Here is another quick recap post on life in general... I really want life to settle down so that I can blog more often. I don't want to forget any of the memorable moments in P's pregnancy but I feel like I am really slacking in that aspect. Plus, I dislike writing one million words blogs to get you caught up on what's going on for us... and I am sure that those particular posts, send your brains into sensory overload. So I am not going to make any promises, but really, I will try to post more frequently.
Me:
Things are going pretty decent for me. I have mild hydronephrosis of my right kidney - I had this happen when I was pregnant with B. It is more annoying than painful lately. I ended up in Labor & Delivery a week ago today because it was more painful than annoying at that point. They hooked me up to the monitors (fetal and contraction - I had a period of regular contractions but nothing major), gave me two bags of IV fluids (after the nurse blew out the vein in the top of my hand), and sent me on my way... 5 hours later. I felt badly for Daddy because he was sick and spent the entire 5 hours on a very uncomfortable stool.
I had a prenatal visit on Wednesday (9/16/09). P's HR = 143bpm. I had my gestational diabetes test and I passed! I go back to my doctor on 10/14 for my last 4 week check-up - I will also see anesthesia for my pre-op and meet with registration for phase 2... I can't believe I am getting so close to meeting P!
Today I am 25 weeks pregnant!
B:
His 1 year check-up went well (9/9/09). He weighs 22lbs 0oz (35th percentile) and is 29.25" long (25th percentile). He is a fantastic little guy!
We went to the immunologist's office (9/15/09) and God has been hearing my prayers. She believes that we just hit a string of bad luck with his health. Overall, she thinks he is healthy. We did some follow-up blood work at Children's Hospital to find out if in fact his immune system is running up to par. She is going to check his titer levels for some of his childhood immunizations - if they show antibodies being built, then his immune system is working properly. If not, well we didn't even discuss that in all honesty.
Yesterday, B had his first dentist appointment! He did very well. He still only has two teeth... the lower two. He cried during the cleaning but was very pleasant the rest of the time.
Afterward, we went to the pediatrician because B was coughing and I suspected that he was wheezing as well. I didn't think that he was "sick" per say because he wasn't running fever or displaying any other "sick" symptoms. But I was concerned about the coughing/wheezing because everything seems to effect his lungs and most things move rapidly and then keep him sick for what feels like forever, but I digress. The pedi checked him out and said that he wasn't sick but he definitely was wheezing. We did a breathing treatment in the office. She sent us home with a nebulizer and a new treatment plan for B. She is treating him for Reactive Airway Disease. We have one medication, Xopenex, that we administer via nublizer every 8 hours for two days, then every 12 hours for 2 days, then prn for wheezing spells. His second medication, Pulmicort, we administer via nebulizer once daily until we are told to discontinue.
B is a tough little guy. He remains very happy and active, even with all the junk thrown his way.
We have quite a bit coming up in the next few weeks - I feel like every weekend is booked until December... and then it's touch and go for my little family of three until P's arrival and we become a family of four!!!
Daddy and I are so excited for the month of December. We are thrilled that our family will be completed in December. We love that B will be a big brother and we cannot wait to hold P in our arms. And December means Christmas! We know that B was around last Christmas, but he was only four months old! This Christmas, he will be able to get into his presents and unwrap them, and play with all of his new toys! We can't wait to see the excitement on his face. Please hurry up, December!
Christmas will be very low key for us this year, that is, if I am still pregnant. We will be staying very close to home and we will probably spend Christmas Day at home because between me being pregnant and my younger sister getting married the next day, our family dinner has been canceled. It will be nice to spend a holiday not running all over to visit everyone... at times, relaxation is a beautiful thing!
I think that's about it for now! Have a great weekend! I plan on doing a very late birthday post to Brice on Monday... lots of pictures to come!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Contractions
Ah yes, it seems as though my uterus has decided to misbehave... maybe as a punishment for the crazy little firecracker living within its walls? P is one active little man, as I've said before. He is constantly kicking, moving, punching, building forts, etc within my womb. I think he is going to really keep me on my toes once he enters the world. Brice loves attention, particularly from me and Daddy, but this kid, P, the world needs to look out for. I think he is going to be a spot-light stealing, lime-light loving kid... and he comes by it very naturally (courtesy of none other than me). But I digress. Back to that misbehavin' uterus of mine. I started having pretty regular contractions on Saturday and I am still having them. They last anywhere from 1-3 hours and for the most part, are not painful. I started having random contractions at 22 weeks with B (and random contractions at 19 weeks with P) but never anything timeable and/or regular.
