My child is really getting on my last nerve lately. We're still fighting the food battle around here, and it's really starting to piss me off. She's refusing to eat foods that she's been eating since she started eating food. She'll take a bite of something and just hold it in her mouth without chewing it. That is, of course, unless it's something she absolutely loves, like cheese or ham. Today was the first day this week that we made it through 3 meals without a puking episode. Yesterday she at about 5 small bites of applesauce, puked up the sixth and then proceeded to scarf down 4 chicken nuggets, a handful (my handful, not hers) of french fries and a good bit of green Kool Aid. That was lunch. We did applesauce again at supper, and it went down with no problems. Everything else was a struggle, except for the aforementioned ham. Oh, and ketchup. She ate that, too. Today, at lunch, I had to go so far as pureeing both her peaches and her corn. She refused to chew either of them, but she ate them pureed. All of a sudden it's like we have an infant again. Oh, and as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing more disgusting than pureed corn......we never, ever have creamed corn here. I think Alison may have felt the same way, because she ate broccoli tonight without any muss or fuss....maybe she didn't want to run the risk of having to eat it pureed. She also scarfed down some roast beef and ate half of the popcorn I gave her (it's movie night tonight).
Before we could even get her to the dinner table tonight, though, we had to make a detour to her bed. She was given the option of getting in her highchair or going to bed. She thought I meant the big bed in her room and figured that would be lots of fun, but I meant her crib. In she went, everything remotely fun was removed, I told her she could either get out and eat or stay there for the rest of the night and not watch "Beauty," and then turned off the light and walked out the door, leaving her there in the dark. She was ready to eat in about 5 minutes. I don't know how many times that's going to work, though, and I really hate to use her bed for punishment.
If we can get through this phase, she just might live to see age 3. It's a good thing she's so cute. :)
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
I swear, in this family when it rains, it pours. Fresh on the heels of my father-in-law's death from lung cancer, my sister-in-law found out that she had cervical cancer. Fortunately, it was caught very, very early and she will be fine. Tonight, Kevin called his step-mom today to ask her about some paperwork he and his brother need to sign so she can transfer the title on my father-in-law's car, truck and motorcycle and also to see how she was doing. What he found out is that she has breast cancer. They are having a family meeting tonight to discuss her options. The worst thing is that she's known about the lump, which is very deep and is measuring 3 cms, for a while, before Kevin's dad died, but she put off getting it checked out. And she has a family history of breast cancer.....her mother and her aunt both had it. So now we'll be waiting to find out what's going to happen from here.
We did have some good news today. Alison had an appointment at Spina Bifida clinic. I wrote about it in her medical journal. It was nice to go to an appointment and not get bad news. Tomorrow we are headed back to the orthotist to get Alison's brace fixed. She's only had it a little more than a month and managed to pop the nut off one of the screws holding the interior ankle joint together and the nut is nowhere to be found (it's probably at Meijer). Kevin found something to use as a bolt and used a little duct tape, so she can still wear it until it's permanently fixed.
We did have some good news today. Alison had an appointment at Spina Bifida clinic. I wrote about it in her medical journal. It was nice to go to an appointment and not get bad news. Tomorrow we are headed back to the orthotist to get Alison's brace fixed. She's only had it a little more than a month and managed to pop the nut off one of the screws holding the interior ankle joint together and the nut is nowhere to be found (it's probably at Meijer). Kevin found something to use as a bolt and used a little duct tape, so she can still wear it until it's permanently fixed.
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
I've decided the time has come for Alison to learn a second language. It's probably past time, actually, but we're going to get started now. I had initially thought to start teaching Alison French once she turned 2, and I will start that eventually, hopefully before she turns 3, but for now I think we're going to work on sign language (ASL, not baby signs), and this is what we're going to use: Signing Time. Signing Time came to our attention over the summer when we were at the fetal surgery reunion. It was created by and is produced by one of our fetal surgery families. Their youngest is the one that has SB (and also CP), but their oldest was born deaf.
I was watching one of the demo clips on the website and Alison came over to check it out and was fascinated by it. Today she came to me and kept saying "eat....on the computer....kids.....on the computer....eat...." It took me quite a few minutes to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Then it finally clicked. She wanted to see the clip teaching the sign for "eat." So we watched it a few times. Already, after viewing 7 or 8 times, she'll sometimes do the sign if you ask her. There was a clip from the second volume, so we watched that a little, too, and learned the sign for "train." Because of the interest she's shown, we're going to use the money she got from one of her grandmas for Valentine's Day and buy the first DVD of the series. If she enjoys it and seems to be learning from it, we'll work on getting the rest. Sign language is something that has always fascinated me, and is something I've always wanted to learn, so even if Alison doesn't pick it up, at least I'll be able to learn some. :)
I was watching one of the demo clips on the website and Alison came over to check it out and was fascinated by it. Today she came to me and kept saying "eat....on the computer....kids.....on the computer....eat...." It took me quite a few minutes to figure out what the heck she was talking about. Then it finally clicked. She wanted to see the clip teaching the sign for "eat." So we watched it a few times. Already, after viewing 7 or 8 times, she'll sometimes do the sign if you ask her. There was a clip from the second volume, so we watched that a little, too, and learned the sign for "train." Because of the interest she's shown, we're going to use the money she got from one of her grandmas for Valentine's Day and buy the first DVD of the series. If she enjoys it and seems to be learning from it, we'll work on getting the rest. Sign language is something that has always fascinated me, and is something I've always wanted to learn, so even if Alison doesn't pick it up, at least I'll be able to learn some. :)
Monday, February 7, 2005
Well, this Monday is starting out according to the stereotype.
This morning, at 8:00, I went to get my daughter up. When I got into her room I smelled urine. Well, I thought, she must have leaked out of her diaper. She was just waking up and I gave her butt a little pat in an effort to move her around a little so I could see how big of a leak it had been. Well, it turned out to be much bigger than I ever would have imagined because there was no diaper there. My husband had forgotten to put a diaper on our un-potty trained daughter last night when getting her ready for bed! Her sleeper was soaked, her sheet was soaked, she even managed to soak through the "waterproof" mattress pad I had on top of her regular mattress pad, which was also wet. So everything got stripped off the bed and is now whizzing around in the washing machine.
When I realized what had happened I grabbed the phone and called my husband. When he answered, I didn't even say hello, I just told him that we really need to wait until Alison is potty trained before we let her go all night without a diaper. He swore to me that he had put one on her, and when I insisted that she had no diaper on, he came to the realization that he had, in fact, forgotten to put one on her. We had a laugh and then we hung up, he to go back to work, and me to clean up the mess and get the rest of our day started. I'm almost afraid to find out what the rest of the day has in store for us. Think I'll get lucky and this will be the worst?
This morning, at 8:00, I went to get my daughter up. When I got into her room I smelled urine. Well, I thought, she must have leaked out of her diaper. She was just waking up and I gave her butt a little pat in an effort to move her around a little so I could see how big of a leak it had been. Well, it turned out to be much bigger than I ever would have imagined because there was no diaper there. My husband had forgotten to put a diaper on our un-potty trained daughter last night when getting her ready for bed! Her sleeper was soaked, her sheet was soaked, she even managed to soak through the "waterproof" mattress pad I had on top of her regular mattress pad, which was also wet. So everything got stripped off the bed and is now whizzing around in the washing machine.
When I realized what had happened I grabbed the phone and called my husband. When he answered, I didn't even say hello, I just told him that we really need to wait until Alison is potty trained before we let her go all night without a diaper. He swore to me that he had put one on her, and when I insisted that she had no diaper on, he came to the realization that he had, in fact, forgotten to put one on her. We had a laugh and then we hung up, he to go back to work, and me to clean up the mess and get the rest of our day started. I'm almost afraid to find out what the rest of the day has in store for us. Think I'll get lucky and this will be the worst?
Saturday, February 5, 2005
I’m feeling rather out of sorts lately and I can’t quite put my finger on why.
I know I shouldn't be, because I shouldn't care what other people think of me, but I’m feeling belittled for my parenting choices because I mentioned that we only play with one color play doh at a time, in an effort to minimize the play doh mess. I don’t have tile/hardwood/vinyl floors and a granite topped table for my daughter to play at. I have a carpeted floor and an old coffee table covered with a cheap vinyl tablecloth. Excuse me for not wanting to have play doh ground into my carpeting. I was also asked if I wasn’t curtailing my daughter’s creativity by only letting her have one color at a time. I really don’t think so. Just the other day she took her one color of play doh, squished it into a blob, stuck a handful of paint brushes into it and told me it was an octopus. I thought that was pretty creative.
