Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Post I Thought I'd Never Write

I've heard friends say things like, "I never thought I'd drive a minivan," or "I never thought I would view 9 PM as late."  It's always followed up by, "And then I had kids."  Well, this is a post that I never ever thought I would write.

Last night the power went off at 9:30 PM due to a pretty spectacular wind storm.  The sound of the transformers exploding sounded a bit like a war zone.  I bundled up Aurelia in an extra swaddle, put some wool blankets on the bed, and snuggled in for a cold, dark night.  I was so thankful that one of the things Joey stressed before he left was that the emergency flashlight was in the drawer right beside the bed.  And wonder of wonders, my little girl slept for 3 1/2 hours straight.  But along with the 2:00 AM nursing came a diaper change. . . in the dark.  I had prepared for this before going to bed by laying out a diaper and an extra sleeper in case a blow out happened.  Always be prepared, right?  I set the flashlight on the changing table and got to work.  Now, one of the things my husband also should have done before he left was make sure the batteries in the flashlight were charged.  Aurelia was all cleaned up and I was getting ready to put her new diaper on when she made a grimicing face I'm all too familiar with followed by a little grunt.  And then the flashlight went out.  From the noise I heard in the darkness, I new this was a good one, this was the blowout I had prepared for.  So there I stood in the pitch black with a naked baby on the changing table, no light source in arms reach.  I remembered that there was a tea light on my bedstand for the air freshener I light when I change out the diaper pail.  I fumbled around for a match, finally got the candle lit, and realized that the tea light wasn't going to cut it.  Then I remembered that our unity candle from our wedding was on the pie safe in the kitchen.  I strapped Aurelia down to the pad (and thought to myself, "THAT'S why these things have straps") and used the tea light to light my way into the living room.  Reflected in the warm glow of our wedding memento, I found my daughter and the auxiliary sleeper covered in poo.  Miraculousy she didn't get any on the sleeper she was wearing or the changing pad.  5 wipes later, I picked my clean baby up off the changing pad, turned around, knocked over the flashlight which turned back on as it hit the floor. 

And that's it.  I'd always promised myself I wouldn't post about poop.  But I know that a certain subset of Aurelia's fanbase would be unforgiving if I didn't post stories like these (you know who you are Loya and Nong).  And sometimes you just have to laugh at the situations parenting puts you in.  While most people will remember the windstorm of Fall 2010, to me it was a real sh*tstorm (forgive the language).

Friday, November 12, 2010

Neonatal Follow-up

Last week Aurelia had her first Neonatal follow-up appointment.  The purpose of this appointment is to take an in depth look at her growth, development, and our family well being.  We meet with physical therapy, a nurse practitioner, the director of the clinic, and a social worker (in the future we'll add an occupational therapist, a developmental pediatrician, and a speech pathologist to that line up).  She'll have these appointments from time to time over the next several years to make sure she's seeing all the right doctors and specialists.

Let me start by saying, as I've said many times before, I LOVE our doctors at Mary Bridge and Tacoma General.  They are so caring and attentive.  I always feel that they take a personal interest in the health and well being of my little family.  There has only been one specialist that I wasn't a huge fan of, but it was more due to difference in personality than any issue with the level of care provided (and I have the option of taking Aurelia to a different specialist if I want to).  I've never felt like a number, a paycheck, a nuisance, or any other negative doctor/patient stereotype.  The reason I mention this is because I firmly believe that if you don't like your doctor, you should find a new one.  I have many friends that decide to go a more natural route when it comes to their medical care, and that's fine with me as long as it's done with the right attitude.  If you have a doctor that makes you feel like you're on an assembly line, don't assume that all doctors will treat you that way.  And that's my little bit of a soap box moment for this post.

With that said, this appointment felt a little like the doctors were on an assembly line for us.  We spent the morning in a private room and met with each person individually.  Aurelia did so well and everyone was very impressed with her.  She was pretty worn out after physical therapy, but besides that she was quite the trooper.  She passed all of her little milestones, although they would like her to start physical therapy to help strengthen her neck.  She definitely favors the side without the shunt, and we would like to address that before it becomes a more serious problem.  We also found out that she will most likely need helmet therapy when she's a little older as her head is a little pointed.  The nurse practitioner was very encouraged that although her head is misshapen, her facial features are all very symmetrical and don't seem to be affected by her head shape.  Bottom line, she's adorable.

The good news is that we are now on a two week break from any appointments!  She has her 3 month check up, opthamalogy, and another neonatal follow-up coming up in the next two months.  Then we have a break until her 6 month appointments.  It's just nice to not be at Mary Bridge every week.

The even better news is that she weighed in at 8lbs 9oz.  Yes, that is still itty bitty.  And yes, she is still in newborn clothes (at least for a few more days).  BUT that's a 10 ounce weight gain in one week!  We'll take it!

I have to admit that I feel exhausted right now.  I've heard this is common for mothers and I'm not too worried.  But I'm anxiously awaiting the day when Baby Hawk consistently sleeps longer than 2 hours at a time.  The nights she sleeps 3 hours at a time feel like heaven.  I keep repeating the mantra, "This too shall pass."  I look forward to feeling like my thoughts are more cohesive and my writing is less jumbled.  In the mean time, I'll enjoy that she is so precious and little, even if it's through bleary eyes and words that don't make sense.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

It could have been worse

I've heard many friends speak of moments of bleary eyed postpartum craziness, but I had no idea it would be this bad.

A week ago, I went to Nordstroms to pick up something I ordered.  I thought I was being so on top of things, using a gift card to order something online with in-store pick-up to save on shipping.  But when the lady behind the desk asked for my id, I was shocked to find that my driver's license was gone.  Not only was it gone, I couldn't remember the last time I had used it. . . Actually, the last time I had used it was on our way to North Carolina a month earlier.  Oh, and although I haven't lived in Texas for three years, my license says otherwise.  Needless to say, I didn't think I was ever going to see it again and was anticipating a drive test to get a Washington license.  But when I got home that night, my license was in my mailbox.  Apparently it found it's way all the way back to LeTourneau where the mail center tracked down our current info.  And now getting a Washington license is way up there on my to do list.

Then on Tuesday, I was excited to get a quick hour away to run some errands.  The Simlers had my little lady and I knew I'd get everything done in half the time.  But first I had to get out of the driveway.  I backed our new Jetta into our old Subaru (this would be the Outback that Jeremy and Kristalyn sold to us that we sold back to them).  Yep, I ran into my old, parked car.  The cars are both a little scratched, but it's not that bad.

And finally yesterday I got a phone call from the office at our apartment informing me that someone had turned in my checkbook which had been on the ground in the parking lot.  This one is confusing as I never take my checkbook out of my purse.  It must have just fallen out.  But no checks were missing and I'm glad I lost it where I did.

Today I am thankful for little bits of grace.  I'm thankful that my postpartum forgetfulness is something I can shake my head about and nothing more serious.  I'm thankful that it could have been a lot worse in all of those scenarios, but it wasn't that bad.  And I'm praying that these little moments are not the signs of more serious things to come.  I'm hoping that losing a license, checkbook, and hitting a parked car are the peak of this madness.  Basically, I'm just hoping and praying that I don't leave my daughter somewhere on accident.