I went to visit my fantastic doctor today... I really do have a special place in my heart for that man (I mean how could I not?!)... he checked me out and did a Ffn test. He said that everything looks good - cervix is closed, etc. At this point, he is comfortable with me having 6 contractions an hour. I feel happy knowing that this is okay at this point but also kinda blah over the fact that I could potentially have very regular contractions for the next 15.5 weeks! Oh well, it could be worse!
P's heartbeat was 146bpm today and I had my first belly measurement - I am measuring right on track - 23.5weeks! I go back to see my doctor next Wednesday for a check-up.
Tomorrow is B's (late, I know) 1 year check-up and I see my surgeon for my post-op. Take care!
I went to visit my fantastic doctor today... I really do have a special place in my heart for that man (I mean how could I not?!)... he checked me out and did a Ffn test. He said that everything looks good - cervix is closed, etc. At this point, he is comfortable with me having 6 contractions an hour. I feel happy knowing that this is okay at this point but also kinda blah over the fact that I could potentially have very regular contractions for the next 15.5 weeks! Oh well, it could be worse!
P's heartbeat was 146bpm today and I had my first belly measurement - I am measuring right on track - 23.5weeks! I go back to see my doctor next Wednesday for a check-up.
Tomorrow is B's (late, I know) 1 year check-up and I see my surgeon for my post-op. Take care!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Where to begin... {if your eyeballs ache afterward, my apologies}
Lots of Updates...
Surgery Update:
Surgery went well - I was slightly nervous about having surgery, nonetheless in my abdomen, while being pregnant. I think my procedure lasted less than 75 minutes. Upon waking up in recovery, I was in some pretty intense pain and then I had a very sharp/hard contraction. Overall, the nurses quickly got my pain under control and then they called for my OB's resident to come and check P's heartbeat (via Doppler). I was in recovery for quite some time and there were some strange birds in the recovery unit as well... at least I was entertained. After Dr. Jones (OB resident) came and checked out P, I was finally given the okay to be moved into a more private room (where I was reunited with my mom and we stayed until I was discharged).
Let me tell you one of the downfalls of a general anesthetic... when you're put to sleep, obviously your entire body goes to sleep... here's the kicker - I drank tons of water in the first recovery area and felt the urge to pee... well my bladder was still asleep. I sat in the bathroom for 10 minutes before I finally gave up. A little while later I decided to give it another try (since I had to pee in order to be discharged)... the teeniest amount came out after lots of convincing and begging my bladder to work (but hey, it was some progress, right?) The nurse brought me some graham crackers, more water and after another, very successful, bathroom attempt, I was finally free to go home to my sweet baby boy!
I've been going ever since I got home. I fed B dinner that night and I haven't stopped yet. On Friday, I got up and baked B's birthday cakes because my little man TURNED ONE! How did that happen? Where did the time go to? But I will honor my sweet baby's birthday with it's own separate post.
On Monday, after taking B to the pediatrician (more to come on that later), I had a follow-up appointment with my OB. He did an exam to check my cervical length to make sure I had no shortening occur. He asked me I had been cramping and I told him quite a bit. He told me to come back about 1 hour later because he wanted to do an ultrasound to get an actual measurement. All is well with my cervix (thankfully) and with P. I wasn't given an exact measurement but my doctor seemed pleased with the length. He told me if the cramping keeps up, to call them back. He is attributing the cramping to the possibility that I may have had a catheter during surgery or the amount of fluids they pushed through me... who knows... but the cramping, as of today, is still persisting. I actually stood up from the table a little while ago and my breath was taken away by some hard cramping and tightening. I had to slowly walk to the kitchen while waiting on it to subside. I am still cramping a good bit as of this morning.
Overall, my recovery is going well. I had to go see a surgery resident yesterday (my surgeon is out of town) because on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I felt pulling to the right of my belly button. Wednesday morning, along with the pulling feeling, I felt a pop. So I called the nurse and she suggested for me to go in. The resident poked and prodded in my lowest incision to feel for a hernia and thankfully, I have no signs of one. They decided to run some blood work on me and everything looks good. I still feel pretty bruised on my abdomen - don't know if that's normal or not.
WHEW... did you make it through that? Be prepared for much more after this...
B:
Mr. B turned ONE on Friday (August 28). We had a tiny gathering to celebrate... but again, I am saving all of those details for an upcoming post.
