3:12 Update

It's late onset Group B Strep. We'll be here for at least ten more days getting antibiotics. We caught it early and dodged a bullet. I was tested for it during my pregnancy but must've got it after they tested, I passed it to Jack and it sat around in his body for 30 days building up an army. Penicillin would kick it's ass but Jack is going to get some good stuff just to make sure. We are limiting new germs so Ella will get to wear a mask when she comes up. We are hoping for a very boring ten days.

Getting Better

They are done trying to pinpoint a cause or a specific infection and ruled out some serious things (meningitis, blood infection,) they are treating it like a staph infection that could have some from a mosquito, a scratch, anywhere. He's getting broad band super antibiotics still and will continue to get that for a few more days. His body is doing what it needs to do. He's also getting something for the nausea as well as regular blood test to make sure his kidneys can handle the super antibiotics.

He is happier and fussier and more alert today. Still nursing great. The hard red swelling on his neck is almost gone and some of the rash is back but this time it's different, smaller, more like little milk pimples. We may be able to go home and take oral antibiotics in a few days instead of the projected two weeks we originally thought. We are relieved and still tense waiting to make sure his body and the antibiotics keep doing what they should.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes, prayers, thoughts, rosaries, offers to babysit and or bring food, and in general all the good juju. We feel blessed to have such a great community surrounding us both online and in three states.

Ella went to her BFFs last night and the first day of school is tomorrow. Dan will go to work late and get her on the bus, I'll leave here and get her off the bus and bring her up here until Dan gets off work. We can do that for this next week if needed and hopefully we'll all be home after that.

My cousin Kelly said a nurse once told her when her son was ill "little babies get sick very quickly but they also bounce back very quickly." Luckily that seems to be the case for us. And yes Kelly, I think I have three years of grey hairs in these three days.

Jack is Sick

We took the big trip back to IL and while we were there Jack developed an acne like rash all over his head and shoulders. After a call to the pediatrician we thought is was just baby acne. Two days after our return home he wouldn't eat and wouldn't stop whimpering with every breath. After about 40 minutes of listening to him whimper on my shoulder and waiting for a burp I called Dan and then the doctor. I took his temp it was 99.2 by the time we got to the doctor's office an hour later it was 102. They sent us straight to the emergency room.

After a blood culture, a urinalysis, a spinal tap, and an x-ray they called it sepsis and started pumping him full of antibiotics. His neck swelled up, they did two ultrasounds to make sure it wasn't closing off any airway or blood flow then they could decide if he needed to go to the bigger hospital and have surgery. They didn't find anything, just swollen tissue, so no surgery. We are on hour 30 in the intensive care unit and his fever is down, he's nursing well, his color is no longer a waxy yellow. He's still clearly in pain, and occasionally throwing up. We don't know where the infection is coming from , though the doctor asked if he'd been bitten by any mosquitoes. It's a possibility. We have the best nurse in the world. That's all I know.

On Parenting - Part II

More events for the Parentolypics, in the newborn category:

• The pee dodge
• Marathon infant holding - extra points for eating with one hand
• Speed showering
• 20 Sit-up burping at 2am & 5am
• Sleep deprivation vocabulary use - extra points for knowing what that thingamajig is

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I am taking the kids to Illinois on Wednesday for two weeks. I am planning to fly up, bringing only one suitcase, a diaper bag, a car seat and a stroller. Yes, one suitcase for the three of us, for two weeks. It will contain;

For me:

• One dress
• One pair of jeans
• Two skirts
• Four shirts
• One long sleeve sweater (it gets down in the low 70s up there!)
• Sandals
• Tennis shoes & socks

For Ella:

• Two dresses
• Two shorts
• One skirt
• Four shirts
• One pair of pants
• One sweatshirt
• Flip Flops
• Tennis shoes & socks
• Swimming suit
• Crayons and a coloring book

For Jack:

• Three blankets
• Four t-shirts
• Four pants
• Two sleepers
• Sun hat
• Booties

General junk:

• Bathroom stuff
• Baby monitor
• Mosquito net
• Two slings
• Chargers for phone, camera etc.

