9 month update

***This is a late-posting update that I started a month ago (since Louisa is just about 10 months old now).  There are things that are out-of-date that I'm not changing because this is my version of a baby book.  I'm trying to keep things as we knew them to be at the time (if that makes any sense.).***

Height: ???

Weight: 16 pounds, 6 oz.  To give you a comparison, this is about what Alice weighed at 6 months old.

Clothing size: 3-6 months, still. 

Medical: Louisa started physical therapy this month and promptly earned a referral for occupational therapy.  She has a complete meltdown when you try to touch her feet.  She'll go on tip toes, but woe to you if you try to make her place both feet entirely on the floor.  She also dislikes going hand over hand and generally being made to do anything.  She has screamed through every single PT session so far.  OT will deal with her sensory issues so that PT can do their job of helping her with gross motor.  So far PT has only been able to do sensory things with Louisa.

Food, the good: well, we have found one food Louisa will tolerate....  zucchini!  Hooray for zucchini!  Tim planted two mounds of zucchini in our garden to celebrate. 

Food, the bad: we have to go really slow with zucchini.  We first tried 2 oz a day.  That was a disaster.  We dropped to 1 oz, then 1 oz every other day and that seems to be okay.  Eventually we will get her up to 1-1/2 oz every other day and then maybe attempt to move to every day.

Food, the ugly: Louisa didn't gain any weight for 6 weeks, according to the scale in the GI's office.  I think she gained and lost the same 2 oz a few times.  Still, she's pretty much stagnated.  This likely means she will have to go back on overnight g tube feedings.  We are attempting to raise the calorie concentration in her formula first, but last time we did that she started continuously dumping.  She has had a few bottles of the new concentration now and I have to admit I am unimpressed.  Dumping and retching.  Yay.  We'll give it a shot, though.   

Favorite things: 60mL syringes.  (File that one under "you know you're not in Kansas anymore when..."), her bunny snuggly blanket thing, pacifiers (which she finds and sticks in her mouth herself now), my lap - Lou still prefers my lap to anything else.  I've surrendered to this and embraced not getting a whole lot done.  At some point she'll be off and running and won't want the snuggles.

Milestones: Louisa is developing her pincer grasp.  Specifically, she delights in pulling out Tim's chest hair.  She can sit well now and has recently started putting her hands in front of her and rocking while sitting.  She's managed to get one leg behind her, but gets royally ticked off because she is then stuck.  She still has not really rolled over in either direction and she is nowhere near getting to sitting from lying down.  She'll get there.

The other big milestone is that we moved Louisa to her crib.  We had her in her cradle up until a few weeks ago, primarily because I was terrified of not having her right next to me.        

8 month update

Louisa is 8 months old!

Height: somewhere around 25 inches.  Maybe slightly taller.  She is a shortcake.
Weight: 16 pounds
Size: 3-6 month.  She is wearing some 6-9 and some 6-12 because that is what we have for summer clothes.  Those are large on her, though.

Development: Louisa is starting to be able to sit, as long as you put her in a sitting position and sit behind her to catch her when she pitches one way or the other.  We are working on hands and knees with her (crawling position), too, which she enjoys doing.  Both these things tire her out.  She enjoys rolling to her side now, too.  (Not rolling over yet.)  Diaper changes feel like a wrestling match now. 

Her fine motor skills are great.  She enjoys using her developing pincer grasp to rip people's leg hair and chest hair out.

No teeth yet, but they are coming.

Medically: I will cautiously say that she is doing alright.  The biggest battle we are waging right now is with food.  Louisa dumps, which is a relatively common side effect of the fundoplication surgery, especially in children.  To help with her dumping, we have been adding medium chain triglyceride oil to her bottles.  This has been helping to slow her system down.

Solids remain a frustration.  We tried solids when Lou was six months old.  She was on a restricted diet designed for babies who are likely to have severe food allergies.  It didn't go well.  She didn't tolerate anything we gave her.  Dr. S further modified the diet (taking her dumping into account) and we started again right before she turned 8 months.  Again, it went horribly, well, at least the first food has.

Here are the foods we can try to feed Louisa:
oats (fail)
turkey
veal
lamb
spinach
 

She is on a high protein / low carb / medium fat / severe allergy diet.  No sugar, no grains, no fruit.

