Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 13

Good News: Leah & Davis came home!!  
Bad News: Jeff and my mom decided Grayson would stay at Meema's since he's so much more work.  We all miss him SOOOOOO much!!

Good News: A very thoughtful patient of Jeff's brought in a diaper cake for us:
I'm always very surprised when people I don't know send gifts for the baby.  It renews my faith in humanity :)
Bad News:  My PUPP rash was horrible over the weekend!  So itchy and uncomfortable.  I looked up some natural remedies online and hopefully they'll relieve at least some of the itch.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

34 weeks!

I thought my blog lacked pictures.  My kids are gone so... here's a picture of my lovely rash:

This week was the weirdest of my life.  My kids aren't here, I'm home alone all day, I can't really get any projects completed, and I got a rash that covers most of my body!  What the heck is going on here!?

On a happy note I'm 34 weeks along!!  Woohoo!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 8

I don't feel so good anymore.  My tummy hurts, I have a headache and I think I'm having an allergic reaction to the Terbulatine.  Yesterday I noticed these itchy bumps all over my legs.  I thought it was from a crocheted afghan I had used while resting on the couch, thinking it just aggravated my skin.  But now there are bumps (slightly less itchy) on my tummy and Jeff said I had a couple patches on the back of my neck.  Bummer.  I made an appt with my doctor to just have him look at them.  Just one more thing to worry about.

Not feeling good makes it easier to stay in bed though.  I took some Benadryl last night too.  It didn't help the itching at all but I was sound asleep before Jeff even came to bed.  

**I saw my doctor in the late afternoon.  The rash had started to cover a lot more of my body and when he say it his exact words were "that's quite a rash Autumn"  LOL.  He said it could be from the Terbutaline but he's never had a patient react to it before.  He said it could also be a PUPPP rash that happens during pregnancy.  This is an auto immune rash some women get and they don't know why.  The only cure is delivery.  Obviously we're not ready for that, so he just changed my prescription and recommended an anti-itch cream.  Isn't my pregnancy experience lovely?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 6

I'm doing good.  My kids are in Blythe with Meema and Papa Bryan.  I know my kids love it there, I just miss them.  My house is so quiet!  It's weird though because usually I'd be excited to get a lot of projects completed but... I just have to stay in bed.  Isn't it ironic!?

 The wonderful Relief Society is bringing us meals so I don't have to grocery shop or cook.  It's pretty great.  When the women bring the food though they always ask me how I'm feeling.  I feel fine!!   I just have to stay in bed!

Our TV is crap.  We don't have cable so I have nothing to watch during the day.  For some reason our converter box doesn't pick up CBS so I can't even watch Ellen, the only day time show that's entertaining :(  

If I didn't have my laptop I'd be crazy by now.  I've started streaming 30 Rock on netflix.  It's pretty funny but it's not as funny as The Office.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 4

I mostly wanted to upload these videos so I can watch them over and over :)
Here's my little swimmer:



Isn't he soooo cute!?! In the second one he says "cheese" to the camera, LOL.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

33 weeks!

Every week is a small accomplishment :)

This morning the house seemed full!  With all the kids, my mom and Jeff it was busy.  But then Jeff took Leah & Davis to Up (the movie) while the McKnight's watched Grayson.  I rested on the couch listening to the hustle and bustle of my mom cleaning the kitchen.  It was nice :)

This evening my dad came into town too!  Right now the whole fam is over at Janae's swimming.  It's weird being left behind since I never would have voluntarily stayed home from such an outing.  I'm just here resting, doctor's orders.

It funny having constant access to the internet.  I look EVERYTHING up.  Today I googled the prescription they gave me and found out that all the "symptoms" I've been having can be possible side-effects of it.  Good to know I'm not crazy!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 3

Today started off good, my mom woke up and made gluten-free pumpkin waffles.  They were delicious!  GF cooking is a new adventure for my mom and she did great!  In late morning Leah had piano lessons and her darling teacher came and picked her up.  

