It's hard being this adorable

So hard that I nap through anything... ;)

3 Degrees of Awesomeness

Dan finally tested for his third degree today and passed with flying colors! He would have been going for his fourth degree if he hadn't hurt his knee a couple of years ago, so this stripe was a long time coming and well-deserved.

Joey did really well through the test, for the first part he was a little fussy but that was because he was hungry and tired. It took a little while for him to fall asleep because of how loud it was (music, people yelling on their moves, etc.), but once he was asleep he didn't wake up until we were at home and it was time to eat again!

Song for a Fifth Child

Joey is definitely not my fifth child, but I searched out this poem on seeing the last line in someone's signature on my forums. It brings tears to my eyes and makes me snuggle Joey a little closer every time I read it.

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.


The last section is my favorite. :)

More visits!

Jenny and Natalie came over to see Joey tonight and we had a blast! First they came over to check out the house and hang out then we all went over to TGIFriday's where we met Dan after he got off work and all had dinner. It was sooooo nice to get out of the house and have fun with friends! Joey was awesome, as usual, although he did his cluster feeding while we were at the restaurant so it was good that Jenny and Natalie held him at the house.

This was my favorite picture that we took, it's super cute!

This is another one of my favorites. Jenny watched me burp Joey in this position so she tried it herself. Joey likes to sit up and is getting pretty good at his head control. It's also really cute when you help him hold his head by putting your hand under his chin, his chubby little cheeks just roll over your fingers :)

Bath Time!

Sunday we went to Mass and lunch with Dan's family and then I got to nap! Yesterday we ventured to the mall where I got a couple of new nursing shirts (summer shirts, yay!) and we tested out putting Joey in our stroller. He's still a little small for it, but will be better once he has better head control. I love our stroller, it's small, light, and super easy to steer.

Today we needed a bath. Joey has a tendency to spit up while he's lying down and the spit-up will end up in his hair. I like giving him a bath and he definitely doesn't seem to mind it at all--which must mean I'm doing it right ;) The green thing is a terrycloth frog that you keep wet so that the baby doesn't get exposed to lots of cold air all at once, it works great and is probably the main reason that Joey likes baths!
Because he's still working on head control, he sometimes slides sideways in his tub and I have to prop him back up again, so cute!

All clean and dry, time for new clothes!

Yay Friends :)

Today we drove down to Olney to visit friends we haven't see much of since last fall! I got to see Brittany and Lara at my baby shower, but other than that we haven't seen anyone since early fall-ish before I knew I was pregnant! Joey did pretty well except he wanted to nurse pretty much non-stop and wouldn't nap for longer than 10 minutes. We're still not really sure why, but it made me glad that I'm not too shy to breastfeed around people because otherwise I would have been stuck in a back room for the whole trip. That's not to say I had mt boobs hanging out the entire time, I definitely was covered and I doubt any of the guys even knew what was going on most of the time.

My men

'Nough said.

Venturing Out

Today, I took Dan and Joey to lunch for Father's Day. We're super early, I know, but we like beating the crowds. Plus it's Joey's 1 month and we felt we had reason to celebrate :)

After Dan went to work, Auntie Sarah came for a visit. Joey was passed out the entire time, he took his long sleep way early (he's been doing that the last couple of days) and we couldn't get him to wake up.
Sarah took this with her phone, he had put his hand up by his face and a single finger was left, lol.

Maternity Shoot Pictures!

Done by the Amazing Lauren Garczynski of random.eye.candy.photography :)

Bye Bye Staples

Today I got my staples taken out. The dressing came off in the shower a few days after I got home (boy was I glad they told me I was allowed to shower) so I got to see the crazy number of staples they used. The OB who did my surgery is local, so I didn't have to drive super far which was nice. At the office, after the nurse took me back into the room, she was asking me the normal new-patient info stuff, things like "was your pregnancy normal" etc. When she asked me if the pregnancy was normal, I responded with "aside from the cyst, yes". That was all I said, I didn't say it was a Mega Cyst or I required surgery or anything. The nurse turns, looks at me, and goes, "That was you?!" Apparently, my cyst was quite famous in the OB's office.

Getting the staples out was not fun. Hurt less than getting a tattoo but more than nothing, and once we got further down my stomach away from my bellybutton it got better. I asked the doctor if having the surgery would add to the time I wasn't allowed in the pool (telling him that in two weeks I have my 6 weeks postpartum checkup) and he didn't think so. He did say that the incision healed up very well.

The stretch marks on my stomach are fading, but I'll probably keep the awesome (/sarcasm)
"twin skin" permanently. The scar is pretty cool though. It'll be interesting to see how my stomach stretches when I get pregnant again, especially the scar. We won't find out for at least a year though, to give my body plenty of time to recover, plus I want to cuddle Joey as much as possible while he's little.

