Here We Go Again...

Just got off the treadmill.... and so begins the diet/fitness plan to get rid of this baby weight! My diet will officially start on the 2nd. I can't resist my mom's spareribs and sauerkraut on New Year's Day!

I am hoping to have the same success I had last year before I got knocked up... My starting weight now is only four pounds under where I was when I started dieting last January.

Time for a Nicholas update!

I had to take him in today for his synagis shot (to help prevent rsv). We have to do it monthly. He only cried for a few minutes and is currently snoozing in his carseat behind me. They weighed him and he is up to 9 lbs 5 oz! Still fitting in 0-3 month stuff of course. In fact, most of it is still big on him. Which is good because we have a ton of that size. AND a ton of 3-6.

We were just at the office for his shot but one of the docs came in and talked to me for a few minutes about his hearing, just to get updated. And the nurse prac we see most of the time checked in with us too to see how we were doing. She said she thinks about us a lot. I'd told her before that Andy was having a hard time coping so she asked how that was going. And she told me about another family they see who has a four year old with hearing loss. She mentioned having the mother call us. I'm all for talking to others to see how they are handling the hearing loss.


Oh, and guess who is almost sleeping through the night?!?! Yep, my big boy! I usually feed him his last bottle around 10 and put him in bed by 11:00. Last night, he was up at 4:15, back in bed at 5:00, and slept until after 9 when I had to wake him to eat and get ready to go to the doc.

The night before last, he slept from 11:00 till 6! That's the longest he's gone! It is soooo nice getting a long stretch of sleep at night! I just hope it continues...

Shopping...

You know how when you're out shopping for the kiddos and you think you're *not* overdoing it. SO then you buy more. And more. And more. So they'll be sure to have enough.

And then it comes time to wrap it and once you're done, you realize, shit, I've gotten way too much stuff!

That's me tonight.

There are entirely way too many boxes sitting here waiting to be carried downstairs tomorrow night.


Hubby's gonna crap when he sees all of it....

But man, oh man, I know two little girls who are going to be tickled....

Santa Baby...

Happy Holiday... from our family to yours

Holland

After finding out that Nicholas, my 2 month old son, has some hearing loss, I did a search and found a yahoo group that consists of parents who have kids with hearing loss. Joined last weekend and have just been reading the messages. I posted an intro telling about Nicholas and his diagnosis.

I just got a private email from one of the ladies on the board. Her son was diagnosed with hearing loss at one month. She had some good been-there-done-that advice for me. But what really struck me (and had me in tears) is this poem she included...

~~

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with special needs…
It’s like this… When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo. David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "“Welcome to Holland.” “Holland?!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy…All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, filthy place…It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet…people you would have never met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flash than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while…you begin to notice that Holland has windmills…and tulips. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was going. That’s what I had planned.”

But…if you spend your life mourning that fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things…about Holland.

Back from the hospital...

Nicholas is doing just fine after his hernia surgery! We came home this morning around 11:00 after spending the night in the hospital. When we got home, Nicholas was sleeping, Cass was still at my sister's and Jenna was still at school for another 20 minutes or so. So I had a few bits of quiet before the chaos of normal life resumed.

The surgery itself went very well. They ended up finding a hernia on his right side too (we'd known about the left and suspected the right) so they repaired both of them.

The stinky part of the whole ordeal.... his surgery was scheduled for 8 and we had to be at the hospital at 6. We actually made it with a few minutes to spare. So they take us back to a little pre-op room and start getting the papers processed. Then the doc comes in and says he has some bad news. There are a couple of emergency apendectomies that are going to have to be priority over Nicholas. UGH. So they started a saline drip to keep him hydrated. At this point, he hadn't had formula since 10 the night before. And watered down apple juice at around 3:30 am.

The delay ended up being FOREVER!! Turns out they had a few more emergencies. It was freakin' 3:00 by the time they were able to get Nicholas in. I kept my cool pretty well because there wasn't anything else I could do. And the nurse and doc were very apologetic. Luckily my mom had come down so b/t the three of us (me, Hubby, mom) we were able to keep Nicholas calm. He actually slept most of the time, sucking on his binky for dear life. Thank goodness for that thing!

It was after 5:30 before we were up in our room. It was a double room so we shared it with a little three month old girl who had just had her first surgery to repair a cleft lip and palate. Poor thing... she was miserable most of the night. :( I felt so bad for her.

Nicholas slept well... part of the time with me and part of the time in his crib. I, on the other hand, slept like shit. The chair that folded out in to a bed sucked.

Oh well... we're home now... and all is good...

Before the surgery...


And after, sleeping peacefully...

Surgery

I took Nicholas to the doctor Monday for his hernia. The doc recommended surgery (which I was expecting). The surgery is TOMORROW!! (Wednesday!) I can't believe they were able to get him in so quickly.

Since he's such a dinky little guy, they are keeping him overnight. Which, of course, means I'm spending the night too. Tonight, he gets his last bottle by 10:00. From then until 4:00 am, he can have apple juice or pedialyte. And after 4, absolutely nothing but his binky. Should make for a fun night, eh?

Surgery is scheduled for 8. We have to be at the hospital at 6 am. UGH! So, I'm actually heading to bed soon. Have to pack a suitcase first.

Keep him in your prayers. Geez, I seem to be asking for that a lot lately don't I?? :)

Not the best news...

But not the worst either.

It turns out my sweet little baby boy does have mild hearing loss in BOTH ears. Enough that they recommend a hearing aid.

Ironically, the ear that passed in the hospital has more hearing loss than the other.

Next step. We have to see an ENT. Maybe further testing... we don't know yet. He'll most likely be getting the hearing aids fairly quickly so that his speech can develop at a normal rate.


I am doing ok. I know things could be a hell of a lot worse. He does have a good amount of hearing (he can hear us fine if we're next to him... it's mainly just a problem at a distance or in a crowded room).

Andy is NOT doing ok. He is taking it REALLLLLY hard. He's spent most of the evening almost in tears. His main concern is how Nicholas is going to be treated by his peers. He has already decided that Nicholas is not going to have a normal life. And nothing I say can convince him otherwise...

It's amazing to me how different he and I are reacting...

I am definitely planning on taking advantage of every early intervention program that we can. We'd already signed up for the "Help me Grow" program that our county offers before I even realized there was an issue with his hearing. There are a couple other organizations I need to still contact. I am determined to do everything I can to make sure he has a normal life.

I just know that things could be so much worse.... so I am counting my blessings that they aren't.