Speaking of my daughter, she is really pusing my buttons lately. She’s a stubborn little thing to beging with, but she’s been sick, so she’s gotten her way a little more than usual, especially when it comes to eating (or not eating, as the case may be), and now that she’s not sick anymore, she still thinks she should get her way all the time. Everyone will tell you to pick your battles and one of the battles we’ve had to pick is over food. Because she has some bowel disfunction and tends to be constipated, she needs to eat a lot of fiber and drink a lot of fluids. She was eating really well for us before she got sick, and now she’s back to holding food in her mouth and not chewing or swallowing. Breakfast this morning took nearly 45 mintues when it normally takes 20 at the most. At lunch we went round and round over a bite of corn, which is a food that she likes, for 15 minutes. We can get her to eat almost anything we want if we bribe her with something she really like, usually cheese, but I refuse to bribe her with cheese at every meal because it really defeats the purpose of eating all the fiber.
We’re kind of, sort of potty training, but trying not to force the issue because she doesn’t really seem ready for serious potty training yet. We pretty much just take her to the potty if she tells us she has to go. And she’s figured out how to use that to her advantage. When it’s time to do something she doesn’t want to do, like get in her chair or eat, she’ll tell us she needs to go potty. Even though I can count the number of times she’s actually gone potty in these instances on one finger, maybe less, we can’t really not take her because that defeats the purpose of having her tell us when she needs to go. So at almost every meal, we are interrupted by a pointless trip to the bathroom that lasts a minimum of 5 minutes and is usually more like 10. I think it might be time to start using a timer and when the timer goes of she’s done, whether she’s actually gone or not.
My husband has been on my last nerve lately, too. I’m so sick of hearing him whining about being sick. Take the damn cold medicine and shut up about it already. You have a cold, you’re not dying. The only good think to come out of it has been the fact that he’s been sleeping in the guest room. I have had the whole bed to myself for a couple of nights. I can stretch out as much as I want to, I don’t have to fight for the covers, and I don’t have the human furnace there radiating heat toward me that I don’t need. It would be even better if I didn’t have to be up at least twice a night dealing with a sick toddler who’s been stuffed up and coughing and upset because she desperately wants to sleep and can’t.
I know I shouldn't be, because I shouldn't care what other people think of me, but I’m feeling belittled for my parenting choices because I mentioned that we only play with one color play doh at a time, in an effort to minimize the play doh mess. I don’t have tile/hardwood/vinyl floors and a granite topped table for my daughter to play at. I have a carpeted floor and an old coffee table covered with a cheap vinyl tablecloth. Excuse me for not wanting to have play doh ground into my carpeting. I was also asked if I wasn’t curtailing my daughter’s creativity by only letting her have one color at a time. I really don’t think so. Just the other day she took her one color of play doh, squished it into a blob, stuck a handful of paint brushes into it and told me it was an octopus. I thought that was pretty creative.
Speaking of my daughter, she is really pusing my buttons lately. She’s a stubborn little thing to beging with, but she’s been sick, so she’s gotten her way a little more than usual, especially when it comes to eating (or not eating, as the case may be), and now that she’s not sick anymore, she still thinks she should get her way all the time. Everyone will tell you to pick your battles and one of the battles we’ve had to pick is over food. Because she has some bowel disfunction and tends to be constipated, she needs to eat a lot of fiber and drink a lot of fluids. She was eating really well for us before she got sick, and now she’s back to holding food in her mouth and not chewing or swallowing. Breakfast this morning took nearly 45 mintues when it normally takes 20 at the most. At lunch we went round and round over a bite of corn, which is a food that she likes, for 15 minutes. We can get her to eat almost anything we want if we bribe her with something she really like, usually cheese, but I refuse to bribe her with cheese at every meal because it really defeats the purpose of eating all the fiber.
We’re kind of, sort of potty training, but trying not to force the issue because she doesn’t really seem ready for serious potty training yet. We pretty much just take her to the potty if she tells us she has to go. And she’s figured out how to use that to her advantage. When it’s time to do something she doesn’t want to do, like get in her chair or eat, she’ll tell us she needs to go potty. Even though I can count the number of times she’s actually gone potty in these instances on one finger, maybe less, we can’t really not take her because that defeats the purpose of having her tell us when she needs to go. So at almost every meal, we are interrupted by a pointless trip to the bathroom that lasts a minimum of 5 minutes and is usually more like 10. I think it might be time to start using a timer and when the timer goes of she’s done, whether she’s actually gone or not.
My husband has been on my last nerve lately, too. I’m so sick of hearing him whining about being sick. Take the damn cold medicine and shut up about it already. You have a cold, you’re not dying. The only good think to come out of it has been the fact that he’s been sleeping in the guest room. I have had the whole bed to myself for a couple of nights. I can stretch out as much as I want to, I don’t have to fight for the covers, and I don’t have the human furnace there radiating heat toward me that I don’t need. It would be even better if I didn’t have to be up at least twice a night dealing with a sick toddler who’s been stuffed up and coughing and upset because she desperately wants to sleep and can’t.
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
UGH!!! There is sickness in my house! Kevin has been moaning and groaning around here for a couple of days because he has a cold and he's "dying." @@ Alison has been coughing and sneezing for over a week and we thought she was getting better, but last night she (and consequently I) was up most of the night coughing. This morning she was running a fever, so I gave her a little Tylenol and she was her normal energetic self all morning. She ate well, drank well, played well. Then came lunch. She was crabby because she was getting tired. We managed to get her to eat some pears and a couple of bites of lima beans and peas. That last bite of peas was the killer. She put them in her mouth willingly and then wouldn't finish them up. Normally, when she does this, she will finish food while on her way to her room to get ready for a nap. That was not the case today. She gagged on them while Kevin was taking off her shoes and brace and promptly started puking. That upset her a lot and made her cry and that made her puke again, and again, and again, and again. Finally we got to the point where there was nothing left to puke up. So there we were, covered in vomit (because she managaed to puke on me, too) and trying to get her settled down. Not an easy task. Kevin got her undressed while I got some clean clothes and something to put the yucky clothes in. She complained about her mouth being yucky, but wouldn't take a drink and wouldn't let us brush her teeth. She also wouldn't let us giver her any cough medicine (and I can't really blame her), so she'll probably cough her way through her much needed nap.
I hope this sickness leave my house soon, and I hope it skips me on it's way out.
I hope this sickness leave my house soon, and I hope it skips me on it's way out.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Woo hoo! We were finally able to get out and go walking again. Between the FET and the bitterly cold temperatures lately, we haven't been walking since at least the beginning of December. It felt really good, too. :) I was a little concerned that something or other was going to really hurt by the time we got home, but I haven't gotten as out of shape as I feared. I even made it over the knee high snow banks without hurting either of us. Alison hasn't gained much weight, so that helps. I did end up with one small blister, but I chalk that up to wearing my hiking boots instead of my tennis shoes... my feet aren't used to them.
Being out walking kind of makes up for not getting up and doing Tae Bo this morning. In my own defense, I was not being lazy. I had fully intended to get up, but Alison was up coughing in the middle of the night and therefore mommy was up, too. By the time 6:15 came around I could barely open my eyes, and I still had a bit of the sore throat that popped up yesterday. So I ditched my workout and grabbed an extra hour of sleep. It must have helped, because I'm feeling much better now.
Being out walking kind of makes up for not getting up and doing Tae Bo this morning. In my own defense, I was not being lazy. I had fully intended to get up, but Alison was up coughing in the middle of the night and therefore mommy was up, too. By the time 6:15 came around I could barely open my eyes, and I still had a bit of the sore throat that popped up yesterday. So I ditched my workout and grabbed an extra hour of sleep. It must have helped, because I'm feeling much better now.
Friday, January 28, 2005
About 10 years ago, maybe a little less, I decided to teach myself how to crochet. I bought a skein of yarn and the "I Taught Myself Crochet" kit and off I went. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get the hang of it, so I gave up and took up knitting instead. I was much more successful at that and I love to knit.
After finishing my last knitting projects (a baby blanket for a gift and a couple of dish cloths for me), I felt I needed a new challenge and decided to give crocheting a try again. It's taken a couple of days, but I think I've finally got the basic stitches figured out. I don't know if it's because I've been knitting for so long now, but it seems so much easier now than it did before. At any rate, I felt confident enough with my practice swatches to try a simple project. So I'm making myself a scarf. I had a little trouble at first, so I'm really on my second attempt, but it's looking pretty good. Maybe in a couple of days, just in time for the bitter cold to end and a scarf no longer be a necessity, I will have a brand new scarf. :)
After finishing my last knitting projects (a baby blanket for a gift and a couple of dish cloths for me), I felt I needed a new challenge and decided to give crocheting a try again. It's taken a couple of days, but I think I've finally got the basic stitches figured out. I don't know if it's because I've been knitting for so long now, but it seems so much easier now than it did before. At any rate, I felt confident enough with my practice swatches to try a simple project. So I'm making myself a scarf. I had a little trouble at first, so I'm really on my second attempt, but it's looking pretty good. Maybe in a couple of days, just in time for the bitter cold to end and a scarf no longer be a necessity, I will have a brand new scarf. :)
Thursday, January 27, 2005
I've been neglecting my blog lately. The last couple weeks haven't been all that great around here. But enough about that for now.....I may get back to it at some point, or I may not.
