A Single Woman's Journey To Motherhood

Name: Katrina
Location: Washington, United States

I began my TTC journey in January 2005. It finally worked with the 5th IUI! Join me as I know explore motherhood! If you stop by, please leave me a short note! I like to know when I have visitors. :) [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/] [img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/2;10723;93/st/20060303/n/Eliana/dt/-3/k/a291/age.png[/img] [/url]

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Update on Jacob

Well, after I posted, I got a call from the NICU that the nurse practitioner wanted to speak with me. They are concerned that he has been running a slight fever the past few days and his platelet count is low (50). They have run all sorts of tests and have not found any infection, but they have started treating him for an infection anyways. He is in isolation now, meaning to come into his room you have to wear a gown and gloves and leave them before you leave the room. They want to run a spinal tap to rule out an infection in his spinal fluid, but that has not been run yet.

The good news is that Jacob's blood sugars have been stable the past few days and they are trying to wean him from the IV, though he still gets much/most of his feedings through the feeding tube. I suppose after he is weaned from the IV, that would be the next step to get him to eat more from the breast or bottle...

It has not been as simple as I thought, and the stress is really starting to weigh on me. Today was extra hard as it is Mother's day, plus it was the day he was supposed to be induced...

Continued prayers are appreciated.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Jacob is here!

As some of you may know, I had been quite concerned about things last week...well, went to my NST on Monday (May 5th), and within 15 minutes the nurse said, I think you are having this baby today. The OB concurred, however the problem was that I had taken my Heparin just before the NST (they were both due at 3:00pm). The OB didn't think Jacob could tolerate labour, so preparations were made for an emergency c-section. By 5:30 I was given protamine to reverse the Heparin, by 7:30 I was in the OR and at 8:04 he was born. Jacob let out a very angry cry, and then stopped breathing. There was also meconium in the amniotic fluid. The NICU was at his birth and worked on him quickly to restore his breathing. They showed him to me briefly, then whisked him down to the NICU. He was placed on CPAP to help with his breathing and since his glucose was way too low (11 I think..), they started an umbilical cord line (the medical types will know the correct term) of glucose. His blood sugar level got as level as 7 at one point...I didn't get to see him until 10:00am on Tuesday. He was off CPAP by Wednesday, but his blood sugars continue to be a big problem. He is so sleepy and he doesn't want to eat..so they started a feeding tube yesterday (Thursday). Today, he is starting to eat a tiny little bit by breast and bottle, and hopefully he will start learning to regulate his blood sugars soon and to eat...I am hopeful that he will be home by the end of next week...the doctors won't give me a timeline, so that is just my own hope. They had originally said 4-14 days...so we will see.

I am home as of tonight and trying to recover from a c-section. I wanted to avoid one at all costs and this has been confirmed LOL. I much much preferred the recovery from a vaginal delivery, but he had to come out and it had to be then. The neonatalogist at his birth told me he would not have made a vaginal delivery, so it was definitely the right choice.

I am really tired, quite sore, and heading to bed. I have some pictures but haven't downloaded them yet.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Made a trip to Labour and Delivery today...

I have been stuck with this nasty nausea and diarrhea for days now...I felt incredibly awful at school all morning and when I went to the bathroom just before lunch, I had some more explosive diarrhea...accompanied with what seemed a huge gush of something. I was a little worried since I had peed like only maybe 30 minutes before and most of the time I pee these days, it is annoying to feel like you have to pee so much and only a trickle comes out. I went to lunch, bought my lunch and just sat and stared at it. I couldnt bring myself to eat it, I felt so nauseous and dazed and confused (likely my blood sugar was way too low), and concerned that perhaps my water had broken and that I hadn't switched from Lovenox to Heparin yet, etc..Eventually, a coworker (who had preterm labour with her twins) convinced me it would be better to be safe than sorry, and I left school and went to L&D. They tested for amniotic fluid, and it was negative...so I guess I just peed. They kept me for about 3.5 hours hooked up to the baby monitors because Jacob was not behaving with the impromptu NST. There weren't many decels (I think maybe one), but he wasn't being "reactive". Eventually, they let me go but reminded me to keep all appointments.

I have taken Wednesday off of school, but think I will try and go in Thursday for sure since I can't get my long term sub that day (she has a prior subbing committment). I haven't made a decision on Friday yet which was to be my last day anyway...

This nausea is really getting to me...I can handle the diarrhea though I do think I am getting dehydrated as I just cant seem to keep my mouth wet..but it's the nausea that is really getting to me. It all started Friday night, so it has been quite a while now. I got a prescription from the OB Monday night for it, but it made it worse and I actually threw up in bed..ugh. I know that I don't have much right to complain since I avoided the morning sickness at the beginning of both of my pregnancies, but I don't know how to live with this...accompanied by an insane amount of gigantic burps...Don't I just sound so lady-like right now??