Mommy milestones: I have replaced Louisa's g-tube by myself.  Twice.  The first time, the balloon shredded and the whole thing came out.  Of course it happened while LJ was having a bottle.  Picture a Baby Alive, only with the liquid squirting out a hole in their stomach.  Horrifying.  The second time Louisa decided that her button was a fantastic plaything and yanked it right out of her belly.  This also marks the first time I have said "NO" sternly to Lou and the first time she has cried because I told her no.  It had to happen sometime.         

7 month update

Louisa is 7 months old.   (She will be 8 months old in 4 days....  Like I said, I do these in bits and snippets.)

Height: 25 inches
Weight: 15-1/2 pounds
Size: 3-6 month

Favorite things: Alice, Tim, and me.  She is firmly in her stranger danger phase.  She also enjoys her wooden keys and chewing on Sophie the Giraffe.

Developmental Stuff: Not much new to report.  She is babbling more and experimenting with volume, both loud and soft.  We were joking around with her the other day because one of the medicines she takes is used as a supplement for body builders.  We said, "Louisa, are you a beefcake?" and every time we asked her she made this strange growling noise in response and tensed herself, like a wrestler showing off their muscles.

She holds her bottle herself now all the time.  She likes to pat your face while you hold her, which is one of the most heart-melting things ever.  She also loves to pull hair while screaming like a yeti, which is not the most heart-melting thing ever.
  

6 Months Old

*Edited to say - Louisa will be 7 months old on Saturday...  I wrote much of this over the course of this past month and, while some of it no longer applies I want to keep the post as it is to document her babyhood as it happens. 

My noodle is half-way through babyhood, sniff, sniff!

Height: 63.5 cm (25 inches)
Weight: 13-1/2 pounds
Size: 3-6 month.  Some is huge on her still.  0-3 still fits her and sometimes I'll put her in that, but, to be honest, I was getting a little bit tired of her 0-3's and realized that the weather was about to get too warm for fuzzy sleepers, and we got a bunch of super cute wintery 3-6 month size clothes as gifts, so....  3-6 month it is!

Milestones: shrieking, laughing, interacting...  She is doing a TON of drooling right now.  The teeth are coming!  She has also started really grabbing for things.  She continues to be my happy-go-lucky girl.    

I suppose I ought to talk about her lack of typical milestones too.  She isn't rolling over or sitting.  She can't lift her head off the ground when she's on her belly.  She is really stiff in the middle and doesn't like to bend (to sit, for example).  All this is typical of a baby with severe reflux.  They move with comfort in mind, and comfort means arching and making their esophagus as long as possible.  It would be miraculous if she didn't have delays.  Dr. S has referred her for a PT eval, and a lady with the state early intervention services came out the the house this past week.  It was an intake visit - the official assessment will take place in the next few weeks.  She did say that she didn't anticipate there being any problem getting Louisa covered since she has failure to thrive, which is a diagnosis that automatically qualifies her for state-covered services.   

Giant accomplishments: This month Louisa graduated from the apnea monitor.  This is HUGE.  And slightly scary for Tim and I.  We know she is ready to be off of it but at the same time it is hard to give up that safety net.

Louisa is also taking all of her calories by mouth.  If she is sick, we use the tube.  Otherwise she gets bottles.

Louisa started solids in feeding therapy this week.  I won't sugar coat it - it's rough.  She gags when the empty spoon touches her lips.  I do feeding therapy once a day with her at home.  We have been feeding her with alternate objects - teethers that she enjoys, for example, and then we try to offer the spoon.  Sophie the giraffe does a fine job.  We dip her head in peaches and hand her over to Louisa to explore.  The first time we did this, L put Sophie in her mouth, gagged on the peaches and then gave Sophie a very concerned look as if to say, "Soph, I don't know what you got on your head, but you really ought to take a bath."

Right now we are not expecting Louisa to gain anything nutritional from solids.  It is a learning experience.  Like everyone, L has good days and bad days.  A few days ago, after munching on Sophie's head for a few minutes, I offered up a spoon fully expecting rejection and she completely shocked me by grabbing it and shoving it into her mouth.  Yesterday she wouldn't even let Sophie come near her mouth and cried when she caught sight of the spoon.  Kids don't accomplish things once and then have mastery.  It's a process.  We are on Louisa's timetable with feeding.

