June 26, 2008

Prior to blogging, I kept a message board to keep up with friends and family through pregnancy and mommyhood.  I'm working on bringing those posts to this blog. 

Happily, there really isn't much to report!! I don't have pics to share since I haven't had much time to take pictures or load any pics from the camera. 

Life is normal and normal means busy. We were super busy last week and I am so thankful to have had my mom here to help out. Miss Lisa had to have minor surgery on Tuesday last week so she was closed that day. My mom came up and stayed with us Mon evening through Friday morning. She got my kitchen cleaned up and my living room cleaned up and my laundry caught up. She had my brothers here through Weds evening and they helped out, too. Grandpa came up to get the boys Weds evening and we all went out to dinner. Sahm's may be our new favorite place to take the kids. They garnish the plates with small slices of watermelon so Zach is a happy camper. And Teagan was able to get something besides chicken nuggets- she had a cheese quesadilla! 

Mom left Fri morning and went up to Chicago to visit my grandparents and help them out. Came back Sat evening. It was a hard trip for her. My grandparents are aging and not doing well and no one is really there to care for them, apparently. They live near my mom's sister but she seems focused on retirement and moving on to the next stage of her own life. It is very hard for my mom to watch her parents get older and less capable. I don't look forward to watching that happen to my mom and dad when the time comes, either.

Saturday morning was a family time- we went out to breakfast (thankfully we went to a place right by home since Zach pooped during the meal and I didn't come prepared so I had to drive him home to change him) and to the Farmers Market. It was Pet Day and there were dogs everywhere!! Teagan enjoyed it- and so did her mom and dad. We saw companion dogs and retired greyhounds and kittens for adoption. So tempting to open our home to more animals... but the time isn't right yet. I'd really love to have a greyhound someday. 

Grandma came back Sat evening and we had dinner and playtime. She came with us to church Sunday and then headed back home. We went to a pool party that was such fun!! My friend has a 9 year old daughter and she and Teagan really took to each other and played together and had such fun. This little girl never seemed to mind hanging out with Teagan and playing with her. It was great!

And this week has been back to the normal routine. Up in the morning, off to daycare and work, home, dinner, bath time, bedtime. Zach hasn't been sleeping well- lots of wakefulness and night nursing. I assume it is all the normal reasons- hitting milestones (he is starting to stand on his own now- not holding on to anything), teething (nothing popping through yet but I can see front teeth pushing forward), growth spurt (he is moving into size 18 mos clothes).

We are getting ready for the big family vacation coming up. Taking 2 days to drive to the Philly area. Staying there 2 days to go to Sesame Place. Teagan is thrilled to see Elmo and Grover and others. We have mentioned once or twice about going to see ELmo this summer. She overheard something on the news the other morning about it now officially being summer. And she turned to me and asked- "Is it summer now?" Yep. "Are we going to see Elmo??" Ha!! She's smart.

Speaking of smart- she has made connections in her head that I sometimes don't immediately follow but once I figure it out, I am amazed. For example, about 2-3 months ago, she and I had taken a little trip to the grocery store. She was pushing her own cart and picking things out as we went. She had picked out a little package of donuts. But then saw marshmallows. So she chose to put back the donuts and get the marshmallows. Fast forward to yesterday morning. We get to Lisa's and Teagan spots a box of donuts on the counter. She then announces that we don't have donuts at our house. I agreed and said we only have donuts at church. She then says "Yeah. But we have marshmallows." I just smiled and agreed- had no clue what she was talking about. It literally took about 3 more hours before it hit me... the grocery store thing and the donuts for marshmallows thing! She is SMART!

Hematuria

Prior to blogging, I kept a message board to keep up with friends and family through pregnancy and mommyhood.  I'm working on bringing those posts to this blog.  This is a set of posts written about our experience with our son's hematuria when he was a baby.


June 11, 2008


Zach, in his short 7 months out of my womb, has had 2 or 3 incidents of hematuria- small amounts of blood in his urine. Since the incidents occured at a time when I was not having any sort of nipple issue- so I knew I wasn’t passing blood through his system- we went to the doc. Doc sent us to a urologist.

Urologist had us take a urine sample. They did a dipstick test to check for microscopic blood in his urine.

Apparently the dipstick went well- nothing found aside from what would be expected.

However, because the hematuria has occured on several occasions- sometimes when sick and sometimes when healthy- the urologist wants to be thorough and make certain there isn’t something else to be concerned about.

He will get an ultrasound of his kidneys and a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram). It is my understanding that they are testing for VU Reflux- urine backing up into the bladder or kidneys.

It could be nothing or it could be something serious. My mind is racing to all the dark corners of serious, of course. I really thought we would do the urine screen and be done with it but apparently not.