And since I am grumbling about everything, let me also add that I have a lovely cold...so my chest muscles are so sore from blowing my nose...I can just imagine how sore I would be if I went into labour anytime soon...

If you made it this far, thanks for listening. :)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Jacob has received his eviction notice!

First off, thank you to everyone for your kind comments below. Things have thankfully fallen into place for a sub. I never did hear from Human Resources which is just plain strange, but thankfully my department head had the email address for one candidate and eventually gave it to me. (why she couldn't have given it to me on Friday so I wouldnt have had to spend the whole weekend stressing...is beyond me). I met with the candidate today and "hired" her. Honestly, I have no idea how one shoudl really go about doing these things, but I was at the point where I am pretty sure anybody who was "capable" would do. LOL. Hopefully she will end up being a great choice. :)

I still don't know what I am doing for bottles...I guess I have decided to replace them, although I really would rather just use my Avent ones...I was leaning towards the Born Free bottles, but I read somewhere that they had a lot of parts, and that will just annoy me...I likely will end up going with the playtex drop-ins, but I want to check out the evenflo bottles first (the nipples look small from the pictures online and I am not sure if they will be good for a breastfeeding baby...) They would be the cheapest choice, and simple...so that would be great if they worked. :)

And, as my title said, I have an official eviction date for Jacob. If he does not decide to make his appearance beforehand, he will be induced on Mother's day, May 11th. I would rather go into labour on my own, but I am not too hopeful since I didn't with Eliana either...

I had an ultrasound on Monday, and Jacob is ALREADY (as of 35w2d) measuring bigger than Eliana was at birth (38w0d)! yikes! He is estimated at 6lb11oz. The OB predicted today that he would be about 8 pounds at birth...I guess that is a "normal" weight, but compared to Eliana, that just seems so huge!

Once Jacob arrives, it will take a while for me to update, since I will be in the hospital for around 3 days after delivery due to the clotting issues...what a long time. I found it so boring last time, and I suspect i will again...even more so as I will be hooked up to an IV for a few days after delivery...argh.

OK, well, I am exhausted and heading to bed. Have a wonderful night everyone!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Stressed

I am having a lot of stress this weekend and just need to vent somewhere.

On Friday, I found out that my student teacher did not pass her exam (again) and so will not be eligible to be my sub. Very sad since it would have been the best situation for everyone..she knows the kids, knows how our classroom works, etc. So now, I am stuck trying to find someone on my own and I dont even begin to know how to do this. On top of that, I had pretty much planned to stop work on May 2nd (two weeks) since I switch to Heparin on April 30th and will need to go in for daily blood tests 4 hours after one of my 3 shots to check dosage...that on top of my daily appoitnments, etc...and I just didnt think I could handle working all day on top of that. So again, this leaves me only 2 weeks to find someone..and the only work day between now and May 2nd that I DONT have an appoitnment immediately after school is April 29th, and I had hoped to spend that day meeting with a sub to go over how things work in my room and where we are at, etc...My department head seems to have no interest AT ALL in helping other than she gave me a list of 5 subs she knows who speak Spanish. No contact information for them, so I coudlnt do any of that this weekend...and then when I said I dont know when I am going to ahve time for this, she just said "I dont have time either". Very, very stressed...I am SO glad that I have pushed my kids all year to be ahead of where I am usually...because it could be that they get no instruction for these last 6 weeks of school...I honestly feel like going to my OB appoitnment this week and asking to be put on leave now, just so I dont have to deal with this...but I cant do that..

Second, I am stressed over bottles. I had planned on using the same bottles I used with Eliana which were highly recommended for breastfeeding moms and ELiana went back and forth between breast and bottle without a single problem...but now they say they are bad and have BPA...I dont know what to do instead and for some reason it seems just overwhelming to decide on a new bottle. Not to mention expensive since I have a ton of bottles! And I never heated her bottles anyway, so not sure how much of a concern it really is...

And third, just very emotional right now. yesterday while organizing clothes in Jacob's room I came across a bag that my mom had left of new clothes she bought and brought down at Spring break "in case someone gave me a shower". I feel so sad that I am not having a shower for this baby...Eliana had 5 showers and was so wanted and loved and anticipated, I feel like it is just not fair for this little guy. And at work last week someone asked me if I was having a shower and it was so awkward...I mean, noone organizes their OWN shower, so how would that happen??

OK, thanks for letting me vent.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

the 31st week of pregnancy

I just completed my 31st week of pregnancy, meaning I am now 31weeks0d. Not sure why I was never able to get the ticker to show up properly in the header up there...