When I was in high school, I was in the marching band. Our band was a competition band. During my 4 years in the band, we had competition shows using music from "West Side Story," our "Simply Streisand" show featuring songs by Barbara Streisand, a show that really had no theme, and finally, "The Phantom of the Opera." That show, done in my senior year (fall of 1989), began my fascination with "Phantom." In 1992, my mom and I went to Toronto to see "Phantom" on stage. It was incredible. Growing up near Cleveland and Akron, I was no stranger to professional productions. I had even seen a ballet in Paris when I was there as an exchange student, and a musical on Broadway ("City of Angels," which went on to win the Tony for Best Musical that year). But this was something else. There had been some impressive effects in "City of Angels," but the effects in "Phantom" left me wondering "where did he come from?" or "how did they do that?" When it was over, I talked my mom into buying me the tape of Toronto cast album and the book that told about the production. I listened to the tape the whole way home. If I could have seen the show again, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Little did I know that I would get that chance.
In 1995, Kevin and I were trying to come up with an idea for short vacation. I threw out going to Toronto to see "Phantom," never thinking that he'd be interested in it. Kevin grew up in northern Maine. Going to plays, musicals, ballets and things like that was something he never had the opportunity to do. To my surprise, he agreed, and we set about making the arrangements. We came across the CDs of the original London cast and picked them up. We stumbled across the original, 1920's, movie version of "Phantom" with Lon Chaney, and bought that, too. We were able to get seats close to where my mom and I had sat.....they were actually a little better than what we had had. The show was just as good the second time around as it had been the first. Kevin, having never seen anything like it before, thought is was incredible. I left wishing that there was a video of the show available. I wanted to be able to see it again and again and again. My mom went to see it again a few years ago, as it was ending it's run in Toronto (Paul Stanley, yes the guy from KISS, was playing the Phantom then). I was deeply jealous and wished I could have gone, too.
Somehow, I had not heard that there was a film adaptation of the musical in the works. Imagine my surprise when I started seeing commercials for it! Imagine my disappointment when it was opening only in selected cities last year and would not be opening nationwide until this month. Now imagine how happy I was that my mom was visiting when it finally did open nationwide two weekends ago. We don't go to a whole lot of movies. In fact, I think we only went to one last year. But there was no way I was going to miss seeing "Phantom" in the theater, especially after seeing the "making of" on HBO. I was really excited, but also a little worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. I thought the casting was perfect, and was really impressed that the three leads did all of their own singing (a requirement of Andrew Lloyd Webber). I loved being able to see things up close, see facial expressions, details in the sets/scenery that you can't see in the theater unless you're in the front row. There was, what I felt was, an akward cut away at the end of one scene, some of the song lyrics were changed a bit, there was a scene that was cut out completely, and the chandelier didn't fall at the end of Act I like it was supposed to, but overall, I loved the movie. I left the theater wishing I could go back in and see it again. When telling my mom about it the next morning I said that Kevin and I should have gone Friday night and then I could have gone back and seen it with her Saturday night. Maybe, if we get the opportunity, I'll get a chance to see it again while it's in the theater. If not, I will the first in line to buy it when it finally comes out on video!
When I was in high school, I was in the marching band. Our band was a competition band. During my 4 years in the band, we had competition shows using music from "West Side Story," our "Simply Streisand" show featuring songs by Barbara Streisand, a show that really had no theme, and finally, "The Phantom of the Opera." That show, done in my senior year (fall of 1989), began my fascination with "Phantom." In 1992, my mom and I went to Toronto to see "Phantom" on stage. It was incredible. Growing up near Cleveland and Akron, I was no stranger to professional productions. I had even seen a ballet in Paris when I was there as an exchange student, and a musical on Broadway ("City of Angels," which went on to win the Tony for Best Musical that year). But this was something else. There had been some impressive effects in "City of Angels," but the effects in "Phantom" left me wondering "where did he come from?" or "how did they do that?" When it was over, I talked my mom into buying me the tape of Toronto cast album and the book that told about the production. I listened to the tape the whole way home. If I could have seen the show again, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Little did I know that I would get that chance.
In 1995, Kevin and I were trying to come up with an idea for short vacation. I threw out going to Toronto to see "Phantom," never thinking that he'd be interested in it. Kevin grew up in northern Maine. Going to plays, musicals, ballets and things like that was something he never had the opportunity to do. To my surprise, he agreed, and we set about making the arrangements. We came across the CDs of the original London cast and picked them up. We stumbled across the original, 1920's, movie version of "Phantom" with Lon Chaney, and bought that, too. We were able to get seats close to where my mom and I had sat.....they were actually a little better than what we had had. The show was just as good the second time around as it had been the first. Kevin, having never seen anything like it before, thought is was incredible. I left wishing that there was a video of the show available. I wanted to be able to see it again and again and again. My mom went to see it again a few years ago, as it was ending it's run in Toronto (Paul Stanley, yes the guy from KISS, was playing the Phantom then). I was deeply jealous and wished I could have gone, too.
Somehow, I had not heard that there was a film adaptation of the musical in the works. Imagine my surprise when I started seeing commercials for it! Imagine my disappointment when it was opening only in selected cities last year and would not be opening nationwide until this month. Now imagine how happy I was that my mom was visiting when it finally did open nationwide two weekends ago. We don't go to a whole lot of movies. In fact, I think we only went to one last year. But there was no way I was going to miss seeing "Phantom" in the theater, especially after seeing the "making of" on HBO. I was really excited, but also a little worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed. I thought the casting was perfect, and was really impressed that the three leads did all of their own singing (a requirement of Andrew Lloyd Webber). I loved being able to see things up close, see facial expressions, details in the sets/scenery that you can't see in the theater unless you're in the front row. There was, what I felt was, an akward cut away at the end of one scene, some of the song lyrics were changed a bit, there was a scene that was cut out completely, and the chandelier didn't fall at the end of Act I like it was supposed to, but overall, I loved the movie. I left the theater wishing I could go back in and see it again. When telling my mom about it the next morning I said that Kevin and I should have gone Friday night and then I could have gone back and seen it with her Saturday night. Maybe, if we get the opportunity, I'll get a chance to see it again while it's in the theater. If not, I will the first in line to buy it when it finally comes out on video!
Sunday, January 9, 2005
It's been a while since I written anything. Things got very busy around the holidays. Christmas this year was very much like Christmas last year, and that is not a good thing. Alison was not sick, this year, but we had another death in the family. Last year it was my grandfather, this year it was Kevin's father. The good thing is that he is no longer suffering, and he passed on before the suffering got too bad.
My father-in-law's death made the week after Christmas quite crazy for us. We were already timing for our last embryo transfer and had to be home by Wednesday night, for the procedure on Thursday. Despite the fact that my FIL wanted to be cremated (and he was) the family decided to have the memorial service right away, to get it over with instead of dragging things out for weeks. The memorial was Tuesday afternoon. That gave the family coming in from Maine/Connecticut time to get there (and us too) and also gave us time to get home for our transfer.
The service was very nice. There were a lot of people there. By the time the service actually started I think it was standing room only. It was a little awkward for Kevin and his (older) younger brother, because they did not live or grow up in that town (Kevin is 9 and 11 years older than his half-sibs), so they didn't know a whole lot of people. The minister did a very nice job. He tried to get people to stand up and speak, to relay their memories or tell funny stories, but no one did, at first. He went on with his "sermon" and opened the floor up again when he was done. At that point, Kevin's cousin got up to speak, and that gave Kevin and his brother the encouragement the needed to get up and say something, too. It was good for my BIL, because, not having expected it to affect him at all, he was having a hard time dealing with how much it really did affect him.
I felt like we spent most of that week in the car. Instead of coming home, which would have been pointless, we stayed at my parents' for an extra night and left for Virginia Monday morning. We stayed there until Tuesday evening and then hopped back in the car and drove to my aunt and uncle's in Maryland and spent the night there. The next morning it was back in the car and back to my parents' to pick up all the stuff we had left there, like our Christmas presents and our dog! We spent the afternoon there so that Alison actually had a chance to lay down and take a good nap instead of trying to sleep in the car, which she doesn't do very well. Then we got back in the car again and headed for home. Then Kevin and I had to drive down to near Detroit and back on Thursday.
As for the embryo transfer, it went as well as it could have. The doctor told us we had two "beautiful embryos." They both survived the thaw and did exactly what they were supposed to, as far as being ready to transfer. We won't find out until later this week if they did what they were supposed to, as far as sticking around to become a baby or not. I'm waffling back and forth between thinking it might have worked and being sure it didn't. Today I'm in the "I'm sure it didn't" camp. One thing I know for sure is that, either way, I'm getting my tubes tied. I can't afford to keep buying prescription folic acid supplements, and we can't afford to risk accidentally getting pregnant if I'm not taking the extra folic acid. Kevin would be willing to get the big snip, but this way, if we ever have the money again, we could still have the option of trying in vitro again.