Prayers/good thoughts are asked for, appreciated, welcome, etc. Feel free to share your own experiences with this, too. 


His procedure was done on June 19, 2008.

Thankfully, there isn't much to tell. We arrived at the hospital and got checked in. They got him in for his ultrasound pretty quickly. Jeff and I both went in with him and the tech got right to it. Zach didn't seem to mind his abdomen being pushed on or the cold gel. We played peek a boo. Had to wait while the results were e-mailed to the doc to review- in case additional images were needed. The doc (Dr. Clark) wanted further kidney/bowel pics from Zach's right side- a piece of bowel was on the kidney and she wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue. And it wasn't. Kidneys look perfectly healthy. Out to the waiting room for a 45 minute wait for the VCUG. And Zach did fine with the wait. Not crowded at all and we were able to keep him (and us) easily entertained. Only one of us could be with him for the procedure and Jeff thought it best that I be with him. I wish we both could have been in there- I could have managed Zach and Jeff could have been studying the screen to watch what was going on. Anyway, Zach and I go back and get him down to just a diaper. Take a basic x-ray first of his abdomen. Then a nurse comes in to do the catheter. He did so well. Didn't cry- got a VERY funny look on his face, though! They taped everything down and one nurse had to keep his legs held in place so he wouldn't kick the catheter out. The doc came in and they started the indicator liquid into the catheter. Zach didn't like this part- apparently it is pretty cold and the sensation was too much for him so we had some panicky, uncomfortable crying. But he was easily distracted (by me) with his big sister's "My Pod." Plays songs, lights up and has a great knob to chew on. Also had his little comfort blankie so he could grab on and suck a thumb as needed. And he continued to do great- until it was time to disassemble. He didn't like the tape coming off or the cath coming out. No distracting him and he was so tired by this point. I just leaned over him and song in his ear and he held his blankie and cried/fussed/sucked his thumb. And that was it. Dr Clark said that nothing that they looked at could explain the Hematuria. His kidneys, bladder, and urethra are all functioning as they should be. So- no answers but plenty of relief anyway. And I'm fine with chalking this up to "one of those things." I think there are plenty of possible answers. And the amount of blood in his diaper was so small... barely pink. So, for now anyway, we don't worry. We've done all we could to check all we can. And as soon as it was all over and he sat up- smiles, smiles, smiles. For everyone in the room and he beamed when Daddy walked in. And we got home and Teagan was SO excited to have her Zachy back home (she'd been home with Grandma). They spend almost all of their time together. They are rarely apart... they have a significant attachment. I love that.

June 10, 2008

Prior to blogging, I kept a message board to keep up with friends and family through pregnancy and mommyhood.  I'm working on bringing those posts to this blog. 



Life is so busy these days- work has been busy, home is busy. Thankfully, nothing is bad news! Indiana has been hit with some major weather issues the past few weeks and I am very relieved that we have been spared any consequences.

The kids are great. Zach is 7 1/2 months and almost 23 lb!! He is a butterball. Love the rolls!! He is eating almost everything in sight and doing great with all solids so far. Watermelon, apples, applesauce, blueberries, carrots, peas, green beans, cheese, cottage cheese, crackers, pizza crust, sweet potato, mashed potatoes... the list goes on and on!

Teagan is funny and smart. I am amazed every day at the things she knows and learns and shares and repeats. She is a person and we have so much fun together! She can certainly be challenging, of course. We learned, the hard way, to never ever ever use the "123 Magic" method with her. Ever. If it ain't broke... We just need to recognize that we have been doing all along works just fine for our family.

Most amazing of all is watching the relationship grow between brother and sister. These 2 kids love each other so deeply and profundly... there just aren't words to describe the way my heart melts when I see Zach light up because his sister enters the room! And she has such complete adoration for him. My hope is that we can preserve this...

I have oodles and oodles of pics to share!!

From a recent trip to the park:






Zach and Sassy have become quite the playmates!










Zach and his food...
Watermelon


And a recent fave- gnawing on a peeled apple...




Just don't let it slip from his grasp!!


Sunday morning pancakes... a special pancake for Teagan!


You might remember a picture taken of Teagan when she was around Zach's age- she was sitting next to a tall tower of plastic blocks. We decided to create a little tradition and recreate the scene with Zach this weekend!!




And Teagan had a lot of fun building block towers for her brother to crash for her...




My handsome guy:


My gorgeous girl:


Who might be a doctor someday!!


Brother and sister...


Daddy and Teagan having some fun:








Teagan and Zach (with a little Daddy help) playing with a small beach ball:










And 2 last random pictures... 

Another Teagan meltdown (I just can't resist snapping meltdown pics... bad mommy!! )


And I was playing around with the camera- I really love this Nikon D40!! An artistic flower shot...