On Saturday (last weekend), B was definitely not feeling well. He ran fever all weekend - the lowest was 101.2 and the highest was 101.7 - not too bad. But poor B was miserable - all he wanted to do was lay around, cuddle with his blanket and be held by his mommy and daddy. We, of course, completely obliged. I called the answering center for his pediatrician's office and within 30 minutes his pedi called us back {she is fabulous}. I told her what was going on and she said if his fever got any worse to call her back but if not, she wanted to see him Monday morning. Thankfully, his fever remained the same the rest of the weekend. Brice showed some improvement on Sunday - his demeanor was better. He actually crawled around and did some smiling and laughing. We took him to Smoothie King thinking he might eat a smoothie... that was a no-go.
Monday morning came bright and early and fever-free! My mom picked both of us up and off we went to the pediatrician's office. His ears and throat were clear and more importantly, his lungs were clear! I was so relieved to hear that. We went over a chunk of his lab work that as of the last time we had spoken was unavailable. This portion concerned his immunoglobulins. We have 5 different immunoglobulins: IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE and IgD. If you care to read more about what each particular one is responsible for, you can do so HERE.
His IgM is level is low; his IgA level and IgG levels are borderline low (for his age, the range for IgA is 12-75 and his is 15; for IgG, the range is 247-910 and he is 267). The pedi said if anything she expected to see his IgM level high because was in the middle of fighting pneumonia and it really concerned her that it came back low. She referred us to an immunologist. We will be seeing Dr. D on September 15 to figure out this whole situation. The levels he is deficient in have nothing to with allergies (food or airborne); his levels concern his ability to fight infection - bacterial and viral (but again you can read all about it at the link I posted). Our pedi also stated that this is the cause for him getting sick so often and taking so long to recover from each illness.
I've tried to research low immunoglobulin levels in general and more specifically, in children, and I don't get very far. Some of the articles I've read state that it's very rare and I've read (multiple times) the statistic of it occurring in children is 0.03%. I've also read that it can be something as minor as (and I use that term very loosely) him being sick often, because his body just can't defend itself, all the way to cancer. When my mom and I were reading the site that I referred you to above, the only thing that was consistent across the board for the three Ig's that he is deficient in, was leukemia. So do you see how frustrating this situation is? I enjoy reading and researching and I despise the fact that I cannot get anywhere. Daddy and I know that we cannot put even one of our eggs into any basket. We refuse, at the moment, to let our minds go down the road of cancer. We are very anxiously awaiting his appointment.
For now, we've become more strict with hand-washing, sanitizing, and disinfecting. We are also be very cautious around those who are sick/have been sick and those who have been around them. We have a 3-day rule in effect - if you've been sick or around someone that has been sick, we ask for a 3 day waiting period to occur before contact with B. We are avoiding large crowds, especially since the flu seems to be rampant here. We just cannot take any chances and we don't want to feel as though we could have avoided an illness. We certainly don't want to make B a bubble boy, but we are taking precautions for now.
I received paperwork from Dr. D's office detailing what to expect at the first appointment and the usual intake forms. Since he has an immunology issue, we can expect more blood work - at least I will be prepared this time (unlike last time). The only thing I am less than thrilled about is that we will have to wait a couple weeks for those results. I don't like waiting when it comes to health related issues. It brings me back to a time in mine and Daddy’s life - many, many years ago - when Daddy had a cancerous growth removed from his back. God was with us back then because the mass below the surface was incapsulated. His fantastic oncologist was able to remove everything below the surface without having to do a skin graft. But the waiting involved to hear that everything was removed seemed to last forever - it was two weeks to be exact. But I digress.
I despise waiting on health issues. I despise not being able to research what could potentially be wrong with B. I am scared that something could be (seriously) wrong with him. I am a huge ball of emotions sprinkled with pregnancy hormones. Like I told Daddy the other day, I am just taking it one day at a time and trying to keep my head above water. I am far from freaking out because (1) it's not warranted and even if it was, it would do no good; and (2) it would do no good.
I know that no matter what God has us wrapped tightly in his arms. He will take care of us... of B. He has been there before and will be there forever. Whatever he has in his plans for us, we are ready for (and let me tell you that's a hard statement coming from a control freak like myself).
PIERCE:
I am 23w 1d pregnant today! This little boy is a wild one! He is constantly kicking and moving. He continuously kicked one of my incisions for the first 3-4 days after surgery. I am pretty sure he is going to be a little firecracker once he exits my womb. I had an ultrasound 1 week post-op to confirm that my cervix had not shortened. His heartbeat was 156bpm. My cervix looks good. I go back to the doctor on September 16.
