Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Just wondering Wednesday

As always, (if always constitutes the last 2 weeks), there are a lot of things I'm wondering about this sunny, chilly Wednesday, and I thought I'd share them, like....
- why would an elevator company put the telephone button to call the police low enough and uncovered for a child, perhaps a 2 year old, to push before his mom could grab his hands? (this may have been my son)
- if it's really a bad thing to eat half an apple pie over the course of 3 days? I mean, there is a lot of fruit in there, that must count for SOMETHING
- why my dog crapped on the carpet in the middle of the night
- when my motivation to do actual work will return
- how this afternoon's doctor appointments will go
- why no one has started a cupcake drive through service, where you could get cupcakes and other yummy frosted pastries on your lunch hour
- if people that get au pairs regret it, or are thankful they did it
- if my 3 year old really plays with other kids during preschool, or if he plays alone
- why my 2 year old feels that the top of the stove is the best place to play (thankfully I never cook, so it's never hot)

Just wondering these things...and wondering what my readers (are there any?) are wondering.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Not Me! Monday

One of the blogs I read frequently (ok, daily), My Charming Kids, hosts a really fun blog each Monday called Not Me! Monday. Since every week is a chaotic mess of crazy events, I thought I'd share my own Not me! Monday.

Last week after my husband called me to tell me he was taking Captain Chaos to the ER after he fell and hit his head square on some brick steps, I most certainly did not stop to pay for my Gap purchases, rather than put them back and run out the door to meet my husband and child. Nope, that would be very selfish and inconsiderate. The very next day, I didn't find Captain Chaos, fresh from the ER with a nice big bandaid on his head, standing on a chair playing on my stove (In all honesty the stove was NOT on, nor was it hot, or even been used in the past, oh, 4 days). Nope, not me - I am a far more responsible parent than that.

I didn't use my t-shirt to wipe spit-up off of Princess's face. That would be just plain gross, not to mention the fact that we have close to 5 dozen burp rags around the house, any one of which I could have used. Nor did I tell ICE to use his shirt to wipe his nose when I was trying to feed the other 2 kids and couldn't find a kleenex, napkin, or even baby wipe to use. Nope, not me, that is also just disgusting, and we have far better manners than that.

What about you? What did YOU not do last week?

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

How do you make it happen?

Everyone that knows me knows that I am not, nor have I ever been or claimed to be, an immaculate person to live with. Things get set down, and then cleaned up several days later. That's how I grew up, that's how I am, and despite my best attempts to change that, it hasn't happened. End of story. This has always been a source of contention between my husband and myself. He likes everything cleaned up all the time, off the floor, off the garage floor, hung up / in a cabinet / on a shelf (except that he doesn't like to put nail holes in the wall...therein lies a whole other dilemma). I digress. I work full time, 9 hour days Monday through Thursday, leaving the house at 6:30 and getting home about 5:15 at night. I have 3 children under the age of 4, one of whom, Princess, loves to be held all the time, due to her history of being such a colicky baby. So I need to knw - how do other moms, working full time, keep their houses clean on a day-to-day basis? I'll take any tips or guidance I can get on this one.

Just Wondering...Wednesday

I find that there are a lot of things I'm 'just wondering' about...so I thought I'd share them.
Today I'm just wondering...
- why my 2 year old, Captian Chaos, wakes up at 7 a.m. but is still so tired - perhaps he should learn to sleep in?
- why my 3 year old, ICE (In Charge of Everything), has an incredibly long attention span but can't seem to watch TV and eat breakfast at the same time?
- when my 4 month old, Princess M, will learn to sleep through the night.
- why Captian Chaos feels the need to scare Princess M when she is sleeping, thus waking her up and causing her to cry the entire ride home from Day care
- what ICE really learns at preschool, since his daily answer to the question What did you do today is "I don't know" or "Nothing".
- why Captian Chaos seems to be even more devious when he is sick or just getting better - case in point: yesterday we got home from day care, and while I was helping ICE in the bathroom, I heard a clanking noise. I ran out to find CC standing on their toy chair next to the stove (which was not on, or even hot or anything, thankfully) playing with his Cars. Of course he got reprimanded and a time out, but seriously, where did this come from?
- if I'll find something to wear to my FIL's wedding in 2 weeks.
- if anyone will end up reading this blog anyway

And you, what are YOU wondering?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I've finally done it

My husband, W, has been encouraging me to start a blog since our baby was 2 months old, to document all of the trials and tribulations we've gone through with her, as well as those that we encounter in our daily lives. So here it is, I've finally given in. Not that I mind; I love talking about my kiddos and what's going on, in the hopes that either someone else has gone through something similar and has some words of wisdom, or that someone else can learn from what we've gone through.