My father-in-law's death made the week after Christmas quite crazy for us. We were already timing for our last embryo transfer and had to be home by Wednesday night, for the procedure on Thursday. Despite the fact that my FIL wanted to be cremated (and he was) the family decided to have the memorial service right away, to get it over with instead of dragging things out for weeks. The memorial was Tuesday afternoon. That gave the family coming in from Maine/Connecticut time to get there (and us too) and also gave us time to get home for our transfer.
The service was very nice. There were a lot of people there. By the time the service actually started I think it was standing room only. It was a little awkward for Kevin and his (older) younger brother, because they did not live or grow up in that town (Kevin is 9 and 11 years older than his half-sibs), so they didn't know a whole lot of people. The minister did a very nice job. He tried to get people to stand up and speak, to relay their memories or tell funny stories, but no one did, at first. He went on with his "sermon" and opened the floor up again when he was done. At that point, Kevin's cousin got up to speak, and that gave Kevin and his brother the encouragement the needed to get up and say something, too. It was good for my BIL, because, not having expected it to affect him at all, he was having a hard time dealing with how much it really did affect him.
I felt like we spent most of that week in the car. Instead of coming home, which would have been pointless, we stayed at my parents' for an extra night and left for Virginia Monday morning. We stayed there until Tuesday evening and then hopped back in the car and drove to my aunt and uncle's in Maryland and spent the night there. The next morning it was back in the car and back to my parents' to pick up all the stuff we had left there, like our Christmas presents and our dog! We spent the afternoon there so that Alison actually had a chance to lay down and take a good nap instead of trying to sleep in the car, which she doesn't do very well. Then we got back in the car again and headed for home. Then Kevin and I had to drive down to near Detroit and back on Thursday.
As for the embryo transfer, it went as well as it could have. The doctor told us we had two "beautiful embryos." They both survived the thaw and did exactly what they were supposed to, as far as being ready to transfer. We won't find out until later this week if they did what they were supposed to, as far as sticking around to become a baby or not. I'm waffling back and forth between thinking it might have worked and being sure it didn't. Today I'm in the "I'm sure it didn't" camp. One thing I know for sure is that, either way, I'm getting my tubes tied. I can't afford to keep buying prescription folic acid supplements, and we can't afford to risk accidentally getting pregnant if I'm not taking the extra folic acid. Kevin would be willing to get the big snip, but this way, if we ever have the money again, we could still have the option of trying in vitro again.
Monday, December 20, 2004
I'm Mr. White Christmas
I'm Mr. Snow
I'm Mr. Icicle
I'm Mr. 10 below....
When I was a kid, we used to watch all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. You know the ones I'm talking about.....Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Burgermeister Meisterburger!), Jack Frost, Nestor the Christmas Donkey, and, probably the most famous, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I liked them all, but my absolute favorite was The Year Without a Santa Claus because I loved Heat Miser and Cold Miser. I don't know why, but I did. I was very disappointed when Christmastime would come and that was no longer one of the special shows that was shown. I was ecstatic when the Family Channel (FoxFamily and now ABCFamily) started showing all those specials again.
That brings us to this year. Alison is at an age now where she will watch some of these things. We made a big deal out of watching Rudolph when it was on (even though we watched it on DVD) and she loved it. And then we got Year Without a Santa Claus on DVD. Alison is now an addict. She wants to watch it all the time because she wants to see Heat Miser and Cold Miser, especially Cold Miser. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. I'm glad to be passing on these "traditions" to her. The show is hokey, but it's fun. And to keep it fun, I'm trying really hard not to let her watch it too much. We've watched it twice, and I think that will be it....until next year. There are a lot of things that I let her watch all the time.....we watch Beauty and the Beast every Thursday night....but I think the Christmas specials need to remain just that...Christmas specials. I only hope I can get Alison to agree with me without too many tantrums. :)
I'm Mr. Snow
I'm Mr. Icicle
I'm Mr. 10 below....
When I was a kid, we used to watch all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. You know the ones I'm talking about.....Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Burgermeister Meisterburger!), Jack Frost, Nestor the Christmas Donkey, and, probably the most famous, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I liked them all, but my absolute favorite was The Year Without a Santa Claus because I loved Heat Miser and Cold Miser. I don't know why, but I did. I was very disappointed when Christmastime would come and that was no longer one of the special shows that was shown. I was ecstatic when the Family Channel (FoxFamily and now ABCFamily) started showing all those specials again.
That brings us to this year. Alison is at an age now where she will watch some of these things. We made a big deal out of watching Rudolph when it was on (even though we watched it on DVD) and she loved it. And then we got Year Without a Santa Claus on DVD. Alison is now an addict. She wants to watch it all the time because she wants to see Heat Miser and Cold Miser, especially Cold Miser. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. I'm glad to be passing on these "traditions" to her. The show is hokey, but it's fun. And to keep it fun, I'm trying really hard not to let her watch it too much. We've watched it twice, and I think that will be it....until next year. There are a lot of things that I let her watch all the time.....we watch Beauty and the Beast every Thursday night....but I think the Christmas specials need to remain just that...Christmas specials. I only hope I can get Alison to agree with me without too many tantrums. :)
Saturday, December 18, 2004
It's Saturday afternoon and I still have a million things I would like to get done today (not really, but you know what I mean), and yet here I sit, not doing any of them. In spite of this, I do feel like I've accomplished quite a bit today. I got to the mall at 9:00, which was later than I had originally intended, but early enough, and finished almost all of my Christmas shopping by 10:30. We still have gifts to buy for Alison, and I need to get something for my future SIL, but other than that, I am done. One of the "million" things I would still like to do today is start wrapping presents. I have also done 3 loads of laundry (all Alison's), and mixed up 3 batches of cookie dough. One batch is baked, but the others are chilling in the fridge right now. And, I have just about finished putting up my Christmas decorations. But right now, I'm tired.
In other news, Alison got her brace yesterday. I should be writing about this in her blog, and I will, soon, but it came to mind while I was typing, so I thought I'd put it here. She's doing well with it, for the most part. We did have to pick her up a new pair of tennis shoes to wear when she doesn't have the brace on because the orthotist ripped the insole out of her other shoe so we could fit the brace in. The other thing we had to find was knee socks, because she needs a sock that goes up over her calf so that the back of the brace doesn't rub on her calf so much. It is very hard to find knee socks in December. There was a Children's Place a the the mall we were at last night and we tried looking there and they only have knee socks in June and July, for back-to-school shoppers whose kids need them for their school uniforms. We tried several other places, and finally found some that are really too big, but will do, at another shoe store. The problem is that she has such small feet. These socks would probably fit the average almost-2 1/2-year old foot, but we've got an extra inch of sock hanging past her toes. But, we've found another upside to not having feeling in that foot....she can't feel that there is a bunch of sock wadded up in the toe of her shoe! I'm going to be on the lookout for toddler sized tube socks (if they even exist.....better check out the boys socks next time I'm in Walmart), though, because I'd like to have something that fits her a little better and we still need a few more socks. The two pair that we bought only gives us 4 days.
Well, it would seem I've dilly-dallied here long enough. Alison should be waking up from her nap anytime now, and it's time for me to get back to my "chores."
In other news, Alison got her brace yesterday. I should be writing about this in her blog, and I will, soon, but it came to mind while I was typing, so I thought I'd put it here. She's doing well with it, for the most part. We did have to pick her up a new pair of tennis shoes to wear when she doesn't have the brace on because the orthotist ripped the insole out of her other shoe so we could fit the brace in. The other thing we had to find was knee socks, because she needs a sock that goes up over her calf so that the back of the brace doesn't rub on her calf so much. It is very hard to find knee socks in December. There was a Children's Place a the the mall we were at last night and we tried looking there and they only have knee socks in June and July, for back-to-school shoppers whose kids need them for their school uniforms. We tried several other places, and finally found some that are really too big, but will do, at another shoe store. The problem is that she has such small feet. These socks would probably fit the average almost-2 1/2-year old foot, but we've got an extra inch of sock hanging past her toes. But, we've found another upside to not having feeling in that foot....she can't feel that there is a bunch of sock wadded up in the toe of her shoe! I'm going to be on the lookout for toddler sized tube socks (if they even exist.....better check out the boys socks next time I'm in Walmart), though, because I'd like to have something that fits her a little better and we still need a few more socks. The two pair that we bought only gives us 4 days.
Well, it would seem I've dilly-dallied here long enough. Alison should be waking up from her nap anytime now, and it's time for me to get back to my "chores."
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
So I remembered to go in for my bloodwork and ultrasound this morning. I raced around like a crazy person trying to get myself and Alison ready to go, but we made it. Either there aren't very many women cycling right now, or they were very efficient this morning, because I don't think we waited 10 minutes before it was my turn to go back (I'm voting for not very many women cycling this month). Julie got my blood in one stick with no digging around for a vein. I was very greatful for that. My ultrasound was relatively uneventful. We could see an area where there was some "loose" blood, which makes sense because I've had a little bit of spotting the last two days, but otherwise the lining of my uterus looked fine. My ovaries looked fine, but it was really hard (and rather painful) to get a good look at my left one. I've had problems with that ovary before. Six years ago I had a wedge resection done on it, due to a ruptured cyst, and it was actually behind my uterus and adhered to it. The ovary is really close to my uterus again and I'm wondering if there are not some adhesions from the fetal surgery incisison site that are causing it. (I know I had adhesions from the back of my uterus to my bowel when Alison was born.....which makes sense since the incision from the fetal surgery was in the back of my uterus.)
