Rebecca's Blog

Hey guys.  I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted last, but there is a very good reason – last week didn’t quite go as planned.  After a very crazy week, I ended up giving birth to Michael on Friday.  Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go as well as we would have liked.  Though I am home, Michael is still in the NICU.

Anyway, I am not emotionally ready to sit and write about the experience.  However, Ryan has written a good description of what happened from his perspective and posted it on his site.  I think he has actually posted an update on Michael’s status as well.  Anyway, once some time has passed I’ll write my take on the experience.  There are some things I remember differently, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of what happened from Ryan’s post.  It is really beautifully written.  Just click on the link below:

Ryan’s Blog

Encopresis

If you’ve been visiting my site for awhile, you probably remember all the posts I have made regarding Benjamin’s potty training struggles.  Though he has been pee pee potty trained for quite some time, we have never been able to get him to do many of his bowel movements in the toilet.  I tried simply everything – rewards, punishments, no reaction, making him clean up his mess, and (unfortunately) frustration and anger.  I started to figure he was lazy and just didn’t care.  Turns out he had a condition called Encopresis.

What is encopresis?  Stated simply, it’s fecal soiling.  However, it is not due to laziness.  Encopresis is caused mainly by cronic constipation, which dulls the sensation of needing to do a bowel movement.  It occurs in children over the age of 4 – mostly in boys.  Unable to feel the need to use the restroom, the child soils their underwear involuntarily.

What does this mean?  For us it meant a trip to the doctor and a rigid regimen of stool softeners, scheduled pooping, diarrhea, poo journaling and, of course, a sticker chart and rewards.  Ben was on the the softeners for a week to clear out his system.  For the last couple weeks we have been monitoring his progress and poo, using Miralax when needed.

Progress?  Yes, there has been progress.  Ben does more poo in the potty now then he did before.  In fact, up until today the only accidents he has had was when the Miralax gave him diarrhea he couldn’t control.  Best part is that Ben is actually excited with his progress.  He sees the stickers on his chart and exclaims that he is learning to poo on the potty.  I wouldn’t say the battle is won, but we have taken a step forward.  I see hope for the future.

For information on encopresis, click on the link below:

Keep Kids Healthy

- My favorite of the sites, but there are others.

Preterm Labor

I hardly need state that the last year and a half have been kind of crazy when it comes to pregnancies.  With two miscarriages and a high risk pregnancy, I have definitely had my ups and downs.  Last Thursday was no exception.

On Wednesday of last week, I started having fairly strong contractions every hour.  I wasn’t concerned.  I’ve been having strong contractions for a couple weeks now and they weren’t close together.  However, I was far more uncomfortable than I had been all pregnancy.  Still, no big deal.  However, Thursday I could tell something was different.  I started having contractions approximately every five minutes.

Having never gone into labor naturally and many false alarms, I wasn’t sure if this was just false labor or the real deal.  After a quick conversation with my sister-in-law, I decided I’d better go get it checked out.  I called Ryan home from work – he was there all of 10 minutes – and asked my mom to come watch the kids.

At the hospital, I was put on the monitors and, after talking to my doctor, the nurse gave me a shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions and told me I would be going home once the contractions stopped.  We were told that this would possibly make me a little dizzy or make my heart race.  That was, perhaps, the understatement of the year.  I don’t know if my heart raced, but, instead of dizziness, I about passed out.  I started to sweat, lost all color in my face, felt like I went into a tunnel and had a ringing in my ears.  Though I’m sure it lasted only a few minutes, it felt like I was inside myself for quite awhile.

Once I finally started to come out it, not only did I have a contraction, but the baby’s heart rate dropped from around 160 to 60 beats/minute.  Nurses rushed in, turned me over and put me on oxygen to raise the baby’s heart rate.  Another call to my doctor came back with the news that I was being admitted for the night for observation.  Also, my doctor was coming down, along with a perinatologist.

