A long, long weekend

Updated below

First, let me apologize for the stream of consciousness and grammatical errors you're about to endure, should you read on. I spent the earlier part of last week trying to put in as many hours as I could since I would have to take one of my three working days off for our trip to my MIL's in NC. We left Thursday night with the hope that if we traveled at night, lil' Monkey's schedule wouldn't be too messed up and he could sleep the whole way. That worked fairly well. He woke up a few times but didn't have any trouble going back to sleep.

While in NC, things went well in the sleep department, even better than it did for our last trip there. Monkey went to sleep without much fuss for both of his naps and at night. In fact, he slept longer than he usually does at home.

We originally intended to stay until Sunday morning but decided that the travel at night plan worked so well, we would do it again. Therefore, we left Saturday night. This time it didn't go so smoothly.

We had a late start since we wanted to have dinner with my in-laws prior to leaving. The Cracker Barrel we ate at was really slow. It was here Monkey started his fussing. Once dinner was over and we said our good-byes, we prayed that once he was in the car with a bottle full of milk, he'd be asleep in no time. Not so much. For about the first half-hour it was fussing, then crying, then screaming. We pulled over, changed his diaper and gave him another bottle with the understanding that if he got too bad, we'll turn around and go back to my MIL's house.

Luckily, that didn't happen. At this point, I was really looking forward to being home and I always have a difficult resolving the conflict I feel when plans are changed so drastically. For the next 2 hours, he slept.

When DH became tired and we changed drivers, Monkey woke up a little but fell back asleep with less trouble than previously. However, the rest of the way home, just about every half hour, he'd wake up a little fussing and whimpering and then fall back asleep. I'm not sure how DH slept through it but it was getting to me a little and I was really thankful when we arrived home.

Once at home, he woke up for about an hour and then went back to sleep and slept through the night. DH said he could see the comfort in lil' Monkey's face when he placed him in his crib.

On Sunday, he awoke with a fever of 101.6 and it stayed that way until he got up from his afternoon nap with a fever of 103.3. It was at this point we decided to take him to the hospital. I was so glad to have DH with me this time because I've been to the hospital so much with Monkey sans hubby. Again, they didn't keep us there long and informed us that he has the lovely coxsackie virus. Fantastic. What a way to end a tiring weekend and start my week.

I had a client meeting today that I needed to cancel. DH's car went into the shop prior to our leaving because it was having issues so our plan to drop him off at the car rental on the way to the sitter's needed to be rearranged. All of this was going through my head as the doctor told us of the diagnosis. I tried to rework the plan for the next day but was too tired and frustrated to think (as I mentioned earlier, it takes me a while to resolve that unsettling feeling when plans change).

So Monkey is allowed to go back to daycare once his fever is gone for 24 hours. I think he'll be able to go back in time for my next working day, thank goodness. He's fever has come down a lot but still around 100. I can tell he still feels a little under-the-weather because he's been fussy and not eating as well.

Once I'm rested, I have a few post ideas rattling around in my head from this past weekend I'll be writing soon.

UPDATE: Looks like Monkey will not be going to daycare anytime soon. His fever just won't go below 100. Ugh. Woe to me.

WANTED: Family-sized disease-free bubble

UPDATED BELOW

Seriously. Could we please have ONE more sickness this year? 5 months of on again, off again, runny noses, coughing, diarrhea, vomiting and general malaise just doesn't seem like enough. DO NOT read on if you are uncomfortable talking about bodily functions!

Monkey has been dealing with diarrhea since Friday evening. I thought it was "drool stool" at first because he's only had a maximum of 3 per day since that evening and has been drooling like a Saint Bernard. He's had one slight fever (again, in line with teething) and has been in pretty good spirits but not eating too well (per his usual).

However, the stools are just aweful and starting to turn colors (brown to orange, now yellow-orange) and DH is now sick (vomiting, diarrhea) as well. I, myself, had a looser bowel movement earlier today. So my hopes of Monkey's issue being drool stool are slowly fading away. I'm just hoping that the antibiotics he and I have been on for the severe sinus infection we shared two weeks ago is keeping the worst of this thing, whatever IT is, at bay. All I pray is that we don't have a repeat of our New Year's hospitalization party.

DH pondered if our HOUSE is making us sick. Not sure I even want to think about that or what that would mean in getting it diagnosed or resolved. I'm positive that if there's a company out there that specializes in this type of thing, they'd probably convince us of SOMETHING being wrong with our house, regardless of the truth. Our sitter says that this is just life with a kid but that they eventually get immune and YOU eventually get immune to most of the stuff floating around out there.