Which brings me to the story of our little Princess M. She was born at the end of May, full term, after a rather non-eventful pregnancy. I will absolutely claim it was the easiest pregnancy of my 3, despite being extremely sick the first 4 months, and discovering she'd brought me into a state of hyperthyroidism during my pregnancy. However, beyond that, it was so much easier than any that I'd gone through with the boys. The delivery itself was also uneventful, and she arrived in all her glory with a strong set of lungs and a loud voice.

Several hours after she was born, it was discovered that she was COOMBS positive - meaning that my blood was in her blood. Since I'm O+ and she's B+, well, we've clashed from the start. Princess M suffered from a blood incompatibility - my blood cells were producing B antibodies, meaning they were killing all the B blood cells...which is all she had, faster than she could produce more. The side effect of that then is severe jaundice, and Princess M ended up in the NICU under triple light therapy for the first 6 days of her life. We were able to visit her whenever we wanted, but could only hold her for 10 minutes at a time, and she had to be in her bili blanket while we were holding her. Needless to say, even though it's not a huge deal, it was still traumatic for us as we watched her bili numbers rise and rise, topping out close to 14, and knowing the bad things that could happen thanks to Mr. Internet. Luckily, none of those things happened, as she only hit 14, and they tackled the problem fairly early, though it may have been even better had the hospital tested the cord blood immediately as per protocol, rather than 5 hours after she was born.

Regardless, she came home at 6 days old, with instructions for immediate doctor visits and blood draws for bili levels. Over the next 6 weeks, we went to the pediatrician's office weekly, sometimes 2 times per week, for heel sticks and blood draws to find out what her numbers were. The reason for having to go that long? Well, no one told us that one side effect to being COOMBS positive is anemia, which can be very dangerous for a newborn. Since the blood cells were breaking down so fast and her body wasn't able to produce them as fast as it was losing them, she was anemic, which meant daily iron for the first 2 months of life. We were, and continue to be, extremely lucky to have a great pediatrician, Dr. G., who watched the numbers very closely, called me every time we got the results, and consulted with doctors at Children's and shared their feedback with me. We also were able to make our own treks (2 of them) down to Children's to have blood drawn and meet with the doctors, who were fabulous. Thankfully, as Princess M hit 2 months old, her anemia resolved itself and she levelled out to where she should be for a child her age.

However, the week before she hit 2 months, she ran a high fever while we were on vacation at my parents' house. Given her age, I knew immediately we needed to head to the ER, where they ran a bunch of tests and told us she had a UTI and we needed to head to Children's up in the Valley to be admitted for antibiotic treatment and monitoring. Over the next 3 days, she was diagnosed with Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR). VUR means that urine flows back up from the bladder into the kidneys, rather than just emptying out. We had a follow-up VCUG, which is an x-ray where it was discovered that she is also lucky enough to have a duplicated ureter (tube coming out of the kidney) running to her bladder.

You see, everyone develops several sets of ureters during development inutero, and they disappear, except for one set (there is a more scientific explanation, which you can look up; I'm too lazy to type it all out). Anyway, one of hers stuck around, which is making the VUR worse. VUR has 5 grades of severity; Grades 1 - 3 are managed with daily use of antibiotics, and 4 and 5 are usually treated with surgery. Princess M is a Grade 2 on the left, and a Grade 2 and 3 on the right. What does this mean for her? Well, after meeting with the urologist, our action plan is daily antibiotics until she turns 1, with another kidney ultrasound at 6 months (December) to look for kidney damage, and another VCUG at 12 months to see if the reflux is gone, unless she has another UTI before then. if it's gone, hooray, end of story. If not, we discuss more antibiotics versus surgery, and the liklihood it'll go away on it's own is, best case scenario, 40%. So while we pray it resolves on it's own, we're trying to keep in mind the realities of the situation. It also means constant monitoring of her temp, and if she has a fever, we take her in for a urinalysis. Fun times, huh? If anyone else has gone through this, let me know what happened in y our situation. I'll share our daily trials and tribulations with a 3.5 year old, 2 year old and 4 month old...it's bound to be chaotic but fun!