The Sea Monkey Chronicles

I’ve been kind of debating as to how to post these links because Daniel is already here but some of you have asked what you can do to help and so I’m posting our baby registry links.

Amazon.Com
Target

I’m just a little leery of something happening to me again so I saw Dr. Awesome this morning to discuss how to keep me healthy in all that we’re going through with Daniel.  Her nurses were overjoyed to see me which was nice — apparently, I’m the worst pre-eclampsia patient that Dr. Awesome has ever had and they were surprised at how I had recovered.  It’s pretty humbling to think that a week ago, my life was in danger.

Dr. Awesome and I talked about what I need to do today to prevent severe postpartum depression as I’m pretty susceptible to depression and with all that’s happening, I’m a pretty decent candidate for something happening.  We’re going to up me to my normal dose of Effexor XR as I’m not in danger of passing it on to Daniel through breast-feeding.  I’ll also see her again in two weeks and we’ll figure out if I should go back to work temporarily to conserve my FMLA time.

Daniel’s CaringBridge site is up and it is located at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danieljameskm

They let me out of the hospital yesterday.  They removed all the staples and crud from my incision and put steri-strips on it.  Let me just say that I really prefer the steri-strips!

We went back down to Great Falls today and spent two care times with Daniel.  He’s doing well and the second care time involved us just sitting with him as he napped and squeezed our fingers.  Jon reads to him every day and he is becoming well-versed in Dr. Seuss.  🙂  (Reading actually *helps* the babies.)

I’m working on getting the CaringBridge site up and will put the link up here once I have it in place.

I was sicker than Hades on Sunday and I begged my doctor to admit me on Monday.  This was a good thing because my body went into pre-eclampsia around 8:00 pm MDT and they took me down to  Great Falls by ambulance.  Around 2:30 a.m., they made the decision to do a c-section and take Daniel out as the only treatment for pre-eclampsia is taking the baby out.

Daniel James was  born on Tuesday April 7th at 3:46 a.m. by c-section.  He was 14 1/2 inches long and weighed 1 lb 15 ounces.  He’s in the NICU right now and despite being pre-mature, he’s fighting and doing quite well.  I’m spending time in there with him when I can and the staff there is the best around.

My c-section incision is healing and my blood pressure is going down.  They haven’t quite told me how sick I was — either that or I’m not comprehending it too well.

Thank you for every prayer, phone call, e-mail, wall posting, and everything else.  I appreciate it more than I can express.

After ending up in the ER last night with abdominal pain, back pain, leg pain, and coughing fits from the EEEEEEVVVIIIIIILLLLL respiratory crud that Jon gave me, I came to my pre-natal appointment today to find that they were going to do a TON of bloodwork and make me do a 24-hour urine collection.  When I asked if I could just do the urine collection on Sunday because of work tomorrow, my doctor just looked at me and told me that there was no chance in Hades that I’d be going to work tomorrow.  Or Monday.  Or any day until they figured out why my blood pressure is so high.  (High = 140/100ish for the last week or so.)

Apparently, the doctor I had to see in the ER last night looked at my urine specimen and my blood pressure and prematurely diagnosed me with pre-eclampsia, the cure for which is getting Daniel out of my tummy.  As I’m only abut 28 1/2 weeks along, they really DON’T want to do that.

So… I get to be on bedrest for the four days.  I hate bedrest.  Bedrest drives me crazy.  Did I mention that Jon will be gone for three of those days and I’ll be without human contact unless I call my teenager to come over and help me with stuff?

Prayers for my sanity are encouraged.

So I finally remembered to take my camera to work and asked a co-worker if she wouldn’t mind taking a few pics. Given that she’s going to be a grandma in a matter of months, she was only too happy to help. 🙂 (Other co-workers also offered when they found out what I was doing.)

Me at 27 weeks.  (Yes Tracey, I have boring shoes.  Cankles don’t do well in heels.)

THE BELLEH!!!!!

Pre-natal appointment was on Thursday afternoon.  Only a 0.9 lb weight gain this time (despite the 6 lb gain at my last appointment which made me a little irritated) even though I’d eaten my weight in junk over the last two weeks.  Dr. Awesome told me that she could give me a water pill if I couldn’t get the swelling down any other way.  The swelling did not go down so I went in on Friday (less than 24 hours after my pre-natal appointment) and told Dr. Awesome that I wanted the water pill she offered on Thursday.  NOW.  I was wearing flip-flops and she took one look at my lovely cankles and handed me the script for it.

So… the water pill has gotten rid of most of my cankles and the swelling in my feet.  The swelling in my hands, however, is still there.  The problem: it’s mostly in my right hand and I’m right-handed.  I can’t take the water pill every day because it’s not good for Daniel so… I’m typing 8-fingered  and trying to use my touchpad with my left hand instead of using my mouse.

My 7th wedding anniversary is tomorrow so Jon and I are headed out for a nice dinner tonight in town after his Cub Scout meeting.  (It would be after work tomorrow except that he has a mid-week Lenten Bible study at his faraway church.)

Also… a shout-out to Jon’s aunt Jan who is reading this.  We’re both tickled that you’re looking forward to being a “great” aunt.  🙂

I will try to get tummy pics this week…