Here's where it gets weird: Grayson was acting tired while Leah was gone so my mom put him down for a nap.  He didn't fall asleep after about 30 minutes so I told her maybe he just wasn't sleepy enough and to get him up.  After this little "nap" he wouldn't put weight on his left foot!  He was really whiny too, like it was hurting him!  Right when he got up I was in the recliner eating my lunch and he just wanted me to get up and carry him around.  My mom tried to help him by picking him up and rubbing his foot, but he mostly just wanted me to get up.  Poor little guy!  When he finally decided to sit with my mom and watch some TV he fell asleep.

After he woke up the whole debacle replayed itself.  Actually, I was in my room resting this time and my mom brought him to me because he wouldn't stop whining.  He still wouldn't support his weight so he just kept wanting me to get up and carry him around.  Obviously I didn't.  I'm even really protective of my belly now.  I don't want my kids sitting on my chair and bumping my tummy, maybe it's overkill but I REALLY don't want to go to the hospital again.  Anyways, I'm not really sure what my mom wanted ME to do about it but she seemed really concerned.  I suggested she take him to Jeff's office and have him check him out, but she was still in her pajamas and said she still needed to shower so she didn't want to take him.  I just felt like he needed some extra attention and eventually the mystery "ache" would heal itself but unfortunately I wouldn't be able to give it to him :(  I think it was difficult for my mom to hold him as much as he wanted her too and give any attention to making dinner and/or the older kids.  Welcome to my world!!  I'm not really sure what I'm expected to do in a random situation like this, but I feel like I'm not supposed to go anywhere, let alone carry my 30 lb. 2 year-old to the doctor!  I told her Jeff would be able to help her when he got home.

It's interesting watching someone else take on my responsibilities.  If I wasn't on bed rest I'd be having to deal with this all by myself, 7 months pregnant.  Motherhood is not for the faint of heart!

**By the time Jeff got home from work at around 7:30pm Gray's foot seemed fine.  He was walking on it pretty normal and went to bed without complaint.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 2

My mom came last night, yay!  She and Leah made quite the little shopping team today.  They were gone most of the morning grocery shopping and picking up diapers.  When Leah got home she admitted she was tired from the excursion :)  

Davis & Grayson were able to spend the morning over at the Thompson's.  They love it over there and I'm sure they were sad to come home when it was time.  Grayson was much more accepting of my restrictions today.  He just climbs on the bed beside me and drinks my cold water, no more instant tears.  That makes me feel better.

I spent most of the day in bed (of course) watching movies on my laptop, checking people's blogs repeatedly, and scouring Facebook.  I did make a shopping list for my mom so that was kinda productive :)

In the evening Jeff was able to leave work a little early and take the kids over to a ward pot-luck where they could swim.  Seeing my kids swim is so funny.  Leah's a fish, Davis is scared to really swim with his face in the water and insists on wearing his floaties, and Grayson thinks he's training for the Olympics or something.  I'll have to get Jeff to video Gray, he's very serious about swimming.  He's constantly jumping in, doesn't mind his face in the water, and swims for a good 10 seconds before he tries to take a breath.  AND HE'S ONLY 2!  When I was younger I swam for the local swim team.  I was never the best but it was always fun for me.  Maybe one of my kids will think that too :)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Bed Rest- Day 1

By my bed I have my cell phone, home phone, two cups of ice water, my meds and my laptop.  I'm pretty much set.   Rachel is supposed to bring me some food later and my mom is supposed to come today to stay with me for a few days.  It's weird not being able to take care of yourself but I'm thankful to have people around me willing to help.  

It's also weird being on a prescription.  It makes my hands shake, this was one of the side-effects they warned me about, but I wonder if other things I'm experiencing are because of the meds too.  I'm in bed, not really doing anything, but I'm so hot.  I had to turn the a/c to 76 degrees just to feel kinda cool!  And then last night I had a headache.  That could be a combination of the meds and having to lay down so much.  