Anyway, to make a longer story slightly shorter, everything turned out ok and I didn’t end up having to stay overnight.  The baby’s heart rate went back up and stayed up.  An ultrasound was performed to insure that the umbilical cord wasn’t wrapped around any part of the baby.  We did, however, find out that Michael was already measuring 7 1/2 pounds, though I still had 4 1/2 weeks to go.  Also, I have a bit more water in my uteris than I should.

Around 7:30 pm I was discharged with instructions to follow-up at the pernatologist’s office the following day and twice a week for observation for the remainder of my pregnancy.  Due to the large size of the baby, I hope that won’t be more than about two weeks.  I really don’t want to have to go to a doctor’s appointment three times a week for very long.  On the upside, however, I no longer have to take my lovenox shots.  As the perinatologists said, “There are no miscarriages after 36 weeks.”  Hopefully that means I am finally assured a baby.

Have you ever felt REALLY behind?  I don’t mean behind as in “I didn’t get 3 of the 10 things on my checklist checked off,” but behind as in “I will never catch up in a million years.”  That’s kind of what I’m feeling like now.  I was doing pretty well at getting things ready for baby number five to arrive in a couple months, but now I feel pretty sure that there is no way on Earth that I’m going to get everything done that I wanted to before Michael is born.  I guess I’m going to have to settle for doing my best and let the rest slide.

Having said that, I am fully aware of how behind I am on my blog and I get further behind with each passing weekend, so goal number one that I intend to achieve on my quest for catching up is to catch up on my blog.  I will warn you that it may get a bit lengthy, but hopefully not TOO much so.  I was gonna do some hopefully funny posts on some of this stuff, but I guess I will have to settle for reporting the facts as they really and truly happened with no funny business – which some of you might prefer as I’m really not a funny person, I just like to think that I can be when I want to be.

SO.  First on the list:

PREGNANCY UPDATE!!!

I’m now 30 weeks.  YAY!!!  I’m getting there!!  Anyway, 10 weeks ago, I had my 20 week ultrasound.  Didn’t see the pictures?  Well, that’s because I lost them.  However, now I’ve found them, so here ya go!  They’re not as good as some of my previous ultrasounds.  The baby was too big to really get a good picture, but they’re better than nothing!

A profile of the head.

This is the face.  It’s official, we’re having an alien.

A leg.  Real impressive, huh?  At least we know he has a leg with a foot on it.

Can you guess what the arrow is pointing to?  We had them re-check the sex in hopes that MAYBE they had called it wrong the first time.  (I know this sounds terrible, but I really don’t know if I can handle three small boys.)  Anyway, the fifth appendage has not disappeared.  We’re still having a boy.  I’m getting used to the idea and just want him to get here safely now, which leads into the next bit of pregnancy news:

We had a bit of a scare a couple weeks ago.  Ryan and I rushed down to the hospital with a little spotting, cramps and contractions.  After a couple hours of observation and making me drink about 1/2 a gallon of water, the contractions subsided and I was sent home.  Tests were done at the hospital and the doctor’s office.  Everything looks fine.  I just have to be careful and pay attention to my body.  OH, and I have to drink 1-2 gallons of water a day as dehydration can send you straight into labor.  YEAH RIGHT!!!  I don’t think I’ve made that 1-2 gallons a day goal yet, but I try.  Got to get him here safely!

Finally, when I went to the doctor for my hospital follow-up, the doctor went ahead and measured me.  I was shocked to find that I’m measuring a full 8 WEEKS ahead of schedule.  NO WONDER I’M SO UNCOMFORTABLE!!!  Anyway, everything still looks good.  No gestational diabetes or anything.  He’s just going to ultrasound me one more time to make sure I can actually get the baby out of me.  Having a history of large babies and easy labor (except Elizabeth), I’m sure I can handle it!

MAY 2, 2009

May 2nd was a busy day.  It all started out with having Cujo’s manhood being taken from him.  Everything went well, but he was a pretty pathetic soul when he got home.