Anyone else feel like they've lived through one sickness after another since having a kid and is our sitter right? Does it slow down or go away eventually?

UPDATE: DH seems to think that lunch at Chicken Out yesterday was the cause of his woes (which is a shame because I really like that place). He actually filed a complain with the county health department! I was surprised it upset him that much. Anyway, Monkey has only had ONE and a half messy diapers today (I say "half" because it happened immediately after the first and I think it was all supposed to be ONE). Fingers crossed this is as far as it will go!

Excessive Drooling

Has anyone else noticed that this symptom is listed for just about every cold or virus a teething infant/toddler could have?

One ring to rule them all ...

... my eggs and their exodus from my body that is.

Today I went to the OB-GYN to discuss my marathon periods. With a sheet wrapped around my bottom half, trying to play with and appease lil' Monkey in his stroller without exposing too much down south in case the doctor opened the door, I noticed the chart on the back of that door describing the different contraception methods.

And I was reminded of a conversation CaraMama and I had the last time we had lunch together. She had mentioned maybe I should consider a diaphragm and how someone she knew was considering using one. Just as I was thinking about that, I noticed the NuvaRing option on the chart. Not a diaphragm, but definitely not the pill and something which doesn't require remembering to take it everyday.

When my doctor came in, I informed her that I stopped the pill in the hope that my period would finally end. (It still hasn't.) She mentioned again that was the drawback to that particular pill and understood my decision. I asked about the NuvaRing. She was immediately supportive of that idea and said it was a great option for me. Then I asked about the breastfeeding (since this was the reason I went on the low dose pill in the first place instead of the usual birth control). She explained that the low dose pill is the best option for women trying to establish breastfeeding and other alternatives weren't advisable until after 6 months. So NuvaRing was the right choice at this time!

The way it works is you keep in it for 3 weeks, then take it out for a week and then put a new one in the following week. They even have a little application you can install on your computer which will remind you when to take it out and put another back in! AWESOME! Anything that utilizes technology in this way is great in my opinion!

In case you're wondering, it really is just a plastic ring. I pictured it like a condom but it's really just a ring. Like a small clear jelly bracelet you put in your hoo-ha (yes, that's the technical term). It wasn't very hard to insert and I don't feel it at all. Although, I got a very strange image in my head of ... well, let's just say my husband's manpart was wearing a bracelet after, well, you know. TMI?

As anyone reading this post can probably tell, I'm really excited about this! I'm so glad we live in this century!

UPDATE: Geez. Just read on KellyMom.com that it's considered an L3 category drug. So I'll have to watch my supply and lil' Monkey closely to make sure he's not having side effects.

Periods, Pregnancy (fear of) and PPD

Warning: female body issues content ahead and personal content which may be considered TMI

I feel like this year so far has been a blur of family sickness, sleepless nights, heavy workloads, strained muscles and extra long periods. This last one has been going for two weeks now. I'm calling the OB-GYN again tomorrow as this isn't the first time it's lasted this long.

I had a transvaginal sonogram about two months ago that showed nothing so my doctor just figured it was a combination of the fact that I'm not good about taking the pill at the same time everyday and that I don't exclusively breastfeed but supplement with formula. And even still, for some reason I still wasn't able to find a good way to take the pill at the same time everyday. She warned me when I first started this pill. She mentioned that since it's a low dose pill I might experience spotting if I didn't take it regularly and on-time. I should have known then just to give it up and forego sex until I was done breastfeeding and could take the regular dose pill or get Mirena or something.

As of Friday, I've decided not to take the pill anymore. What's the point? I'm too exhausted to have sex half of the time and since my period wasn't regular anyway, it was hard to PLAN sex (or track ovulation so we could NOT have sex since the effectiveness was questionable). The last time we did it I was so nervous afterwards that I COULD be pregnant again that I was miserable for a few days about it.

And that's the next point. I'm extremely nervous about getting pregnant again. I'm struggling so much with my duties with one child that I can't see having another child right now. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever feel like having another child and if that makes me a bad mother, person, ecetera because if I really enjoyed and felt confident in my role as mother, wouldn't I surely want another? There are at least three other mothers I know whose children are just slightly older than my son who have already said they might be thinking about another soon. When they say that I shudder inside, knowing that I'd absolutely freak out if a pregnancy test came back positive right now.

This along with all of my other woes that concern me so much (and really shouldn't be so darn weighed down by, IMO) make me think, "Is this PPD?"