This experience is hard on the kids too.  Grayson slept at his Grandma Cindy's again last night.  The older kids stayed here and then she came  and picked them up in the morning once they got up.  Jeff had to leave for work at 6:30am so I guess the plan was to let them sleep in.  It makes it harder on me to have them here where I can't really do anything to help them like they're used to.  This is he most stressful on Davis.  He woke up about 8am and he cried twice before Cindy picked them up around 9am.  He was very distraught that I couldn't get up and make him breakfast, and that his dad hadn't made anything for him before he left.  We remedied the situation by him bringing me some canned peaches and the can opener.  After that he was content to sit on the bed, eat his peaches and watch Scooby Doo on my laptop.  He's still really surprised when I tell him I'm not supposed to get out of bed even though I've explained it several times.  Leah hasn't really minded at all.  When she got up this morning she got herself dressed and then came and watched Scooby Doo.  She didn't even ask for food.  Cindy was here not too long after that to get them so she took care of their breakfast.  

Poor Grayson though.  Last night he climbed up on the bed with me and wanted me to read him a book.  I kissed and hugged him all I could and then read him "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" twice.  It was very cute.  But then he got down and wanted me to come with him.  When I told him I couldn't get out of bed he started crying.  He wasn't even whining he was really upset :(  And then this morning I only saw him for a minute but he instantly started crying and asking me to get up.  Hopefully he's too young to remember all this.

The day went great.  I got a lot of calls from people asking what they can do to help and Monique brought over a "survival kit" filled with snacks and a gossip magazine.  I was home alone most of the day and I did notice more contractions in the evening.  I can't really believe how often I have to use the restroom too.  I guess I just never noticed before.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

"Information overload, situation lost control"

- "That's What You Get for Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, TMI CENTRAL!

32 weeks + contractions + bleeding = 2 days at the hospital

Yeah, I just got back from a little pre-term labor spell. I think most everything is fine now, I just have to be on bed rest until I deliver.

The events:
It all started on Sunday, well I guess before that, remember the sub-chorionic bleed? Well, I have always had a lot of contractions during my pregnancies, so when I was having some on Sunday I just tried to take it easy and rest. It always seems Sundays are a pretty busy day for some reason. Anyways, we get out of church at 3:30pm and by this time everything is making me have a noticeable contraction, like getting the kids in the van and buckling Grayson into his carseat, etc. When we get home I drink a couple of glasses of water, get a snack and go right in to lay down. The contractions are about 5-7 minutes apart. Now, I've had this happen LOTS during my previous pregnancies, they always eventually stop and any time I've gone to the hospital they just send me home to rest. So, at this point, I'm not really worried. Then they seem to be getting stronger the longer I lay there :( Around 6pm Jeff decides he and the kids are bored and are going to go to his Mom & Dad's house. I don't feel like I should be going anywhere so I stay home to continue resting. Around 7:45pm I get up to use the potty and there is blood! And then, as I pee, I pass a large clot!

Okay, knowing this COULD happen and it ACTUALLY happening are two totally different things!

I call Jeff and tell him we need to go to the hospital because I'm bleeding now so he comes right over to take me. In triage, the nurse hooks me up to the monitors and the baby heartbeat is good. Just seeing that was such a relief! The next step was going to be a fetal fibronectin swab but she said blood could contaminate it and give a false positive, so after finally checking how much I was bleeding she decided against it. She actually referred to the amount of blood coming out as "gross" but I won't hold it against her ;) She could see on the monitors that my contractions were about 3-7 minutes apart, and they had become much stronger since passing the clot and having to lay on my back for this screening. She needed a urine sample not contaminated with blood, and to make sure the I'm not peeing blood, so she extracted one using a straight catheter. NOT PLEASANT! I had to stay in the most uncomfortable position for about 5 whole minutes and I was just trying not to cry the whole time. For a pregnant girl that's not easy ;) After this torture she checked my cervix and said I was dilated to a two. The diagnosis is pre-term labor and doctor on call authorized terbutaline shots to help stop the contractions. After giving me two shots the contractions have DRASTICALLY reduced, but taking the bleeding into consideration, the on call doctor wants to admit me to the hospital and use a "stronger" drug called magnesium.

