On Wednesday, October 11, of this year, my wife gave birth to our first son. His life was off to a rocky start, but we now have the hang of things, and he's healthy.

So far, it would seem that his greatest danger in life is being spoiled rotten, as he's not only the first child for both my wife and me, but he's also the first grandchild on both sides.

I intend to keep making sure that that's the greatest danger for him.

We're holding up...

We discovered, very recently, he has a genetic problem which causes a deficiency in his blood enzymes. Long story short, he doesn't break down the sugars in his blood into energy the way he's supposed to. It's irritating, because, being a genetic defect, it's nothing I can just cast a spell and heal...but at the same time, it's not going to be terribly debilitating to leading a normal life.

He may not be the greatest of spellcasters, if it interferes with his energy reserves...or he may be just fine. It's just something we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, my wife and I just have to take real good care of him, and ourselves.

Congratulations!

Sorry to hear about your kiddo's problems though.

It's alright. We just need to make sure he's well-fed, and fed often enough, because if we don't, he has a crash that's almost identical to a hypoglycemic's (diabetics, for those who aren't up on their medical terms).

Thanks for the congrats. ^_^

Well I'm glad its not a deadly serious problem. As far as ailments go it sounds like one of the better ones to get stuck with.

That it is. If he had to have some kind of incurable ailment, at least it's this one...

Well, I'm glad that's the extent of the kiddo's problems. I know he's gotta be in one of the safest homes in the world.

Congrats!

All shall go well for you. All shall go well for your new one. This is my thought and wish.

Best,
WM

I'm a bit late but better late than never they say, congratulations.

Thanks again for all your congrats. ^^ Hopefully, now that the Devil's Night Mayhem is all concluded, we can try to get some sleep.

Out of curiosity (and a desire to share pics), does anyone know where I can find some good free image hosting? I know there used to be this one site that I used, but I can't remember what they were called, and they were starting to demand paid accounts for all subscribers...

I use www.buzznet.com to host pictures and scans of things and screenshots. I use Photobucket for avatars and signatures and whatnot.

Congrats KT and family. Have the doctors told you anymore on possible treatments for Junior? Something about his condition sounds familiar to me but I can't remember what it was.

Thanks!

Right now, the only thing they said we can do for him is make sure he gets enough formula, which means feeding him once every few hours. Once he's on solid foods, he needs...uh...I think they were called carnitines, or something like that. I know it was a vitamin-type supplement that started with "carn-", 'cuz the doc said it was found in meat.

Since his body doesn't break down sugars properly, it needs to find alternate power sources, so to speak, and the carnitines (or whatever they're called) provide that for him without frustrating his biology too much.

All in all, it doesn't sound as serious as we thought it was originally.

Again, thanks!

Glad to hear it kt. Yeah you'll just turn your child into a carnivore like every red blooded american male it's cool. The condition could just be one of those things that pop up because the babies system isn't fully developed. (kinda like that small soft spot in the skull that supposedly closes after birth. I swear I knew a kid growing up for whom that didn't happen)

Actually, it's a recessive gene, meaning that both my wife and I, and quite probably everyone in our families, are carriers. Despite that, the condition (MCAD), and the recessive genes that cause it, are actually quite rare.

What're the odds that if you guys had another podling that it would suffer from the same affliction? Its been a long time since I took HS Biology.

25%.

1 chance in 4 that they'd inherit both dominant, healthy genes, and would have no chance of passing it along to their children.

2 chances in 4 that they'd inherit 1 recessive, unhealthy gene from one of us, but would be healthy themselves. If they had a kid with another bad-gene-carrier, their kids might get it, too.

And 1 chance in 4 that they'd get MCAD, too. If that's the case, as it is with our first son, all of their kids will at least be carriers.

Well that's good at least. I couldn't remember how it worked exactly but I didn't think it was a 100% chance.

Here! Finally! Pics!

I got off my butt and used an old Geocities account to host. Whee.

http://www.geocities.com/palydyan/Christmas_pics.htm Excuse the fact that my hair is a mess in these... They were taken on Christmas day. Hurry and check them before Geocities decides they're gonna shut my site down for using an old freebie account. x_x

Cute kid! Must take after his Mom though, hahaha.

I'm telling ya though, you should get a Buzznet account for pics, its as easy if not moreso than any other hosting service and its free.

Yeah, I'll get around to that sometime.

That's a great looking kid KT. I know ya must be prouder than a Peacock.

There's a little fish in that big pond.
Congratulations on the kid, too.

KonThaak wrote:Here! Finally! Pics!

I got off my butt and used an old Geocities account to host. Whee.

http://www.geocities.com/palydyan/Christmas_pics.htm Excuse the fact that my hair is a mess in these... They were taken on Christmas day. Hurry and check them before Geocities decides they're gonna shut my site down for using an old freebie account. x_x

Great looking little pup there. So cute you could just eat him up {just a phrase people}. Congratulations on him. Many blessings as well. Don't worry over much about condition, just make sure he has plenty of snacks around as he grows, should be fine.

I have more pictures!

For those of you who're wondering why there're no pictures between him being 2 months old and him being 7 months old...it's because he made that jump overnight. >.>

Actually, there're lots of pictures, but they're stored on Lex's digital camera, and I'm not sure how to get them onto my computer...

Just a warning, some of these are wallet photos that I've been carrying around quite some time; some of them from literally my wedding day, almost three years ago, now. The quality of those pictures is less than appealing, I know... Just bare with me.

I'll post in this thread again as I get more images up. ^_^

(The one called "7 months 2" is, at the time I'm posting this, currently the wallpaper for my phone...)