It's been a little while, but not a lot has been going on.
Rob is still is school. He has no classes to take for the moment and so he's still just in the lab taking care of things there. I don't ask much about what he's doing because I don't understand much, and it also changes from day to day how he's feeling about how the test results are going. One day the sky is falling and the next Rob is on top of the world. So it's just easier to tell people that I don't know what's going on, cause if I miss the timing, I can be telling someone what Rob told me last week and he'll jump in what a, "Well, actually, ..."
I got a calling change. It's been in the works for a while, but it just happened 2 weeks ago. I am now the Young Womens Secretary. This mostly just releives me of going to every Tuesday night activity. I am grateful to still be with the Young Women. They're a bunch of fun and they're my girls.
Miciah starts pre-school soon-ish. Her fist day of full classes is the 20th, but they start transition days which are shorter on the 13th. Most of her friends have been gone for the summer, but have returned in the last 2 weeks, so we've had quite a few play dates, which makes everyone happy. Miciah is writing up a storm and spelling things all by herself. So we get lots of letters to "DADE" (Daddy). And she insists on spelling her middle name, Lynn, "LLINN", even when I correct her. Spelled like C, she says.
Elijah is doing great. You can't tell now that he even had surgery, except for the two little scars. He has dropped 2 pounds in the last few weeks, and so he's thinned out in his torso a lot. Still his limbs are as chunky as ever. :) It's cute. I don't know if the weight-loss is related to the surgery or not, but he seems healthy and happy, so whatever the weight-loss is from, it seems not to be a problem. Oh, and we're trying to potty train Elijah. We started today and it went pretty well. Only 2 accidents. He has yet to poop in the potty (he went in his diaper when we put him down for a nap), so that will be a big deal when that happens. But he is awesome at going pee in the toilet and needs little to no reinforcements, negative or positive. What a kid! Hopefully we'll be successful and I think we will. I anticipate being mostly all done with potty training by the end of the 3-day weekend. But now that I just said that out loud, God is probably thinking, "I'll show her!" :) So we'll see.
Teancom is doing good. He's a good baby. As he's growing he's getting better at being out of our arms for longer and sleeping longer and stuff like that. So that's nice. He smiled for the first time a week ago, so it's been fun to try to get him to smile for those fleeting moments. And he had his first huge blow-out yesterday. I found out by walking to the kitchen while holding him. Not a good plan. I ended up with poop all down my shirt and pants and on the kitchen floor. At least it wasn't on the carpet. I suppose I should count my blessings. :)
Walk in a Straight Line, Please
This week has been an interesting one. Rob started getting a cold on Saturday night and is just now starting to feel quite a bit better. He felt pretty crummy for 2 days. When he was starting to come out of it, on Wednesday, I woke up really late--like at 11. That surprised me in and of itself for 2 reasons: 1- I never sleep in that late and 2- Miciah and Elijah had let me sleep in that long! But then I got up out of bed, walked to the couch and the world was not a stable place. I could not see straight and I could not walk in a straight line. It took me being awake for 15 minutes before I called C and asked her to come take Miciah and Elijah. I thought of taking them to someone else's, but I couldn't drive feeling like that! So she came to get the 2 older kids and then, after seeing me and how I was, took Teancom, too. :) I've never been drunk, but if I imagine that's a little bit of what it must be like to be tipsy. If I drove around, I would be arrested for a DUI cause I wouldn't be able to walk that white line. Or I'd crash well before the cop pulled me over. She took the kids and I slept for almost 3 more hours. After that I was better, but still not great. I was moving slow for the rest of the day.
It was a weird day. Compounding the problem of the cold from Rob, I believe I have an infection. Tuesday night I started noticing redness and swelling above my scar. The scar itself looked fine, but above it was really swollen and a little tender. This worried me, of course. So I called my doctor and he said it was unusual to see an infection almost 6 weeks after a C-section, but it could be one. He said if it got worse or didn't get better to go in. So I had Rob drive me Wednesday afternoon (cause I really wouldn't have been able to drive myself. I was SO out of it). He put me on antibiotics and I feel much better in that regard. The tenderness was getting pretty bad by the time I went in. It's almost all gone now and most of the redness is gone, too, with the swelling decreasing rapidly. So I'm pleased about that. The cold is still hanging on and kicking my trash, but oh well.
