Disclaimer: Any men that are reading that don't want to hear about women's issues, don't read past the first two paragraphs.
Yeah, I know, funny name for a post. I couldn't think of a better, tactful one. So here's the deal: Today's Monday, right? Yeah, so a week ago today I drove down to Lebanon to stay with Bryan's mom. Bryan left shortly before noon the Sunday before to catch a plane to Detroit, Michigan for a business trip. He wouldn't be returning until late Friday morning. I didn't want to be home by myself that long, even though I was going to have a vehicle. I am comfortable enough with Bryan's mom and stepdad to spend nights there, so J.R. and I were going to pass the time without Bryan with them. But I didn't realize how hard it is to not have the comforts of home. I had to bring so much stuff for J.R. just so I could make sure he was comfortable, but I forgot about me. I brought his swing, his feeding chair, his baby food, his bedtime book, his swaddling blanket, his toys, his stroller, his playmat, and his pacifiers, but I forgot to bring stuff to keep myself occupied. They have satellite TV, so I watched that some, and they've got tons of books, so I could have read some of those. But it's still really stressful not having a real place that feels like mine to escape to and de-stress. My stress level got way too high. It got so high that even Nancy got to see me get frustrated with J.R., and normally, that doesn't happen when we're away from home and I don't have as many responsibilities. I ended up having to stave off two or three panic attacks over this past weekend, and one more tonight when we got home.
I drove back up to Columbia on Friday to see Bryan. He had to drop off the company car that he took to the airport, so I had to pick him up from work. He came home to drop his stuff off at the house, and I met him there. We drove to his work, where he was given the rest of the day off. We had lunch and came back home to relax for the night before we drove back down to Lebanon the next for Bryan to see his parents. It was then that I discovered:
I had started my period. I was pretty shocked at first. I haven't had a period since September of last year. I was enjoying not having to deal with it. Luckily I had decided to prepare my bathroom for it a couple months ago, so I didn't have to send Bryan to the store or anything. But I wasn't prepared for what my period would be like without being on birth control. I had been pretty emotional that day, and now I knew why. But the next morning, I woke up with cramps, worse than I usually get, and I was so tired. To boot, Bryan had a pretty bad headache, so that made for a very bad day. We debated on not going to Lebanon, but Bryan's dad was expecting us. So we both agreed to try to put on a nice, brave face and go. I almost took Midol, but the directions say to ask a doctor before taking it while breastfeeding, so I didn't. It had an ingredient in it I'd never heard of, so I resisted the urge to take it anyway. I took two extra-strength Tylenol instead. They didn't help my cramps or Bryan's headache after he took some himself. Not fun. Usually, pre-baby, my cramps, if I had any, only lasted the first day. Not this time. I had to deal with them the next morning, too. And my back hurt on top of that. The stress was affecting my digestive tract. I hate stress. I blame stress for making me start my period again.
That is why I titled the post like I did. Starting my monthly again makes me a woman again. But it was still nice not having to deal with it for over a year. I went for 15 months without menstruating. It was awesome. I think I'm going to try to get back on birth control, to help regulate my period and lessen the symptoms that go with it. I had gone off because my prescription ran out through the military, and I hadn't seen a doc here, because I had no reason to. We were being careful enough not to worry about it. I just don't want to wait to find out how long it will take my body to get into a rhythm again.
Anyway, I've decided I don't want to be away from home for that long again and not have a space of my own to escape to. It's been rough on me, on my body, and consequently, on J.R. too. And that's not fair to him.
I'm working on getting a compilation DVD made of J.R. I have some new video of him, but it took me nearly a week to figure out how to get it on here the last time. Once I have that DVD made, it will be easier. So look for that in the next post or two.
TTFN!!!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
J.R.'s Weight Check and Follow-Up
Thanks for reminding me to do this, Lindsay! Between the hullaballoo over Thanksgiving, which I'll get to later, and trying to get ready for Bryan's business trip to Detroit, I totally forgot to update this!