In a past post or perhaps comment, or maybe it was on another blog, I've mentioned that I used to see a therapist and that due to scheduling conflicts, length of travel to her office and other factors, I've stopped seeing her. I've been meaning to find another therapist but sometimes I think what's the point?

It will take an hour or more out of an already tight schedule. Should I schedule the appointment when I have my son or while he's at daycare? It would be a better session if he weren't there for me to chase after or pacify but that means I'd be taking an hour or more out of my working schedule. Then I'd have to make that up at night.

Plus, the COST. I'm not even sure how much it will cost per session since I haven't done this with my husband's insurance plan yet (my previous therapist was cutting me a break after I switched to his plan). I'm already spending money on chiropractor visits each week, now we're going to put therapy on top of that? Luckily, the chiro visits have dwindled to one visit a week now.

But the real issue here is my disbelief that it will do any good. "Always look on the bright side of life ..." a Monty Python tune, however, something I'm not known for by anyone who knows me or probably by now, anyone who reads this blog regularly. I get this honest. Another lovely inherited trait that I'm not sure I can ever rid myself of -- not to say I don't want to be the kind of person who is cheery more than melancholy. I'm just wondering if it's possible. Or if I'm one of those people who needs medication to achieve this goal. I hope not. I already have one pill I'll need to take for the rest of my life. Not really wanting to add brain candy to the list.

Ugh. Woe to me. Really could I be more pathetic?

Massage Therapy, Spa vs. THERAPY

As I've mentioned quite a few times on this blog, I've been experiencing some neck pain recently. I've been seeing a chiropractor and that was helping a little. However, when I woke up Monday morning more sore than I was after Friday's chiro visit, I decided something had to be done.

At Monday's chiro visit, I mentioned this reoccurring pain and the chiropractor asked about our pillows. DH and I HAVE been meaning to get new pillows. A couple weekends ago we went to Macy's for them but they didn't have any extra firm for a king sized bed. I told the chiropractor I'd get us new pillows that day. And I did -- although STILL not from Macy's since their inventory department must not count pillows. That or there has been a frenzied need for king-sized extra firm pillows that I've missed.

He also suggested that I see a Massage Therapist. I had seen the signs in the reception area advertising the masseuse they have in-house. Normally, I would have thought this a ploy to make more money but I like this chiropractor and he seemed genuine enough. Plus, the pain in my neck was screaming, "For the love of all that is holy, make an appointment!" So I did.

That appointment was today. I feel SOOOOOOOO much better.

Going into the appointment, I was a little nervous because all of the other massages I've had in the past were at a day spa. What would this one be like? Do I get naked for this one as well? It's an hour long ... is that WHOLE time spent on my neck?

Well, as it turns out, a theraputic massage is QUITE different from a spa massage (I don't care if they advertise it as 'theraputic', I now know they're LYING). The environment was quite the same however. Dimmed lights, soft music, blankets to cover areas not being worked on ... and naked La Folle Maman. We're talking NOTHING. Not even undies. I was a little nervous about that since I'm still breastfeeding and I kept picturing two huge milk spots when I got up but they didn't leak a bit. But back to the massage ...

The massage was intense and deliberate. The massage therapist definitely knew how to find my trouble spots and work them out. Something I can't say for even the masseuse I had at the Bellagio while vacationing in Vegas (it was good, yes, but not this good). And yes, you guessed it, being naked means I got a full body massage which was good because it turns out there were some other trouble spots not located in my neck. They were in my ass! No, just kidding. But close -- my lower back had some tense areas as well.

I had my usual chiro visit immediately following and let me tell you, after those two appointments, I felt like my body had been renewed! Driving to pick up Monkey from daycare, I even felt a little high almost (probably all of that oxygen-rich blood circulating through my muscles and brain).

My neck is starting to ache again a bit now which is to be expected after such an intense workout of the muscles but it's still feeling pretty great comparatively.

So if you are considering a massage for MASSAGE purposes, not just a "day at the spa" kind of experience, I highly recommend seeing a true THERAPIST. Plus, it was cheaper ($70 for an hour -- deep tissue at most spas runs $90 and up)!

What to do, what to do?

While pregnant, I read the obligatory baby's first year books and decided that I should breastfeed lil' Monkey until his first birthday because it's the American Association of Pediatrics recommendation. However, once he came and I tried to breastfeed him the hospital, it turned out to be much harder than I expected. I found it humiliating that I couldn't do it and felt pressured to get SOMETHING in him since his jaundice levels were so high. We opted for bottles by day two with the expectation that once his jaundice levels went down, I'd try breastfeeding again.