It's difficult for me to describe just how much of a struggle all this has been, how exhausting it is, and how completely alien.  With Alice, we simply fed her.  Sure, we had instructions about which kind of formula to use and how to introduce solids, but we were pretty much on our own.  Louisa has four medical professionals giving us instructions on how to feed her, and often times they don't agree with each other on how we should proceed.  There are times when I am worn out from playing therapist at home.  We make Louisa struggle, and while it is for her own good, it is difficult for all of us.       

5 months old

My goal is to get these on the blog before she turns the next month old, lol.  I don't get a whole lot of computer time these days.

5 months old....

Weight: almost 12 pounds

Height: ???  24 inches?  25 inches?  Somewhere around there.

Size: Louisa is starting to outgrow her 0-3 month size clothes.  I'm putting her in 3-6 month size now (mostly) but quite a few are still ridiculously big.  Her fluffy cloth diapered bottom helps fill things out.  Depending on how quickly she grows, we have things that she may not grow into before the weather warms up.  I was guessing she would line up with the sizes at her age or sooner - so she would wear 0-3 months until Nov or Dec, 3-6 months until Feb, etc.  I never expected to have such a peanut.  If she stays on her current growth curve she will not outgrow 3-6 month size clothes until she is a year old, adjusted.

Favorite things: Alice.  She is FASCINATED by Alice.  She loves to watch her and play with her.  Alice, luckily, is head over heels for Louisa most of the time.

Development: Louisa has learned to use her hands.  She reaches and grabs things now: my hair, her hair, her bottle, toys.  She will also grab her pacifier and plop it in and out of her mouth.

She has also started vocalizing more with growls and shrieks.

Health:  Doing well!  After spending $$$ on various bottles, we discovered that the one with the slowest flow is the cheap-o Playtex with the drop-in liners.  This is the only bottle that Louisa doesn't choke on.  She is doing amazingly well with learning to eat again.  For now she is averaging about 2/3 of her calories by mouth with the rest going through her g-tube at night.  When we don't use her tube at all for 3 months, we will be allowed to have it taken out.  We still use it quite a bit to vent her (let the air out of her tummy) because she cannot burp.  I would also like to see her do some catch-up growth before it comes out.  I would hate to get it out and then turn around and need it put back.  So, we are not in a hurry to get the tube out - I'm guessing somewhere between her birthday and Thanksgiving.

Next month we plan to start solids (eek!).  Louisa's pediatrician and nutritionist came up with a very specific plan for us to follow with solids.  Essentially she is on a progression of foods they recommend for babies who are allergic to everything, minus anything that is constipating (no applesauce, rice, bananas, etc.).  We will work with the feeding therapist when we start her on solids.

She's got some developmental delays with gross motor skills.  The referral for PT is coming.  We have been waiting until we are fairly certain that she will qualify for state-funding (a 40% delay or greater).  We have also been busy working on oral-motor.  She is a baby, after all.  Don't want to stress her out with too much school.
 

4 months

Wow.  4 months?!  Crazy.  I'll still be updating Louisa's Caring Bridge site but I thought I'd come back "home" for the more mundane things that are going on with our family.  Mundane is good.  : )

She is doing well.  The big news this month is that she is learning to eat from a bottle again.  This is a process and her success varies by the feeding.  She's had a few choking episodes which scare her badly (us, too!) but thus far she has been willing to keep at it and try again the next feeding.  She is scheduled for another modified upper GI (aka a swallow study) on Feb 5th to check for aspiration.  Tim and I are on the fence about this one.  I'm going to talk to her feeding therapist to see if she thinks it is really necessary.  We should probably just go ahead and do it.  I hate it, though.

At our last GI appointment we were told that when we go 3 months without using the g tube at all, she can have it removed.  His goal for her is for it to be out at the end of July - so, 6 months.  I think that might be optimistic.  I'm hoping for her to graduate from the tube by Thanksgiving.  Right now L is getting about 75% of her feedings through the tube.  We also use it heavily for venting (letting gas out of her tummy since she cannot burp.).  As she starts to transition to solid foods I expect we won't have to vent as much.  For now I can't imagine not being able to let the air out of my baby.

The biggest hurdle right now is growth.  Louisa is little.  She's 11-1/2 pounds, give or take, and about 24 inches tall. 

