Holy cow - my baby is 18 days old!
Just had to start with that - it just amazes me that so much time has gone by since she was born - it hardly seems possible!
She's doing very well now - we seem to have all of her health issues licked and she's started to settle into routines. So as she settles into new routines, I am working to do the same.
My husband is returning to work on Wednesday. Initially, he was going to take off through Thanksgiving, but because he's transferred districts for his job (from one 30 miles away to one a 1/2 mile away), he's finding that he feels guilty about them being a bit short handed. So he's going to work two weeks and then take the following two weeks off while his dad and step-mom are here.
I'm actually ok with him going back early - it'll help me to get into my own routine, as well. And what does that routine include?
Well, I'm working my way back to picking up more writing work, plotting out how to re-attack some of my long-neglected fiction, developing a blogging schedule, rebuilding a few websites I own, and checking in every so often with my full-time job to stay connected as I continue to be out on leave through early January. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
It really isn't. The schedule I'm developing (I can't live without spreadsheets and schedules) is entirely built around the Little Miss, but still allows plenty of time to tackle my own projects while she's sleeping...which she's still doing a LOT of.
But until my little routine actually gets going, I'm feeling a bit frazzled...and so it's another Manic Monday! How's life in your world?
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Seriously, the Medical Edition
We had several seriously?!?!?! moments today that I can share. (By the way...head over to my How to Have a Baby blog to see the latest on baby's medical issues/status.)
First, baby has been having daily weight checks, color checks and bilirubin blood draws since this past Tuesday. Our doctor has Saturday and Sunday hours for urgent care and follow-ups, but the location varies between the main location and a sub location. This weekend was at the sub location. The nurse at the main location advised us yesterday to simply call the sub location at 9 AM today to see what time they wanted us to come in.
We're good at following directions, so we called at 9:05, and explained why we were calling and what our little girl needed to have done. The girl at the desk told us that a new nurse was working today and so she didn't want to over-burden her, and so couldn't we wait until Sunday? Um, no. So she said she'd page out our doctor to see what she said and get back to us if we "actually" had to come in. Ok...we'll play.
An hour later, no phone call. We decided to give it another half hour...and then called back. The response? "Oh, yeah. Well, how soon can you be here?"
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? This sub location is almost 20 miles away...and we were waiting on a call back to get ready to leave the house. So, really, you can wait on us. Seriously!
Second, when we finally got to the doctor's office, we ended up sitting there for TWO HOURS just to have her weight checked (she gained almost 3 ounces versus yesterday) and to have a lab slip drawn up to take to the hospital since the doctor office's lab was closed. TWO HOURS. And it totally put the little one off her feeding schedule. I finally went back to the nursing room to start feeding her when she was a half hour overdue and then the nurse came in to weigh her and promised that we'd be on our way soon. So she only got half a feeding. Seriously?!?
Finally, when we got to the hospital, we ended up with a stupid lab tech. She asked why we were doing daily blood draws (um, the diagnosis is on the lab slip, sweetheart) and so I explained that we had been monitoring her bilirubin levels since Tuesday to make sure they were coming down. She looked rather alarmed when I told her the starting level and so I commented that the blue light therapy was working to help bring her numbers down bit by bit. The tech said that she didn't know that phototherapy could be done at home and she just assumed we were doing it at the hospital. Seriously?
Rewind. So this tech thought that we came to the hospital, took our child out of her blue light therapy, and brought her up to the lab? Um, I've heard of self service, but that crosses the border into stupid land. Here's your sign. Yes, the baby is getting therapy at home. Duh!
As a postscript, the nurse at the doctor's office and the lab tech both referred to Baby Catherine as "he" multiple times even as I was correcting them on her gender. Oy.
So it's been a Seriously Stupid Saturday all the way around. And despite the lab tech saying the results would be ready in an hour...we haven't received any results. So, on our own, and I'm sure AMA, we've decided to say "screw it" to doing a weight check and a blood draw tomorrow and try to capture an entire day to ourselves at home without working around medical crap...Monday will be soon enough to do her next checks!