Nintendo Fun!
Rob and I have started playing our original Nintendo games that Collin gave us. We hadn't for a while cause of the new baby. We have been enjoying playing Zelda and Dr. Mario and all those cool games. Rob beat Zelda like 5 times when he was a kid, he said, but I never have. However, I spent a lot of time watching my brothers play, so I know quite a bit. It's nice to be able to hold my own even if I'm not very good. :) I'm getting better.
Okay, that's my lame update. Sorry nothing more exciting is going on. We love you guys.
Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Friday, September 1, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Update on Elijah
I know many of you have been concerned about Elijah, so here's an update on his surgery.
Surgery Day for Elijah
Yesterday morning was fun trying to keep Elijah from eating and drinking. He found a random sippy cup from somewhere. Had to take that away quick. And when we were getting in the car he found a few-days-old raisin that Rob had to take out of his mouth.
He loved the hospital cause they had a lot of toys for him to play with. I didn't get treated that well when I was in the hospital! I told the nurse that and she said, "All the adults say that!" :) They let Elijah play in one of those red cars you can drive around. They let him take it to his room and they even did part of his physical in it. I was impressed with how accomodating they were. Obviously they understood kids and were trying to make him comfortable.
The surgery was an hour and a half behind schedule, which was a bummer. But Elijah was okay with it, I wasn't. I was starving by the time we could eat! :) They gave Elijah a sedating drug and then he was loopy. It was really funny to see him making googly eyes at everyone who walked in the room.
They told us the surgery would be half an hour long and it was finally over in an hour and 15 minutes. It was a long day of waiting. The surgeon said the surgery went well. They scoped the left side and found a hole there, too, which we thought they would, so they fixed both sides. We have a cool picture of the left-side-hole. Neat! And the two incisions were really small, so Elijah shouldn't have huge scars for the rest of his life, just little bitty ones.
Recovery and Going Home
In recovery he was zonked because they gave him extra narcotics to make him comfy. He had drugged eyes and an itchy nose and I told him I understood completely! We took him home and Miciah was ready to play with him, which annoyed Elijah in a sleepy type of way. We were home by 6 and he was asleep for the night at 8. I was asleep at 8, too. It's amazing how tiring waiting can be! So that's why I didn't get an e-mail out yesterday, sorry.
The only real mishap is that he was up at 11:30 until about midnight crying because of his "owies." He went back to sleep after very sincere and desperate praying on our part (the Lord hears desperate parents). And he slept until 7:15 the next morning. He was clingy to me and even when I wasn't holding him, he wanted me to be at his disposal, so I didn't get out of his sight until 10 when I laid back down with Teancom. I slept until 1 and Eliah went down at 10, too, and slept until 3. (We let Rob sleep in this morning until 8:30. He was waking up all night worried about Elijah, poor guy.) But Elijah woke up very happy and back to his old self. He's been playing with Miciah and doesn't seem to be in any pain. We're still giving him some Tylenol and Motrin off and on, and occasionally he'll find a movement that hurts him, but he's happy eating cookies and drinking juice and we're happy that he's doing so well.
Thank you for all your prayers and concerns and phone calls, etc. Thank you, Grandma D, for putting Elijah's name in the temple. It's been nice to feel like we have that kind of support behind us. And we're very grateful to C, Rob's mom, for being here for us. We know she wants to be at home cause she's been travelling so much, but I don't think we would have gotten through yesterday and this morning without her. We send our love to everyone and we're grateful to have the worst of this past us. Take care!
Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom
Surgery Day for Elijah
Yesterday morning was fun trying to keep Elijah from eating and drinking. He found a random sippy cup from somewhere. Had to take that away quick. And when we were getting in the car he found a few-days-old raisin that Rob had to take out of his mouth.
He loved the hospital cause they had a lot of toys for him to play with. I didn't get treated that well when I was in the hospital! I told the nurse that and she said, "All the adults say that!" :) They let Elijah play in one of those red cars you can drive around. They let him take it to his room and they even did part of his physical in it. I was impressed with how accomodating they were. Obviously they understood kids and were trying to make him comfortable.
The surgery was an hour and a half behind schedule, which was a bummer. But Elijah was okay with it, I wasn't. I was starving by the time we could eat! :) They gave Elijah a sedating drug and then he was loopy. It was really funny to see him making googly eyes at everyone who walked in the room.
