Quilt for the Co-Worker

One of the girls at work has decided to stay home with her children during a difficult time. Her son will be going through a year (at least) long process of surgeries to repair his nose that was removed by a dog bite about a year ago (he was two years old). I am very sad to see her go. She has been a great support to our group of 5. She has great stories and is a good confidant. We have been planning for her departure for over a month and this Friday will be her last day.

I decided to take it upon myself to make her a signature quilt. I sent an email to all of the employees asking for signatures to quilt pieces. Out of about 105 employees, I received 50+ signatures. Only 3 offered to donate $, which I declined and referred them to the website that she posts updates on her son. The company didn't offer to cover costs, which I didn't expect. I am doing this all out of my own pocket. I wanted it to be a good quality quilt so I bought good quality materials totalling almost $100 for a little larger than a lap size quilt (large so she can cuddle underneath with both her boys).

My husband travels from time to time for his job. This is the first quilt project I've done since having the baby and it's really difficult to snag time. My goal was to have it done for today because we were all going out to lunch for a nice meal. Unfortunately, the quilt wasn't done. I am far enough along that I will have it done by Friday.

My whole point to this blog is to scream at how stupid people are. One of the ladies, who is not in our team of 5 but another group like ours, just emailed me. Her email...

Did you give her the quilt??
Where is it? Don’t we get to see it, since it is really from the whole company?

Is it really from the whole company? When the only thing you did was sign your name? You did not do one single stitch, select the material, offer one cent?

I originally thought it to be from the company... until I received her email. I guess it's the way her email comes across "since it is really from the whole company". It also has to do with the person that sent the email. Yeah, I don't know how to explain her but she just has a way of stricking a nerve. It's going to take me a little while to get over this comment. Just very ... not understanding to how much work I put into this?? I don't know... UGH IT. JUST. PISSES. ME. OFF!!!

6 Months

Well, today she is 6 months old. Wow! She is doing so much now.

• This past week she had her first taste of cereal. She loves it.


• She is almost sitting on her own, about a minute. Unless she gets excited and then it's two milliseconds.


• She found her toes.


• She has figured out how to roll around. I think she will soon realize that it will help her accomplish other tasks.


• And of course... she still loves to smile. It just warms your heart every day.

My peanut

It's hard to believe that it was a year ago this past week I found out I was pregnant. Now she's a little over 5 months old!

Friday we took DD to get her next round of vaccinations. It was supposed to be at 6 months but due to the way they schedule things in that office she's not even 5 1/2 months. Fortunately the time span from her last round was within the limits and she was able to get them any way. Daddy got to hold her feet this time. I wish there was a better way to do that. It just hurts me to have to be a part of that torture.

She also had her measurements taken. She was 23 inches (5th percentile), 12 lbs 10.5 oz (15th percentile), and 41 1/2 cm (50th percentile). I don't understand why they used a full term chart and her actual age to figure percentile. Shouldn't there be one for preemies?

The doc was impressed how she well she can sit and stand (assisted of course) and maintain great head control. She is rolling over now, which concerns the doc because of SIDS. I fully understand that but how do I control her from rolling over everytime I put her in the crib. She gets mad at me if I try to move her. At what point do you stop worrying?

The picture...

Sunday DH and I were at Babies 'R' Us doing some shopping. Within that store they have a photography studio so I said to DH that we should get DD's first pictures taken. He did remind me that it was close to feeding time. I thought she was going to be okay...thought. Well, we only were able to get one picture taken. Luckily it was a cute one and because she was less then 3 months old we got 12 birth announcements free! We didn't have to pay anything (except now I get emails from them daily).

Factor V Leiden

Okay, I was recently diagnosed with Factor V Leiden (hetero) and MTHFR (hetero). In reading material out there, I feel as if I am a walking time bomb. I've posted questions but nobody wants to answer me. I'm scared! Reading what some people have to do to monitor themselves makes my anxiety level rise. I don't want to have to worry about that. I just want to live my life like it was before I knew I had this. I am afraid of having a clot. Apparently a pulmonary embolism, DVT, and stroke are common. My mom had a clot after she had me but she was never tested. She was given blood thinners until the clot was gone. I'm sure didn't think twice that it could be caused by something like this. I told her and the rest of my family that they need to get tested. I don't think they believe that it's as serious as it really is. My dad's mom had a stroke when I was a child. Who knows if this was one of the underlying causes.

Feelings right now:
Anxiety
Fear
Sadness
Hope that someone will help
Hope that my loved ones will listen

I have a wonderful husband and beautiful daughter that I want to spend many, many, many more years with. I will find an answer... and it won't kill me.

The search is over...