Magnesium is not pretty. It has lots of side effects. For me, it made me VERY lethargic and hot all over... like burning hot. Apparently it can make a whole array of things go wrong in your body so every hour they had to check my temperature, reflexes, blood pressure and listen to my lungs. It wasn't a restful night. It took them 4 tries to get an IV in since my veins branch a lot, I had to have a catheter while on the magnesium, blood drawn every six hours to check my blood magnesium levels, and no food or drink since it can make you nauseous too. Jeff was long gone by the time they even got the IV in, it was just me and my lovely nurses putting cold wash cloths on my head and neck. Comfortable I was not, my only consolation was that the ultrasound they'd done showed the baby was fine and her fluid levels were good. We just had to stop the contractions and hopefully then there wouldn't be anymore bleeding. Unfortunately by morning the contractions had returned full force :(

Around 8am Dr. Groom came to check on me. I was having pretty regular contractions at this time. He checked my cervix and said I was still at a two, it was very posterior and there wasn't any new blood. After seeing that he told me he was relieved and that I'm no longer "in labor". He told the nurse that I could be weaned off the magnesium and put on terbutaline pills hoping the contractions would slow again. Barring any new bleeding, I could go home the next day :) The terbutaline worked so much better at reducing my contractions that as soon as they gave it to me I went down to about 1 an hour. By early afternoon I was weaned off the magnesium and they were able to give me some soft food to eat! It was hospital food but it tasted glorious, ha ha.

In late afternoon my family came to visit! The kids gave me a hug and a kiss and then just looked at me. There really wasn't much they could do to me or with me so we just kinda looked at each other :) It was cute. Jeff also brought our realtor along since I needed to sign some papers (there were two papers that needed to be singed in front of a notary too but those would have to wait). Everyone was there about 20 minutes and then the kids started getting restless. They gave me another hug and a kiss and left. I'm not really sure what they understood about the situation. Davis asked me why I was there and I said to make sure the baby was healthy. Then he asked what was taking so long :) I know they had a fun time at Grandma's that day but it was nice to know he wanted me to come home!

The next night of my hospital stay was completely different than the first! Since I wasn't on the magnesium my nurse removed the catheter and the blood pressure cuff. And since I wasn't having very many contractions anymore, and the baby's heartbeat had been great all day, she was able to remove those monitors so I could sleep better. Finally I wasn't hooked up to a million things! I still had my IV but I was able to unplug that and go to the potty when I needed to all by myself! She only had to check my vitals a few times in the night and give me my terbutaline pill. I was finally able to get some good rest.

The next day, which was today, the biggest torture was having to wait until 9am for my breakfast. I didn't have any uncomfortable proddings, and they didn't have to draw blood anymore, but this Mama was HUNGRY! I probably could have eaten two of the breakfasts they brought me and it wasn't good food :) And I think the nurse gave me twice my terbutaline prescription. The night nurse was giving me one pill but the day nurse was giving me two. The side-effects of this drug is the jitters and after her giving me two I was feeling them! My hands were shaky and my whole body felt jittery. I as also very "aware" of my heart beat, it's like I could feel it throughout my body. Oh well, other than that today everything went according to plan. My contractions stayed to a minimum and I didn't have any fresh bleeding. When Dr. Groom got there around 1:30pm he was able to discharge me without hesitation.

Here are my instructions: bed rest except getting up to use the restroom, shower and eat. No driving, I can't travel too far from medical care and if I have any more bleeding I'm to go to the hospital immediately. That can't be that hard ;)

Oh yeah, they don't really know where the bleeding came from. One theory is it came from the cervix and the other is it came from a small placental disruption. He said the second theory is more threatening to the pregnancy and he's not sure which one caused my bleeding. I personally think it was the clot from the sub-chorionic bleed coming loose due to the contractions. Either way, I'm glad the bleeding stopped and the baby never showed signs of stress.

