On the road again

I signed up to run my first half marathon this fall. I've got a TON of work to do to be ready for it. I had signed up to run one last May, but a week after registering, I saw that second line on the pregnancy test, so I didn't run. I briefly considered running, but I was, I think, 15 weeks pregnant and didn't want to chance it. So this is the year I will finally run 13.1 miles. As far as training goes, I'm starting from square one. I'll admit, I haven't been out running much. It was hard over the winter with the weather and it getting dark so early, I didn't get out. I've been out a couple times and I'll tell you, it's not good. Instead of looking like the seasoned runner, I look like a 30-something, out of shape mom of 4, with extra weight around her waist attempting to do something athletic to lose weight. Oh, that's right, I AM 30 something out-of-shape mom with 4 kids and weight to lose. Anyway, so far I can run 2 miles but have to walk a bit in the middle. I did come up with a 12 week training program that I will start the last week of May. Until then, I have to work on getting my distance up to 5K again. I plan on running the 5K they are having here in my hometown the second to last week of May, and then I start to train. The week before my half, I'm going to run a 10K in place of my "long run" that Saturday. Then on August 20th, it's race time! Husband is on board with my training and finally crossing this off my list of things I have to do. He's going to take that Saturday off so he can be there at the finish line when I run (or crawl) across the finish line. My main concern is the heat. I have run at this event before, the 5K, and I know the course goes out into the country, among the corn and bean fields, and even though the race starts at 7am, it will be hot. Very hot. Oh, and I'm not a morning person, so 7am is really early for me. Husband thinks its hysterical that I'm willing to go run a race at 7am, which to me, is an awful time to have to "do" anything, unless I've been up all night, then 7am isn't so bad. I did request to take that weekend off because I have a feeling I'm going to be wiped after the run. And I'm going to want to celebrate, or have a nice long soak in an epsom salt bath to ease my aching muscles. So, let the training begin!!

Easter Parenting (almost) Fail

This year I was so proud of myself for buying the kids Easter basket stuff ahead of time. I am notorious for putting it off until the last minute, then scrambling trying to get stuff together. For 3 years when Jacob and Clara were little, I actually recycled these 2 stuffed bunnies for Easter. Yes, I'm horrible. I've always been good going over the real reason, but when it comes to the Easter Bunny, I tend to wait until the last minute. I do fine with Christmas, Valentines Day, birthdays. Anyway, this year I actually got stuff ahead of time and stashed it where they wouldn't be able to find it. I was very proud of myself. No re-gifted toys this year! Flash forward 3 weeks. I went into work the night before Easter, got busy with an awesome delivery and it gets to be about 2:00am before I make a realization: I didn't put the kids baskets together and Husband has no idea where stuff is at, and it's 2:00am, I can't call him to tell him. Well, I suppose I could have, but that really wouldn't have been very nice. My only hope was that I got off of work early enough to get home before the kids woke up, gather up their Easter baskets that are scattered throughout the house, put stuff in them and hide them. As I'm walking out, Husband calls and says "The kids are pretty upset with the Easter Bunny". Parenting Fail. I come up with a plan that I hoped would work. I told him to where the bags of goodies were hidden, and had him put them outside with the baskets. I got home from work, assembled said baskets and came inside and said to the kids "Hey, guess what I found outside!". The kids come to the conclusion that the Easter Bunny didn't leave stuff in their baskets earlier because they didn't set them out. Phew. Thanks to my stealth mommy skills, Crisis is averted.