At any rate, I got the call this after noon that my bloodwork was fine and I am to start my meds. I'm taking estrogen tablets 3 times a day and wearing an estrogen patch that I change every three days. I go back again for another round of bloodwork and another ultrasound next Wednesday. If all goes well, I'm guessing our transfer will be the 28th or 29th. Hopefully we'll know for sure after next Wednesday's appointment.
Alison was very well behaved during my appointment. She sat very nicely in her stroller and nursed the cup of milk that I gave her to drink on our drive to the doctor's office. She talked to the nurses, who all had to make sure they saw her before we left. After all the attention people have been giving her, she's in for a rude awakening if this works and we have another baby!
At any rate, I got the call this after noon that my bloodwork was fine and I am to start my meds. I'm taking estrogen tablets 3 times a day and wearing an estrogen patch that I change every three days. I go back again for another round of bloodwork and another ultrasound next Wednesday. If all goes well, I'm guessing our transfer will be the 28th or 29th. Hopefully we'll know for sure after next Wednesday's appointment.
Alison was very well behaved during my appointment. She sat very nicely in her stroller and nursed the cup of milk that I gave her to drink on our drive to the doctor's office. She talked to the nurses, who all had to make sure they saw her before we left. After all the attention people have been giving her, she's in for a rude awakening if this works and we have another baby!
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Two entries from me in one day.....it's rare for me to do one entry a day, this might be some kind of record.
So today after Story Time, Alison and I went upstairs to the grown up's area of the library so I could pick out a couple of books for myself. I'm working through our library's list of classic fiction. Alison let me look around long enough to find one book on the list and then it was time to go. On the way to the check out desk, I passed the Book Express area (Book Express is mostly for newer books, both fiction and non-fiction, and is a 7 day check out with no renewals) and saw that there was finally a copy of The Da Vinci Code available. In fact, there were several copies there today. As probably one of the last people on the planet who has not read this book, I've been waiting for a copy to turn up for months, so I grabbed it.
Fast forward to lunch today. Kevin says to me, "You don't think your mom would get you The Da Vinci Code for Christmas do you?" "Well, I don't think so, but I hope not because I just checked it out of the library today," I said. He tells me to take it back. "You've got to be kidding," I say. "I've been waiting for months to get a copy of this book and I finally get one and you're telling me to take it back?!?" "Take it back," he said.
So now I know what one of my Christmas gifts is going to be. Oh well, at least I won't have the pressure of having to finish it in a week hanging over my head when I finally get a chance to read it.
So today after Story Time, Alison and I went upstairs to the grown up's area of the library so I could pick out a couple of books for myself. I'm working through our library's list of classic fiction. Alison let me look around long enough to find one book on the list and then it was time to go. On the way to the check out desk, I passed the Book Express area (Book Express is mostly for newer books, both fiction and non-fiction, and is a 7 day check out with no renewals) and saw that there was finally a copy of The Da Vinci Code available. In fact, there were several copies there today. As probably one of the last people on the planet who has not read this book, I've been waiting for a copy to turn up for months, so I grabbed it.
Fast forward to lunch today. Kevin says to me, "You don't think your mom would get you The Da Vinci Code for Christmas do you?" "Well, I don't think so, but I hope not because I just checked it out of the library today," I said. He tells me to take it back. "You've got to be kidding," I say. "I've been waiting for months to get a copy of this book and I finally get one and you're telling me to take it back?!?" "Take it back," he said.
So now I know what one of my Christmas gifts is going to be. Oh well, at least I won't have the pressure of having to finish it in a week hanging over my head when I finally get a chance to read it.
I sat down here to write something and I have no idea what to write. I just have jumbles of thoughts swimming around in my brain.
Saturday, Alison had an unfortunate encounter with brick wall. Kevin and I are middle school UMYF counselors. Saturday our kids were doing one of their church service projects by babysitting for parents who wanted to drop their kids off for a few hours to do some Christmas shopping or whatever. Alison was with us because it seemed a little silly to pay for a babysitter so that we could go and babysit other kids. Anyway, after lunch, the kids got out the little scooters and of course Alison was all interested in that. I sat there watching and thinking this was not going to be a good thing and she was going to end up getting hurt....that she was going to get run over/knocked down or was going to have her fingers or a foot run over. These scooters could be hooked together in a sort of scooter "train." At one point, Alison got on the scooter train, the second scooter from the front, and another, older, boy started pushing it. He was going really fast and had veered towards the wall, eventually heading straight towards it. Kevin tried to get him to slow down just before he rammed the scooter train into the wall, causing Alison to fly into it head first. Fortunately she has a very tough skull, because, after we got her calmed down, she was just fine....didn't even want us to put ice on her bump (which was enourmous, and I don't know how we missed seeing it right away, but we did). She was running around again in no time. The scooters were put away right after it happened.
My FIL is dying. We've known he was dying since earlier this year, but now it's down to a matter of weeks, most likely. His doctors have given three months at most, but his cardiologist will be turning off his defibrulator after Christmas. I don't think any of us realistically expect it to be much longer once that's done.
As long as I remember to go to my appointment tomorrow morning, we're scheduled to have our embryo transfer the week after Christmas. I was supposed to go in for bloodwork and ultrasound yesterday but, for whatever reason, completely forgot. Fortunately it doesn't mess us up, since I'm not scheduled to start meds until tomorrow anyway, but it's really not like me to forget things like that. I was supposed to be there between 8:00 and 8:45, and didn't remember until 9:45 when I was calling to reschedule Alison's appointment with her orthopedic surgeon. Her brace was supposed to be in last week, but it's not here yet, so we've rescheduled for the appointment for after the first of the year because there's so much going on for us between now and then.
This morning I tried a potty training experiment with Alison. When we were out shopping yesterday, I picked up a package of waterproof training pants for Alison (underwear with a vinyl cover all in one). She was really excited about her new underwear. So much so that she went tinkle on the potty before her nap, stayed dry during it, went tinkle again as soon as she got up, stayed dry until dinnertime, went again, and then ended up going in her diaper while she was playing after dinner. I decided to try the training pants this morning to see if she would ask to go to the potty if she felt when she started going in her pants. Well....she didn't. Her diaper was dry when I put the training pants on her and an hour later when we went to the bathroom so she could go potty before we went to Story Time, she was completely soaked....training pants, shirt, pants, even the tops of her socks were wet, and she never said a word about it. This raises the question of does she even have the ability to feel that she is wet? I hope so.
Saturday, Alison had an unfortunate encounter with brick wall. Kevin and I are middle school UMYF counselors. Saturday our kids were doing one of their church service projects by babysitting for parents who wanted to drop their kids off for a few hours to do some Christmas shopping or whatever. Alison was with us because it seemed a little silly to pay for a babysitter so that we could go and babysit other kids. Anyway, after lunch, the kids got out the little scooters and of course Alison was all interested in that. I sat there watching and thinking this was not going to be a good thing and she was going to end up getting hurt....that she was going to get run over/knocked down or was going to have her fingers or a foot run over. These scooters could be hooked together in a sort of scooter "train." At one point, Alison got on the scooter train, the second scooter from the front, and another, older, boy started pushing it. He was going really fast and had veered towards the wall, eventually heading straight towards it. Kevin tried to get him to slow down just before he rammed the scooter train into the wall, causing Alison to fly into it head first. Fortunately she has a very tough skull, because, after we got her calmed down, she was just fine....didn't even want us to put ice on her bump (which was enourmous, and I don't know how we missed seeing it right away, but we did). She was running around again in no time. The scooters were put away right after it happened.
My FIL is dying. We've known he was dying since earlier this year, but now it's down to a matter of weeks, most likely. His doctors have given three months at most, but his cardiologist will be turning off his defibrulator after Christmas. I don't think any of us realistically expect it to be much longer once that's done.
As long as I remember to go to my appointment tomorrow morning, we're scheduled to have our embryo transfer the week after Christmas. I was supposed to go in for bloodwork and ultrasound yesterday but, for whatever reason, completely forgot. Fortunately it doesn't mess us up, since I'm not scheduled to start meds until tomorrow anyway, but it's really not like me to forget things like that. I was supposed to be there between 8:00 and 8:45, and didn't remember until 9:45 when I was calling to reschedule Alison's appointment with her orthopedic surgeon. Her brace was supposed to be in last week, but it's not here yet, so we've rescheduled for the appointment for after the first of the year because there's so much going on for us between now and then.