They told us the surgery would be half an hour long and it was finally over in an hour and 15 minutes.
Recovery and Going Home
In recovery he was zonked because they gave him extra narcotics to make him comfy. He had drugged eyes and an itchy nose and I told him I understood completely! We took him home and Miciah was ready to play with him, which annoyed Elijah in a sleepy type of way. We were home by 6 and he was asleep for the night at 8. I was asleep at 8, too. It's amazing how tiring waiting can be! So that's why I didn't get an e-mail out yesterday, sorry.
The only real mishap is that he was up at 11:30 until about midnight crying because of his "owies." He went back to sleep after very sincere and desperate praying on our part (the Lord hears desperate parents). And he slept until 7:15 the next morning. He was clingy to me and even when I wasn't holding him, he wanted me to be at his disposal, so I didn't get out of his sight until 10 when I laid back down with Teancom. I slept until 1 and Eliah went down at 10, too, and slept until 3. (We let Rob sleep in this morning until 8:30. He was waking up all night worried about Elijah, poor guy.) But Elijah woke up very happy and back to his old self. He's been playing with Miciah and doesn't seem to be in any pain. We're still giving him some Tylenol and Motrin off and on, and occasionally he'll find a movement that hurts him, but he's happy eating cookies and drinking juice and we're happy that he's doing so well.
Thank you for all your prayers and concerns and phone calls, etc. Thank you, Grandma D, for putting Elijah's name in the temple. It's been nice to feel like we have that kind of support behind us. And we're very grateful to C, Rob's mom, for being here for us. We know she wants to be at home cause she's been travelling so much, but I don't think we would have gotten through yesterday and this morning without her. We send our love to everyone and we're grateful to have the worst of this past us. Take care!
Tamra, Rob, Miciah, Elijah, and Teancom
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Life at its Smelliest
Well, this update will be short-ish (nothing I write is short, I know). I only have 10-minute blocks of time these days, it feels like. Welcome to life from now on! :)
Teancom is doing great. We took him in for his 1 week visit and he weighed 2 oz. above his birth weight and was another 1/2 an inch longer. Amazing how fast they grow when they're this little. He is still a wonderful baby and we have fun with him. He eats every 3 hours now and sleeps about as long. Though his longest sleeping periods are during the day (hence why I am doing e-mail right now), go figure. Elijah seems to have figured the whole baby brother thing out. He took a while to transition and for a week plus he was FUSSY. It drove me crazy cause Elijah is just not a fussy kid. He threw a fit on a car ride home and cried the whole time. He has never done that in his life. Really. So it's nice to have Elijah back to his old self. Like today: He was a little fussy and so I asked if he wanted to take a nap. He said yes, grabbed his binky, went to his room, shut the door, laid in bed, tucked himself in, and went to sleep. That's my Elijah.
It was fun having Mom and Dad T in town. Plus, while they were here we had the baby blessing on Sunday, V's b-day. A TON of family and it was great. And now Miciah is loving having her favorite uncle in town to play with for a week. She is wearing him out and he'll need a long nap after getting back to Utah. :) But we are appreciating the continued help.
Miciah goes in for a doc's appt. tomorrow and I am hoping to get word from the doctor about what the "rash" on her neck is. She's had it for 3 months or more and it's spreading. Doesn't seem to really bother her, but it's time to get rid of it. It's been suggested to me that they are warts, but whatever they are, it's time for them to go away.
Elijah went in for a doc's appt. last week for his pre-op physical. He's healthy and happy and life is good. The surgery is Monday, the 14th. Rob's Mom offered to come down to help and I originally thought that wouldn't be necessary, but I am ready to take her up on that offer. :) Though I am ready to be on my own. People have been in town helping for over 2 weeks and by the time we're on our own it'll be over 3 weeks. My body is feeling great and all the pain is gone. I was even able to play in my garden yesterday with no ill effects. Though after cleaning essentially our whole house yesterday night, Rob and I crashed in bed. I don't remember the last time I saw Rob with circles under his eyes. He laid down in bed and in 2.7 seconds was asleep. We wore ourselves out.
