Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Wean week 2 + Videos

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Kiersyn with her Uncle Skyler
Post-surgery continues to be exciting. Last week I woke up around 3am with a sharp headache unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was localized to one spot behind my left eye and made it hard to go back to sleep even after painkillers. Around 6am it was so bad it was the kind of pain that makes you unable to sit still or quiet. I was writhing in pain and couldn't think straight and we were about to head to the ER when I found some stronger pain pills left over from right after surgery and took two. It took about an hour and sitting with scalding hot water pouring over my face to make it until the doctor's office open. It turned out I had scabbing that had formed holding fluid in my upper sinuses. Let me tell you, having that removed was not pretty. Nor did it feel good. Now we are hoping there's no infection and I go back next week to make sure!
In Kiersyn news...It seems we have chosen a good time to wean as they have just completely quit making the generic form of her medicine. The generic cost us $10. The name brand is $132 after insurance. Wow. Luckily, Walmart is being amazing and getting leftovers from everywhere they can and letting us pick them up a couple pills at a time as they get them in. BUT she is doing GREAT on her medication wean! We have successfully halved her morning dose. At first she started spitting up a ton again and her sleep was really messed up. She couldn't nap for more than 20 minutes at time BUT it lasted only a few days and it seems everything has calmed down. However, with the changes, she has become very attached to her routine and her crib which led to an absolute meltdown on Thanksgiving. I'm feeling leery of our Christmas travels and how it will all work out. In any event, we are moving even slower than the 6 week recommendation and hopefully that will help with any other complications. Kiersyn is now feeding herself small solids like yogurt melts and cereal puffs AND... for three days in a row now she has had two meals of actual baby food and not had any serious issues with it. !!! Hopefully, one of these days a tooth will show up.

Enjoy the videos!
The first is learning to play peek-a-boo, the second is her checking out her Kiwi Bird from New Zealand (she has an aunt, uncle and cousins there who she will meet for the first time at Christmas!), third is playing with bubbles, fourth is dancing and the last one is my little jumping bean.