When his jaundice levels were acceptable, the hospital let us take him home (day four) and I tried again. It still proved very hard but DH pushed me to continue. I resented him at the time for it. He bargained with me to give it 6 weeks. If it still wasn't working and I still hated it, then we'd go to bottles. I thought, "6 weeks! That's a long time!"

By the end of the 6 weeks, lil' Monkey and I were doing better in the breastfeeding department. I wouldn't say outstanding but enough that I decided perhaps going a year wouldn't be so bad. We're still breastfeeding today, a day before he turns 9 months old! So I'm really proud of both of us for hanging in there and working on this.

However, a year, my original commitment and goal, is just around the corner. I'm debating on whether or not I should stop. There are benefits to both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, I think, "Boy! It would be really nice to have my breasts back! To wear a real bra! To have somewhat uniform breasts again!" (One is extremely larger than the other because Monkey doesn't like drinking from the other one. So I've pretty much let it go dormant after many struggles and a mastitis infection because using the pump didn't drain it like he could -- if he would!)

On the other hand, I know that not having to make bottles while at home with him has been a real time saver. Not to mention my hands would probably be even more dry and cracked if I had to wash bottles all of the time. We're also not so great at it in public. (Lying down is best -- but he will feed with me sitting up if the place is quiet enough. Good luck with that in the mall! Even the bathrooms have loud music pumped into them!) So the "He has food anywhere you are" argument doesn't really work. But the time saving, less coarse hands and health benefits for him might outweigh the need to regain breast freedom.

Then there's the bonding. I really didn't truly understand this one until around Christmastime last year. We were visiting my MIL in NC and Monkey was having a hard time sleeping. DH leans more to the Ferber side of things and I'm somewhere right of Sears, so we were arguing about what to do. I had JUST read in a book I was reading that breastfeeding is more than nutrition. It's a way of soothing a baby, bringing him/her to a familiar place where they are comforted. A mother recounted a time when her son had fallen and bumped his head. He was so upset that holding him didn't work, kissing didn't work, his favorite toy didn't work but BREASTFEEDING helped him calm down. I pointed this out to DH and ever since reading that mother's account, I've kept this notion in the back of my mind. Recently, I did just what she did when Monkey decided that he was going to try to climb the dryer while I was putting clothes in it. He bumped his head and was really upset. The breastfeeding calmed him down and he even made a little sigh afterwards like "oh that's the stuff!".

Still, whenever I see my regular bras in my dresser drawer, I long for breast freedom. I'm just not sure. I guess I'll do what I always do and just go with it until something clearly steers me away from it.

Ask Moxie's 60-day Challenge

CaraMama has posted about Ask Moxie's challenge and has asked her readers to join the challenge. Since my New Year's resolutions quickly faded from memory, this might put me back on track.

Here are my three things I plan to do for the next 60-days, starting tomorrow:

1. Go to bed earlier (and hopefully get more sleep)!
2. Go to yoga at least once a week, if not twice.
3. Drink more water, less caffeine (maybe quit the caffeine altogether if I can gain some headway on #1).

If you are interested in the challenge, visit Ask Moxie here and be sure to post your three on her comments board!

Good luck everyone!

Politics Wed -- The Issues: Healthcare

HEALTH CARE IN THE U.S (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

The U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations that do not offer access to healthcare.

84% of Americans have health insurance.

59% receive that insurance through their employer.

9% purchase health insurance directly.

27% are covered by government resources.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, since 2001, premiums have risen 78% while wages have risen 19% and inflation has risen 17%.

Certain publicly-funded health care programs help to provide for the elderly, disabled, children, veterans, and the poor, and federal law ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. U.S. government programs accounted for over 45% of health care expenditures, making the U.S. government the largest insurer in the nation.

HEALTH CARE POLICY TYPES (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Health care can be financed in combinations of four basic ways. Provision can be public or private. Finance can be public or private.

A. Public Provision / Private Finance -- example: Private insurers can buy services from publicly owned hospitals
B. Public Provision / Public Finance -- example: health can be provided by publicly financed staff in publicly financed hospitals
C. Private Provision / Private Finance – example: A private hospital which is financed by private health insurance schemes is an example of private finance and provision
D. Private Provision / Public Finance -- example: A self-employed doctor working for the National Health Service is an example of private provision with public finance

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Definition (FROM WIKIPEDIA): Universal health care refers to government programs intended to ensure that all citizens, and sometimes permanent residents, of a governmental region have access to most types of health care. Patients may pay for some portion of their care directly, but most care is subsidized by taxpayers and/or by compulsory health insurance.