And the reason we cleaned almost our whole house yesterday is 2-fold. There was meatloaf grease on the floor in the kitchen that the kids had tracked all down the stairs. Yuck. Miciah got our her mop and helped me clean it up. Then she mopped up the front porch, too. What a good girl! The second reason is much more aweful and not so easy to clean up. Two nights ago we noticed a smell in our room. I thought it was the clothes basket and maybe there was something mildewy in there. Not the case. So I tore the whole room apart looking for the source of the smell. I took out everything washable and searched through every drawer in the dresser. No luck. It was driving me crazy. We finally thought it was behind the bookcase. So we took off all the books (after smelling each one) and took the bookshelf down. It wasn't the bookshelf or the floor beneath it. So the end to this sad story is that the smell is coming from inside our wall about 3 feet up, right behind the bookshelf. We figure a mouse died in there or something. Eww. So the room is still smelly and that's dang unfortunate. But the rest of the room is clean!
Pronouncing Teancom's Name, part 2
And the last e-mail I sent about the pronunciation of Teancom's name got Rob and I to talking. We pronounce his name differently, apparently. The difference is slight and I doubt most people will notice. I hardly notice. I pronounce the 'a' in the name like the 'a' in 'tank.' Rob says the 'a' like the 'a' in 'and.' Whatever. Most other people just call him Tank, so I guess it doesn't matter. :)
Okay, I'll write more later if there's more to write. Oh, when D was here, we put her measurement on the wall for how tall she is. She is 3 inches taller than Miciah, who has grown an inch in the last 3 months. Just FYI.
Tamra and family
Teancom is doing great. We took him in for his 1 week visit and he weighed 2 oz. above his birth weight and was another 1/2 an inch longer. Amazing how fast they grow when they're this little. He is still a wonderful baby and we have fun with him. He eats every 3 hours now and sleeps about as long. Though his longest sleeping periods are during the day (hence why I am doing e-mail right now), go figure. Elijah seems to have figured the whole baby brother thing out. He took a while to transition and for a week plus he was FUSSY. It drove me crazy cause Elijah is just not a fussy kid. He threw a fit on a car ride home and cried the whole time. He has never done that in his life. Really. So it's nice to have Elijah back to his old self. Like today: He was a little fussy and so I asked if he wanted to take a nap. He said yes, grabbed his binky, went to his room, shut the door, laid in bed, tucked himself in, and went to sleep. That's my Elijah.
It was fun having Mom and Dad T in town. Plus, while they were here we had the baby blessing on Sunday, V's b-day. A TON of family and it was great. And now Miciah is loving having her favorite uncle in town to play with for a week. She is wearing him out and he'll need a long nap after getting back to Utah. :) But we are appreciating the continued help.
Miciah goes in for a doc's appt. tomorrow and I am hoping to get word from the doctor about what the "rash" on her neck is. She's had it for 3 months or more and it's spreading. Doesn't seem to really bother her, but it's time to get rid of it. It's been suggested to me that they are warts, but whatever they are, it's time for them to go away.
Elijah went in for a doc's appt. last week for his pre-op physical. He's healthy and happy and life is good. The surgery is Monday, the 14th. Rob's Mom offered to come down to help and I originally thought that wouldn't be necessary, but I am ready to take her up on that offer. :) Though I am ready to be on my own. People have been in town helping for over 2 weeks and by the time we're on our own it'll be over 3 weeks. My body is feeling great and all the pain is gone. I was even able to play in my garden yesterday with no ill effects. Though after cleaning essentially our whole house yesterday night, Rob and I crashed in bed. I don't remember the last time I saw Rob with circles under his eyes. He laid down in bed and in 2.7 seconds was asleep. We wore ourselves out.
And the reason we cleaned almost our whole house yesterday is 2-fold. There was meatloaf grease on the floor in the kitchen that the kids had tracked all down the stairs. Yuck. Miciah got our her mop and helped me clean it up. Then she mopped up the front porch, too. What a good girl! The second reason is much more aweful and not so easy to clean up. Two nights ago we noticed a smell in our room. I thought it was the clothes basket and maybe there was something mildewy in there. Not the case. So I tore the whole room apart looking for the source of the smell. I took out everything washable and searched through every drawer in the dresser. No luck. It was driving me crazy. We finally thought it was behind the bookcase. So we took off all the books (after smelling each one) and took the bookshelf down. It wasn't the bookshelf or the floor beneath it. So the end to this sad story is that the smell is coming from inside our wall about 3 feet up, right behind the bookshelf. We figure a mouse died in there or something. Eww. So the room is still smelly and that's dang unfortunate. But the rest of the room is clean!