Caring Bridge site for Louisa

I've started a Caring Bridge site for Louisa.  I decided to update there rather than here because it is easier for me to post updates via my phone on that site.  Since she will be in the hospital for several days, being able to post updates with my phone is critical.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/louisajane


There is a "donate" button on the caring bridge page.  Please know that if you donate, it goes to fund caring bridge.  It does NOT go to us.  (There was some confusion about this, which is why I mention it.)

Two Months

Louisa is two months old!  She has just started social smiling - holy moly is she adorable.  She will look at you intensely and then break into a huge grin.  She's been sticking her tongue out, too.

Weight: I'm guessing around 9 pounds.  She has her well-check on Thursday - I'll edit that in then.

Height: Tall.  Last week in the hospital she was 90th percentile for height.

Size: 0-3 month.  Her NB and "large" preemie clothes fit but since she's connected to things I prefer to put her in clothes that are a little bit baggier.

Favorite things: her pacifiers.  We have three different kinds that we rotate.  Since she is not taking anything by mouth now I have really been pushing the pacifiers.  I want her to be okay with having something in her mouth and not to get hooked on any one type.  This way if we are able to ditch the tube and go back to bottle feeding she'll be able to adapt faster.  (That's my theory, anyway.)  Louisa also LOVES a lap.  It doesn't matter much whose lap she's on just so long as she's snuggled up to someone.

Least favorite things: being put down, being on her back.  Louisa is still battling the GERD monster.  The NJ tube and prevacid have helped minimally.  We are able to put her on her back to change her diaper without being afraid that she will choke.  Otherwise her symptoms are much the same.  At this point someone is holding her 18+ hours a day, usually more like 20 hours.  We have people come over to hold her so that I can get up for an hour or so.  Alice also likes to hold her.   

Well, it's been a week.  I'm going to write this in list form because I have a limited amount of baby-free time.

- Louisa was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday for GERD directly from her appointment with the gastroenterologist.  Yup, hospitalized for reflux.  This is the King Kong of reflux, though.  On the bell curve, she is faaaaaar to the right in severity, as you will see. 

- Louisa had an NJ tube placed on Halloween.  This is to preserve her lungs (because she was aspirating) and to give the doctors a good chance at finding a medicine that will help her.

- Tube will be in for 4-6 weeks and then we'll see.  Options are as follows: 1. she gets the tube out and resumes bottle feeding.  2. She keeps the NJ for a little bit longer.  3. She needs surgery and gets a more permanent tube placed in her stomach.  3-1/2. We put the surgery off but she gets the more permanent tube placed in her stomach.


- She is now on Elecare.  It will cost $120 a WEEK.  Pray that insurance covers it.

- Louisa is on a heart / lung monitor 21 hours a day (we take 3 hours off in the morning.).  She is seeing a pulmonologist who we LOVE.

- She is still quite a little snuggle bug.  I don't think you could find a sweeter baby.

- We are doing okay.  We have had lots of help from our church and from our friends and that has made an enormous difference.

Here are some pictures.


My beautiful girls.


"I'm home and I'm beautiful!"


Sitting in the bouncy for the first time without screaming.  Hip hip hooray!!!


Home health gave us the pump and everything that goes along with it....  except for a backpack.  They were out of backpacks.  My options were to be tied to home until the backpacks came in or to make my own.  I made my own.  (We've got places to go and people to see!)  This is the Toddler Backpack pattern by Made By Rae.  It was fast and easy.

I modified it a little bit to work with a feeding pump:

Bound buttonholes for the tubing to come out and a loop of webbing with a snap to hold coiled up extra tubing.


I changed the loop at the top so that I can snap it to the stroller handle.


A loop of webbing that snaps on the inside to hold the bag of formula.

We took it for a spin yesterday and it worked well and was stylish to boot.  If you've got to be hooked up to crazy hardware, best to do it in style.  When I take L to the pulmonologist on Wednesday I'll try to get a picture of her setup in the stroller.


  

Wool pants!