Since I thought Dr. Groom would discharge me today, and Jeff was at work, I asked my awesome friend Rachel to come to the hospital and hang out for a while, and then take me home when everything was said and done. Well, not only did she take me home but was able to take me to get my prescription filled, go get those papers notarized (it was at Rod's office and Aletta came out to the car, she's a sweetheart too) AND pick me up some food since I was still hungry! I'm really thankful for the support that I've had through this! It was difficult being in the hospital for two days all alone, but at least I knew my older kids were being taken care of and I have a friend willing to spend 3 hours running me around.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Ultimately, me and baby are doing fine now. We'll be in this bed a long time but at least I have my laptop to keep me company :)

Seriously though, what should I do on bedrest? Learn digital scrapbooking? Learn spanish? Or maybe Portuguese? Maybe I should just rest :)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

"Like the fat kid love cake"

- "21 Questions" by 50 Cent
7 month chub:

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

"There's always gonna be another mountain"

"I'm always gonna want to make it move"
- "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus

I'm back on the elimination diet bandwagon.  Oh me, oh my.

I recently had Grayson allergy tested again and he's MORE allergic to foods than he was before!  When he was a baby his IgE allergy blood tests came back negative to everything tested except peanuts.  And about 6 months ago his skin prick tests came back negative to everything tested as well (they didn't test peanuts though since we already knew he'd have a pretty bad reaction).  Well, his eczema was still REALLY bad so I'd tried elimination diets off and on based on the results of muscle testing and electrodermal screenings.  I realize now that when we were watching what he ate, and eliminating common allergens, his rash didn't get totally better but it didn't get worse either.  Well, recently I hadn't been eliminating any possible allergens from his diet and things got MUCH worse.    Let me tell you, when you're on a special diet and you can't eat anything "normal", people are.... um... less than accepting.  I'm not an infinitely patient person so I don't deal well with the comments like "can't you just put a cream on it?" or "milk is good for you, where else will you get your calicium?".  Recently I really had to bite my tounge when a person said "If it was me, I would just want to put the cream on it all the time".    Really, I have no tact, so I can't talk to people about how A LOT of these perscriptions have MAJOR long term side effects.  Okay, before I fully climb up on that soap box I'll go back to telling Grayson's story.

Anyways, we had two different blood tests done one showing anaphalaxic allergies (IgE) and the other showing food sensitivities (IgG).  I'd had the IgE blood test done when he was little and it showed his allergy to peanuts but now the IgE blood tests show full allergies to peanuts, milk and eggs.  In addition, the IgG allergy tests showed sensitivities to gluten, wheat, goat's milk, kidney beans, citrus, garlic, mustard, canola, almond and banana.  I also had him tested for chemical sensitivities and he's moderately reactive to Fluoride, which the good city of Las Vegas adds to the water supply, and Sodium Sulfite, which is used to preserve and process a lot of different foods.  So the additional foods he avoids because of this are processed corn products like cornstarch, processed potato products like french fries and potato starch, grape products like wine vinegars and juice- especially the white variety, shrimp and crab, processed coconut products, gelatin and pectin, as well as chocolate.  There were other chemicals he mildly reacted to as well but I won't bore you with the details ;)

So, I'm trying my best to learn this new diet and keep my sanity.  It will take a few months to see if it's working but I just have to stick with it!

I just want some relief for my poor itchy baby.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

"Tell them put the money in my hand right now"

- "American Boy" by Estelle
LEAH PASSED KINDERGARTEN!!
WE'RE SO PROUD :)
I'm sure she'll be bringing in the big bucks any day now :)
Grayson insisted on being part of the festivities, which Leah loved!
She's always trying to show off her baby brother so when he kept wandering up to her during their "performance" she couldn't stop smiling!

Video disclaimer: Don't mind the fact that my shirt rides WAY up while I'm trying to hold Gray back. Just enjoy the kids' cuteness :)



Leah had a great year. It was her teacher Mrs. Jenny Naas' first year teaching and she did GREAT! Leah kept saying she was "the best teacher EVER!".