Postpartum Preeclampsia

If you missed Little Sunshine's birth story
but would like to read it first to make sense of this random illeism
you can find that post here.

Chapter Two: Postpartum Preeclampsia
The hospital required Little Sunshine & her mother to stay 48 hours after birth before being discharged,
because unlike the hospital in California
they wait until the baby is 48 hours old to do the newborn blood screening.

Her husband stayed at the hospital with her the first night
while her kids stayed at home with their family friend, Meg, & her two boys.
He had to leave the hospital at 5:30am to go watch the kids
since Meg had to get her boys to school & go to work.
They tried to find someone to watch the kids during the day
so that he could go back to the hospital
& keep his wife company while they enjoyed their new baby,
but they were unable to find someone.
He decided to take them to see 'Planes: Fire & Rescue'
at the movie theater as a daddy date,
then they all came to the hospital for a little while afterwards.
He stayed at home with them Wednesday night
since he was cold & uncomfortable at the hospital anyway.

As promised, Grampa stopped by the hospital on Thursday to meet the wee one
before heading home from his business trip
& the father-of-now-three brought the older kids with him that day
so they could see their grandfather before he had to go to the airport & fly home.
They stayed & visited for a while
& the young mama was glad to have their company.
She was also very excited that she & her new baby would be going home in just a few short hours.

A little bit before her father left,
she noticed some tightness in her chest & shortness of breath.
She found it peculiar,
but dismissed it because she had experienced a lot of that during the third trimester.
She began to notice a slight headache behind her eyes
& it was getting difficult for her to concentrate or focus.
The children were a little stir-crazy & were running all over the place
so she thought that perhaps that was why her focus was off a bit.
They said quick goodbyes & headed back to the house to get the other car
so that the wife & newborn could come home with them after the 48 hours was up.
Things continued to get worse after they left.
The mother began having heavy palpitations & a pain in the center of her chest with each one.
It was getting more & more difficult for her to concentrate.
She felt a lot of anxiety & got very lightheaded & dizzy.
She thought that maybe her blood pressure was low
so she pressed the call button.
When the nurse came in to check it
she was shocked to hear that it was waaay too high.
I can't remember exactly what it was since there was so much going on & I couldn't concentrate
but it was 180 something over something.
Not normal.
They called the OB in to check on her.
When the doctor arrived,
she asked the mother a bunch of questions
then ordered a CT scan with contrast...
STAT.
She wanted to rule out clots because of the chest pain, palpitations, blood pressure, & whatnot.
She also mentioned that they would not be discharged that day.
The bewildered mama called her husband in tears
& filled him in on everything that had happened after he left.
After the call, they took her to get the CT scan done.
The right side of her neck began hurting after they put the contrast dye in,
& it would continue to hurt for almost a week.
She had no clue as to why.
The results of her CT came back normal which was quite comforting,
so the OB came to the conclusion it was most likely postpartum preeclampsia that was causing the symptoms,
& they treated it as such.
The mother was moved back into a labor & delivery room
where she was placed on a magnesium sulfate drip for 24 hours,
accompanied with air circulation cuffs for her legs,
a pulse monitor on her toe,
& a blood pressure cuff that was checked hourly.
Little Sunshine was sent to the nursery for the night, except for feedings,
so that her mom could get adequate rest for a speedy recovery
& also because her mom was confined to the bed
aside from bathroom breaks when a nurse would unhook everything but the IV.
Halfway through the night she was sent back to a postpartum room
since all the babies in the area decided to be born right then.
The next morning, Little Sunshine's father drove her siblings to the hospital for a visit.
GrandBo & CiCi also drove up to see their new granddaughter, although they could only stay one day.
The mommy loved the company, but wished they were all home.
Her husband & other children felt the same way.
Little Princess even brought her mommy a 'get well soon' flower after a walk with CiCi.
It brightened her day immensely.

Her OB wanted to keep her there another night
for observation without the magnesium sulfate drip.
Her blood pressure was elevated a few times,
but not so high that it concerned the doctors.
It fluctuated all throughout the night,
her symptoms would come & go,
& she had a pretty big anxiety attack at one point
but when her doctor came in the next afternoon,
she was given the okay to go home.
GrandBo & CiCi came back to the hospital with her husband & kids
to pick up the mama & new baby
& to spend some time with them before they drove back to Tennessee.