Louisa is now 6 weeks old / one week old adjusted age.  Still a snuggle bunny.  She has gotten big enough that we are starting to transition her into cloth diapers.  I've got pockets (which don't fit her that well still), a few fitteds (which are surprisingly great.  I'm going to sew a few more and hope that I love them as much as the "real" ones I bought used.), and 2 dozen newborn prefolds with snappis.  For covers we have fallen in love with wool.  We are NOT in love with the price of wool, though!  I do not blame the WAHM's at all for charging what they charge for knitting up longies, but we can't swing paying that to keep Louisa in pants.  I scored a few wool covers and a pair of longies on consignment for not too much $$.  My mom has knit up a cover for us (yay!) and I'm starting to sew some out of sweaters we have picked up at thrift stores.  Here is my first pair of sewn wool longies.


Ugly sweater.  When we picked it up it took us a minute to figure out which was the neck hole.


Louisa in her new cute wool pants and Halloween top.  The pants pattern is Fishsticks Designs Little One Layette.  Her top was my first applique project with my embroidery unit.  Louisa is looking big, isn't she?!  She's pretty much outgrown the preemie stuff.  The onesie she has on is newborn size and I made the pants 0-3 month.  The pants are large - all the better to fit her longer!    

4 Weeks Old / -1 Week Adjusted

Tomorrow Louisa will be 4 weeks old.  I can't believe that it's already been 4 weeks.  It's strange to think that my due date is not for another week.

Stats-
Weight: 7 pounds
Height: 19-1/2 inches
Size: preemie and a few newborn things are starting to fit
Things she likes: Mommy!  Nursing, but only when she is calm.  Being held.  Being swaddled.
Things she dislikes: Anything that involves being flat on her back: Louisa's got some wicked GERD going on.  Her car seat.  Baths.


Alice reading to Louisa


That is my sock on Louisa's hand.  She was mesmerized by the colors (says big sister).


The Lazy Trinity


At my baby shower - which turned into a "meet the baby" shower!  

Guess Who?!

Louisa Jane was born on Thursday, September 13th at 35 weeks.  I started having (more) regular contractions on Wednesday night on my way home from our symphony performance.  When I went in to be checked out at the hospital, my blood pressure was going up and up and up, so it was time to deliver. 

Louisa had no NICU time!!!!!  She got a little bit of oxygen right after she was born, but that is IT!  We took her home on Saturday after the UT / FL game started, but before it ended.  (The hospital is a few blocks from the stadium.  They didn't want us to have to deal with game day traffic, lol.)  As they wheeled me out of the hospital WITH the baby, I started sobbing.  What a gift to come out of this with a cordless, take-home baby.   

Louisa is doing so amazingly well that it is easy for us to forget that she is 5 weeks early.  The only problematic areas are sleeping and eating.  She would much rather sleep than eat.  We have wake her every three hours to eat.  This includes setting an alarm throughout the night.  Her sucking reflex is not quite there yet and she's still getting the hang of the whole suck / swallow / breathe thing.  She gets tired VERY quickly and will fall asleep after eating 1/4 of an ounce if we let her.  Luckily, we learned ninja feeding skills with Alice.  We can usually cajole her into eating an entire ounce.  Right now that takes 30-40 minutes, but she'll catch on.








My two beautiful girls.

34 weeks and change

34 weeks!  This seems so surreal.  The closer I get to my due date the more I can't believe that this is actually happening this time.  So, here is a quick update on what has gone on in the past month.

- I switched from Lovenox to Heparin yesterday.  Heparin is safer to be on close to delivery.  The OB's that I'm seeing usually switch women from one to the other at 36 weeks.  I switched two weeks early because of my history of premature birth.  Huge sigh of relief when I made the switch last night.  The people at the pharmacy must have thought I was nuts because I was so excited to fill that prescription.  I was really afraid of going into labor on Lovenox.  It would have been okay, but I've got a lot more options with heparin.  It clears the body faster so, say, if I had to have a c-section I would be able to be awake for it and not have to go under general.  (Any spinal aneasthesia is a no-no on Lovenox.  It can cause paralysis.)  Downsides of heparin - it's twice daily and the syringes are NOT pre-filled.  Even with the crash course the pharmacist gave me on how to load the things it took me a good 20 minutes last night before I was able to draw up the medicine without a gigantic air bubble.  Thank goodness for youtube.  You also bruise more on heparin.  On the bright side, the injections don't hurt at all.  Lovenox burns.  Heparin doesn't.  At least not yet.