Daddy:
My husband is wonderful. He surprised me after surgery by getting home earlier than expected – He was in Atlanta for work! I know that he was less than thrilled about having to be away while I had surgery, but it was work related and no one else could go in his place. He spent all of last weekend taking care of me and B - he did anything and everything I asked of him. I am very blessed to have him as my husband.
Ok... I have more that I can say, but for now, I will stop. Look for another post in the coming days. I will be taking B to the pediatrician on Wednesday for his one-year checkup. I will probably do a birthday post and then another update post. I am hoping life calms down a little so that I can post more often. Take care and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
Surgery Update:
Surgery went well - I was slightly nervous about having surgery, nonetheless in my abdomen, while being pregnant. I think my procedure lasted less than 75 minutes. Upon waking up in recovery, I was in some pretty intense pain and then I had a very sharp/hard contraction. Overall, the nurses quickly got my pain under control and then they called for my OB's resident to come and check P's heartbeat (via Doppler). I was in recovery for quite some time and there were some strange birds in the recovery unit as well... at least I was entertained. After Dr. Jones (OB resident) came and checked out P, I was finally given the okay to be moved into a more private room (where I was reunited with my mom and we stayed until I was discharged).
Let me tell you one of the downfalls of a general anesthetic... when you're put to sleep, obviously your entire body goes to sleep... here's the kicker - I drank tons of water in the first recovery area and felt the urge to pee... well my bladder was still asleep. I sat in the bathroom for 10 minutes before I finally gave up. A little while later I decided to give it another try (since I had to pee in order to be discharged)... the teeniest amount came out after lots of convincing and begging my bladder to work (but hey, it was some progress, right?) The nurse brought me some graham crackers, more water and after another, very successful, bathroom attempt, I was finally free to go home to my sweet baby boy!
I've been going ever since I got home. I fed B dinner that night and I haven't stopped yet. On Friday, I got up and baked B's birthday cakes because my little man TURNED ONE! How did that happen? Where did the time go to? But I will honor my sweet baby's birthday with it's own separate post.
On Monday, after taking B to the pediatrician (more to come on that later), I had a follow-up appointment with my OB. He did an exam to check my cervical length to make sure I had no shortening occur. He asked me I had been cramping and I told him quite a bit. He told me to come back about 1 hour later because he wanted to do an ultrasound to get an actual measurement. All is well with my cervix (thankfully) and with P. I wasn't given an exact measurement but my doctor seemed pleased with the length. He told me if the cramping keeps up, to call them back. He is attributing the cramping to the possibility that I may have had a catheter during surgery or the amount of fluids they pushed through me... who knows... but the cramping, as of today, is still persisting. I actually stood up from the table a little while ago and my breath was taken away by some hard cramping and tightening. I had to slowly walk to the kitchen while waiting on it to subside. I am still cramping a good bit as of this morning.
Overall, my recovery is going well. I had to go see a surgery resident yesterday (my surgeon is out of town) because on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I felt pulling to the right of my belly button. Wednesday morning, along with the pulling feeling, I felt a pop. So I called the nurse and she suggested for me to go in. The resident poked and prodded in my lowest incision to feel for a hernia and thankfully, I have no signs of one. They decided to run some blood work on me and everything looks good. I still feel pretty bruised on my abdomen - don't know if that's normal or not.
WHEW... did you make it through that? Be prepared for much more after this...
B:
Mr. B turned ONE on Friday (August 28). We had a tiny gathering to celebrate... but again, I am saving all of those details for an upcoming post.
On Saturday (last weekend), B was definitely not feeling well. He ran fever all weekend - the lowest was 101.2 and the highest was 101.7 - not too bad. But poor B was miserable - all he wanted to do was lay around, cuddle with his blanket and be held by his mommy and daddy. We, of course, completely obliged. I called the answering center for his pediatrician's office and within 30 minutes his pedi called us back {she is fabulous}. I told her what was going on and she said if his fever got any worse to call her back but if not, she wanted to see him Monday morning. Thankfully, his fever remained the same the rest of the weekend. Brice showed some improvement on Sunday - his demeanor was better. He actually crawled around and did some smiling and laughing. We took him to Smoothie King thinking he might eat a smoothie... that was a no-go.