Hope ya'll are having a great weekend!
First, baby has been having daily weight checks, color checks and bilirubin blood draws since this past Tuesday. Our doctor has Saturday and Sunday hours for urgent care and follow-ups, but the location varies between the main location and a sub location. This weekend was at the sub location. The nurse at the main location advised us yesterday to simply call the sub location at 9 AM today to see what time they wanted us to come in.
We're good at following directions, so we called at 9:05, and explained why we were calling and what our little girl needed to have done. The girl at the desk told us that a new nurse was working today and so she didn't want to over-burden her, and so couldn't we wait until Sunday? Um, no. So she said she'd page out our doctor to see what she said and get back to us if we "actually" had to come in. Ok...we'll play.
An hour later, no phone call. We decided to give it another half hour...and then called back. The response? "Oh, yeah. Well, how soon can you be here?"
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? This sub location is almost 20 miles away...and we were waiting on a call back to get ready to leave the house. So, really, you can wait on us. Seriously!
Second, when we finally got to the doctor's office, we ended up sitting there for TWO HOURS just to have her weight checked (she gained almost 3 ounces versus yesterday) and to have a lab slip drawn up to take to the hospital since the doctor office's lab was closed. TWO HOURS. And it totally put the little one off her feeding schedule. I finally went back to the nursing room to start feeding her when she was a half hour overdue and then the nurse came in to weigh her and promised that we'd be on our way soon. So she only got half a feeding. Seriously?!?
Finally, when we got to the hospital, we ended up with a stupid lab tech. She asked why we were doing daily blood draws (um, the diagnosis is on the lab slip, sweetheart) and so I explained that we had been monitoring her bilirubin levels since Tuesday to make sure they were coming down. She looked rather alarmed when I told her the starting level and so I commented that the blue light therapy was working to help bring her numbers down bit by bit. The tech said that she didn't know that phototherapy could be done at home and she just assumed we were doing it at the hospital. Seriously?
Rewind. So this tech thought that we came to the hospital, took our child out of her blue light therapy, and brought her up to the lab? Um, I've heard of self service, but that crosses the border into stupid land. Here's your sign. Yes, the baby is getting therapy at home. Duh!
As a postscript, the nurse at the doctor's office and the lab tech both referred to Baby Catherine as "he" multiple times even as I was correcting them on her gender. Oy.
So it's been a Seriously Stupid Saturday all the way around. And despite the lab tech saying the results would be ready in an hour...we haven't received any results. So, on our own, and I'm sure AMA, we've decided to say "screw it" to doing a weight check and a blood draw tomorrow and try to capture an entire day to ourselves at home without working around medical crap...Monday will be soon enough to do her next checks!
Hope ya'll are having a great weekend!
Labels:
Doctors,
Seriously Saturday
Friday, October 10, 2008
First Fabulous Friday
This is our First Fabulous Friday with our new little one, Catherine Elizabeth. I'm sitting here in my hospital room, where my baby is propped against my belly a la a pillow, my husband is passed out in the cot next to me, and I'm on the internet blogging...how full is my life? :-)
This has just been the best experience - minus the 1 hour and 40 minutes between when the doctor broke my water and my epidural set in! We've had a bunch of visitors, gotten flowers and baskets from both of our jobs as well as other friends, and Catherine's gotten wishes of welcome through the internet from all over the globe. Life is way good!
We get to head home tomorrow. Discharge is "no later than" 1 PM but I think we're going to plan to leave earlier. Have to wait to get one last check up for me (let's not even discuss my massive swelling around my "little" tear) and one last check up for baby (who is doing WONDERFULLY!) and then they'll check out the car seat (which is funny since as a state police officer, my husband is also a certified car seat technician so I'm *pretty* sure the dang thing is in there just fine) and we'll head off. We're expecting Chris' aunt and uncle as well as his brother and his brother's girlfriend to visit either tomorrow or Sunday and then we'll begin the job of setting up our new routines in life!