Well, after a couple weeks of searching.... She finally found her thumb. The trial of the ring and middle finger didn't work, the index finger didn't work, Daddy's loved sucking position of the thumb knuckle didn't work. She finally found Mommy's fave, the thumb. We've been trying to avoid this little incident with giving her a pacifier but unfortunately those have a tendency to fall out. Nope, not the thumb. It's there, 24/7/365. Hummmm.... well we'll just have to wait and see how long she'll be interested in it. I didn't stop till I was about 6 or 7 (I do remember I was in first grade).

Yesterday

Yesterday, March 3rd, is DD's original due date. Who knew she would come almost 7 weeks early? I took her to see her nurse friends at the Special Care Unit. They were so excited to see her. She's gained almost 2 pounds since she left a month ago. I had to dress her in Buckeye gear because they all joked with DH about how much Buckeye gear he had. DD even had a little bracelet that they giggled about.

My pregnancy with DD was quite an experience. Even getting pregnant was more of a challange than I expected. It took us 10 months. After the first 6 months I called my OB and asked to see her. She told me that she would only see me after a year. Being as persistant as I am, I found a new OB. I had been charting my temperatures during those months and took them to the new OB. She said that with what she saw, I should have been pg. She ran some of the preliminary blood work, checking my thyroid levels and such. Everything came back normal. She even had DH tested (I still think he's a trooper for this). During that first visit I told her that I didn't think I had ever had chicken pox. Upon hearing this, she ordered me to get vaccinated which ment 3 months of taking time off from TTC. The last thing I discussed with her was some bladder issues I was having. After sending me to a gyno urologist, he sent me to physical therapy. WHAT?! PT for your bladder?!! Well, it worked. DH and I also believe that it helped us get pg too. I think every women should learn about taking care of their pelvic floor muscles.

I knew I was pg 3 days before it was to start. I didn't want to eat my dinner, which eatting any meal is a big deal for me. The night I finally got the BFP (Big Fat Positive) was after being at a dinner for my GF for her second baby shower. I came home and POAS (Peed On A Stick)...BFP!!! I immediately called DH to "check something out." I showed him the test and we both cried. It was awesome! Not at all the way I wanted to surprise him but the result was still great. Next on the list, who to tell and when.

A couple days later we left for vacation to Disney World. There we spent time with his sister, her BF and another friend of hers. We had a blast, luckily we didn't eat much with them so my disgust for food didn't show too much. We eventually decided to tell DH's sister. Well, let me put it this way, DH kept dropping hints but he wouldn't let me tell her. I finally had to yell at him and he said OK. LOL!! I think he wanted to tell her too. She was so excited to be an aunt. When we came home from vacation, we then told the grandparents by giving them bibs with "I Love Grandma/pa." This baby is the first grandchild on both sides. Can you say SPOILED?! LOL!!

We decided to wait till the common 12-week mark to tell the rest of the world. I did tell my boss because morning sickness struck at 6 weeks with avengance. I ended up having m/s till the 5th month with being on Zofran for the nausea the whole time. Boy was I glad that was over with, what could be worse than that? Hmmm....

Week 26, here comes the rash...OMG did it itch!! I have never had something itch so bad in my life. DH recalls waking up in the middle of the night to find me sitting on the edge of the bath tub just itching away. He says it was a bit disturbing. LOL!! I just wanted to itch my skin off it was so bad. The OB had blood work drawn for that to make sure it wasn't something related to my gall bladder. Luckily it wasn't. It started to clear up with some nice steroid cream.

Week 29... DH and I were at a wedding and I had to sit the whole time because I was having Braxton Hicks. Feet up, drinking water. It didn't really stop till I came home and went to bed. At 4 am I woke up in the middle of another contraction. I went to the bathroom, came back to bed and had another contraction. I sat there for a couple minutes and had another contraction. After a call to the OB, DH took me to the hospital. We spent about 4 hours in the OB ER triage when they admitted me. I tested positive for fetal fibronectin, which ment if I wasn't treated, I could deliver within a week or two. They put me on magnesium to stop the contractions. I would never wish magnesium on anyone. It makes you loopy, hot, and you can't drink! I was only allowed 90 cc of liquid every hour. My urine had to be measured to make sure I was letting out what I was putting in. I spent 5 days in the hospital before they sent me home with a turbutaline pump.

The turbutaline pump was the ticket home. Unfortunately it ment bedrest and monitoring at least twice a day. Luckily with my bedrest, I was allowed to go downstairs and sit on the couch during the day. I had to put a contraction monitor on my belly twice a day. If my contractions were more then 6 an hour I had to take an extra dose of T and monitor again. In the beginning it was a trial period to see the level of my tolerance for the meds. Because of that trial period, I was monitoring, what seemed like, 12 hours a day. It finally became level after about 5 days. On the 5th day I had to change the pump site. For a person who hates needles, this was a difficult task. One of the nurses came out to help me, we arranged this before I even left the hospital. After some shaking and blubbering, I finally did it. I was a little more comfortable after I did it a couple more times.