- LJ weighs just about 6 pounds now.  She is practicing breathing and has passed all of her biophysical profiles with flying colors.  She still likes to suck her thumb and fist. 

- I went for monitoring on Monday and discovered that I was having contractions every 4 - 5 minutes and not feeling them at all.  I'm still working (Sweeny Todd performances just about every night.) but otherwise I've got my feet up.  This really threw me because with Alice there was no prolonged preterm labor.  My water broke and she was born 6 hours later.  It has been difficult for me to slow down.  I would love to get past 36 weeks, though, so my attitude is "whatever it takes."  Reading and sewing are my main pastimes these days.

- Monday was a wake-up call for Tim and I.  When the nurse at the hospital said, "Well, your baby looks great, but you're having a lot of contractions.  I need to run this by the OB to see if you can go home or not." I started to panic.  We had so much to do to get ready.  I had a small emergency bag packed just in case, but nothing else was done.  So, after I got home (phew!) Tim got the crib up, we bought a few things that we needed and we packed hospital bags for us and an overnight bag for Alice.  Tim installed the car seats.  I have some sewing I'd love to finish, but that is the icing on the cake.

- I've got some crib sheets nearly sewn and a quilt almost done.  I'll post some pictures when I finish them!         

30 week appointment and Alice update

Today I had my 30 week appointment, an ultrasound to check the babies growth, and the dreaded gestational diabetes test.  Everything went incredibly well.  I passed the GD test with flying colors.  I'm so glad because in a few weeks I have to switch from Lovenox injections (once a day) to heparin injections (twice a day) and the thought of torturing my poor belly with insulin injections on top of that was making me very sad.  Baby weighs just shy of 3-1/2 pounds now.  She is in the 55th %-tile for weight.  Heartbeat was great, movement was great.  My fluid level is perfect and the placenta is functioning fine.  PHEW!  Two slight bumps in the appt: my BP was up the first time they took it.  The nurse had me lie on my left side for 5-10 minutes and then took it again.  It went down enough to satisfy everyone.  I'm still having to watch it, though.  They also checked my iron today and it was low.  No iron pills at this time, just an advisement to increase my consumption of red meat.  Red meat and taking it easy - I think I can handle that.  : )

Overall I couldn't ask for a better appointment.  In fact, this is the week I was supposed to start bi-weekly appointments, but the OB was so impressed by how well the baby and I are doing that I have a whole two weeks off!  My next appointment is the 20th.  I have Monday / Thursday appointments scheduled from then until a week before my due date (Oct 18).  Mondays are non-stress tests and Thursdays are ultrasounds.  I'm not sure if I'll see a doctor both days or only on ultrasound days.  One of the nurses commented that things were about to get hard in this last stretch since I would have so many appointments.  I just laughed.  This is gravy.  I am so thrilled to be at this point and to be doing so well.  Her comment made me think about everything I've done and gone through so far with this pregnancy:
*185 injections
* 3 stints of bedrest
* 1 middle of the night trip to labor and delivery
* 26 doctor's appointments
* 24 blood draws
* 6 ultrasounds
* hyperemesis to the point of dehydration and significant weight loss

No, I'm not just starting the marathon now.  This is my victory lap.

------------

Alice is doing better.  She is still having pain on and off, mostly off these days, thankfully.  There were no significant findings from any of the tests that the GI ran.  We will consult with her pediatrician at the end of the month to talk about what to do next.  Meanwhile we are keeping her diet the same (for now) and have started giving her a b vitamin complex every day.  Tim and I both have genetic mutations that inhibit our bodies from processing b vitamins.  (We found this out when we were undergoing testing for multiple miscarriages.)  I have a double mutation; I'm not sure if Tim's is double or single.  Either way, Alice has at least one mutation from me.  We had talked about starting her on a b vitamin, but I couldn't find a kids stand-alone formula.  A few days ago I was looking up information on MTHFR (our mutation) and saw that two of the symptoms of a vit. b deficiency are mouth sores and stomach pain.  Hmmmm.  So, we'll try this and see if it helps. 
 