The major argument surrounding this issue: The level of health care provided will suffer if we have a Universal Health Care system.

“The United States is famously the world leader in medical innovation--in part, it would seem, because we spend like a drunken sailor when it comes to medical care. Today, we devote 16 percent of our gross domestic product to health care, by far the largest proportion of any country in the world. (The highest spending country in Europe, Switzerland, devotes just 12 percent.) That huge, largely uncontrolled spending translates into large profits for health care companies, offering an incentive for them to do research and development ... While the United States is a world leader in cancer care, other countries, such as France, Sweden, and Switzerland, boast overall survival rates that are nearly comparable. For some variants--such as cervical cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and two common forms of leukemia--the U.S. survival rate, although good, lags behind at least some other countries. You may also have heard critics complain that universal health care inevitably leads to long lines for treatments, as it sometimes has in Britain and Canada. Again, the facts just don't back that up. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, France and Germany don't have chronic waiting lines. … None of which is to say a universal coverage system couldn't have a chilling effect on innovation while severely pinching access to medical care … All it would take was a system that had both a rigid budget and very low funding. The British have such a system, or something approximating it. Even after some recent spending increases, they still devote just 9 percent of the gross domestic product to health care, less than many European nations and a little more than half of what the United States spends. And that shows up in the availability of cutting-edge care. Relative to other highly developed countries, Britain is one of the last to get the latest cancer drugs to its patients. And that probably helps explain why British cancer survival rates generally lag, too.” (FROM The New Republic – PERSONAL NOTE: This article is very good at presenting both side of the issue if you want to read on about it.)

U.S. ranks 23rd in infant mortality, 20th in life expectancy for women, 21st for life expectancy for men, 67th in immunizations (behind Botswana). (FROM Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care – PERSONAL NOTE: This site is obviously slanted and I didn’t double check these figures)

This is all I had time to come up with but it’s good to digest at least the figures at the beginning and make your own assessment. I really wanted to break it down further and explore Medicaid/Medicare, perscription drugs and cost to employers. Perhaps I will revisit this one after the primaries once we've covered more of the other issues. I highly recommend the article from the The New Republic site as I didn't find it very biased (even though the entire site is deemed biased by some).

Here are some other good links:

http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/uninsured/coverage/ (has articles on local legislation in regard to health care)

http://www.nchc.org/ (has survey on health care issues – doesn’t show results or how you compare to others, it just informational for them)

http://www.kff.org/ (has a lot of information the multiple health care topics)


SOAPBOX AREA!

It seems to me that the Universal Health Care option isn't really the "end-all-be-all" solution. But what IS the solution!! I like the idea that the TNR article presents -- "Ultimately, whether innovation would continue to thrive under universal health care depends entirely on what kind of system we create and how well we run it." Can our bureaucratic, red-tape laden government run such a system?

My tired little baby ...

... do you need a kiss?

This is how his favorite book begins. And Monkey received plenty of kisses this past week.

Thursday morning, shortly after my mother arrived to help out, DH and I decided that lil' Monkey should go to the hospital again. His diarrhea diapers just weren't diminishing in number, he still hadn't peed and the test where you press the fatty part of their toe to see how quickly the color comes back wasn't satisfactory for us.

So mom and I took him in while DH headed off for work. It took the ER nurses another 3 tries to get a vein for the IV again (that's 3 on Tuesday, 3 on Thursday). This time I wasn't so brave. I didn't cry but the stress of it was getting to me because this time Monkey knew what was coming and cried harder and longer than last time. I felt my chest tightening.

Because he hadn't been urinating very well and had lost a POUND in the past week, they decided to admit him for the night. Not good news for me since I had put off all of my work for the week due to the previous hospital visit. I had something due the next day and knew now that it would be nearly impossible to get it done. Plus, I wanted to call DH to let him know the deal. Plus, I was feeling bad because mom drove 2 hours to help me out around the house and with Monkey but there we were in the hospital. So I had all of this in my head floating around and I could barely think due to the lack of sleep in recent days. So the stress of all of it was weighing in pretty hard. At one point during the day, it took all I had not to either punch something or break down and cry (I did eventually have a moment on Friday where I cried a bit). I don't think my brain has quite recovered yet so I'll apologize now for the scattered nature of this post.

The crib at the hospital

The nurses at the Pediatrics wing LOVED Monkey. He can be quite the charmer even under stressful circumstances apparently. He had the splint thing on his arm again with the IV tightly wrapped so he couldn't pull it out. He enjoyed playing what I can only describe as jump rope with an invisible leprachaun using the IV tubing. He'd just swing the tube round and round.