This morning I tried a potty training experiment with Alison. When we were out shopping yesterday, I picked up a package of waterproof training pants for Alison (underwear with a vinyl cover all in one). She was really excited about her new underwear. So much so that she went tinkle on the potty before her nap, stayed dry during it, went tinkle again as soon as she got up, stayed dry until dinnertime, went again, and then ended up going in her diaper while she was playing after dinner. I decided to try the training pants this morning to see if she would ask to go to the potty if she felt when she started going in her pants. Well....she didn't. Her diaper was dry when I put the training pants on her and an hour later when we went to the bathroom so she could go potty before we went to Story Time, she was completely soaked....training pants, shirt, pants, even the tops of her socks were wet, and she never said a word about it. This raises the question of does she even have the ability to feel that she is wet? I hope so.
Friday, December 3, 2004
To all those (able bodied) people on my regular walking route who didn't shovel their sidewalks because "oh it's just going to melt anyway," I've got news for you. IT DIDN'T!!! And now, because it got I-don't-know-how-cold last night (it was 23 when we left for our walk this afternoon), the sidewalks are are covered in ice. Thanks a lot! Just be glad I didn't slip and fall and break one of my (or my daughter's) bones.
I know nobody along my route is going to read this, or even know it is directed towards them even if they did, but I feel better now.
I know nobody along my route is going to read this, or even know it is directed towards them even if they did, but I feel better now.
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Once again, a situation has cropped up that parents of "normal" children don't even have to think twice about. We received information in the mail today about Epworth Co-operative Preschool, the preschool sponsored by our church. Registration for next year is now open for members of area United Methodist churches (registration for the general public will begin in February). Alison will be 3 next fall, so she can go to preschool. The only catch is that she has to be potty trained. While we have every reason to think that she will be able to potty train, eventually, we don't know that we'll be able to accomplish it by the time she's 3. At the top of the registration form it says they admit students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin, but it says nothing about children with disabilities. What are the chances they would make an exception on the potty training rule for Alison? I guess I won't know until I ask. I don't play the special needs card all that often, because I don't like to do it, but the fact remains that she is a special needs child. Of course, I'm not even sure I want to send her to preschool next year anyway, so it's probably not even something worth worrying about. But what if I want to send her when she's 4 and she's not potty trained by then? I guess these kinds of issues are going to start cropping up more often now.
In totally unrelated news, we're a step further in our FET cycle. I got my lupron injection today. Hot flashes and night sweats here I come!! I had an appointment to get the darn shot at 10:00 this morning and didn't get out of there until 10:45.....and there was no one else there!!! I'm beginning to think there is a minimum amount of time you must wait before anyone will see you in that office. Betsy said if she were to guess when the transfer will take place, she thinks it will be sometime during the week after Christmas. That's fine with me. :) It would have been a little to weird if it was around Dec. 20, because that's when Alison's transfer was.
And the final piece of news, Isaiah is home from the hospital and recovering pretty well. He came home 4 days after surgery. His mom said that although he doesn't want to even try to sit up, he is smiling and laughing again, so that's good news. Hopefully his recovery will continue to go smoothly.
In totally unrelated news, we're a step further in our FET cycle. I got my lupron injection today. Hot flashes and night sweats here I come!! I had an appointment to get the darn shot at 10:00 this morning and didn't get out of there until 10:45.....and there was no one else there!!! I'm beginning to think there is a minimum amount of time you must wait before anyone will see you in that office. Betsy said if she were to guess when the transfer will take place, she thinks it will be sometime during the week after Christmas. That's fine with me. :) It would have been a little to weird if it was around Dec. 20, because that's when Alison's transfer was.
And the final piece of news, Isaiah is home from the hospital and recovering pretty well. He came home 4 days after surgery. His mom said that although he doesn't want to even try to sit up, he is smiling and laughing again, so that's good news. Hopefully his recovery will continue to go smoothly.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Well, we are back from our Thanksgiving weekend at my parents'. Actually, we were back yesterday, but yesterday was catch-up day, not writing day. The visiting part of the weekend was great. Getting there and getting back home was a nightmare.
To start with, we had snow here in Michigan last Wednesday. It started around 2:00 at my house, and by the time we were ready to leave, at 4:45, we had at least two inches on the ground. That didn't look good. The good news was that it was supposed to be increasingly warmer the further south we went. The bad news was we had about 90 miles of snow to get through first. Normally it takes us about 15 minutes to get from our house to I-75. This day it took us more than half an hour. Once we got to 75, the road was better, but not great. We went through pockets of light snow and pockets of really heavy snow. By 6:30 (now 45 minutes behind schedule) we were just a few miles north of the I-75/US23 split and we stopped to grab something to eat. The snow was starting to get lighter and the roads were not as snow covered, but it was still slow going. We were finally pretty much in the clear by about the time we got to the Ann Arbor area. From there on, the trip was pretty smooth. We still didn't arrive at my parents' until nearly 11:00, way past one little girl's bedtime. It was 11:30 by the time she finally got to bed, and amazingly enough, she was up before 8:00 the next morning.
Thanksgiving Day was nice. One of my friends from college and her new husband, who lives in Cincinnati and whose mom lives in Brecksville, stopped by to visit for a little bit on their way to her mom's. It was good to see them. The last time we saw them was at their wedding, and we (obviously) didn't get to spend much time with them. Shortly before they left, my dad arrived home with my grandma. While I was glad that we were actually able to pry her out of her house for something other than a doctor's appointment or her hair appointment, it was not entirely pleasant to have her there. I feel bad for my mom and all that she has to deal with on a daily basis with my grandma. That in itself could fill an entire entry.
Friday was a pretty laid back day. My mom and brother had to work, so we basically just hung out with my dad for most of the day. When my brother got home from work he headed out for his property to go hunting. To my mom's dismay, he actually came home with a deer. He was pretty excited because, in addition to being an 8 point buck, it was his first deer that he got with a bow (and arrow). He was even more tickled about it because he had only been sitting out there for 5 minutes and had been sitting in the seat of his buddy's dad, who wasn't able to be there, and he knew that buddy's dad was going to be mad.
On Saturday, Kevin and Paul went out to take some pictures of the deer before Paul got it ready to be processed. Alison went out to see the deer to and was thrilled with it. She even petted it, which is kind of gross to me, but what does she know, she's only 2. :) Every now and then during the rest of our visit she would go over to the door to the deck or get up on the chair by the window and look out to try and see Uncle Paul's "reindeer." Luckily it was gone by the time she started doing that, because I think it might have freaked her out to see a skinless deer hanging from the bucket of the tractor.
On Sunday we went to church. Alison had a blast playing in the nursery. She even got to walk around the church a little bit because she was the only child there at the first service. I met her (and Carol) walking down the hall with a donut in her hand when I came down to pick her up. While we were having juice and donuts after church, in walked a friend of mine from high school and her family. It's only the second time in the last 6 years of so that I've seen her. The last time was at her baby shower last year. It was really nice to see her and see the baby. I also got to meet her husband for the first time, too. We chatted a little before they headed up to church. We had a chance to hang out again later because we joined the Lunch Bunch for lunch, which we don't usually do. It was really nice. After lunch Alison took a nap and I snoozed through most of the Browns game before finally getting around to pack.
We finally hit the road at about 4:30. The trip home went great until 5:56. At that point we were on the Ohio Turnpike and were about 4 miles away from the last open rest area on our route (the actual last rest area on our route is closed for reconstruction). We decided to stop there and eat since it would be pushing 7:00 by the time we were off the turnpike and had the chance to stop somewhere else. Unfortunately, at mile marker 104, traffic stopped....completely. An hour and a half later (7:30) we finally made it to the rest area. By that time, Alison had polished of her applesauce, all the Cherrios I had left, and a handful of Teddy Grahms, and was no longer a happy camper. Taking the straw out of her cup and dumping half of it down the front of her probably contributed to the crabbiness, too.
When we finally made it to the rest area, there were cars everywhere. Being trapped on the highway with the next rest area 50 miles away will cause that to happen, I guess. We found "additional parking" areas that we never knew existed. When we got inside, we split up.....Kevin got in line for food and Alison and I headed for the restroom to change a diaper. Of course Alison wanted to walk. Luckily she held my hand the whole time without much fuss. The line for the "family"restroom was way too long, so we headed for the ladies room. That line was even longer. I found an empty bench and figure that was good enough. With the diaper change taken care of, we went back to try and find Kevin. To my surprise, he had already gotten our order in was waiting to pick up the food. Alison and I went off in search of a table. We found one more easily that I thought we would. I didn't even attempt to find a high chair....figured Kevin could do that when he brought the food. The people at the table across from us had one, and they weren't using it, but I didn't want to ask them, since you never know how people are going to be in situations like we were all in. They're either going to be really, really nice or really, really not. Turns out that they were in the nice category because when Kevin went off in search of a highchair they grabbed him and told him to take theirs.
8:15 and we're back on the road. From what we could see out the window, traffic was moving pretty well. That proved to be true when we were back out on the road, at least for about 10 miles. The words "wow, we've actually gone 10 miles in 10 minutes" were no sooner out of my mouth then we were stopped again. Arrggghh!!! The next 10 miles took us about half an hour. Beyond that, it was smooth sailing. Unfortunately we still had about 2 1/2 hours of travel to go.