26 week appt update

I had my 26 week appointment yesterday.  Overall it went amazingly well, especially since I had landed at Labor and Delivery the night before with bleeding.  They kept me on the monitors for an hour or so and then let me go.  Of course Baby, who had decided to doubly scare me by not moving at all, started punching the sensor as soon as they strapped it to my belly.  I sat there watching the thing jump off my skin because she was punching it so hard.  Yesterday I had an ultrasound to check for growth.  Baby weighs 2 pounds (56th %tile), my fluid is fine, and the placenta is great.  They had no explanation for the bleeding.  No bedrest right now, but I am supposed to take it easy.   


I found out what the plan for my Lovenox shots is.  I will take Lovenox until 36 weeks and then switch to heparin.  Starting with my next appointment I will be having twice weekly appointments - one for ultrasound and one for non-stress test.  If there are any signs of pre-term labor they will switch me to heparin earlier.  Heparin clears the body faster than Lovenox, which is good.  With Lovenox any spinal anaesthesia is a no-no because it can cause paralysis.  Thus, epidurals are not possible with Lovenox nor are spinal blocks.  If I had to have a C-section it would have to be under general.  The stinky thing about heparin is that you have to inject twice a day.  My poor belly has had just about enough of these injections.  I am really hoping that I pass the gestational diabetes test because I can't imagine having to inject insulin in addition to lovenox / heparin.


My blood pressure was lower than it has been.  I'm going to start monitoring it at home so that we can catch it if it starts to creep.


Next appointment is at 30 weeks (!) unless my bp starts to rise or I have more bleeding.     

Alice is having an upper GI scope and colonoscopy on Monday.  All prayers are appreciated.  We're hoping to get some answers to the chronic abdominal pain that is making her miserable.

On a much lighter note - here is our garden!  I have nothing to do with this.  Tim and Alice do all the dirty work and I process the harvest.  Seems to work well for us.  A few weekends ago I canned 10 and 1/2 pints of German red cabbage.  Looks like the tomatillos are getting ready to pick, so I will be canning salsa verde in the near future.  Right now I've got a batch of watermelon pickles going from yesterday's obligatory 4th of July watermelon.  I've also got a bee in my bonnet to get the peaches DONE.  Canned peaches and peach pie filling were our hands down favorite thing of anything I canned last year.  (Well...  The salsa I put up was pretty amazing, too.  That was Tim's favorite thing.)  It was so nice to have those jars of summer goodness in January and February.  Every time I have an OB appointment looming I feel like I have to get things done NOW just in case I wind up having my activities restricted.  Next OB appointment is Tuesday.  I expect I'll put some peaches up this weekend.


One view of the garden.  The picture doesn't do justice to how enormous the garden is.  


Tomatillos.  Tim had no idea what these were.  They looked interesting, so he decided to grow them.  They have taken off - exciting to me because green salsa is delicious!


Regular tomatoes.  I can't tell you how many plants Tim put in - 8 or 10?  He really liked my salsa last year.


All hail the bizarre rhubarb plant!  I have no idea what that giant stalk in the middle is.  Also, I thought rhubarb was a spring plant.  This rhubarb did nothing all spring and then suddenly went nuts a few weeks ago.  This is year 3 for the plant, so it will be the first year we can harvest.  I'm waiting for the stalks to get a little bit thicker.


This is a peach tree growing out of our compost pile.  We did not plant it.  Eventually Tim will move it and if we're lucky maybe we will get some peaches in a few years!

 
Alice's flower garden - a little wilty from all the heat.  

22 week update: We FINALLY had our "big" ultrasound last week and..... It's another girl! We were very surprised - both Tim and I thought it was a boy. I don't know why we were so sure, maybe because the last baby we lost was a boy. The baby looks perfect. Ultrasounds have gotten a whole lot more detailed in 8 years! We saw just about every part of her, including inside her brain. She's a pretty laid back baby. When we were looking at her, the ultrasound tech had obviously woken her up. She kept yawning and stretching her arms above her head.

My blood pressure is starting to creep ever so slightly. Some of this is "white coat syndrome" - whenever a health professional comes at me with the blood pressure cuff I can feel my heart start to race. Everything was good enough, though, that I once again have a 4 week long leash before my next appointment! Amazing! Even though everything has been going so well this time, I'm always in awe when I go in and everything is fine. My next appointment is July 10th. I'll have another ultrasound to check growth since the clotting disorders I have can cause growth restriction. The OB did say that if my BP stays where it is or goes higher she will start to worry. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I want to stay on my feet as long as I can and get this baby as far as possible!