No Picnic For Us

We didn't make it to the goodbye picnic today. Yesterday we spend a ridiculous amount of time driving around (in the heat and humidity which I did not tolerate well) trying to hunt down a store with window AC units in stock. That's what we get for waiting until after the hot weather has started, but we finally found what we were looking for at Home Depot. All the driving around and getting in and out of the car/heat made me super tired. So today, we went to Mass and went to Dan's parents' house (he had to pick up some paperwork anyway) for lunch. I was a little sad not to go to the school picnic, but I'm also headed up to school for health insurance paperwork tomorrow, so that would have been 3 trips in 4 days and that's a lot of gas. I also have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and Dan will be at the DMV, so Joey and I are on our own if he doesn't get out in time. We're heading to school straight after the appointment so it could potentially be just me and Joey all day tomorrow.

Joey is 4 weeks old today! I can't believe how fast time has gone, he's gotten so big in this short time too! We've already had to adjust the straps in his car seat and he's probably up to 3lbs. above his birth weight (he was 9lbs. 13oz. a week ago and newborns average an ounce a day in weight gain). It's a lot, always being "on" for responsibility and always making sure Joey has what he needs and is safe. Just about the only break I get is when I'm in the bathroom or taking a nap while Dan watches him. Other than that, I'm constantly checking on him, rocking him, feeding him, snuggling him, and I'm never out of earshot. Despite everything, I'm still loving being a mommy and love having Joey finally here. I'm almost always tired and I get frustrated during mid-night feedings, but I typically feel a lot better if I can get a nap in during the day. Today, I got my nap and it's almost midnight and I'm still awake--though I'm headed off to bed shortly.

Week of the 6th

This week was pretty slow. I spent most of my time taking it super easy so I could go to school for the last Mass and last school day ever. My mom and Dan's mom came over to visit a bunch this week to help with Joey so I could rest and even nap if I wanted!

Today was the last ever day of school. It was so bittersweet because while I was coming back and showing off Joey to the people who watched me progress through my pregnancy, it was sad knowing that the school was closing. Lots of parents were there, and there were lots of tears and tissues. I got lots of hugs from the kids and everybody loved Joey (who slept pretty much the entire time, he only woke up to eat). As long as we're feeling up to it, we'll be headed to the final goodbye party on Sunday where anybody ever associated with the school (it's been around for 15 years) has been invited.

Cuddles

We think Joey is either pretending to be hungry when he's not, or rooting when he's barely hungry, in order to get me to hold him. I don't mind--most of the time--because I'm enjoying every moment of snuggles and cuddles because I know at some point there will be a time when he's too cool for that ;)

Hospital Stay Continued

I got some sleep last night. Sleep interrupted by nurses and techs checking my vitals (which was not a bad thing because it meant I could get more pain medication) and interrupted by sore boobs ready to be pumped.

Mom brought Joey over as soon as visiting hours started and Dan stopped by before karate. Mom hung out with me until Dan was done at karate. I spent the day nursing, knitting, and reading. Dan stayed with me until the diaper bag ran out of diapers, which was at about 8pm. I finally got liquids this morning and those ice chips and that ice water was the best thing I've ever tasted. Once the doctor cleared me for solid foods, Mom got me a roast beef sandwich from Hardee's and that also tasted awesome. They also took my catheter out and let me walk around and use the bathroom on my own. I'm still hurting quite a bit but believe me, I much prefer this pain to what I was feeling yesterday!

I still haven't actually seen the incision yet, there's a dressing over it and it's stayed clean (I haven't bled through it) so they haven't had to change it. I have one more night here.

(Jump to the final part of The Mega Cyst Saga)

Cyst and Surgery (Warning: Graphic Picture)

My first ever surgery took place today. Here's what happened leading up to it:

Back in January, we discovered a cyst on my right ovary. Two weeks ago, I had to be seen in the ER for pain on my right side. It was decided between the ER doc, the in-house OB, and the OB from my practice (who the ER doc had called), that my uterus was still fairly large and the danger of torsion (the cyst twisting the ovary) was minimal and I would go in to be examined the following Monday. I was examined, another ultrasound was ordered, went to the ultrasound, and scheduled surgery to remove the cyst for later this month.

Early this morning--again--I started having pain on my right side. This time, I took my pain killers from the delivery, which is what the docs told me to do if the pain came back. They also told me if it got bad again, to come back into the ER (due to the worry about torsion). The pain killers kept the pain at bay, but didn't get rid of it completely, they're also so strong that I couldn't take more for at least four hours. In the time it took waiting to take more, the pain got worse, and it got to the point where I was throwing up. That was the point where we decided to go back to the ER.