Anyway, so I actually made it on time to this appointment, which was good. We got called back pretty quickly, but it was apparent the nurse didn't quite know what she was supposed to do. First she acted like we were going to take his weight immediately, then she led us back to an exam room. She told me to undress him, and she didn't even have the Chux pad ready to wrap him in. She got that ready while I stripped him. Then we went back up front to weigh him. He weighed 12 pounds and 10 ounces. He'd put on 10 ounces in two and a half weeks. She sent me back to the exam room and told me I could put his diaper back on. I did that, and she came back in to say that the doctor wanted a temperature and head circumference. She took his temperature (with J.R. trying to eat the thermometer the whole time) and his head circumference and left. Then she came back in to tell me that she also needed to get a length. The head circumference tape was only 23 inches long, and he was over 24 inches the last time, so we knew that wouldn't work. So I had to take him back up front to put him back on the scale. I have to hold his head back so that the top of his head touches the uppermost part of the scale. He really hates that. The nurse had her finger on the 25 and 3/4 mark when she told me I could let go of his head, but on our way back to the exam room, she second-guessed herself and decided that it was really 24 and 3/4 inches, which meant he'd not grown in height since his last visit. That got the nurse concerned. She started asking questions, and I told her that his lack of growth was the reason for our visit. Finally she was finished. The doctor came in and told me that she'd never actually gotten the results of his echo, and asked me what I was told. So I told her what the doctor told me. She wrote it down, and then plugged J.R.'s new numbers into her computer. According to her chart, J.R. is now on the 5th percentile line, which means he's now on the curve instead of under it. So she was content with that. She said that she didn't see any reason to run any more tests, and the next time she'd like to see him was for his next immunizations in mid-January. She also moving offices, and will only be about five minutes from our house when she does. That was great news. No more fighting traffic for nearly 30 minutes. But I'm supposed to call back if I don't hear from them by the end of December to get an appointment made.
I was calm enough to be able to ask questions this visit. I'd made a list of questions to ask, but silly me, I left it at home. But I remembered enough to ask:
I've heard that breastfed babies tend to be smaller than formula-fed babies, and many growth charts don't account for that. What's your opinion?
-She said that breastfed babies usually weigh the same if not more than formula-fed babies for the first six months, and between six and twelve months, they tend to be smaller than babies on formula. She didn't say anything about the growth charts.
What other non-medical, environmental reasons could there be for him to be small? (I was fishing to see if my stress level being high most of the time could attribute)
-The first thing she mentioned was lead. That would have been the next test done if he hadn't gained appropriately. The next was celiac disease, an allergy to gluten, where they don't absorb any nutrients from bread-based foods. (I know that in adults, that caused weight gain, so that kinda threw me off. And she was giving me medical reasons, not environmental. She misunderstood what I meant by environment.)
I also asked what he should be doing developmentally.
-Sitting up with support (check), grasping things with a raking motion (check), nonsensical babbling (check), playing with his feet (double check), and using consonant sounds such as ba-ba-ba, and duh-duh-duh. That was the only thing he wasn't doing.
So all in all, apart from a seemingly flustered nurse, the visit went well. J.R. is on the curve, though at the low end, but as long as his doctor's not worried, I'm not worried. He is getting two to three meals of baby food a day now, as well as all of his regular nursings. He wakes up one to two times a night for feedings, and once in the early morning (5:30). That means that unfortunately, I've not been able to pump any for him. That means that I don't have breastmilk to mix in with his rice and oatmeal cereals. So I've been using cow's milk. So far, he seems to be doing okay on it. But I've only been doing that a couple days. So we'll see. The doctor mentioned my babyhood milk allergy, and I told her that I thought it was more likely a severe case of reflux, since even my soy formula didn't stay down, and I can drink milk just fine now. I just can't have too much or it makes me feel sick to my stomach. But anyway, that's our update. I'll get to the Thanksgiving entry now.
TTFN!!!