Growth

Tomorrow, little Bubs will be 7 months old. I can't believe it. It still seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with him. he is finally starting to put on some weight. Over the last month or so this has been going on, he's had multiple blood draws for various things, sweat testing, GI consult, etc. After the first consultation with GI, she gave us zantac for reflux, and I was told to give him about 3 oz of this special order formula called pregestimil. It is incredibly expensive and apparently tastes awful. I really tried to get him to take it, but as soon as he started sucking on the bottle, he'd gag and throw up all the bmilk he had just had. So, go figure, he hadn't gained in a week or so, and then I was told to quit nursing and mix the pregestimil so it has 24 cal/oz instead of the usual 20cal/oz because she didn't think he was getting enough from me. I was devastated. I also knew that wasn't going to work because he didn't like the formula mixed regularly, so he sure as hell wasn't going to take it concentrated. Plus you don't take a 6 month old breastfed baby and say "Ok, no more nursing" and have it go well. But I tried it, pumped to keep up my supply because I really didn't agree with no more breastfeeding, especially because it wasn't that they thought he had an allergy to something in it, it was that they thought he needed more. So why not just supplement with regular formula. It was awful. He cried all evening and all night, refused the bottle, and he kept looking at me with those big beautiful eyes, pleading with me to feed him. Finally, at about 11pm, I said to heck with this, nursed him and gave him a bottle of regular ol' enfamil, mixed to be 24 cal/oz, which he took. We also started adding a few drops of safflower oil to his baby food, for extra fat. So I called our pediatrician, told her what I was doing and she said to go with that because if he's refusing the other formula, then it isn't doing any good. And guess what? He started gaining. The zantac helps with all the spitting up he had been doing, and the extra calories from the formula has helped. He put on 1 pound in a week. He was only 11lbs 9 oz a month ago...hadn't even doubled his birth weight at 6 months. Last week he was 12lb 8 oz, Monday he was 12-15, and Tuesday he was already up to 13-5. Different scales, but still a gain. I had worried about my milk supply since I went back to work. Caleb was never as aggressive of a nurser like the other kids were, and add to him being early, I didn't pump before going back to work as much because I was busy, and I don't always get to pump at work and you get inadequate supply. I know I could work a bit harder to build it up, but honestly, I don't have time. I am taking fenugreek and blessed thistle to help amp up my supply and it helps a bit, I get about 1/2 - 1 oz more when I pump when I take the herbs. So that's where we are: Caleb still gets to breastfeed, he's putting on weight with the supplemental formula and spitting up a little less. I don't understand why we had to jump right to this special formula. It's so expensive and I now have 2 cans that won't be used. I'll donate the unopened can, but the other was a waste. For a 16oz can of the stuff, it was $44. A can of regular enfamil, same size? $13. Yeah. It's that expensive. Husband tried it (he's weird) and he said it's horrible. You can tell by looking at it when it's mixed up that it has more fat in it because it almost looks oily. But, the good news is that he's healthy, we can lose the Failure to Thrive diagnosis and everybody's happy.

And here's my little bubs:

Great night at work

I love when I have such a great night at work. Let me count the ways that made it such an excellent night:

1. As I walked out of the house to go to work, it decides to start raining like crazy. A serious downpour, right on to my freshly styled "do". My hair looked awful by the time I got to the van, but I figured "Hey, I'm saving a patient a trip to the OR because I'm having a bad hair day". (a superstition among my coworkers that if your hair looks good, then you'll end up in the OR with a surgical cap on your head)

2. I tripped over the monitor cables in a patient room and looked like a complete ass as I stumbled - but I didn't fall, or trip on the IV tubing so I guess you could say that was a plus.

3. Spiked a bag of fluid and the dang "spike" went through the plastic on the IV bag and lactated ringers solution started spraying me in the face. That was great fun. And let me tell you, it isn't tasty.

4. I was sitting at the desk and noticed a wet spot on my scrub top pocket. I looked at it and said to the girls there with me "What the hell? Why is my shirt wet?". Looked a bit closer and realized my left breast had leaked breastmilk through my bra, and the pocket on my shirt and I hadn't realized it. Yes, I am a dumbass. Now the irony is that we had to start supplementing Caleb because I'm not making enough milk (story for another day), and I haven't needed nursing pads for a couple months, and the left breast always made less than the right. So NOW it decides to overachieve?!? WTF!?!?

5. And finally, the best part of all? Had a patient's mother ask me how far along I was. I told her my baby was almost 7 months...7 months OUTSIDE of the womb. I knew I was still carrying 10lbs of pregnancy weight, but really? TGIT (Thank goodness it's Tuesday...the start of my "weekend")!!

Phone Triage

You just never know what kind of phone calls you are going to get in the middle of the night. I don't know what it is, but something about the time between midnight and 3:00 am brings out the most intelligent questions. My guess is that people go to bed and lie awake just thinking about something that has been bugging them all day, pregnancy related, and then decide to call L&D. Or they want to mess with us. Either way, I've gotten some strange ones, like the grandma to be who called because her daughter who was 13 weeks pregnant was trying to poop, but couldn't finish the job. Her question was how to get the turd that was half-way out, all the way out of her anus. This past weekend was full of odd phone calls and while not as bizarre as the poop call, here are some of the gems I fielded:

"Um, yeah, I just found out I'm pregnant and I have a question for you. I just had sex earlier tonight and I was wondering if I could get pregnant with another baby while I'm pregnant with this one? I would shoot myself if I got knocked up with twins!"

"Can a chick have anal sex if she's pregnant?" Call was made by a man

"I accidently put nipple cream on my hemorrhoids. Is that ok?"

labwork and sono and doc appointments, Oh My!