I plan to do laundry often and buy what I don't bring. I'll let you know if it's a total debacle or if I finally didn't over-pack.

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My son is outgrowing everything. He's wearing an outfit marked 3 months today. He's 26 days old. I think the next pack of diapers I buy will have to be size 2, to prevent leaking right out the side where his chubby little thigh sticks out. I guess they do make everything bigger in Texas.

Pranking the Baby

Ideal Breasts

I flipped on the 9pm news and one of the teaser stories at Houston's Fox 26 was about a man who was "Engineering the 'Ideal Breast'" without implants by Reporter Kristine Galvin.

The story is actually about having a reduction which I understand, being the recipient of a new milk supply. Having the extra weight on your front isn't always comfortable, however I was terribly disappointed the story overlooked the health and function of the body and instead presented a titillating tail of aesthetics. Fox News 26 ran teasers of the story before and after every commercial reporting a newsworthy engineer turned surgeon "figured out a way to give women what they've always wanted." To which I have to ask "really?!"

I'd say most women who get a reduction really just would like their backs, necks and chests to stop hurting and still look normal after the fact, not an "internal push up bra." I resent the presentation of a story about 'ideal breasts' with an emphasis on how they look and not if they are still functional nor how the health of the women attached to them has improved beyond (she) "met and married the man of her dreams." I bet if you ask a few other woman what they think the ideal breast is you may get more than just I'd like them to be up high, scar free and cone shaped.

Here are some things this lactating woman would like to put on the ideal breast wish list:

1. Add a milk gauge so I know how much I have left, how much this baby has drunk and how much I should pump the next time I want to go out.

2. Make them extendable, like go-go-gadget breast so that I can nurse my baby in my lap and still use my hands to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms.

3. For that matter, let's just make one of them detachable so that I can leave one with the baby and or shoot a bow with ease.

4. Make them filter out alcohol so that I can have a drink or two and not worry about what will reach the baby.

5. Give them an endless supply.

6. Make them cancer resistant.

Any additions?

Nerdy Mom

When I slide down in the blue chair to get comfy for bebe who is laying on my chest waiting to recline so he can sleep, my underwear roll up, then he falls asleep and am stuck under a sleeping baby with a giant self impossed wedgie.

Mother Mayhem

A friend asked me how my day was going and I replied "I live in a sort of quiet crazy these days, one in which I crave coffee and a shower, nonstop." I wake up each morning with such optimism and verve, by mid afternoon my optimism has churned into a plea to the universe for quiet and a sandwich and by late evening I am reduced to an animal clothed in ill fitting maternity and/or pre-maternity clothes covered in sticky, dried milk and other fluids that aren't my own and hoping for enough time with two hands free to make a bowl of cereal. This is fret-filled life with a newborn. In between coos, gorgeous little hiccups, the sleepy smiles of a new person, and the adoring cuteness of siblings, are all the uncertain maintenance life with two children and a dog require.

I keep wondering what would make the first month easier; a magic swing of endless entertainment? an accurate prediction of sleep pattern? a third arm? I just can't find a solution to the chaotic breakdown of one's life after adding a brand new person to the household. It must be necessary to completely destroy any hope of order and fully embrace the bedlam before deciding how to rebuild schedules, relationships and goals.

Then, moments like this make everything totally easy.

Stark

The things you think you need when you have your first baby fill a book and the things you know you need with the second baby you can count on one hand.

Jack's favorite nap time laundry basket

A Labor Story

Preface: It's long. I want to get it all written so I remember and so other pregnant ladies can read a story that isn't so awful. There is not much gore.