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Alice update: Alice is having reflux problems again. My poor baby has ulcers down her throat. She's been referred back to the pediatric GI doc. Meanwhile she's got some medicine that is helping at least a little bit and she is on a soft foods / non-acidic diet. Suggestions of what to feed her are welcomed! The higher the calories the better. She only eats a few bites at a time and she just doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room weight-wise.

Afterschooling, Summer Edition

This year our afterschooling fell by the wayside. Alice was challenged enough at school that she didn't really need anything extra at home. This summer is a different story. We went without a schedule for a week. By the end of it we were both cranky and at ends with each other and with what to do. We aren't able to be out and about too much because when I am on my feet for more than 10 minutes at a time my leg starts to go numb. (Baby is sitting on a nerve. Not dangerous, but annoying and somewhat painful.) Alice thrives on a schedule. This has always been true. So, we're afterschooling this summer to bring some structure to our days. Every day she * cleans her room for 15 minutes * makes her bed * works in her math book (Singapore Math Practice 2A / Grade 3) This is review of what she learned this past school year. When I asked Alice what she wanted to learn this summer she said she wanted to review math. They covered a lot of tricky things this year - regrouping, multiplication, division, fractions. Alice was fine at all of it but didn't completely master any of it. I think a summer review will give her confidence going into next year. * reads for 15 minutes about a science topic of her choosing * reads for 15 minutes about a social studies / history / geography topic of her choosing * reads for 45 minutes to an hour each night before bed any book she wants * does a couple of pages in her note reading workbook * letter writing / "organized" art projects / field trips happen several times a week We also watch an episode of Mythbusters most days... Physics and math in action, right?! I have her pick science and social studies / history / geography topics to stick with for a week. We check out a bunch of books at the library so that she can get as in-depth as she wants. Her reading spins off into other projects (of her choosing. I only require the 15 minutes of reading) - this week she decided she wanted to learn about the White House, presidents and first ladies. She wrote a letter to President Obama and has been designing her own White House. For science she chose the solar system (Neptune, particularly) and has done all sorts of art projects related to that. It's fun to see her applying what she's reading. This schedule allows for plenty of free time. It's also flexible. A few days ago she did her 15 minute room cleaning and then wanted to keep going. Was I really going to say, "No, I don't want you to clean your room anymore. Come do math." ?! NO WAY! She spent a couple of hours cleaning up her room. We ditched the rest of the schedule for the day.

19 weeks

I didn't update after my appointment last week because there wasn't much to say... Everything looks great. My hyperemesis is gone. Now I'm fine as long as I eat every couple of hours. I'm having to eat a substantial snack before bed because otherwise I wake up in the middle of the night needing to eat IMMEDIATELY. I've got snacks stashed everywhere - my purse, the cars, my viola case, my bedside stand - just in case I suddenly need to eat something. It's nice to be able to eat again. My blood pressure is holding steady with a nice low systolic over a moderately high diastolic. I think it was 112 / 82 at my last appointment. To me this is weird, but it's been consistent and they don't seem concerned so I'm not going to worry about it! With pre-eclampsia they look at the overall numbers and also at how your numbers jump from appointment to appointment. Consistency is a good thing. So, things are going quite well. So well, in fact, that my doctor proclaimed she didn't need to see me for a whole four weeks! I would celebrate this except that my BIG ultrasound is at my next appointment. It was supposed to be at 20 weeks, now it is scheduled for 22. We are anxious to find out if this baby is a boy or girl! This baby is teaching us patience.

When Speck of Dust is born, it will get my sewing room. (I don't really mind.) I surveyed the room a few days ago, though, and I've got a lot of stuff in there! I'm trying to use fabric NOW so that I can fit into a smaller space. This dress goes together so fast. I've made three so far and I'm planning to make several more for Alice, Maggie, and various other little girls in my life. Alice has requested that I monkey with the pattern to come up with a version for her American Girl dolls, so that is on my to-do list. Here is my first attempt. As-is, the neckline is a little too low on Alice. It's also a tad too roomy on her. Attempt #2. I raised the neckline by an inch or so and was more generous using my seam allowances. Much better fit. Here is the back: I've finished a 3rd one and if I can convince Alice to model it I'll edit in some pictures. Cute, huh? The pattern is a download from Lil Blue Boo.