The room he was in did have a bed for me to sleep in overnight (not comfortable but better than a chair). They had free little soda and juices for the parents and did send up one meal tray at dinner, breakfast and lunch time. DH came up after work and took mom home with him so they could sleep in something other than a chair. I forgot Monkey's favorite book but think I did a pretty good job remembering it while kissing him goodnight. Not quite the same without the book but he did go to sleep and slept well until the techs came in for their routine temperature check (which happened every 3-4 hours).

The next day mom came to keep me company while we waited for news about whether Monkey's bicarbonate numbers had improved (this would indicate his system was keeping up with the diarrhea).

Monkey's bandages from IV and blood tests

All in all, we're both glad to be home. Unfortunately, my mom caught it yesterday and had to stay another night at our house to recover. She's feeling better and headed home this morning so she could do the rest of her recovery in a more familiar place.

Monkey expressed his pleasure of being home last night by breastfeeding for 17 minutes (he's usually done in 7 max) and falling asleep at the breast. When I put him into his crib I realized that he still needed some pants. He woke up a little cranky while I put them on but when he realized where he was he promptly fell asleep again.

BTW, this turned out NOT to be the dreaded Rotavirus like we thought (which is good since he's been getting the vaccine for that!). The doctor thinks it might have been the Norovirus ... you know, the one from the cruise ships.

Also, in case anyone was actually wondering, my deadline was extended to Monday. Guess I better get off of here and do some work!

Hospital visits with child (focus on dehydration)

Little Hospital Gown -- am I sick for thinking
this was too cute to not take a picture?

The saga continues ...

I generally don't like to post photos of myself or my child with our faces on this blog. However, I just had to this time to illustrate a point. Plus, it took forever to get them emailed from my phone to my account! Karma, don't bite me in the butt for this one! ... on second thought ... yes, I'm using the cheesy black bars.

Went to the doctor's office today because Monkey hasn't been peeing that much. They confirmed that he was dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital. So off we went.

Here are some things to remember when you go to the ER with your little one (some just apply if your child is dehydrated):

• Just because you are wheeling a stroller, doesn't mean the person that pulled into the parking lot at the same time you did will not race you to the counter to fill out the admission form first. We were called in first anyway! HA HA, woman with bad roots and unreadable poorly done shoulder tattoo!! (I get catty when anxious.)



• Do NOT sit any where near anyone else, especially their kids, unless you have no choice -- REGARDLESS if it's the last seat with a view of the waiting room television (my mistake). Inevitably, their kid will cough without their hand in front of their mouth about 2 feet from your child's face and/or stroller.



• DO bring plenty of toys and other supplies to the hospital to entertain and take care of your little one. I recommend cloth books and little toys if your child is an infant/toddler and going in for dehydration (see why later). For some reason, I actually had the sense to stop by the house and pick up a few more of these items prior to heading to the hospital. If your child uses a pacifier, bring a couple because they aim for the dirty floor where hundreds of sick people have tread. You'll thank yourself later.



• Bring pen and paper. Don't rely on the discharge instructions being as specific as what the doctor and multiple nurses will tell you (hence leading to confusion and memory loss when you arrive home and are trying to figure out what to do in order to prevent your child from going back to the hospital). I did not do this. And I SHOULD KNOW BETTER! My memory is crap!



• Take your stroller and/or car seat. Skip the car seat if your stroller reclines for baby to sleep. Consider it an extra set of hands and an absolute MUST if you and the babe are on your own for whatever reason. Thank goodness I thought of this! I surely would have been suffering greatly if I hadn't.



• If your hospital has them, ask if they have a room with a pediatric gurney available. I didn't realize they even existed and the kind nurses put me in a room with one this time (they didn't when we took him to the hospital at 4 months). It really helps to have at least a 2X3 foot area where you can block your mobile 7-month old (probably not needed for a 3-4 month old since they're not extremely mobile).



• I didn't have to do it this time but I've been in situations where I'd wished I had asked the nurse when we would be receiving our discharge papers the MOMENT treatment by the doctor was finished. The nurses this time just brought them in RIGHT WHEN Monkey was finishing his last IV treatment! It was AWESOME!




Monkey before the IV drip -- lethargic.