Friday, November 18, 2011

A Very Long Day


It was a very. long. day.
Kiersyn had a doctor’s appointment. They went ahead and did the blood work to check her thyroid. It was terrible. The first place stuck her and couldn’t get a vein so they sent us somewhere else where 3 of us held her down on a table and they had to dig around trying to find a vein for what felt like eternity. They never really got a good one and we had to wait forever for the stupid vial to fill with blood.
It was also the first time I had to address with our pediatrician that we are not currently continuing with vaccinations. As I feared, she was unhappy and expressed her disdain. I know it shouldn’t matter but I was pretty brokenhearted over the judgment I felt by the doctor. It has not been a decision I have taken lightly, I’ve done the research, weighed the risks and made the decision I felt I could live with. Isn’t that what we’re all doing as parents? And so we begin the search for a new pediatrician – one who supports alternative vaccination schedules, alternative medicine and a patient’s right to be in control of their own healthcare.  Thanks to Dr. Sears Vaccine Friendly list we have a few options right now. Any DFW mommas out there with a vaccine friendly doctor not listed there, PLEASE feel free to shoot me a message.
Additionally, we’ve begun to wean Kiersyn off her medication.
We’re on a 6 week plan to slowly reduce the dosage. I’m trying to go into this expecting nothing. I know we could make it 5 days or 5 weeks in and have to give up. I know there will be difficult days and nights no matter what. I don’t know how much I can push through, or how much I can let her endure to make it to the other side (if that’s a possibility). Prayers for this process? Please?
This comes at the end of several days of struggling with our insurance company for a whole lot of money they owe us for Kiersyn’s formula. It has become so frustrating and exhausting that I am very close to letting go of it. There’s really no amount of money worth the stress and emotional drain the fight has become.
It’s been a long few days… in the middle of recovering from surgery.
Did I tell you Kiersyn hit me in the nose with her head? That complicated things. I have an appointment Monday for them to check to see if it’s broken or fractured. They wanted to wait and let any swelling go back down. Based on the pain. pressure and swelling, I think there’s a chance there’s a small fracture. Of course not much can be done for that but mourn the fact that my surgically corrected septum is probably no longer perfectly straight. I find this kind of funny. Mostly because I figure nothing can get the best of me if I can laugh at it.   
After these past few days making stressful decisions that I am constantly aware could have lasting effects on my child’s future, I’m just trying to wrap my mind around the gravity of my job and the magnitude of the work God can do through a mother.
There are days when motherhood feels like a weight so heavy upon me that I can’t move from under it. Let me be clear, I do not mean that my daughter makes me feel this way.   She is joy. She is laughter.  She is a light burning bright. But motherhood… the essence of the mission and the ministry… is. so. much.  To think I am raising a person, a human being. Shaping a soul. Creating a disciple… That’s a big responsibility. That’s a huge responsibility deeply rooted in my own relationship with God and I’m struggling with how much my child’s future depends on my own here-and-now. I mean, I think there are some things that we are born with. Tendencies, disposition, personality traits… but I believe most anything can be taught. In many ways, in BIG ways, how Kiersyn handles difficult situations, how she forms and maintains relationships with other people, who she becomes and how she influences this world… starts with something as simple as my attitude in the face of stress.
I just keep asking myself, am I teaching this little soul to bear fruit by …bearing fruit?
Am I filling her days with Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control?
It’s just…
I was prepared to mold a child. But I wasn’t prepared for how much this would mold me.
It’s a strange thing that happens as you parent. You become more sensitive to the needs of others in everything from decision making to conversation simply from the habit of putting someone else’s needs first. You begin to care more about the world around you because you realize it isn’t just the place you live, it’s the environment in which your child will raise your grandchildren…
I guess I’m saying…
I knew adults make babies.
But
I never knew how much babies make us adults.




Saturday, November 12, 2011

Post-Op


I survived surgery. I can now add functional septoplasty, turbinate reduction and balloon sinuplasty to my list of unpleasant experiences. The first day was not all that bad due to the influence of anesthesia though I apparently gave everyone a scare waking up from surgery. I’m not sure of all the details since I wasn’t truly aware but it seems I had a hard time waking up from anesthesia and went into tremors, finally woke up, started talking and was being moved to recovery when I suddenly went back under. They had called Danley back already and then were upset to have him there because I wasn’t really waking up. I remember them calling my name a bunch and telling the anesthesiologist “No, she isn’t just asleep, it’s neurological.”  Just keeping things interesting.
I will spare you too many details but recovering from nasal/sinus surgery is gross and uncomfortable. Lots of swelling, bleeding, itchy internal stitches, inability to breathe or sleep plus nausea from steroids, antibiotics and pain pills abound. However, I am beginning to feel a bit better and hopefully it all gets better from here!
Thankfully, I have my amazing mom who, despite dealing with her own pain, was able to stay with us the first two days and take care of both baby K and myself. Thanks mom! Danley has taken over for the weekend and let me brag a minute here because I am so incredibly blessed to have a wonderful husband who is entirely capable of taking care of Kiersyn. I hear a lot of complaints from moms about their husbands being clueless about taking care of the kids and I just can’t imagine. I mean, my husband often reminds me of things I’ve forgotten to pack in the diaper bag.  It’s such a relief to have a husband who is an entirely equal parent, knows her schedule, and doesn’t need instructions. Love. Him.
Kiersyn is her happy self for the most part. She has occasional times when she is cranky, just seems exhausted all day, and like her face is puffy and swollen. Those are things we will be addressing with the endocrinologist in addition to her random weight gains/losses in a few weeks. It seems quite likely to me that if these things are not a thyroid problem – they are side effects from her reflux medication. The knowledge that we have to attempt to wean off it at some point looms ahead...
With not much else to report, I’ll leave you with some pictures of the baby girl.