Jack was late. 5 days late and the doctor wanted to induce labor. I read everything I could get my eyes on about induction and found an extreme amount of scary information on the internet. Horrible stories about Pitocin and c-sections, epidurals that didn't work, the whole schlemiel. So when I was sufficiently spooked I decided that the very minimal amount of induction was going to have to work. The doc said I'd go in on Wednesday night for the very minimum, Cervidil (a cervix softener) and if nothing happened by Thursday morning she'd start a tiny tiny bit of Pitocin to see if it would kick start labor and if that didn't work, we'd go from there.

This made me angry. When receiving any medication for labor, hospital policy is to keep you hooked up to every monitor ever invented to make sure you or the baby aren't stressing/palpitating/tensing/breathing/bloodpressuring too much or too little. These monitors are the instruments used to indicate when to start major abdominal surgery and pull that child out the front of you instead. So of course I placed all blame for c-sections squarely on the monitors (not the condition they report - silly really.) I have spent the last 9 months avoiding tight elastic around my circumference, so the last thing I wanted was two itchy straps around me tethering me to a beeping scribbling machine during what I was really hoping to be a magical hippy earth mother experience.

In short, I hated this plan, but the alternative was to wait until the contractions I had been feeling over the last two days could throw a party in which all of them showed up on time (within three minutes of each other) and did their worst. I sent out the invitations to the contractions after walking all day and night and lifting heavy things and eating spicy food and drinking raspberry teas with pineapple and every other thing you've read but the contractions popped in fashionably late to say hello and left for another better party somewhere else. We almost got a dance party going one morning when a bunch of them showed up all at once squeezing my insides to bits, but when I got tired and laid down, they got bored and left. So, I boarded the induction ship that I was certain would dock last at C-sectionville.

I went in on Tuesday to do a "pre-op" appointment. It had two parts. In the first part Billing makes sure they have all the information they need to stalk you for the next fifty years yelling "I want my two dollars!" in addition to asking you for $900.00 out of your pocket right then and there. I told them when they deliver the services I need, then I will have a look at the bill and give them some money but until I knew I would even make it to the hospital for labor I wasn't paying anything. Billing didn't want to be my BFF after that. I wasn't sad.

The second part consisted of me leaving some blood and me signing off on every procedure they could possibly need to do to a woman. I didn't sign everything. I just couldn't. Next to hysterectomy, cesarean, removal of all lady parts, lobotomy and a few others, I wrote "will have to discuss at the time of procedure" and initialed it. The nurse said "What if you're unconscious?" and I said "Then you'll have to talk to my husband" and she said "Does he have power of attorney?" and I said "He's... my husband." really slowly so that she could understand and she said "Oh - yeah" and left me alone after that. I also had to sign a piece of paper stating I would NOT like the doctor to take pictures of my abnormal/unusual/amazing/superb anatomy for later use in a text book/teaching hospital/ laughing at in the doctors lounge/sharing on Face book.

At this point I called my doctor and said I was having second thoughts about inducing and that all the preparation for the worst case scenario was not generating any confident in the success of these procedures. I said I didn't want to hear any more anecdotal stories about what happens during an induction or what can happen if you didn't do it and I needed cold hard statistics. She quoted some percentages and I said I'd have to think about it some more, but secretly I was whispering inward to the boy telling him that it was time and he'd better get a move on or he'd be in big trouble mister.

Wednesday night loomed. At 7:30pm, during the beginning of what was almost called tropical storm Bonnie (except the storm couldn't seem to get itself together anymore than my contractions) the hospital called. They said "Women are in labor everywhere and we're out of rooms tonight you can't come in, but we'll call you back when you can." The whole world was out in the streets partying it up, birthing babies left and right and I wasn't invited. I was disappointed but then relieved for the reprieve, a scant few more hours for things to get started on their own. I paced. I barely slept. They called back at 4:30am. They had room for me.