These tips are for strictly if your child is going in for dehydration



• Realize that they are most likely going to give them fluids intravenously and prepare mentally for that. That means the nurses will have to find a tiny little vine in a tiny little dehydrated body (can't be easy). This might take, oh I don't know, 1 ... 2 ... 3 tries (in our case it was 3). Then your child's arm will be placed on a soft splint and wrapped with that self-adhesive bandage stuff. This is primarily so your child will not chew and/or yank out the intravenous drip. But if they are dehydrated, they will not be too interested in it but still mildly amused (more to come on this).



• First they will take blood to evaluate the level of dehydration and then put a drip on while they wait for the results. Theory is a little more fluid couldn't hurt if they are only a little dehydrated.



• Depending on how dehydrated your child is, they will administer various amounts of fluid. If it is really severe and the kidneys have shut down due to the lack of hydration, your child will be staying overnight. Luckily, we were not in this predicament.



• For each bolus administered (HA HA -- remembered that medical term!), you will need to wait approximately 40-60 minutes. We needed two; the first took 60 minutes, the second they sped up to 40 minutes.



• I'm guessing it depends on the severity of the dehydration in your child, but at some point it's going to start working. And when I say "start working", I mean your little bundle of joy will become just that -- a little bundle of joy who now has complete interest and strong intent on yanking that tube, chewing on the ace bandage thingy, getting angry because they can't manuever with the splinted arm. This is also where the cloth books, small toys and pediatric gurney come in handy.




Monkey AFTER the IV drip -- bundle of joy.


• Ask for SPECIFIC feeding and changing instructions from your doctor. This is where that pen and paper will come into play. I got two different directions from the discharging nurse and the doctor. It seemed like I could play it down the middle. That is, until I got home and DH started finding holes in that theory, then when my memory failed me on what else was said and the discharge instructions didn't clear things up for us, we had to make not one, but two phone calls back to the ER to clarify. (DH is always getting onto me for not drilling the doctors like I'm in the army. I'm just not good at thinking of the follow up questions like he is. Or retaining pretty much anything but the basics.)

The local hospital here has been really great during the 4 times we've been to it in the past 7 months (once for Monkey's birth, twice for Monkey's health (this time and the time he fell out of his swing -- uh yeah, won't go into that one) and once for myself because I cut my hand while opening a new toy for Monkey (it was apparently mommy-proof packaging). The nurses and doctor were very nice and reassured me putting Monkey through that was the right thing to do. Which is EXACTLY what I needed to hear.

Overall, I think it was a positive experience and that I did a GREAT job taking Monkey to the hospital by myself. Yes, blatant pat on the back -- YAY ME! This wasn't the first time but the last time didn't involve multiple tries for a vein and I'm surprised that I didn't shed one tear or get majorly worked up in anyway. YES, dear, I will work on my interrogation skills with the doctors and nurses and this time, bring a pen and some paper. OR better yet! Maybe I'll buy one of those recorder things from that commercial! You know the one! Where the lady tells it her parking spot number and then joyfully plays it back ... again... and again ... and again.

Correction: We've been to the hospital FIVE times in the past 7 months. I forgot about the time when Monkey was only a week old and we were both nervous new parents who couldn't understand why he would cry for 4 hours straight and spit up everything he ate. Can anyone say GERD?

It's Contagious!

After our lil' Monkey came down with a stomach virus late Friday night, DH and I were pretty much exhausted the next day. Then about 3:00 am Sunday morning, I woke up with a burning feeling in my stomach and felt the need to burp every few minutes. Then it started for me. The vomiting, the diarrhea, the dizziness and that lasted pretty much all day.

DH was fantastic as he took care of our lil' Monkey, diarrhea diapers and all, for the entire day. However, at about 1:00 am this morning, he started feeling the symptoms. So now we're all home, DH fighting it and lil' Monkey and I are in recovery.

I hope next weekend is better!

Poor Monkey's Stomach Virus

This weekend has not been fun for poor Lil' Monkey. Last night, he went to bed at his usual time of 7:30 but little over 2 hours later we heard gurgled cries from his room. I went into the room and noticed something funny about his face (the only light we have in the room is very dim, on purpose). I felt his face and around his little wiggly body to realize that he had vomited EVERYWHERE. His face was in a pile of it and there were two more piles elsewhere in the crib. Practically the whole mattress was covered in it.

After turning on the hall light, I lifted him out and realized it was ALL OVER his poor little face! His eyelids and lashes were covered; it was in his nose, his ears and all down one arm. So I rushed to get his clothes off of him and yelled for DH to get off of The Game (I may be posting about this later) and help me with this mess.