Monday morning came bright and early and fever-free! My mom picked both of us up and off we went to the pediatrician's office. His ears and throat were clear and more importantly, his lungs were clear! I was so relieved to hear that. We went over a chunk of his lab work that as of the last time we had spoken was unavailable. This portion concerned his immunoglobulins. We have 5 different immunoglobulins: IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE and IgD. If you care to read more about what each particular one is responsible for, you can do so HERE.
His IgM is level is low; his IgA level and IgG levels are borderline low (for his age, the range for IgA is 12-75 and his is 15; for IgG, the range is 247-910 and he is 267). The pedi said if anything she expected to see his IgM level high because was in the middle of fighting pneumonia and it really concerned her that it came back low. She referred us to an immunologist. We will be seeing Dr. D on September 15 to figure out this whole situation. The levels he is deficient in have nothing to with allergies (food or airborne); his levels concern his ability to fight infection - bacterial and viral (but again you can read all about it at the link I posted). Our pedi also stated that this is the cause for him getting sick so often and taking so long to recover from each illness.
I've tried to research low immunoglobulin levels in general and more specifically, in children, and I don't get very far. Some of the articles I've read state that it's very rare and I've read (multiple times) the statistic of it occurring in children is 0.03%. I've also read that it can be something as minor as (and I use that term very loosely) him being sick often, because his body just can't defend itself, all the way to cancer. When my mom and I were reading the site that I referred you to above, the only thing that was consistent across the board for the three Ig's that he is deficient in, was leukemia. So do you see how frustrating this situation is? I enjoy reading and researching and I despise the fact that I cannot get anywhere. Daddy and I know that we cannot put even one of our eggs into any basket. We refuse, at the moment, to let our minds go down the road of cancer. We are very anxiously awaiting his appointment.
For now, we've become more strict with hand-washing, sanitizing, and disinfecting. We are also be very cautious around those who are sick/have been sick and those who have been around them. We have a 3-day rule in effect - if you've been sick or around someone that has been sick, we ask for a 3 day waiting period to occur before contact with B. We are avoiding large crowds, especially since the flu seems to be rampant here. We just cannot take any chances and we don't want to feel as though we could have avoided an illness. We certainly don't want to make B a bubble boy, but we are taking precautions for now.
I received paperwork from Dr. D's office detailing what to expect at the first appointment and the usual intake forms. Since he has an immunology issue, we can expect more blood work - at least I will be prepared this time (unlike last time). The only thing I am less than thrilled about is that we will have to wait a couple weeks for those results. I don't like waiting when it comes to health related issues. It brings me back to a time in mine and Daddy’s life - many, many years ago - when Daddy had a cancerous growth removed from his back. God was with us back then because the mass below the surface was incapsulated. His fantastic oncologist was able to remove everything below the surface without having to do a skin graft. But the waiting involved to hear that everything was removed seemed to last forever - it was two weeks to be exact. But I digress.
I despise waiting on health issues. I despise not being able to research what could potentially be wrong with B. I am scared that something could be (seriously) wrong with him. I am a huge ball of emotions sprinkled with pregnancy hormones. Like I told Daddy the other day, I am just taking it one day at a time and trying to keep my head above water. I am far from freaking out because (1) it's not warranted and even if it was, it would do no good; and (2) it would do no good.
I know that no matter what God has us wrapped tightly in his arms. He will take care of us... of B. He has been there before and will be there forever. Whatever he has in his plans for us, we are ready for (and let me tell you that's a hard statement coming from a control freak like myself).
PIERCE:
I am 23w 1d pregnant today! This little boy is a wild one! He is constantly kicking and moving. He continuously kicked one of my incisions for the first 3-4 days after surgery. I am pretty sure he is going to be a little firecracker once he exits my womb. I had an ultrasound 1 week post-op to confirm that my cervix had not shortened. His heartbeat was 156bpm. My cervix looks good. I go back to the doctor on September 16.
Daddy:
My husband is wonderful. He surprised me after surgery by getting home earlier than expected – He was in Atlanta for work! I know that he was less than thrilled about having to be away while I had surgery, but it was work related and no one else could go in his place. He spent all of last weekend taking care of me and B - he did anything and everything I asked of him. I am very blessed to have him as my husband.
Ok... I have more that I can say, but for now, I will stop. Look for another post in the coming days. I will be taking B to the pediatrician on Wednesday for his one-year checkup. I will probably do a birthday post and then another update post. I am hoping life calms down a little so that I can post more often. Take care and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
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