Dan got up for a shower, I told him to take his time. I lay in bed. I stood up to get ready and there was a contraction. I brushed my teeth, another. I double checked what I'd packed and another. I hoped for the best and we went to the hospital. Upon arrival the nurse said "Let's get you hooked up for Pitocin" I almost fainted just before I said "No, we're supposed to do other things first, less drastic things!" She explained it was too late for that and if I wanted to reschedule for Saturday night we could. This time Dan almost fainted. There was a great deal of preparation that went into what to do with the dog and Ella and my mom's flight and time off work, but he looked at me and said "Whatever you want to do." Then the nurse left and came back with the news that they already had 4 inductions scheduled for Saturday night and maybe they could fit me in on Sunday, oh wait Sunday is full too, how did Monday look? Then I got panicky thinking about waiting. I had prepared, I left the canoe on the bank hours ago and was ready to roll on down the river. I was ready to float or drown or scream while going over the falls. My head was spinning and the nurse said "Let's do an ultra sound first and see if that narrows our choices at all." I let the current float me to ultrasound room.

Our amniotic fluids were low, just 4 centimeters. This changed things and suddenly we needed to figure out a new plan today, that morning, right now. The options were a bit of Pitocin or having my water broken. At 7:30am I opted for the later, immediately sending me into productive and painful contractions. I was off the monitors. I walked. I sat on a birthing ball. I listened to soothing music. I got annoyed at the world. I found my happy place. I hummed. I rocked. I prayed.

I labored like that until I threw up during a big hard contraction and said "I can do this for another hour, how long do you think it's going to be?" The nurse said "maybe two or three" and I said "Get The guy." (The anesthesiologist aka the holy bringer of numbness.) My amazing

nurse asked me if I really wanted The guy. And we had a brief but very important discussion about my end goals. My end goals were a healthy baby and a stitch free labor. I explained that I wanted to labor under no anesthetic because I wanted to be able to change positions thus encouraging everything remain in tact at the end. This magnificent nurse told me the exact thing I needed to hear. If I had an epidural then I would probably have better control when pushing and when a woman has better control over her pushing she can give the doctor the time to do ice packs and mineral oils and the no stitch plan. I almost cried I loved her so much at that moment.

When The guy arrived I was moving through the contractions counting and breathing and humming. I greeted him with a smile of relief. He tried to do his part, inserting a tiny tube into my back and taping it all in place. Unbeknownst to anyone the thing fell out and I laid flat on my back through another forty-five minutes and at least dozen hard contractions waiting for the numbing to start. Those waves hurt more when the hit me because I couldn't move with them and I was on my back. I worked at controlled breaths with the instructions of the nurse and wailed and gripped the sides of the bed. This scared the hell out of my husband who could only stand by with words of encouragement. Next they called in the head of anesthesiology who came and redid the procedure. I had numbness within the minute.

Dan was as relieved as I and we calmly talked through the next hour and waited until my body did all the things it was supposed to do. When I was almost ready to push I learned my doctor had an emergency she was tending to. If I could wait another hour not only would my body finish moving the last little bit aside to make way for Jack but she could finish up and make it to my room. I agreed to hang on for as long as I could. My nurse reminded me of the surf scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and said "Do less." I used it as my mantra until my doc showed up and said "Let's go, he's right there." The rest was simple, three strategic, long hard pushes, no stitches, healthy baby, healthy me.

Meet Jack

Born on 7/8/10 at 3:20pm a healthy and content 7lbs 10oz and 20inches. We are all happy and healthy and tired. I will have more to say when I can get enough sleep to think beyond how joyous I am.

I Relate

"I am a Radical Homemaker failure" -BY MADELINE HOLLER

Friday

We are on our second day of rain here. It's been nice to just play indoor things with the kid.

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I have no idea what we'll do for the 4th of July.

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I'm just waiting.

Wimpiest Cops in the World Part II

Sgt. Steven Daman, Officer Juan Ornelas and Officer Donald Jones of Seattle, are off the hook for being the Wimpiest Cops in the World for tazing a pregnant lady during the issuance of a speeding ticket. Thomas Duran, Frank Tinga, Joseph Sandberg and John Does Nos. 1-10 (13 police officers from El Reno, Oklahoma) now get the distinction for tazing a 86 year old Granny on oxygen confined to a hospital bed, twice.