It smelled awful and was the color of salmon (makes sense since he had carrots and bananas yesterday). Monkey was so upset and it took a lot for me not to cry at that moment due to the wretched smell and extreme empathy for him.

So after cleaning him up, putting a new sleeper on and breastfeeding him, changing his sheet and mattress pad, we put him back to bed. I could tell he was miserable and felt bad because he just lay in his crib afterward staring into space as I stroked his back and petted his head. Meanwhile, I'm having an inner struggle not to panic because I've inherited the worry-wart gene from my mother and find that my reactions are little severe sometimes when compared to others.

About hour and half later, he's crying again. I go into his room and this time, the bed is just wet. Really wet. No color just wetness. He had thrown up all of the breast milk which left about a 2 X 3 foot area of the mattress soaked, not to mention all of one side of the new sleeper. Out of the crib he comes and as I'm putting him down on the changing pad, he starts vomiting some more. I couldn't help but say "Oh my God" as it went all down the front of him and all over my shoulder, which alerted DH that something was wrong (he later protested this as I'm supposed to save those type of exclamations for broken legs and what he considers really serious problems). Then as I'm trying to quickly get the sleeper off of him, he pukes again all over the changing table -- this time with more salmon colored stuff. His little body was shaking as he did it and I could see the sheer terror in his eyes because he clearly didn't understand what was happening to him. So again, I yell for DH to get off The Game (apparently even though that type of exclamation is supposed to be saved for extreme emergencies it still wasn't enough to pull him away).

So I undress him, and while DH hoses him down in the tub, I take off the changing pad cover and wipe the whole thing down with disinfectant, wipe down the outside of his mattress with the disinfectant, change the sheet and mattress pad cover ("we're now down to 1 clean mattress pad cover", I note in my head), and we get him dressed again. This time he's in a onesie and pants since we figured this might give us chance to change only the onesie and save the pants. All of this accomplished within I'd say 7 minutes.

At this point, I'm ready to call the doctor or take him to the emergency room. So I call the answering service for our pediatrician and ask him to call us. Tom does some research on the Interweb. I read about vomiting in one of the 3 books we have on babies. And we wait.

Ten minutes later, Monkey is crying again and this time, he's pooped his pants. Only it's NOT really POOP but greenish, nauseous smelling watery stuff. And yes, it's ON the mattress. So out he comes, we wipe him down, we change his onesie AND HIS PANTS (so much for that plan), and I change the bed and mattress pad one more time.

We finally decide that maybe we'll just breastfeed him for a minute or two and see how that stays down since he's acting like he's starving. Then as I'm holding him upright after that feeding, he pukes again. New outfit!

By this time an hour has passed with no call from the pediatrician's office. So I call the service again. About 5 minutes later, the doctor finally calls. DH talks to him and he suggests that we go get Pedialyte (which we figured he would since we had already read this and I had already figured out which grocery store near us is open 24 hours). DH runs to our Harris Teeter, gets the fluid and we give lil' Monkey some.

Luckily THAT stayed down and Monkey only had diarrhea one more time prior to going to bed. He slept until 8 this morning which is 2 hours longer than usual but that was good for us since we were up later with him. I felt like a wondering zombie most of last night after the drama was over. I was still pretty tired when we got up this morning as well.

He had some more diarrhea at some point in the night and we had to change him again when he woke up, but lucky for me, only the sheet bit the dust this time. We took him to the doctor this morning and they said to continue with the Pedialyte until this afternoon and try a little bit of breast milk again. If that stays down, we're good. And so far, it has so we are all relieved. However, the doctor said he might have diarrhea for 7-10 more days! I hope not. I'm sure I'll be keeping everyone posted on that one. My poor hands are already cracked and bleeding from all of the hand washing I've been doing lately. I'm just glad things are looking up for lil' Monkey.

Trogg's Nog -- Egg Nog gets a makeover!

We did not have a Christmas party this year and will probably not have another one until lil' Monkey is a bit older. We had ONE party two years ago and I had wanted it to be a tradition. But being in my first trimester last year, I just didn't have the energy. This year we have Monkey which makes partying a bit hard so I think we'll hold off on continuing that tradition for a few years. Er, STARTING that tradition really.

However, there's one item we served at the party which I believe will become a tradition in the meantime: Trogg's nog. (I don't think the drink was named after Trogdor but the image fits IMO.)

I might just have one this Christmas Eve after Monkey goes to bed. If anyone is interested, here's the recipe (from Drink Swap):

Ice cubes
1 oz. Grand Marnier
1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao
Fill to top with Egg Nog

Enjoy!