Angela
Anyway, so I actually made it on time to this appointment, which was good. We got called back pretty quickly, but it was apparent the nurse didn't quite know what she was supposed to do. First she acted like we were going to take his weight immediately, then she led us back to an exam room. She told me to undress him, and she didn't even have the Chux pad ready to wrap him in. She got that ready while I stripped him. Then we went back up front to weigh him. He weighed 12 pounds and 10 ounces. He'd put on 10 ounces in two and a half weeks. She sent me back to the exam room and told me I could put his diaper back on. I did that, and she came back in to say that the doctor wanted a temperature and head circumference. She took his temperature (with J.R. trying to eat the thermometer the whole time) and his head circumference and left. Then she came back in to tell me that she also needed to get a length. The head circumference tape was only 23 inches long, and he was over 24 inches the last time, so we knew that wouldn't work. So I had to take him back up front to put him back on the scale. I have to hold his head back so that the top of his head touches the uppermost part of the scale. He really hates that. The nurse had her finger on the 25 and 3/4 mark when she told me I could let go of his head, but on our way back to the exam room, she second-guessed herself and decided that it was really 24 and 3/4 inches, which meant he'd not grown in height since his last visit. That got the nurse concerned. She started asking questions, and I told her that his lack of growth was the reason for our visit. Finally she was finished. The doctor came in and told me that she'd never actually gotten the results of his echo, and asked me what I was told. So I told her what the doctor told me. She wrote it down, and then plugged J.R.'s new numbers into her computer. According to her chart, J.R. is now on the 5th percentile line, which means he's now on the curve instead of under it. So she was content with that. She said that she didn't see any reason to run any more tests, and the next time she'd like to see him was for his next immunizations in mid-January. She also moving offices, and will only be about five minutes from our house when she does. That was great news. No more fighting traffic for nearly 30 minutes. But I'm supposed to call back if I don't hear from them by the end of December to get an appointment made.
I was calm enough to be able to ask questions this visit. I'd made a list of questions to ask, but silly me, I left it at home. But I remembered enough to ask:
I've heard that breastfed babies tend to be smaller than formula-fed babies, and many growth charts don't account for that. What's your opinion?
-She said that breastfed babies usually weigh the same if not more than formula-fed babies for the first six months, and between six and twelve months, they tend to be smaller than babies on formula. She didn't say anything about the growth charts.
What other non-medical, environmental reasons could there be for him to be small? (I was fishing to see if my stress level being high most of the time could attribute)
-The first thing she mentioned was lead. That would have been the next test done if he hadn't gained appropriately. The next was celiac disease, an allergy to gluten, where they don't absorb any nutrients from bread-based foods. (I know that in adults, that caused weight gain, so that kinda threw me off. And she was giving me medical reasons, not environmental. She misunderstood what I meant by environment.)
I also asked what he should be doing developmentally.
-Sitting up with support (check), grasping things with a raking motion (check), nonsensical babbling (check), playing with his feet (double check), and using consonant sounds such as ba-ba-ba, and duh-duh-duh. That was the only thing he wasn't doing.
So all in all, apart from a seemingly flustered nurse, the visit went well. J.R. is on the curve, though at the low end, but as long as his doctor's not worried, I'm not worried. He is getting two to three meals of baby food a day now, as well as all of his regular nursings. He wakes up one to two times a night for feedings, and once in the early morning (5:30). That means that unfortunately, I've not been able to pump any for him. That means that I don't have breastmilk to mix in with his rice and oatmeal cereals. So I've been using cow's milk. So far, he seems to be doing okay on it. But I've only been doing that a couple days. So we'll see. The doctor mentioned my babyhood milk allergy, and I told her that I thought it was more likely a severe case of reflux, since even my soy formula didn't stay down, and I can drink milk just fine now. I just can't have too much or it makes me feel sick to my stomach. But anyway, that's our update. I'll get to the Thanksgiving entry now.
TTFN!!!
Angela
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