I had talked to my mom just before we left the rest area and we figured we had about 3 hours before we would be home, so that would be 11:00. At 11:05 my mom called to check on us (probably because she was ready to go to bed). She was very sorry to hear that we were still an hour away from home. I told her about the additional traffic tie-up and told her I would call and let the phone ring twice and hang up when we got home. That way they'd know we were home safely, but they wouldn't have to get up and answer the phone to find out. At 12:05 we pulled into the garage.
Alison, mercifully, slept for about the last 2 1/2 hours of the trip. When it was about her usual bedtime, she started getting cranky so I covered her up with the little receiving blanket we leave in the car and gave her the little pillow she got for being cooperative for the x-ray techs and told her to go to sleep. To my amazement, she did! It was kind of a fitful sleep, probably because, in addition to having a wet shirt she now had wet pants as well. She took the cup, which we filled up for her again at supper, and put it under her leg, which squirted water out of the straw and all over the car seat until I noticed it....when I covered her up again because she got all squirmy and upset. She woke up the second the car pulled into the garage, which I thought was a bad sign, but after I got her diaper changed and got her into her pajamas she wanted to go directly to bed. I obliged and her eyes were closed as soon as I put her down.
All in all, our 4 1/2 hour trip took us 7 1/2 hours. Including our dinner stop, we spent 5 hours on the turnpike instead of 2. I really hope that things are better when we make the same trip at Christmas. I'd hate to think they could be much worse.
To start with, we had snow here in Michigan last Wednesday. It started around 2:00 at my house, and by the time we were ready to leave, at 4:45, we had at least two inches on the ground. That didn't look good. The good news was that it was supposed to be increasingly warmer the further south we went. The bad news was we had about 90 miles of snow to get through first. Normally it takes us about 15 minutes to get from our house to I-75. This day it took us more than half an hour. Once we got to 75, the road was better, but not great. We went through pockets of light snow and pockets of really heavy snow. By 6:30 (now 45 minutes behind schedule) we were just a few miles north of the I-75/US23 split and we stopped to grab something to eat. The snow was starting to get lighter and the roads were not as snow covered, but it was still slow going. We were finally pretty much in the clear by about the time we got to the Ann Arbor area. From there on, the trip was pretty smooth. We still didn't arrive at my parents' until nearly 11:00, way past one little girl's bedtime. It was 11:30 by the time she finally got to bed, and amazingly enough, she was up before 8:00 the next morning.
Thanksgiving Day was nice. One of my friends from college and her new husband, who lives in Cincinnati and whose mom lives in Brecksville, stopped by to visit for a little bit on their way to her mom's. It was good to see them. The last time we saw them was at their wedding, and we (obviously) didn't get to spend much time with them. Shortly before they left, my dad arrived home with my grandma. While I was glad that we were actually able to pry her out of her house for something other than a doctor's appointment or her hair appointment, it was not entirely pleasant to have her there. I feel bad for my mom and all that she has to deal with on a daily basis with my grandma. That in itself could fill an entire entry.
Friday was a pretty laid back day. My mom and brother had to work, so we basically just hung out with my dad for most of the day. When my brother got home from work he headed out for his property to go hunting. To my mom's dismay, he actually came home with a deer. He was pretty excited because, in addition to being an 8 point buck, it was his first deer that he got with a bow (and arrow). He was even more tickled about it because he had only been sitting out there for 5 minutes and had been sitting in the seat of his buddy's dad, who wasn't able to be there, and he knew that buddy's dad was going to be mad.
On Saturday, Kevin and Paul went out to take some pictures of the deer before Paul got it ready to be processed. Alison went out to see the deer to and was thrilled with it. She even petted it, which is kind of gross to me, but what does she know, she's only 2. :) Every now and then during the rest of our visit she would go over to the door to the deck or get up on the chair by the window and look out to try and see Uncle Paul's "reindeer." Luckily it was gone by the time she started doing that, because I think it might have freaked her out to see a skinless deer hanging from the bucket of the tractor.
On Sunday we went to church. Alison had a blast playing in the nursery. She even got to walk around the church a little bit because she was the only child there at the first service. I met her (and Carol) walking down the hall with a donut in her hand when I came down to pick her up. While we were having juice and donuts after church, in walked a friend of mine from high school and her family. It's only the second time in the last 6 years of so that I've seen her. The last time was at her baby shower last year. It was really nice to see her and see the baby. I also got to meet her husband for the first time, too. We chatted a little before they headed up to church. We had a chance to hang out again later because we joined the Lunch Bunch for lunch, which we don't usually do. It was really nice. After lunch Alison took a nap and I snoozed through most of the Browns game before finally getting around to pack.
We finally hit the road at about 4:30. The trip home went great until 5:56. At that point we were on the Ohio Turnpike and were about 4 miles away from the last open rest area on our route (the actual last rest area on our route is closed for reconstruction). We decided to stop there and eat since it would be pushing 7:00 by the time we were off the turnpike and had the chance to stop somewhere else. Unfortunately, at mile marker 104, traffic stopped....completely. An hour and a half later (7:30) we finally made it to the rest area. By that time, Alison had polished of her applesauce, all the Cherrios I had left, and a handful of Teddy Grahms, and was no longer a happy camper. Taking the straw out of her cup and dumping half of it down the front of her probably contributed to the crabbiness, too.
When we finally made it to the rest area, there were cars everywhere. Being trapped on the highway with the next rest area 50 miles away will cause that to happen, I guess. We found "additional parking" areas that we never knew existed. When we got inside, we split up.....Kevin got in line for food and Alison and I headed for the restroom to change a diaper. Of course Alison wanted to walk. Luckily she held my hand the whole time without much fuss. The line for the "family"restroom was way too long, so we headed for the ladies room. That line was even longer. I found an empty bench and figure that was good enough. With the diaper change taken care of, we went back to try and find Kevin. To my surprise, he had already gotten our order in was waiting to pick up the food. Alison and I went off in search of a table. We found one more easily that I thought we would. I didn't even attempt to find a high chair....figured Kevin could do that when he brought the food. The people at the table across from us had one, and they weren't using it, but I didn't want to ask them, since you never know how people are going to be in situations like we were all in. They're either going to be really, really nice or really, really not. Turns out that they were in the nice category because when Kevin went off in search of a highchair they grabbed him and told him to take theirs.
8:15 and we're back on the road. From what we could see out the window, traffic was moving pretty well. That proved to be true when we were back out on the road, at least for about 10 miles. The words "wow, we've actually gone 10 miles in 10 minutes" were no sooner out of my mouth then we were stopped again. Arrggghh!!! The next 10 miles took us about half an hour. Beyond that, it was smooth sailing. Unfortunately we still had about 2 1/2 hours of travel to go.
I had talked to my mom just before we left the rest area and we figured we had about 3 hours before we would be home, so that would be 11:00. At 11:05 my mom called to check on us (probably because she was ready to go to bed). She was very sorry to hear that we were still an hour away from home. I told her about the additional traffic tie-up and told her I would call and let the phone ring twice and hang up when we got home. That way they'd know we were home safely, but they wouldn't have to get up and answer the phone to find out. At 12:05 we pulled into the garage.
Alison, mercifully, slept for about the last 2 1/2 hours of the trip. When it was about her usual bedtime, she started getting cranky so I covered her up with the little receiving blanket we leave in the car and gave her the little pillow she got for being cooperative for the x-ray techs and told her to go to sleep. To my amazement, she did! It was kind of a fitful sleep, probably because, in addition to having a wet shirt she now had wet pants as well. She took the cup, which we filled up for her again at supper, and put it under her leg, which squirted water out of the straw and all over the car seat until I noticed it....when I covered her up again because she got all squirmy and upset. She woke up the second the car pulled into the garage, which I thought was a bad sign, but after I got her diaper changed and got her into her pajamas she wanted to go directly to bed. I obliged and her eyes were closed as soon as I put her down.
All in all, our 4 1/2 hour trip took us 7 1/2 hours. Including our dinner stop, we spent 5 hours on the turnpike instead of 2. I really hope that things are better when we make the same trip at Christmas. I'd hate to think they could be much worse.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Alison was FS4SB surgery #154 at Vanderbilt. She was 22 weeks gestation at the time. Hers was the first of two surgeries scheduled that day. Surgery #155 was Isaiah. He was 24 weeks at the time. We had run in to his parents a few times during the course of our consultations and we had our meeting with the head of Vanderbilt's NICU and our NICU tour together. The doctor basically told us that having FS was going to do nothing for Alison and he wouldn't take the risk. Isaiah's parents were told that the surgery would be of benefit for him. We both made the decision to have the surgery. We didn't see Isaiah's parents again after that tour. I did walk past his mom's hospital room a couple of times when I was doing laps around the floor, but her door was always closed. One of the residents did mention that she was not doing as well in her recovery as I was. That was the last I heard about her or them until earlier this year.