"According to officer Duran’s official report, Mrs Vernon had taken an 'aggressive posture' in her hospital bed." -full article here 'Don't taze my granny!' American police accused of using a Taser on an 86-year-old, bed-ridden grandmother

I wish it was a joke folks.

Dear Thomas Duran, Frank Tinga, Joseph Sandberg and John Does Nos. 1-10 of El Reno, Oklahoma, I hope you google yourselves and see that I think you are pathetic, wimpy excuses for protectors of the public. I hope your coworkers never let you live this down.

Chubby Cheeks

Reassurance

We got the cradle today. Mom sent it. It had a sock monkey in it from Rockford, my home town. We put it together. I unpacked little clothes and baby sheets. And the dog got fidgety. She laid near the cradle uncomfortably watching. While I moved things around in the closet and bustled about I heard the Kid telling the Dog

"Don't worry, I know it looks like a lot, but when the new baby comes even though there will be less time for us she will still love us."

Trees

I'm sitting in the dining room enjoying a coffee and watching the trees rustle around in the wind. The forest surrounds our apartment complex and it drowns out whatever city noises could waft in. It also has critters in it. So far I've seen more June Bugs in the parking lot than I've seen in my life, I've started "Lizard watch 2010" and am up to 7. The other night, a big brown Cockroach ran in the door and down the hallway with the dog chasing it towards me. It was so big, my first instinct was to scream "MOUSE!" This is what you get when you have trees and un-manicured wildness around you. I like it.

The last place had wood chips around every palm tree and rose bushes that were carefully monitored for productivity. When any plant failed to look it's best the daily gardeners would replace it with something more fruitful. The truck came through spraying great clouds of pesticides every few nights and the exterminator did around each building every week. It was pristine, like a hotel. It never felt like home to me. I need a little dirt and a name carved into the sidewalk, a glob of yellow bubble gum to avoid stepping on, tree roots sicking out of the dirt and interesting bugs that sound like maracas in the rustling leaves. I need a little wild around the edges.

Is it Thursday?

I have a head cold. I was hoping I wouldn't get it after it took Dan down for three nights last week, but alas it's seized my face and crawled inside and when Dan gets home tonight, I'm going to lay down and just wish for time to pass quickly. On the bright side, the new apartments are making my life sooo much easier, the kid is out there in the court yard playing with all the neighbor kids. Occasionally she runs in to use the facilities or cool down, I handed out a few popsicles once and the sidewalk chalk made an appearance but otherwise my involvement in today's play schedule has thankfully been cut. Thus freeing me up to work on getting my hardware all hooked up and blog while glancing out the window occasionally and wondering what they're talking about.

In other news, I went to the doc yesterday and she said I am not close to delivery yet, but this boy is about 6lbs and head down. She suspects he'll be about 8lbs when he's finally ready to make his debut. Besides the head cold, everything is normal and good. Mom is still planning to come down when I deliver to help out with Ella and let me get my bearings, thank God.

Apron Strings

The night before last, it stormed. It was super loud and close. Dan and I woke up and he went to check on Ella, she was sound asleep. Dan came back and we laid there in the dark listening to the atmosphere rumble and crack. He said "She's probably going to wake up soon and yell for one of us , do you want me to just go get her now?" after a moment of thought I said "Yeah, you're probably right." She didn't wake up when he brought her in and put her snuggled up between us. She didn't wake up when the dog snuck up into the bed and I gave in letting the frightened dog sleep on my feet. And the next morning Ella said "What storm?"

After the weekend

We're moved. Now the long slog of unpacking and finding things as well as the realization that our furniture was meant for a giant Victorian building in IL not a little modern place on the coast of TX. I will post pictures as soon as things a put away a little more.

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I am pregnant "out to here!" (put your arms straight forward and make an exasperated face) I spend my time sleeping, fretting about unpacking and being mad about things. For instance it's June, in Texas and I'm pregnant out to there, and that should be cause enough to be mad.

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