Its been a busy couple weeks for us. As I mentioned, we have had some issues with Caleb and his weight. It started I guess about 3 weeks ago. He started spitting up after eating, more like projectile vomiting large amounts after most of his feedings. He never acted sick, always had a good appetite, kept having wet and dirty diapers, etc. Nothing seemed too off. I didn't think too much about it, figured he wasn't burping good, and this was something I did as a baby. It gets to be close to 2 weeks I guess, and over a weekend (our furnace was out at the time, but that's another story) Husband mentioned that Caleb had been pretty fussy, not wanting to sleep. Come Tuesday am, he mentions he was making odd noises when he was breathing, like he was sighing after each breath but it only lasted a couple minutes. I went to feed him at daycare after I got off work that morning, and he seemed to be his usual self, he did vomit all over me but seemed fairly happy. When I picked him up that afternoon, he seemed pretty sleepy. He usually gets very excited to see me but he went right back to sleep after I loaded him up in the car seat. My mommy-intuition kicked in and I decided that I would take him to the after hours clinic, just to make sure he didn't have something like RSV. I get there and the first thing they do is weigh him - only 11lbs 8 oz. I immediately start to panic because I swore that was what he weighed at 4 months. The NP saw him, said he had an ear infection, but lungs were good but the real issue became his weight. The next day, we went to Hospital for a pyloric sonogram to rule out pyloric stenosis. Caleb hated it, but it was fine. He also had some blood drawn and a urine sample done. All the labs were fine except his albumin was low. So that bought us a trip to the Children's Hospital in Bigger City for a sweat test to rule out cystic fibrosis. Now even though I knew it was impossible for him to have it since I am not a carrier, I still was a bit anxious about it. It of course came back negative. By now, it's Friday and he had stopped vomiting. We've started solids and try to supplement with a bottle of formula a day. But in true style of my children, he refuses the formula, will take bmilk out of a bottle just fine, and doesn't really like the solids. I would just supplement with bmilk, but I don't really have enough stored. I'm down to six 5 oz bottles in the freezer. I took him back for a weight check on Wednesday and in a week, he was up to 11lb 10 oz. I actually think he gained more because the initial weight of 11-8 was in a diaper, and this one was without. But the fact that he's 6 months and still hasn't doubled his birth weight and is gaining so slowly is concerning. We saw a pediatric GI doc yesterday and she was actually very encouraging. She said a 2oz weight gain in a week was great. She also thinks he may have reflux, which could explain why he hates solids like he does, so we now have zantac for the little guy. She also thinks that this whole thing stemmed from the ear infection/virus he had, and he dropped weight from the vomiting. The low albumin she said wasn't really a good indication for his current nutritional level, so she wanted to have a pre albumin done, along with repeat CMP and urinalysis. She was very pro-breastfeeding and wants me to try to get him to take 6 oz at a feeding (a no go so far) and if I don't have enough bmilk to supplement, she wants us to give a high fat formula (which I still need to pick up from the pharmacy) and try to get about 4 oz of that in him a day. We will have weight checks every week for 4 weeks and we'll follow up with her then. If he doesn't put on much weight, then she'll give us the high calorie version of this formula. But she was fairly confident he'd be fine. I did have my moment on my way to work last night because the diagnoses for him are GERD and Failure to Thrive. I remember learning about failure to thrive in nursing school and the way they presented it, it made it sound like the parents were doing something wrong. That isn't the case, but there's a sense of dread over that diagnosis. Plus it just makes me sad that once again my body is "failing" me and not providing for him like I want to, and should be able to. And even though I know that really isn't the case, all you mommies out there know what I mean - no matter what, there is still that part of all of us as moms that makes us feel guilty. So last night on my way to work, I let myself cry about the whole failure to thrive diagnosis. But, he is a happy boy, meeting his milestones like he should and hopefully we can plump him up.

And as a bonus, here's my cute little bubs:

Let's talk about Stress, baby

I never plan on being so neglectful...it just happens.

But in my defense, it's been crazy. Almost 2 weeks ago, our furnace stopped working and it took 5 days to get it straightened out. It was fixed last Tuesday and let me tell you, 50 degrees is WAY too cold in the house! At the same time the furnace man came, I was at the doctor's office with Caleb, just to be sure he was fine because he'd been throwing up after eating. Still pooping and peeing no problem, eating regulary, happy and content, but not sleeping as well at night. And he wasn't spitting up, but projectile-almost-emptying-his-stomach throwing up. He hadn't been too fussy and was still happy, so it was about 2 weeks this went on. I decided last Tuesday to take him in because Husband said he had a short period of time where it seemed like he was struggling with breathing - sounded to me from Husbands description that he was grunting, like a newborn who's lungs aren't quite mature and they start to tire. Caleb seemed fine in the a.m. when I fed him before going home to bed, but he wasn't his usual self when I picked him up. Mother's intuition said to take him in, just in case he's got RSV since my Fabulous new insurance refused to pay for the Synagis vaccines he was getting to prevent it. I really thought it'd be a pat on the shoulder, and an "He's just fine Mommy, quit worrying" kind of appointment since he wasn't really acting too sick. Nope. At almost 6 months, he's only 11lb 8 oz - the same as he was at his 4 month appt. That made Mommy completely freak out and bought us a pyloric sonogram, blood work and a urine sample. I also now know how they do a sweat test. And we get to see a pediatric GI doctor in a week. Yep, it's been, shall we say, a wee bit stressful here. I'd update more, but my bed is calling me after a long stressful night at work that included one true emergency.