It was an exhausting week. On Monday, I had a parent conference after school, followed by an appointment with the tax accountant, run home to eat dinner, and then back to the babysitter's so that I could babysit her daughter while they went to church. She and her husband sing in the choir and had to sing for the reconciliation mass...she got home around 11:15...I was exhausted. My plan had been to fall asleep on their couch after the girls got to bed (I left Eliana there when I left since it didnt make sense to wake her up to put her back to bed to wake her up in the morning to drop her off...), but their dog barked the ENTIRE night and I couldnt sleep more than about 15-20 minutes. argh.

Tuesday, I had my NST after school. Thankfully, it was uneventful.

Wednesday, I had my OB appointment. My blood pressure was a little up, 130something over 70something, from just the day before at my NST. My OB was out so I saw someone else..it was a woman, and I felt more comfortable asking her questions, and I asked her about circumcision because I am still undecided. She wouldnt answer thing, however, other than basic questions about how much it costs and when they do it. I even said, "if you were having a son, would you circumcise him?" but she said that was a personal decision..frustrating. I am asking not in judgement, but because I really wanted to know what a "respected" "informed" person thought... When I asked my ped, he had no difficulty talking to me about it and told me that he "marginally recommended it"...I am just not sure that "marginal" is enough to take something away from a person who has no say in it with no compelling reason... Anyway, she also increased one of ym diabetes meds. I half expected to be put on insulin...hopefully it will work. It didnt look like it was working, but then agian, I ate horribly for dinner (pizza one night and Mcdonalds the other...this is what happens when I have all these darn appoitnments and get home so late!), but my after dinner numbers the past two days with homemade chicken fajitas has been good. My lunch numbers still leave something to be desired though...

Thursday, I had another growth ultrasound. Jacob seems to be doing well...he was estimated at 3pounds 13ounces. Not sure where that relates, but I think from the few week equivalents that I saw that he is now probably about 1 week ahead instead of 2...

Looking forward to a much more relaxed week next week with only one appointment..my weekly NST on Wed. The following week is spring break, and I convinced my mom to come out to help watch Eliana during my many appointments taht week (one a day Tuesday-Friday!) and hopefully to help me get Jacob's room to actually BE his room and not the guest/storage room...

Also looking forward to Easter tomorrow. Today, I took Eliana to an Easter egg hunt at one of my churches. She had a great time picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. We came home, and she slept for almost 4 hours!! After supper tonight, we coloured Easter eggs too which she thought was a lot of fun...especially since we put stickers on them too. LOL. Tomorrow, we may go to church if we get up early enough (the service is at 8!), it is followed by a breakfast and egg hunt so i think she would like that. If we don't get up early enough, we might to the other church (the one that had the egg hunt today) because I wouldnt mind seeing their Easter program, and I know she always enjoys their children's church. Whatever we do in the morning, I am hoping I can get her to haev a decent nap before we head over to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner and a visit from the Easter bunny. :)

Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate!

Oooo..a tunnel!


Easter egg hunt 008
Originally uploaded by kajohn345

Easter egg hunt 005


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Originally uploaded by kajohn345
I found some!

Let's go get some eggs!


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Originally uploaded by kajohn345
We went to an easter egg hunt at one of my churches (I mostly attend one and go to this one for activities LOL). Eliana was quite excited about the prospect of candy inside of the eggs!

Peek a boo!


Eliana 2 birthday 2008 078
Originally uploaded by kajohn345
Playing peek a boo in one of her favourite birthday gifts..a teepee from Patty and Gil!

Opening birthday gifts..


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Originally uploaded by kajohn345
Anna is happy to help! :)

An Elmo cake for me?!


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Originally uploaded by kajohn345
As she tries to contain herself..

Eliana's 2 year birthday cake


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Originally uploaded by kajohn345
Last year it was Care Bear, and this year, Elmo. I think my technique is getting a little better..:)

Happy birthday girl!


Mmmm..cake!

These are Eliana's 2 year pictures from JC Penney's. She loved that little cake and after we were done taking pictures with it, she refused to do anymore unless we gave her the cake back! LOL.

Mama and Eliana


Take three..

OK, I have tried posting pictures two times from Flickr and it hasn't worked...third times the charm, right?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Second NST

Had my second NST last night (I am on weekly NSTs now until 32 weeks when they go twice weekly). Baby was doing great for the first 25 minutes, and then started to have some decels like my daughter always had...so I was monitored for about 75 minutes and then they sent me for a biophysical profile. He didnt want to cooperate with that either until the very last second..we got the first parts of the test right away (fluid level, movement), but the "practice breathing" took 25 minutes to find...finally, he did it and he got 8/8 so I was sent home...Grrr...I have never found these NONstress tests to be anything but stressful! LOL

In other news, Eliana is off in Yakima with the babysitter until Friday..she left on Tuesday. I miss her. :(