So, for the longest time Erik absolutely refused to wear a bandaid. He was cry and cry and pull and pull on the bandaid until it came off - like it frightened him or something. So, I introduced Erik to Sesame Street bandaids in hopes that if there were a real need to wear a bandaid we could do so civilally.
Well, I accomplished the mission of being able to wear a bandaid and in the process created a bandaid monster. Erik skinned his finger last week, and he has insisted on wearing a bandaid at all times as his finger has been healing (we managed to 16 hours without a bandaid once in the past week and a half). However, since the incident, there have been a number of incidents where he has stood there and cried and cried because a certain Sesame Street friend (usually cookie monster) was out or not available in the size needed. We have also had a number of incidents where he also stood there and cried and cried because he doesn't want to wash the hand with a bandaid (I am sure his school teachers are loving me for that). He will obey you to the point of putting soap on it, but he won't rinse it. So you must grab his hand, force it under the water, and rinse off the soap. Then through sobs you must dry the hand to show him that the bandaid has not, in fact, been washed off.
Good Grief, Charlie Brown!
He is still the cutest boy ever.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Pregnancy Update - What a Crazy Ride
My goodness, things have been crazy.
My pregnancy was progressing along fairly uneventfully through the fall. I always felt tender right around my bellybutton, but didn't really think anything of it.
Then Christmas rolled around, and there were a number of family members that came to stay with us pre-Christmas, Todd's grandfather passed away from pancreatic cancer, and Todd's family all came for Christmas (fortunately Lori was hosting instead of me). On Christmas Eve, I kept getting shooting pains in my stomach, again right around and above my belly button. I knew it wasn't the baby, so I wasn't too worried. By midnight Christmas Eve (when we got back from Huntsville), I was so nauseated and in so much pain.
Things backed off again, and I was able to open presents with the family, but by noon, I was back in bed again. I missed the big family Christmas dinner (Todd was the hero and stepped in and cooked everything I was supposed to).
This "getting a little better" and the "having a really bad day(s)" cycle continued on. I saw my OB, and she told me to get a consult with my gastro. He was out of town a good bit of the beginning of January, but squeezed me in on 1/4/10. He told me he wanted an ultrasound of my gall bladder. My ultrasound was on the 6th, and by then I was in so much pain I could hardly walk. I managed through my appointment (I think the tech thought I was going to die - she kept asking "Are you sure you are supposed to go home after this?"), and drove home. The tech felt sure there were no gallstones but couldn't tell me little else. She sent the films over to my gastro (who was out of town until the 12th) and told me to wait for his direction. She also said that she thought I had colitis or some other inflamation of the bowel (she said intestines don't normally show up on that kind of sonogram, but mine was so inflamed that it had pushed up into the screen).
By the afternoon of the 6th, I was vomitting and running a fever. My gastro's partner didn't really want to do too much with me (not that she was being ugly; she didn't want to ruin any progress I had made with him), and she told me to call my OB about the fever and perhaps some nausea medicine. My OB became concerned about the fever and sent me to the ER (she thought perhaps I had appendicitis or pancreatitis). So, Nana and Aunt LeeLee (Lori) came to Erik's rescue, and Todd and I went to the ER.
The ER decided it wasn't appendicitis or a bladder infection. They were concerned about my pulse which was high (probably due to dehydration and pain). They ran 2 IV bags of fluids at full speed (talk about getting chills). Then they admitted me on the OB floor. The fever came and went for most of the night and broke early in the morning. The cause of the fever is still unknown.
The OB unit gave me lots more fluids by IV and got me on clear liquids in hopes to settle down my stomach. They checked the baby, who seemed completely unaware of the drama. Yeah! I was in a lot of pain (no pain meds when you are pregnant), but I really enjoyed getting to hear the babies heartbeats a couple of times while I was there.
My OB called my gastro's partner for a consult when I was in the hospital. The gastro partner rechecked the sonogram (again the intestine finding is unusual) and she ended up doing a colonoscopy to investigate the cause of the inflamation. I had the colonoscopy and was sent home around 4. The colonoscopy was "unprepared" which means I got to avoid drinking the pretest junk; however, the stuff they did to me during the colonoscopy so they could see put me in terrible (worse) pain for about 3 days.
On the 11th, my gastro called me with the results of all the tests they ran (lots of blood work and lab tests from the colonoscopy) while I was in the hospital. He said that all of the labs (that were in) showed nothing unusual (no thyroid problems, no colitis, no infection, no diverticulits), etc. He said that the colonoscopy showed that my intestines were cramping (spasming) during the entire procedure. He said this constant spasming in addition to IBS has caused all the pain, and since it had been going on unchecked at least since Christmas Eve, it would be sometime before my colon would heal.
So, now I am on a probiotic pill, a perscriptioin laxative (for the IBS & to balance the effects of the antispasm med), fiber pills (for the IBS), and an antispasm medicine that makes me sleepy. I still feel a lot of pressure and bloating in my abdomen and intermittant cramping, but I am making progress. I may have one or two evenings a week when I feel in pain and end up in bed (rather than days and nights). I still don't sleep well, though (laying down on my side seems to make the spasms worse).