I will be heading into my office for a *short* while on Monday to drop off my work laptop (someone else might as well use it while I'm out) and my budget work (Catherine came 1 day too early for me to finish beforehand) and my leave/disability paperwork. Chris will be heading into work for a *short* while probably on Wednesday to finish clearing out his stuff from his office (he's transferring from the Dallas office to the Fort Worth office) and to turn in his state vehicle since he'll get a different one from his new office. In between, Little Miss has her first pediatrician appointment on Tuesday morning - yay! So we already have a busy week on the horizon!
Hope all is well with you, dear reader! I look forward to sharing our journey with Catherine with you as she grows and our family evolves!
This has just been the best experience - minus the 1 hour and 40 minutes between when the doctor broke my water and my epidural set in! We've had a bunch of visitors, gotten flowers and baskets from both of our jobs as well as other friends, and Catherine's gotten wishes of welcome through the internet from all over the globe. Life is way good!
We get to head home tomorrow. Discharge is "no later than" 1 PM but I think we're going to plan to leave earlier. Have to wait to get one last check up for me (let's not even discuss my massive swelling around my "little" tear) and one last check up for baby (who is doing WONDERFULLY!) and then they'll check out the car seat (which is funny since as a state police officer, my husband is also a certified car seat technician so I'm *pretty* sure the dang thing is in there just fine) and we'll head off. We're expecting Chris' aunt and uncle as well as his brother and his brother's girlfriend to visit either tomorrow or Sunday and then we'll begin the job of setting up our new routines in life!
I will be heading into my office for a *short* while on Monday to drop off my work laptop (someone else might as well use it while I'm out) and my budget work (Catherine came 1 day too early for me to finish beforehand) and my leave/disability paperwork. Chris will be heading into work for a *short* while probably on Wednesday to finish clearing out his stuff from his office (he's transferring from the Dallas office to the Fort Worth office) and to turn in his state vehicle since he'll get a different one from his new office. In between, Little Miss has her first pediatrician appointment on Tuesday morning - yay! So we already have a busy week on the horizon!
Hope all is well with you, dear reader! I look forward to sharing our journey with Catherine with you as she grows and our family evolves!
Labels:
Fabulous Friday
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Instant Weight Loss
My friends and coworkers continue to comment that I'm "all belly" and that I'm going to be back to my pre-pregnancy size as soon as I leave the hospital. I protest! At +45 pounds versus my pre-pregnancy weight, that'd have to be one dang big baby!!
But that leads me to this thought. We're anticipating a baby that is within a few ounces of 7 pounds. So between delivering the baby and all of the other fun stuff that comes out at the same time, it would be sensible to anticipate leaving the hospital 10 to 15 pounds lighter than going in, right?
What have you experienced, Mamas? Is that a reasonable amount to figure on losing while in the hospital?
What about in the first few weeks afterwards, especially if you breastfed your babies? I've also heard that breastfeeding can stimulate weight loss...even though I've also heard that I'll need to consume an extra 500 or so calories a day to feed Spoiled Baby adequately.
So what do you think? Tell me all about your experiences!
But that leads me to this thought. We're anticipating a baby that is within a few ounces of 7 pounds. So between delivering the baby and all of the other fun stuff that comes out at the same time, it would be sensible to anticipate leaving the hospital 10 to 15 pounds lighter than going in, right?
What have you experienced, Mamas? Is that a reasonable amount to figure on losing while in the hospital?
What about in the first few weeks afterwards, especially if you breastfed your babies? I've also heard that breastfeeding can stimulate weight loss...even though I've also heard that I'll need to consume an extra 500 or so calories a day to feed Spoiled Baby adequately.
So what do you think? Tell me all about your experiences!
Labels:
Weighty Wednesday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