Cujo pretty much laid around for the remainder of the day, except when we took him outside to go potty.  Still pathetic, he also turned hilarious.  His rump was bothering him, so he sat down on his rear in the rocks, lifted his back legs in front of him and them proceded to turn around in circles.  I wish I had gotten video.  It was pretty funny.

His predicament wasn’t so funny the next day, though, when he decided to take revenge on us.  He did nothing but everything he isn’t supposed to do.  He drove me crazy and I wondered what we had done.  He’s calmed down since, though.

The second was also a very important day in a young boy’s life – a day when you go from boy to man.

Joshua got his very first shaving lesson.

And finally:

For Elizabeth’s birthday, her friend’s mom offered to give her a cake decorating lesson.  On the 2nd, Elizabeth finally was able to go have her lesson.  The above cake was the result.  Not too bad for the first cake of a 9 year old, huh?

MAY 3, 2009

I found this picture on my camera.  Apparently Ben has found a new way to use the toilet.

MOTHER’S DAY

Mother’s day was really nice.  It started with breakfast in bed, made by Ryan and served by Elizabeth.  Then I started to get ready.  When I got out of the shower, I found this waiting for me on my bed:

Joshua is SUPPOSED to be hiding.

SURPRISE!!!

I got lots of special gifts and cards from my hubby and kids, who all worked very hard.  Later that night we went over to my parents’ house to have a nice dinner with my parents, grandma and aunt.  It was a very nice day.

Well, I guess that’s it.  Goal number 1 done!!!  Not very funny, but accomplished.  I guess I’ll sign off for now.

OK, ok.  So my post isn’t really about a hot dog.  It’s actually a reference to what my sister-in-law’s doctor calls  baby genitalia on an ultrasound.  A girl has a Big Mac, so I figured boys MUST have hot dogs.  Based on the ultrasound below, I’m making an educated guess and saying that the baby I’m carrying currently has a hot dog, and, therefore, is a boy.  Don’t believe me?  See for yourself.

For those who feel that looking at the bottom side of a baby is a little crude and would like to stare at something a little more pleasant, here’s a profile for you:

These pictures were taken at 16 weeks and 2 days.  I went in completely hopeful that I was having a girl and came out worrying about what life was going to be like with three roudy boys under the age of 5.  I must say that it was a relief when all my family, who all hoped I was having a girl to balance out the sexes and dress in frilly outfits, assured me they would love him despite the fact that he was a boy.  I’m sure it will turn into an Anne of Green Gables in reverse.  We will all love him so much that we wouldn’t give him up for all the girls in the world.  AND, I’m sure that if I really couldn’t handle three boys, I wouldn’t be having another one.

OK, so it’s really no big secret anymore, but you’ll notice I haven’t come right out and said it yet – unless you keep up on my Facebook statuses.  The reason???  I don’t want to jinx it.  In fact, I was waiting until today to post anything definite about it because today was my final “scary” visit to the doctor.  Now, as I’m only a few days away from being in my second trimester, my doctor and I are breathing somewhat easier.  OH YEAH, I still haven’t said it, have I???

I’M PREGNANT!!!!

So, things are going fairly smoothly so far.  Yes, I’m still having to give myself injections every morning, but I have gotten used to that.  The doctor also added another medication this time to make sure my hormones were where they were supposed to be.  Anyway, I’ve collected a few pictures of the baby, if you’re interested.  It’s amazing to see the difference a couple of weeks makes.

This one was taken at 7 weeks 2 days.

This one was taken at 9 weeks 2 days.

Here’s the one from today: 12 weeks 2 days.  I know the ultrasounds say different weeks than what I have posted, but mine are based on the FINAL due date chosen for this wee one – JULY 27th!!!

Here’s my Doctor Swainston original.  Apparently I’m pretty special to receive one and it will be worth money one day.  He thought this was gender neutral hair.  I think it looks more like Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes) with fins on the side of his head.  Oh well.