Pronouncing Teancom's Name, part 2
And the last e-mail I sent about the pronunciation of Teancom's name got Rob and I to talking. We pronounce his name differently, apparently. The difference is slight and I doubt most people will notice. I hardly notice. I pronounce the 'a' in the name like the 'a' in 'tank.' Rob says the 'a' like the 'a' in 'and.' Whatever. Most other people just call him Tank, so I guess it doesn't matter. :)
Okay, I'll write more later if there's more to write. Oh, when D was here, we put her measurement on the wall for how tall she is. She is 3 inches taller than Miciah, who has grown an inch in the last 3 months. Just FYI.
Tamra and family
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Introducing ...
The newest little member of our family. The doc was right, he sure is hairy! ...
Okay, Rob broke down Saturday and took Miciah to pick out a baby cat. He's a cute 10-week-old (this is twice as old as Max was when we got him. And this cat is already neutered) tabby cat. Miciah likes him cause he's got "stripes." I like him because he's very loving, something Max was not. But he's also pretty playful, so that's fun. We named him Peek-a-boo because when we brought him home he hid twice from us and we couldn't find him for a few hours. The first time he was under the entertainment center. How he fit down there, I don't know. So now the whole front of the entertainment center is blocked off with Rob's science textbooks (we knew they'd come in handy someday). Peek-a-boo is now almost always behind our couch, just chillin' out. He comes out to be petted and loved on, but he still runs away from Elijah. Go figure.
Peek-a-boo isn't the healthiest cat. We took him in to the vet to find out he has fleas, he's underweight and scrawny, and his diarreah is caused by roundworm. Wonderful. So he's being treated for all that and hopefully we'll have a healthy cat soon. Rob was bugged that Peek-a-boo isn't that healthy and that we're having some struggles with him (the diarreah means that he's pooped all over our house and us), and I reminded him that he's the one that wanted to get a kitten a week before we had a baby. :) But it's all good. We like him.
We took Elijah in for his operation consultation. The doctor thinks she felt an opening on the other side as well, so she said when they go in to operate, they'll scope the other side, too, to see if they need to fix it, too. Good plan. She also said that because he was in so much pain that one time, they want to do the surgery ASAP. He has complained a few other times, and once Rob pushed it back in, but no more screaming in horrific pain, which is good. Anyways, the surgery is scheduled for August 14th. We have yet to decide what we'll do in terms of Miciah. Obviously both Rob and I want to be there for the surgery, and if we have a clingy-needy Elijah and a not-really-fully-recovered-from-surgery Mommy, we'll probably have Miciah go somewhere for a few days. Though she's not really hard and she might be helpful, even. Who knows. Maybe I'll ask her what she wants.
Okay, Rob broke down Saturday and took Miciah to pick out a baby cat. He's a cute 10-week-old (this is twice as old as Max was when we got him. And this cat is already neutered) tabby cat. Miciah likes him cause he's got "stripes." I like him because he's very loving, something Max was not. But he's also pretty playful, so that's fun. We named him Peek-a-boo because when we brought him home he hid twice from us and we couldn't find him for a few hours. The first time he was under the entertainment center. How he fit down there, I don't know. So now the whole front of the entertainment center is blocked off with Rob's science textbooks (we knew they'd come in handy someday). Peek-a-boo is now almost always behind our couch, just chillin' out. He comes out to be petted and loved on, but he still runs away from Elijah. Go figure.
Peek-a-boo isn't the healthiest cat. We took him in to the vet to find out he has fleas, he's underweight and scrawny, and his diarreah is caused by roundworm. Wonderful. So he's being treated for all that and hopefully we'll have a healthy cat soon. Rob was bugged that Peek-a-boo isn't that healthy and that we're having some struggles with him (the diarreah means that he's pooped all over our house and us), and I reminded him that he's the one that wanted to get a kitten a week before we had a baby. :) But it's all good. We like him.