A little while after they got home, her husband took their oldest two children to the airport to go pick up Nani.
It was really windy & stormy out & her flight was delayed.
As they were sitting in the cell phone lot waiting for her plane to land,
he was monitoring her flight on an app.
He watched the plane circle around a few times to wait out the storm,
then it eventually turned around & was headed towards Illinois.
It wasn't a very large plane so it needed to refuel before heading back to Indianapolis.
They decided to get some dinner while they waited,
then went back to the airport to pick her up once her flight landed
It was great having Nani at their home for the week.
The young mother continued to have symptoms periodically throughout the week,
but they were never as bad as they were at the hospital.
Her blood pressure was very inconsistent.
The systolic would range between 160 and 130
& the diastolic would range between 105 and 75.
By the end of the week it was back within normal range,
with the occasional spike around 140/90.
She enjoyed her mom's visit nonetheless
& appreciated the help with the kids while she was there.

Gramma came to visit a week later.
The mama was doing much better at this point.
Her blood pressure was completely normal
& her symptoms were mostly gone.
She was grateful for the company & help
as she adjusted to life with three kids,
but Gramma couldn't stay forever..
This meant no more visitors for a while,
& that she was on her own yet again.

Chapter 3 coming soon...
Three Kids

xoxo

Happy Mother's Day

I had a rough day on Saturday.

REALLY rough.

A day that brought me to tears multiple times

due to mere frustration with the kids.

I'm sure my pregnancy hormones had something to do with it as well,

but still...

I felt like I was talking to a wall.

I became a broken record.

I couldn't go to the bathroom without something spilling or breaking.

The kids were screaming at each other.

Their toys weren't being shared.

There were diaper blowouts,

runny noses,

whining,

tired & crabby kids.

I'm used to these things happening each day.

It's part of being a parent.

It's not unusual.

But when it became a constant all day battle with all of the above

mixed with stress & my pregnancy hormones

I was ready to throw the towel in.

I tried turning on movies.

The kids wouldn't stay in the room.

I tried playing with them.

They continued fighting with each other.

I tried to get them to take a nap.

They both wanted to cuddle on the same side of me

& ended up arguing over who got to cuddle with my left side.

My patience would fluctuate.
It started out fairly high,
but it diminished little-by-little as the day went on.
When the kids would do something adorable
it would jump up a bit,
but soon drop back down to a discouraging low.

Hubby was two hours away
at our old house trying to touch up paint
& do other odd jobs that needed to be done there,
then he came home to take care of the yard at our new house.
I felt like he had done so much more with his Saturday than I had done with mine.
I had only been able to unpack one box all day
& our house looked like a tornado had passed through it.
This whole "nesting" phase just isn't working out for me.
I wanted the house to be unpacked & in order,
but being the mom of two young children I should have known better.

I can try my hardest to have a routine,

but I have to expect the unexpected to happen each day.

Routines just don't work for us.
At least not right now.

We got the kids ready for bed right after our late dinner.
(Daylight savings time really throws my cooking schedule off
as well as my internal 'get the kids ready for bed' clock.)

Little Dudeman went to bed & fell asleep easily,
but Little Princess wanted cuddles.
Hubby & I started to doze off in the process,
but my bladder woke me up shortly after she fell asleep.
I was still pretty grumpy
& was hoping that there would be enough time for us to cuddle on the couch & watch a movie,
but I also reeeally needed a shower.
I knew I couldn't stay up to watch an entire movie thanks to that little cat nap
so I complained & cried to Hubby about my day while eating ice cream,
then opted towards the shower.

I was still crying when I hopped in the shower.
I thought about Mother's Day
& how we didn't get gifts, flowers,
or even cards mailed out to our wonderful moms.
I thought about how undeserving I was to be wished a Happy Mother's Day,
especially after a day like that
when I had no patience for the very children who made me a mother.
I thought about a lot of things...
I noticed I kept putting more & more negative thoughts into my head.
So I quickly said a prayer that I would be able to be comforted,
& that I would have the strength to keep Satan & those negative thoughts away.
It worked.
Almost instantly.
The rest of my shower was relaxing
& I started thinking positive thoughts...

I realized that I'm not a bad mom.
Rough days happen.
That doesn't mean that I love my children any less though.
I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mother...
I'm grateful for the two wonderful children that put up with me all day every day.
I'm grateful that they ask what's wrong & remind me that it's more fun to be happy than it is to be sad.
I'm grateful for our unborn daughter that wakes me up in the middle of the night just because.
I'm grateful for Hubby & that he understands being a stay at home mom isn't always easy.
I'm grateful for the joy that motherhood brings.

I realized that between Hubby & I
we are blessed to have 5 amazing moms (:
This is what our kidlets call them:

Nani

Gramma

Gram

CiCi

Nana

I could spend plenty of time explaining the wonderful qualities each of these women have,
but I'll save that for another post since this one is already a bit lengthy...
We love each of them the same amount,
but for many different reasons!

