Playing Catch Up

Just a few programming notes:

1. Gall bladder surgery went well. My incisions are healing. I am still on a low fat, low cholesterol diet which is strange since my cholesterol has never been high, it hovers around the 120 mark. At least I lost 24 lbs so far.

2. Thank god for mothers and mothers-in-law. They have been there for us, cleaning the house, watching the baby, and best of all, letting me sleep.

3. My back is doing terribly so I have to wheel Miranda around the house in her stroller sometimes and pass her to Daddy as soon as he gets home. She weighs only 8 lbs.

4. I am glad to hear that evacuees Catbird and Kelly are doing well. God bless you both. I have a hard time here with a 1 month old. I couldn't imagine going through what you guys have been through with a 1 month old. I am seriously checking out flood insurance. Even though the river here is relatively small, it can cause big damage.

5. Miranda is now 1 month old. I cannot believe it. She has been exculsively on formula since the surgery. I will try to breastfeed again now that the anesthesia is out of my system, but I am not convinced it will be successful. She has jumped from 4oz of formula to all of a sudden taking 6oz, making feeding much more difficult as I have to burp her much more often and she likes to take it in intervals. Feedings have now become 1.5-2 hour marathons. She then sleeps for an hour then is hungry again. She had her 1 month check yesterday and is 8 lbs, 19.5 inches. Not bad, but definitely behind. It's okay though, she was 4 weeks early. She also got her Hep B shot and cried for a second then was fine. She is amazing. I can stare at her little face for hours. Her cheeks have plumped up and her chicken legs are beginning to drop from her sides making her look longer. She is "talking" while she eats and holds her head up very well. She HATES wet and dirty diapers. I think she will be pretty easy to potty train. Hopefully, I didn't just jinx myself. She only cries when she needs a new diaper, is hungry, or needs to be burped. I am very lucky.

6. Soccer is now in full swing for E. Now that she is in U-12, she gets to play against more towns, not just other teams in her town. Every Sunday from now until November, we have games. She is also taking another acting workshop with an emphasis on singing. This should be great for her. I can't wait until the musical next Spring. I can't believe she is in 5th grade already. She is a great big sister to Miranda.

7. Honey was disappointed in my blog entry about Miranda's delivery. It doesn't mention him at all. How wrong of me! He was there every step of the way. He was very insistant with my doctors about delivering early (before we found out about the amniotic fluid being low) as the ICP has a high stillborn rate. The biggest problem was that the bile acid test was taking too long to get results, and my doc wouldn't say for sure that I had ICP until that definite marker came back positive. I had every other symptom. It takes over 7 days to get the results and we got the results AFTER she was born. He was there giving me ice chips and holding my legs back for the delivery. He even cut her umbilical cord. After she was born, she was "grunting" for 2 hours. He asked the OB about it and was brushed off as she was just "transitioning" as she was forced out early. He was VERY insistant and we got a pediatric resident to see her at 2 am. The resident immediately started shoving tubes down her throat as she still had too much guk in there. The resident even got her attending to come down and check her out just to make sure everything was okay. We knew something was wrong when she cried faintly after delivery. It wasn't the typical loud crying you hear after delivery. Meanwhile, I was done. I passed out immediately after her birth and was out of it for over an hour. Honey really was all over it and did well. Thank you Honey for being my go-fer and supporter and for being a pain in the ass to all the passive docs and being insistant that they do something.

8. I am deciding what to do about my maternity leave. My company has me down for returning November 21st. That is all my Family-Medical leave will allow. My disability runs out sometime in November or December. I have to follow up on that since I also had surgery and would have gotten 3-6 weeks for that recovery too. I want to go back in January, but I have to find daycare. Honey and I don't agree on daycare. He wants me just to stay home, but everyone is on my insurance. Besides, I love my job. I am not in a hurry to go back, but we need to get this sorted out pronto.

9. We are going to see Wicked in November for E.'s birthday present and I got tickets for just me and E. to see The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. I can't wait to go. I am really excited for the holidays this year. What should Miranda be for Halloween??

10. Thanks for caring. I finally got the digital camera issue worked out and can start publishing pics soon.