Elijah's Surgery
We took Elijah in for his operation consultation. The doctor thinks she felt an opening on the other side as well, so she said when they go in to operate, they'll scope the other side, too, to see if they need to fix it, too. Good plan. She also said that because he was in so much pain that one time, they want to do the surgery ASAP. He has complained a few other times, and once Rob pushed it back in, but no more screaming in horrific pain, which is good. Anyways, the surgery is scheduled for August 14th. We have yet to decide what we'll do in terms of Miciah. Obviously both Rob and I want to be there for the surgery, and if we have a clingy-needy Elijah and a not-really-fully-recovered-from-surgery Mommy, we'll probably have Miciah go somewhere for a few days. Though she's not really hard and she might be helpful, even. Who knows. Maybe I'll ask her what she wants.
T minus Two Days
That's about all that's going on around here. Miciah and Elijah are getting pretty anxious to have the baby here. So are Rob and I. :) It's time to have this baby. We found out some good news from the doctor about the C-section, so I'm anticipating this being a little better than previous experiences. Before, they cut me open and almost immediately the baby was taken to another floor and washed and given first shots and all that. I didn't see Rob or the baby for a few hours--they could have brought me another baby and I wouldn't know. Dr. Froehlich looked at me like, "How inhumane that they would do that!" He said the baby stays in the room with us the entire time they are stiching me up (unless the baby isn't healthy, in which case they would take him, but that makes sense) and doesn't leave until we leave. How nice is that! So I'm excited to have us all together, especially since this time that was my desire.
And honestly, I can't think about anything else other than baby-on-the-way. I feel like it's taken over my brain. It feels like there's so much to be done, but I don't have the energy to do most of it. I don't sleep at night any more. At all. I stare at the cieling until 2 and then sleep fitfully after that. Luckily Rob is home all this week and so I've been able to sleep in. Otherwise I think I would be in tears at the end of the day. But only 2 more nights of torture. Actually, only 1. Because the last night neither Rob nor I sleep anyway, so it'll be a relief to NEED to wake up at 4:15 a.m. At no other time in my life would I think this is a blessing.
We know you're all praying for us and thinking of us and we appreciate the support. Thank you! and we'll let you know how it goes as soon as one of us gets back on-line, though most of you will have heard by then.
Tamra and family
That's about all that's going on around here. Miciah and Elijah are getting pretty anxious to have the baby here. So are Rob and I. :) It's time to have this baby. We found out some good news from the doctor about the C-section, so I'm anticipating this being a little better than previous experiences. Before, they cut me open and almost immediately the baby was taken to another floor and washed and given first shots and all that. I didn't see Rob or the baby for a few hours--they could have brought me another baby and I wouldn't know. Dr. Froehlich looked at me like, "How inhumane that they would do that!" He said the baby stays in the room with us the entire time they are stiching me up (unless the baby isn't healthy, in which case they would take him, but that makes sense) and doesn't leave until we leave. How nice is that! So I'm excited to have us all together, especially since this time that was my desire.
And honestly, I can't think about anything else other than baby-on-the-way. I feel like it's taken over my brain. It feels like there's so much to be done, but I don't have the energy to do most of it. I don't sleep at night any more. At all. I stare at the cieling until 2 and then sleep fitfully after that. Luckily Rob is home all this week and so I've been able to sleep in. Otherwise I think I would be in tears at the end of the day. But only 2 more nights of torture. Actually, only 1. Because the last night neither Rob nor I sleep anyway, so it'll be a relief to NEED to wake up at 4:15 a.m. At no other time in my life would I think this is a blessing.
We know you're all praying for us and thinking of us and we appreciate the support. Thank you! and we'll let you know how it goes as soon as one of us gets back on-line, though most of you will have heard by then.
Tamra and family
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Not Much to Report On
Elijah's Surgery News
Things here are good. Elijah has not complained any more about his hernia, and we are hoping to keep it that way. We have a consultation with Children's Surgery Center on July 18th. I am assuming we will then set up the surgery date. I'm guessing that since the appointment isn't until July 18th, the surgery won't be until late August or September. Who knows, though. Even if they could do it earlier, though, I have a feeling I won't want it to be much earlier than that. ... I'll let you all know when the surgery is and if there's anything you can do for us.
Pregnancy - T minus Two Weeks
No, Dad, this is not an update to say I'm in labor. Braxton-Hicks all day long, but no labor. We are hoping to avoid all labor until the safely scheduled 21st. That's less than 2 weeks away, so I think we'll probably make it.