Nana & Nani are half of the reason that Hubby & I were born.
Gram & Gramma took care of & raised us the most.
CiCi, Nana, & Nani weren't able to spend as much time with us,
but the time we were able to spend with them was time well spent
& we still learned a lot from each of them.
CiCi & Gramma helped us realize that not all step-mothers are evil.
Nani & Gramma are the ones I call the most when I need to vent
because they are my actual moms,
but I know Hubby's moms are great listening ears as well... (:
Gram is no longer with us,
but I know that she is still watching over us each day.
Each of these women have an immense love for us

& we have an immense love for each of them.
They are absolutely wonderful
& I'm sure that they love us even when we are so scatterbrained that we forget cards!

At church today we had a great lesson about choosing to be happy (:
It was just what I needed this crazy Mother's Day weekend!
I can't wait to tell you all about it!

xoxo

Mommy School (2013-2014)

Mommy School has been a little delayed this year.
I'm not exactly sure if or when I'll get into a normal routine,
but this is what I would like to focus on...

Little Dudeman:

• Fine motor skills (focusing mostly on scissors since he knows how to write all of his letters pretty well)
• Tricky reading rules (he knows how to read things phonetically as long as those silly English rules don't apply)
• Math (simple addition & subtraction)
• Spanish ABCs & basic words (he needs the challenge since he can say it in English forwards & backwards)
• Potty training (I would love to not be buying diapers all the time)
• Drinking in actual cups (he gave up when he was younger because he doesn't like things spilling on him)

Little Princess:

• ABCs (she has bits of it memorized, but not the whole thing in order)
• 1-10 (shouldn't be terribly hard)
• shapes & colors (I think she knows her colors pretty well; but the shapes, not so much...)
• Potty training (two kids potentially out of diapers... a girl can dream, right?)
• Drinking in actual cups (seriously, real cups are so much easier to clean than sippy cups)

I've been teaching them a little here & a little there,
but just haven't gotten into a routine yet.
But realistically, parenting is all about the spontaneous teaching moments.
Often times that's when we (parents & children alike) learn the most.
xoxo

Potty training

Little Dudeman has been on a potty training kick lately again.
I'm hoping it's for real this time.

He was showing a lot of interest around 18 months,
but he was still in size 2 diapers at the time
& wearing 9-12 month pants.
There was no way that he would be able to wear 2T underwear.
So I ordered some 18 month training underwear from Amazon.
He was swimming in them.
They were absolutely ginormous.
We couldn't even buy pull-ups or the slip-on diapers
because they don't make them in size 2.
Lovely.
So we did what we could with regular diapers.
It didn't last long before his interest died & he wanted nothing to do with it again.
He wanted to try again right around the time Little Princess was born.
Great timing?
Not so much.
We tried, but with a newborn it just wasn't happening.
Then he lost interest and wanted nothing to do with it for a while.
And so the story goes...
That cycle happened a few more times
with each time slightly more successful than the last,
but nothing worked long-term.

In the past, we've tried:
jumping right into underwear
setting a timer every 15-20 minutes,
giving him "potty juice" (juice or CapriSun) just for trying
(to fill his bladder so that he will want to go more frequently & get more practice),
giving him 2 gummy fruit snacks every successful potty break,
a sticker chart
(1 sticker for #1 & 2 stickers for #2),
a potty toy
(he only gets to play with it if he stays dry between potty breaks),
potty pennies
(one penny in the piggy bank every time he successfully goes potty: 1 for #1, 2 for #2; max 10 cents per day).

Since he's excited about it again,
I'm doing everything I can to keep him motivated
but I don't want to push him so hard that he doesn't want to keep up with it.
I just found & unpacked his underwear on Monday,
so yesterday we said goodbye to the slip-on diapers yet again.
 He wore his underwear without a fuss & stayed dry all day long,
and he went potty every hour and a half-ish.
He had one messy accident.
I still consider it progress.

This time, we're just trying the underwear again.
We're also using a timer...
I first set it at 30 minutes yesterday,
then 45 minutes,
then we tried for an hour long stretch,
and finally worked up to every 90 minutes.
I'm hoping to get to 2 hours today,
unless he says or shows me that he needs to go sooner of course.

We're still putting him in slip-on diapers at night,
but he's been pretty good at staying dry as long as he goes potty right before bed.
I don't know how soon we'll be brave enough to let him wear underwear at night though,
since we still co-sleep with both of our kids right now.
His bed isn't even put together from our move yet.
So as long as he's in bed with us,
he'll probably be wearing the slip-ons at night...

Little Princess went potty in the toilet three times her first day of trying.

She was only 13 ½ months old at the time.
Now at 18 months, she is constantly pulling her diaper down
and wants to go every time Little Dudeman tries.
It's annoying, yet wonderful!
We haven't started her on underwear yet,
but we'll see how she does...

xoxo