We also had our mid-pregnancy sonogram on the 12th. The new baby will be a boy. We are excited. Erik was mad at first (he said he wanted a sister), but once we explained that he would be the big brother and the baby would be the little brother, he was quite happy.
We are now exploring baby names. I would love to name the baby after my grandfather somehow, but we can't really find a name we like that is either one of his names or a take-off of one of his names. I am hoping something comes to me. We have another name currently on the table that incorporates names from my mom's family and Todd's family. So, we'll see.
I hope to be able to post more frequently as things move along. Pray that I stay feeling well enough to function. I have Erik, Todd, a house, a job, and preparing for a new baby to attend too.
I can't wait until spring.
~Chelle
My pregnancy was progressing along fairly uneventfully through the fall. I always felt tender right around my bellybutton, but didn't really think anything of it.
Then Christmas rolled around, and there were a number of family members that came to stay with us pre-Christmas, Todd's grandfather passed away from pancreatic cancer, and Todd's family all came for Christmas (fortunately Lori was hosting instead of me). On Christmas Eve, I kept getting shooting pains in my stomach, again right around and above my belly button. I knew it wasn't the baby, so I wasn't too worried. By midnight Christmas Eve (when we got back from Huntsville), I was so nauseated and in so much pain.
Things backed off again, and I was able to open presents with the family, but by noon, I was back in bed again. I missed the big family Christmas dinner (Todd was the hero and stepped in and cooked everything I was supposed to).
This "getting a little better" and the "having a really bad day(s)" cycle continued on. I saw my OB, and she told me to get a consult with my gastro. He was out of town a good bit of the beginning of January, but squeezed me in on 1/4/10. He told me he wanted an ultrasound of my gall bladder. My ultrasound was on the 6th, and by then I was in so much pain I could hardly walk. I managed through my appointment (I think the tech thought I was going to die - she kept asking "Are you sure you are supposed to go home after this?"), and drove home. The tech felt sure there were no gallstones but couldn't tell me little else. She sent the films over to my gastro (who was out of town until the 12th) and told me to wait for his direction. She also said that she thought I had colitis or some other inflamation of the bowel (she said intestines don't normally show up on that kind of sonogram, but mine was so inflamed that it had pushed up into the screen).
By the afternoon of the 6th, I was vomitting and running a fever. My gastro's partner didn't really want to do too much with me (not that she was being ugly; she didn't want to ruin any progress I had made with him), and she told me to call my OB about the fever and perhaps some nausea medicine. My OB became concerned about the fever and sent me to the ER (she thought perhaps I had appendicitis or pancreatitis). So, Nana and Aunt LeeLee (Lori) came to Erik's rescue, and Todd and I went to the ER.
The ER decided it wasn't appendicitis or a bladder infection. They were concerned about my pulse which was high (probably due to dehydration and pain). They ran 2 IV bags of fluids at full speed (talk about getting chills). Then they admitted me on the OB floor. The fever came and went for most of the night and broke early in the morning. The cause of the fever is still unknown.
The OB unit gave me lots more fluids by IV and got me on clear liquids in hopes to settle down my stomach. They checked the baby, who seemed completely unaware of the drama. Yeah! I was in a lot of pain (no pain meds when you are pregnant), but I really enjoyed getting to hear the babies heartbeats a couple of times while I was there.
My OB called my gastro's partner for a consult when I was in the hospital. The gastro partner rechecked the sonogram (again the intestine finding is unusual) and she ended up doing a colonoscopy to investigate the cause of the inflamation. I had the colonoscopy and was sent home around 4. The colonoscopy was "unprepared" which means I got to avoid drinking the pretest junk; however, the stuff they did to me during the colonoscopy so they could see put me in terrible (worse) pain for about 3 days.
On the 11th, my gastro called me with the results of all the tests they ran (lots of blood work and lab tests from the colonoscopy) while I was in the hospital. He said that all of the labs (that were in) showed nothing unusual (no thyroid problems, no colitis, no infection, no diverticulits), etc. He said that the colonoscopy showed that my intestines were cramping (spasming) during the entire procedure. He said this constant spasming in addition to IBS has caused all the pain, and since it had been going on unchecked at least since Christmas Eve, it would be sometime before my colon would heal.
So, now I am on a probiotic pill, a perscriptioin laxative (for the IBS & to balance the effects of the antispasm med), fiber pills (for the IBS), and an antispasm medicine that makes me sleepy. I still feel a lot of pressure and bloating in my abdomen and intermittant cramping, but I am making progress. I may have one or two evenings a week when I feel in pain and end up in bed (rather than days and nights). I still don't sleep well, though (laying down on my side seems to make the spasms worse).
We also had our mid-pregnancy sonogram on the 12th. The new baby will be a boy. We are excited. Erik was mad at first (he said he wanted a sister), but once we explained that he would be the big brother and the baby would be the little brother, he was quite happy.
We are now exploring baby names. I would love to name the baby after my grandfather somehow, but we can't really find a name we like that is either one of his names or a take-off of one of his names. I am hoping something comes to me. We have another name currently on the table that incorporates names from my mom's family and Todd's family. So, we'll see.
I hope to be able to post more frequently as things move along. Pray that I stay feeling well enough to function. I have Erik, Todd, a house, a job, and preparing for a new baby to attend too.
I can't wait until spring.
~Chelle
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