Go Mode!
In terms of how I'm feeling. I have hit the final go mode (nesting just sounds so weird to me). I have cleaned the house from top to bottom about 5 times. I think I have used an entire roll of paper towels cleaning every piece of glass in the house. I keep looking at things going, "This is dirty. I MUST CLEAN IT." It's compulsive and weird and I will be glad to put this stage past me. I think Rob will, too. I worked him hard yesterday cleaning and doing things. But, because I'm in the Ready For Baby Stage, it means I have a little more energy. So I feel better now just before baby than I have for at least 2 months. I can handle that.
Having said that, I don't have much energy at all. And on top of that, my body still can't handle a lot. We went to the store as a family on Friday. Intended to go to another store, too, but I just wasn't up for it. I have been avoiding the sun and going outside at all costs. The sun and heat drain me really quick. We went to a BBQ last week for 2 hours. I came home and slept for 2 hours. There's a picnic next Sunday that we're all invited to. I'm sending Rob with Miciah.
P's Baby Blessing
We had company today, and that was a lot of fun. Our good friends the T's had their baby the first week of June and the baby blessing was today. They have a little one bedroom apartment, so we invited the whole clan over to our house so they could all be in the same room together. It worked out well and it was a lot of fun to have company that brings their own food! Rob and I worked really hard to clean the house, but they didn't leave a mess when they left, so it's still clean now. That's the best kind of company. Brings their own food and eats off paper plates. :) They were here for a few hours, but it was more draining than I assumed it would be. Rob and I both just chilled for a few hours after they left. My body obviously was a little stressed, but hey, it was worth it. And their little baby is really cute. It's been weird to hold their little one and think, "I will have one of these very soon." But we're ready for it.
The Secret Baby Name
We have picked out a name, but we have decided to keep it until he is born to announce. Seems like if we've waited this long, might as well keep it till the end. We went through 25,000 baby boy names from a baby book and to top it off, the name we chose wasn't even in there! How's that for funny? But we've been using the name amongst ourselves, so it's finally feeling like his name. So that's a comfort. For a while it seemed like nothing would sound right except Baby Robert. And Elijah says the name really well, so that makes me happy, too.
Last Ultrasound
We had an ultrasound for week 36 on Monday. It was fun to see the baby so big! He is still a boy, so no worries there. Everything looked good. The doctor predicted that he would be just over 7 lbs. (like 7 lbs. 2 or 3 oz.), and have a full head of hair as well as hair all over his back. :) It was really cool to see this hair floating there. You really could see it! It was neat. About the hair all over his back, Rob said, "See, dear, we ARE having a monkey." Great. Maybe he'll be blonde-white like Elijah and you won't be able to see the hair on his back. :) It'll be fun to see what he looks like.
We're excited to have the baby and see everyone soon. Hopefully we can keep things calm between now and then. The next 2 weeks of my calendar are clear, which is a nice feeling. It will be nice to not have much to do.
Thanks for all you guys do for us. We love you!
Tamra and family
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Special Report
(As an aside for any of the T family: JG has left SBHS for LH and Latin in San Jose. She's been pretty frustrated with SBHS for a while and I'm excited for her to move on. She asked me to pass on her love and news to the family.)
We had a very interesting night last night and since it was a momentous occasion, I thought I'd pass it on. We had our first Emergency Room visit for either of our kids. Last night at about 7:15 or so, we got home from the church and Elijah pointed to right below his tummy and said, "Ow." I told Rob he might have a tummy ache and asked him to look at it. Rob took off Elijah's diaper to look and there was a huge bulge to the side and up a little from his penis. Okay, not normal. In about 10 minutes time, Elijah was screaming and writhing in pain. He wouldn't straighten his legs and he could not be consoled. Like I said in the last e-mail, this kid doesn't cry like ever, so this was scary for us. Rob drove him down to Children's where surprisingly he got in very quickly. Probably because on that 1 - 10 pain scale, Elijah looked to be at a 9 or so (which has only happened to me maybe twice in my life). It was painful enough for us to just watch the poor kid in so much pain.