Isaiah's mom came across an entry I had made in another FS baby's guestbook and she e-mailed me. I was thrilled to hear from her because my whole family had often wondered how they were doing. I told her Alison was doing great, much better than we ever thought she would, and directed her to Alison's webpage. She wrote back and said Isaiah was doing good, too, and she would send pictures of him. She never did. I never heard anything more from her. It wasn't until we got back from the FS4SB reunion and joined the mail list that I found out that Isaiah wasn't doing nearly as well as we thought he was. (It was at this time that I finally did see a picture of him in our reunion scrapbook. He's adorable.) As is turns out, he was born just a month after the surgery. He has had many problems with his hydrocephalus requiring lots of shunt revisions and he now actually has two shunts in place. At nearly 2 1/2 years old, he does not sit on his own or crawl. He is unable to say any words or close his mouth. Monday afternoon he underwent Chiari decompression surgery. Because his hindbrain has slid down into the top of the spinal column, his scull is putting pressure on his hindbrain. By removing part of the scull, the hope is that it will relieve the pressure and improve his ability to function "normally."
It's times like these that I really feel schmucky. I've been upset for over a week that Alison, who's only outward signs that there is anything wrong with her is her intoeing right foot, the bump on the back of her head from her shunt, and the scars from her surgery, is going to have to wear a brace on her right leg for a few hours each day. Alison, for whom FS was supposed to do nothing, is as close to a "normal" child as you can get without actually being one. And Isaiah, who had such a great prognosis at the time of surgery, has gone through so much in his short lifetime. It really puts things in perspective.
Isaiah's mom came across an entry I had made in another FS baby's guestbook and she e-mailed me. I was thrilled to hear from her because my whole family had often wondered how they were doing. I told her Alison was doing great, much better than we ever thought she would, and directed her to Alison's webpage. She wrote back and said Isaiah was doing good, too, and she would send pictures of him. She never did. I never heard anything more from her. It wasn't until we got back from the FS4SB reunion and joined the mail list that I found out that Isaiah wasn't doing nearly as well as we thought he was. (It was at this time that I finally did see a picture of him in our reunion scrapbook. He's adorable.) As is turns out, he was born just a month after the surgery. He has had many problems with his hydrocephalus requiring lots of shunt revisions and he now actually has two shunts in place. At nearly 2 1/2 years old, he does not sit on his own or crawl. He is unable to say any words or close his mouth. Monday afternoon he underwent Chiari decompression surgery. Because his hindbrain has slid down into the top of the spinal column, his scull is putting pressure on his hindbrain. By removing part of the scull, the hope is that it will relieve the pressure and improve his ability to function "normally."
It's times like these that I really feel schmucky. I've been upset for over a week that Alison, who's only outward signs that there is anything wrong with her is her intoeing right foot, the bump on the back of her head from her shunt, and the scars from her surgery, is going to have to wear a brace on her right leg for a few hours each day. Alison, for whom FS was supposed to do nothing, is as close to a "normal" child as you can get without actually being one. And Isaiah, who had such a great prognosis at the time of surgery, has gone through so much in his short lifetime. It really puts things in perspective.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Two weeks ago I started a big update entry on how things had been going in our in vitro cycle. I never finished it, and I think I'll probably just delete it. The in vitro didn't work. As usual, my doctor is at a complete loss as to why. As he said, we know that my system works (at least to some extent) because we have Alison. The only "good" news to come out of the whole thing is that we have 2 embryos frozen. Today we learned that they are blastocysts, the highest quality you can have. So we have decided to go ahead and try another frozen embryo transfer. The funny thing about it is that it will be almost exactly 3 years since the last one. Will we possibly have the same luck as the last time? Kevin says he feels more optimistic about this cycle than he did the full cycle. I'm not so sure. Of course, I wasn't so sure about the full cycle either, apparently with good reason.
We'll be following almost the exact same protocol as our last FET. I'm starting BCP tonight, to help quiet down my ovaries after having them hyperstimulated. On Dec. 2, I will get an injection of DepoLupron. Then I'll start estrogen and progesterone. We're also going to throw a 5 day course of steroids into the mix and wrap it all up with Lovenox (2x per day, instead of just once) and baby aspirin after the transfer. I think about the only thing that will be different is that we're going to transfer blast embryos and we have to pay for it this time. Last time we got a freebie due to a mix up with our 3rd full cycle. We had paid for assisted hatching of the embryos and, for whatever reason, they did not do it. The only question, aside from will it work or not, is will the embryos survive the thaw. Dr. Shamma feels it's highly unlikely that we won't have at least one to transfer. So here we go.
In other news, we have finally talked to both of Alison's doctors about her foot. Once we get the order from Dr. Craig, the orthopedic surgeon, she will be casted and fit for an AFO. The funny thing about this is that Kevin initially talked to Dr. Hurvitz on Monday to find out what had been decided. He told him he had gone back and forth with Dr. Craig about whether or not she needed it and finally agreed to it. After Kevin and I talked about it, we decided we wanted to know what made him change his mind, since he had been inclined to leave her alone. Kevin called him back and we were waiting to hear back from him. On Friday, we got a call from Dr. Craig saying that Dr. Hurvitz wanted to brace Alison. Ok, whatever. The strange thing about it all is that Dr. Craig said she only needs to wear it for an hour a day. Which leaves me wondering what is the point of having her wear it all. I suppose he might up the amount of time in it after she's worn it for a while, who knows. But, at least he answered some of the other questions we had for Dr. Hurvitz. We were concerned about how putting her in a rigid brace and immobilizing her foot was going to help correct what we've all agreed is a muscle problem. The answer is that it will be an articulating AFO, meaning it will keep her foot straight, but she will still be able to point and flex it. So, in about a month or so, Alison will be in a brace.
I'm trying to get a jump on my holiday preparations, and am not doing a very good job. We need to have all the presents we're sending to our family in Maryland ready by Thanksgiving so we can give them to my brother to take with him when he goes to my aunt and uncle's to go hunting the following weekend (thus saving us some money on shipping). Unfortunately, we have nothing bought/made. I do have ideas, though. I've also managed to get a very small start on my holiday baking. Alison and I made a batch of cookie dough this morning. Unfortunately, I didn't check out how well stocked my baking supplies are before we went to the store yesterday. So instead of whipping up a double batch of dough, we just made a single batch, because I'm just about out of flour. :( Looks like I'm headed to the store tonight.
So that's my life....or something like it, right now.
We'll be following almost the exact same protocol as our last FET. I'm starting BCP tonight, to help quiet down my ovaries after having them hyperstimulated. On Dec. 2, I will get an injection of DepoLupron. Then I'll start estrogen and progesterone. We're also going to throw a 5 day course of steroids into the mix and wrap it all up with Lovenox (2x per day, instead of just once) and baby aspirin after the transfer. I think about the only thing that will be different is that we're going to transfer blast embryos and we have to pay for it this time. Last time we got a freebie due to a mix up with our 3rd full cycle. We had paid for assisted hatching of the embryos and, for whatever reason, they did not do it. The only question, aside from will it work or not, is will the embryos survive the thaw. Dr. Shamma feels it's highly unlikely that we won't have at least one to transfer. So here we go.
In other news, we have finally talked to both of Alison's doctors about her foot. Once we get the order from Dr. Craig, the orthopedic surgeon, she will be casted and fit for an AFO. The funny thing about this is that Kevin initially talked to Dr. Hurvitz on Monday to find out what had been decided. He told him he had gone back and forth with Dr. Craig about whether or not she needed it and finally agreed to it. After Kevin and I talked about it, we decided we wanted to know what made him change his mind, since he had been inclined to leave her alone. Kevin called him back and we were waiting to hear back from him. On Friday, we got a call from Dr. Craig saying that Dr. Hurvitz wanted to brace Alison. Ok, whatever. The strange thing about it all is that Dr. Craig said she only needs to wear it for an hour a day. Which leaves me wondering what is the point of having her wear it all. I suppose he might up the amount of time in it after she's worn it for a while, who knows. But, at least he answered some of the other questions we had for Dr. Hurvitz. We were concerned about how putting her in a rigid brace and immobilizing her foot was going to help correct what we've all agreed is a muscle problem. The answer is that it will be an articulating AFO, meaning it will keep her foot straight, but she will still be able to point and flex it. So, in about a month or so, Alison will be in a brace.
I'm trying to get a jump on my holiday preparations, and am not doing a very good job. We need to have all the presents we're sending to our family in Maryland ready by Thanksgiving so we can give them to my brother to take with him when he goes to my aunt and uncle's to go hunting the following weekend (thus saving us some money on shipping). Unfortunately, we have nothing bought/made. I do have ideas, though. I've also managed to get a very small start on my holiday baking. Alison and I made a batch of cookie dough this morning. Unfortunately, I didn't check out how well stocked my baking supplies are before we went to the store yesterday. So instead of whipping up a double batch of dough, we just made a single batch, because I'm just about out of flour. :( Looks like I'm headed to the store tonight.
So that's my life....or something like it, right now.
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