Back in the ER, still early in the morning but after change of shift (for most positions, the doc wasn't in just yet), I ended up getting back almost right away but had to wait for the doctor. There were two people supposedly ahead of me, but I was in so much pain (and they knew it because they could hear me) and it was so much worse than last time, that the doc came and saw me first so we could get the pain medication going and get it under control. They gave me the same narcotic (that I can never remember the name of) as last time, and it made me sleepy right away, just like last time. The difference was, when I fell asleep, my breathing slowed way down, which concerned them. They eventually limited how much of the medicine that I got and gave me O2 so it wouldn't happen again.

I got sent for an ultrasound, just like last time. This time, the cyst was determined to have grown to 18cm AND the doctor came down and told me after the radiologist had read the results that my uterus had, in fact, shrunk and the pain I was having now (as well as the pain last week) was due to partial torsion. That explained so much. It explained why I was in so much pain and why the pain medication took several doses to make it go away completely (or it just kept the edge off). The doctor gave me a couple of choices. He wanted to take the cyst out, I had no argument. My choices were to go ahead and have the cyst out at this hospital, or to transfer me to Sinai where my OBs had privileges and let the OB on call remove the cyst. I just wanted the thing out in the easiest, quickest possible way, so I opted to stay.


They set a time for my surgery (3pm) and then wouldn't give me any more pain medication due to my drop in breathing from the ER--this decision was made at 11am! I had to sit for four hours with only mild medication and what was already in my system! I was not a happy camper, at all! I understand that they didn't want my blood pressure to tank in the OR with the anesthesia and narcotics in my system, but 4 hours was way to long to be sitting with almost no medication and a partially twisted ovary!

Both moms came and sat with Joey so Dan could go to karate (he had already missed way too much work between the delivery, the baby, and the episode two weeks ago), and I was so glad that they were there. Joey slept through the whole day because he was in someone's arms almost non-stop, I was also thankful for that. Eventually, they finally came to prep me for surgery and not a moment too soon because all the medication was wearing off and the pain was getting really bad again. I barely remember the OR. I remember going in, getting warm blankets laid over me, and I remember moving from the stretcher to the operating table thing (it had arms for my arms), and they pushed the meds on me at that point because the next thing I remember is waking up in post-op (also called the PACU--Post Anesthesia Care Unit).

Originally, the plan had been to give me a "bikini cut" incision which would be horizontal and lie below my waistline. The doctor told me in post-op that because of the size of the cyst, they weren't able to do that and I had a large, vertical incision from my bellybutton down. He also snapped a picture of the cyst (because it was one of the largest he's ever seen) with his iPhone and e-mailed it to me! That part was pretty cool, so here's the picture:

For size reference, it's hard to tell, but that white slip of paper is a six-inch paper ruler. To give you another idea of the size, Dan's mom got me a kid's soccer ball that is just about the same size, a size 3 soccer ball (I'll get a picture of someone holding it later).

So now I'm in a room on "the floors" and I'll be here until Sunday or Monday morning at the latest. I have to talk to the doctor and see what he says. The other, super sucky part of the whole thing is I have not been allowed any fluids. Zero. Not even ice chips. My last drink was this morning before we left for the ER, my mouth is so dry and foul-tasting. I can't have any liquids until tomorrow morning. I understood not having anything before anesthesia but after? That's just mean :(

(Jump to Part VI of The Mega Cyst Saga)

Just the two of us

Today Dan went to hang out with Chris and it ended up being just me and Joey all day long until Dan got home from work. It wasn't too bad, we went and had lunch with Aunt Sarah and then hit up Babies R Us for some diapers and window shades for my car. I also got a cool nursing shirt that I will be wearing a lot this summer.

I also started knitting again! I've been re-watching Bones and in one episode, Angela puts a Mohawk hat on Zach and it made me want one! Not only that, but I looked at it and thought, "I can make that!" so I went on Ravelry and found an easy and fun pattern. I used all yarn and needles that I already had and cast on, it's definitely an easy knit and I'll have no problems working on it during naps or nursing sessions.

The only downside was that pretty much as soon as Dan got home, Joey started his cluster feeding, so I didn't get a minute to myself for a couple hours after Dan got back.

Naps

Joey didn't sleep much during the day yesterday. He slept ok last night, we got up a couple of times for feedings but there were definitely several hours in between. We managed to sleep until 9ish this morning. Today was similar to the kind of activity we have been used to these last couple of weeks. Joey did manage to sleep for a big nap during the day and then after Dan went to work, I read aloud to him (from the book I was reading, not a kids book, the whole point was for him to hear my voice) and got him to fall asleep for another big nap. During that nap, I got to nap as well, we slept for around two hours and I felt really good when we got up! Joey started his cluster feedings early, around 8, but now he's sleeping in the same position as the picture above ;)