Anyways, the nurse looked at Elijah and said he probably had a hernia. And by the time, about 10 minutes after that, that Elijah got to see the ER doctor, the hernia had corrected itself and as immediately as it came, Elijah was in no pain at all. It was an hour and a half of Elijah screaming and then it was just gone. Rob said when it went away Elijah started tentatively moving his leg, testing out to see if it was really feeling better. Two doctors saw Elijah, the first one to say it was gone and the second one to tell us a little about where we go from here. The second one felt around and said that Elijah has a hole from where the testicles drop. Usually this hole closes on its own, but in his case it hasn't and it won't unless it is surgically fixed. And if we don't get it fixed, then this will be an on-going problem. Well, the idea of surgery for my 2-year-old doesn't thrill me, but what thrills me even less is the thought of my 2-year-old having to go through this again. So we will be calling the surgery center at Children's and scheduling a surgery as soon as possible. They said it's an outpatient surgery and isn't that big of a deal, but I'm thinking that for a little guy like him, any kind of surgery is a big deal.
However, an outpatient surgery for a problem that's fixable is much better than many of the alternatives. I will let you all know when it is scheduled and what it'll mean. I really am not sure what to expect. We will probably pass Miciah on to someone else so we can focus on getting Elijah well. I'm hoping that the surgery is in the next 3 weeks. After the 21st, it'll be no fun at all. My aunt suggested (as a joke) that I schedule it for the 21st, the same day as my C-section. We got a good little laugh out of that. Either way, whether it's before or after the 21st, it'll be as soon as they say it's possible.
Please keep Elijah in your thoughts and prayers. They told us what to do if he gets another hernia, but we'd of course prefer that it doesn't happen at all. He is happy and well and healthy as ever, and we'd love to keep him that way.
Love,
Tamra and family
We had a very interesting night last night and since it was a momentous occasion, I thought I'd pass it on. We had our first Emergency Room visit for either of our kids. Last night at about 7:15 or so, we got home from the church and Elijah pointed to right below his tummy and said, "Ow." I told Rob he might have a tummy ache and asked him to look at it. Rob took off Elijah's diaper to look and there was a huge bulge to the side and up a little from his penis. Okay, not normal. In about 10 minutes time, Elijah was screaming and writhing in pain. He wouldn't straighten his legs and he could not be consoled. Like I said in the last e-mail, this kid doesn't cry like ever, so this was scary for us. Rob drove him down to Children's where surprisingly he got in very quickly. Probably because on that 1 - 10 pain scale, Elijah looked to be at a 9 or so (which has only happened to me maybe twice in my life). It was painful enough for us to just watch the poor kid in so much pain.
Anyways, the nurse looked at Elijah and said he probably had a hernia. And by the time, about 10 minutes after that, that Elijah got to see the ER doctor, the hernia had corrected itself and as immediately as it came, Elijah was in no pain at all. It was an hour and a half of Elijah screaming and then it was just gone. Rob said when it went away Elijah started tentatively moving his leg, testing out to see if it was really feeling better. Two doctors saw Elijah, the first one to say it was gone and the second one to tell us a little about where we go from here. The second one felt around and said that Elijah has a hole from where the testicles drop. Usually this hole closes on its own, but in his case it hasn't and it won't unless it is surgically fixed. And if we don't get it fixed, then this will be an on-going problem. Well, the idea of surgery for my 2-year-old doesn't thrill me, but what thrills me even less is the thought of my 2-year-old having to go through this again. So we will be calling the surgery center at Children's and scheduling a surgery as soon as possible. They said it's an outpatient surgery and isn't that big of a deal, but I'm thinking that for a little guy like him, any kind of surgery is a big deal.
However, an outpatient surgery for a problem that's fixable is much better than many of the alternatives. I will let you all know when it is scheduled and what it'll mean. I really am not sure what to expect. We will probably pass Miciah on to someone else so we can focus on getting Elijah well. I'm hoping that the surgery is in the next 3 weeks. After the 21st, it'll be no fun at all. My aunt suggested (as a joke) that I schedule it for the 21st, the same day as my C-section. We got a good little laugh out of that. Either way, whether it's before or after the 21st, it'll be as soon as they say it's possible.
Please keep Elijah in your thoughts and prayers. They told us what to do if he gets another hernia, but we'd of course prefer that it doesn't happen at all. He is happy and well and healthy as ever, and we'd love to keep him that way.
Love,
Tamra and family
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