During my weeks on bedrest my blood pressure started to rise. This was no way a result of the turbutaline (which makes your heart race). After multiple daily readings of my BP, the OB ran some more blood work. Now, the blood work taken in November for my rash showed my liver enzymes at 16 -very good. In January my liver enzymes were over 100! That sent up a red flag. The next thing they had me do is a 24-hour urine collection. CAN YOU SAY YUCK!! I had to collect my pee for 24-hours and keep it refrigerated!!!! UGH!!! It still gives me the willies just thinking about it. (LOL!! I just realized that we have a new fridge now. Hehehe. Not because of that reason but it's a good one!!) My count came up to 297 and 300 is concidered toxemic. Needless to say, I was put in the hospital again for survaillence. My BP came down a little in the hospital so they sent me home again. That was on Friday, I was sent back on Monday to be induced because my BP at one point was 164/110! Looking back at how I felt then and how I feel today, I was pretty ill. The headache was bad and seeing stars is a big no-no. I was put on mag again but this time it was to keep me from the posibility of having seizures because I was now diagnosed with pre-eclampsia.

Let me back track for just a second, remember I said that I was a person who didn't like needles? Okay, when they originally admitted me it was just for monitoring. My OB talked to a high risk OB and then it was decided to induce me. That leads to I.V.s... it took 4 trys before they could get the I.V. in me. I was so bruised. Once again... I HATE NEEDLES!!

What you see on "The Baby Story" don't believe. You can't have a baby in a 1/2 hour. After I came home I started to watch the clock on the wall in those delivery rooms. It ticks on and on for sometimes hours.... Anyways... Monday night I was giving Cervidil. Tuesday morning the Cervidil was removed and Pitocin was started about 10 am. At 11:30 I was only 2 cm but they decided to break my water to get things going. Early afternoon I was about 3 cm and in so much pain I asked for the epidural. Again, back to "The Baby Story", those women all seem to be about 5 or 6 cm when they ask for the epi. I told the nurse that I can't because I'm only 3 cm. She proceeded to tell me "Honey, you are on pitocin, take the epidural". During this time of wait, the baby's heartrate was starting to drop. It seemed like every nurse and dr rushed in and watched me. I was repeatedly to told to shift positions to get the rate back up. Come to find out later that the cord was around her neck.

Around 5:30 pm things started to progress. I suddenly felt as if the baby was going to fall out. They called the OB and she arrived at 6:00 pm. Since I was early and had pre-e, I had to be moved to an operating room just in case a C-section was needed. I pushed for an hour. Back to "The Baby Story," pushing is not the same. It looks like you will push for 10 seconds, wait about 10 seconds and then push again. Nope. You push for 10 seconds with the contraction. After the contraction is the wait to the next contraction. Tick Tock Tick Tock. During this wait the doctors talk about the meetings that they just had or what their vacation was like. "Um, excuse me... I'm lying here on a table with my legs going in completely opposite directions showing my goods to the world and you are talking about your vacations? Shouldn't we be doing something, like deliver my baby?" It was not what I expected. DD was born at 7:03 pm. My nurse was happy because she was able to see my baby be born, her shift was over at 7 pm.

DD was in the Special Care Unit of the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks. When she was born she weighed in at 4 lbs 15 oz and was 18 inches long. I thought that if the baby was 5 lbs she would be sent home. That's not the case. A premature baby doesn't know how to suck. It's one of the last things that is developed inutero. It took her that long to figure out how to take a bottle which gets frustrating because you want your little one home with you. During her time at the hospital, she was also treated for jaundice. That's another thing that delayed her coming home.
She is now home and doing very well. We love our baby girl and couldn't imaging life without her. I did find out that what could have been the cause of the pre-e is that I have two blood clotting factors. I have to take folic acid and baby aspirin for the rest of my life. When we decide to have another baby, I will have to have heparin (blood thinner) injections daily during the pregnancy. It's all worth it, even though I don't like needles.

Motherhood

Who knew that this beautiful little bundle could soak up all the time in the day? I am awake by 7:30 am and dog tired by 7:30 pm. Her feeding schedule is 1, 4, 7, and 10 am and pm (I take the 1 and 4 am feedings). Cleaning bottles and changing diapers. Trying to figure out what her crying is about. How do you interact with at 6 week old that was premature? What am I supposed to be doing with her? Today she woke up at 3 pm very fussy and oh so gassy. I got her calmed down by putting her in the Snugglie and walking around. She ate at 4. After her bottle, I held her in a sitting position on my lap till DH came home and we decided on what to make for dinner. By that time she had been up for 3 hours total. If I didn't have her in my lap, she would fuss. She just wanted to look around. What do you do for 3 hours? Make funny noises. Talk to her. Sing to her. It's amazing how time flies and you feel like you've accomplished nothing that you wanted to do in the day but loved every minute of what you did do... play with your daughter.