just talked to Dad for over half an hour, and he sounds great!
    This was apparently a significant heart attack but with the quick response and help from Dad himself, Mom, Sis, and Brother Hugh I'm guessing that the medical "Golden Hour" hadn't elapsed and they caught Dad in time to as previously mentioned arrest the heart attack and prevent more severe heart damage and probably death. Quite an awesome timeline the foursome established and maintained, saved Dad for sure! If & when I go into a cardiac arrest I'm hoping it's around Sis & Brother Hugh!, give me a chance of coming out of it alive, lucid, and with the heart intact!

Ear Piercing #1 10/15/2007

2007-10-15T15:37:00Z

    Well today was ear piercing day for Littlest Lethalu Teresa, I'd fought against this for quite some time now knowing that it was hopeless as this is a very important Sri Lankan cultural event for a little girl, usually done at about 3 months old.
    We took Little Lethalu to the local Pharmacy where they do the ear piercing using what looks a lot like an air compressor hand gun but with no pneumatics involved, just hand strength to force the earring post through the earlobe. They load the post into the little gun and hold it against the ear then pull the trigger forcing the post forward and through. It wasn't a pleasant experience for me, Chandra said she thought I was going to start crying! As for Littlest Lethalu, well it hurt but she was more upset with a stranger turning her head this way and that way and messing with her ear then the actual piercing! Boy did she have a hissy fit over him!, really let all in the Pharmacy know that she was not the least bit pleased about him at all!
    And of course nothing goes as it should first time around, the guy got one piercing to low, so that post will need to come out and the hole heal and then in a month or so we'll take her back and get the ear pierced at the proper place.
    In Sri Lanka they would have thrown a big party for Little Lethalu with all the family getting together to celebrate the ear piercing but that will have to wait until this Xmas vacation time when we'll be in Sri Lanka, we plan on having a big party one day there to celebrate everything we missed during the year, all the birthdays, the ear piercing, and whatever else.

Inoculation Day Again! 10/07/2007

2007-10-07T14:45:00Z

     Today was inoculation day again for Littlest Lethalu Teresa, it is more traumatic I do believe for the parents then for the little one! But this is the last round of monthly shots, 2 shots and one Polio Vaccine which she really hates the taste of more then taking the two shots I think, you should see her mouth pucker up and grimace when given the oral Polio Vaccine.
     As usual she was a real little trooper when given the injections in the front upper legs, one each! This time around she really didn't hardly let out a peep for either shot, really was proud of her! She is running a slight fever naturally, expected as they give you just a tad bit of the virus to allow your system to develop immunities against it. And now she is free and clear of the Inoculations until her first birthday on April 4th 2008! Thank Goodness.
     It's really hard to go in knowing that you're going to have to hold your little one and watch while she's stuck with a couple needles, Chandra I think handles it better then I do, I don't think I show any type of emotion or anything when she's getting her shots but I'm betting that I do and just don't realize it!
   This was the third month of the two shots and the oral Polio medicine, and the final for the three as I've already mentioned, there was one month interspersed between these three where the routine was to get the TB Inoculation, that was a real nasty looking one done in August. They take the needle with the TB Inoculation Serum in it and jab it just under the skin in the upper left arm and rotate it around in a circle as they inject the serum, now that wasn't fun to watch believe me!, she did OK with that also even though it took forever it seems for them to finish off the syringe full of serum!

A Big 6 Months Old Today!!! 10/04/2007

2007-10-04T18:54:00Z

We're a big 6 months old today, October 4th, 2007! Dada took the day off of work and took Mama and I shopping at the Sears store in Farwaniya, Mom got some nice clothes though she was very disappointed in the selection, but not disappointed enough to inhibit the purchase of many, many items! I got some nice clothes also, their selection was also disappointing for me but Mom & Dad managed to find a couple really nice dresses, one which Dada selected for my 6 month birth anniversary pictures which he took today. The dress is themed Scottish, it's a white string tied over the shoulder skirt with two little Black Scottie's on the hem instead of the famed Pink Poodles from the teeny-bopper era. the shirt is a red long sleeved one piece snap at the crotch affair, and it has a little Tartan headband also! I liked it enough to let Mama dress me up in it without the usual whining &/or war whoops! The Scottish themed dress was just the right size, and I also got a couple larger dresses that Mama & Dada couldn't pass up for pictures on down the line!

Shop Till You Drop 09/21/2007

2007-09-21T15:22:00Z

   Well today is the first day of the weekend here in the Mid-East, Friday now instead of Thursday as they moved the two day weekend closer to the Western weekend for monetary purposes, banks and such. We, being Littlest Lethalu Teresa, Mama Chandra, and I, decided that it was OK to take both myself and Littlest Lethalu on the weekly trip(we usually don't get to go!) to the old Sultan Center in Fahaheel for groceries and to pick up some baby cereal, baby juice, and baby crackers as Littlest Lethalu's Pediatrician said she could start with them, easy at first though. So we got those items and a few more at the old Sultan Center followed by a trip to the new Sultan Center in Fahaheel on the waterfront, the Al-Kout Shopping Mall, small and very Westernized.
   At the Al-Kout Sultan Center we usually pick up our fresh veggies and all and is our usual shopping spot for the weekly necessities, the older Sultan Center is for out of the normal Western items like the Baby things. About halfway through shopping Littlest Lethalu decided to have a bit of a fit, so I took her out of the stroller, this didn't help a lot though, Mama Chandra figured out that she needed a quick injection of 150ml non-fossil bearing fuel formula(go juice)! And yes, this was the trick needed, then back in the stroller and we finished up the shopping no more problems.
   Once back at the Villa we tried a Baby Rusk biscuit on Littlest Lethalu, Banana flavored!, she did seem to enjoy it, what a mess, and of course for her first try at solid fuel's it was all over her hands and mouth, and she didn't quite get it down her gullet, she'll learn though that she chews it up then swallows it, in the mean time she was making faces wondering what to do with the mass of mess in her mouth!, so we tried a bit of her first Baby Juice, and she wasn't to sure about that at all, so we followed what little juice she tried with a bit of water with she drank greedily getting what was left of the biscuit down her throat! So all in all a very nice family outing for us with Littlest Lethalu being very good for the most part, but when it's time to eat, well it's time to eat, an hour ago thank you very much!

Lethalu's Pediatrician Visit 09/19/2007

2007-09-19T12:02:00Z

   Lethalu Teresa went in this morning for her scheduled Pediatrician checkup, all went well, she was quiet and inquisitive as per her usual. Her Doctor, Doctor Nisreen is always happy to see Littlest Lethalu and this time around Littlest Lethalu really put on a good show for her. Smiled, rolled over, tried to sit up from a prone position which impressed the Doctor, and generally was a little Angelbaby.
    Vital statistics were as usual impressive, Littlest Lethalu's Head Circumference was about 16 5/16 inches placing her in the 50th percentile in that category, her Weight was 16.92 pounds placing her in the 75th percentile in that category, and her Length was 26 inches placing her in the 95th percentile in that category.
   Her Head Circumference and Weight categories have been the same percentiles since birth for her age group, the surprise was her Length, she's been in the 90th percentile since birth for that, but this time she placed in the 95th percentile for Length. Mama Chandra has been worried as she has been saying that Littlest Lethalu Teresa is getting skinny!, well actually she was longing out!, she's still heavier then 75% of her age group but added to that she's now also taller then 95% of them.