Updates and things

Updates!  With Bullets!  Just Because!

• Adam's mom was released from the hospital on Friday! And what's more amazing is that her kidney function has returned!  I'm shocked but very grateful.  I haven't spoken directly to her or Adam's stepdad and he never thinks to ask the right questions, so I'm not 100% sure she's totally off dialysis or not, but either way she's doing great. She did so well with physical therapy at the hospital that they decided she could go straight home instead of to rehab
• I had my second appointment with my rheumatologist last week. From what she told me, I have some features of lupus, but since it has such a wide spectrum of severity she doesn't seem to classify it as full blown lupus.  The main thing is for now my bloodwork looks pretty good and I feel okay most of the time and it could stay like this forever, so they'll just keep an eye on things and we'll see how it goes.  My bloodwork showed low white blood cell counts (it always is) and although my sed rate (indicates inflammation) was higher than in the past, it was still within normal ranges.  The only other thing that was high was my carbon dioxide level, but since she didn't say anything about it when she called (I viewed all the results online later) and it was only 2 points above normal, I'm guessing it's just borderline and not a problem.  I do have to go back to give a urine sample, which I couldn't give last week because of my lovely monthly visitor (see next bullet).
•  Last weekend I took Tyler to the school playground to play with his friend Lorelei and her little sister Lexi AND to have some time to chat with Lorelei's mom.  Fun was had by all! :)  Oh and I attended my second PTA meeting.  How weird is that? I'm a PTA mom!
• In the last week I have had one car in the shop for a bad sensor (our van, the third time since we bought it that we have had that problem), one car for body work (from getting rear ended.  Did I mention that here?  If I didn't, yes we got rear ended, no major damage, no injuries, but a new bumper is needed, so there you go), a new battery on our lawn mower (new to us and annoyingly temperamental so far), and two rental/loaner cars (see cars in shop!).  So things have been hectic!
• I've also been struggling with filling in for someone at my company.  IN CANADA.  So yeah, that's different.  I think after about 2 weeks, I finally get the gist, so hopefully it will go smoother now.  Still not sure why the powers that be didn't train me while the girl was still working here, she did give notice!
• Lady-stuff sharing (you've been warned)...My period is all out of whack.  First of all, spotting.  For awhile now, on and off since AJ was born and then consistently the last few months, I've been spotting for a few days before I get a full blow period.  This is annoying, especially since my periods are a full 5-6 days NOT counting spotting, but I didn't think that much of it.  Also, this year I'd seemed to gotten into a somewhat predictable routine of a short(er) month and a slightly longer month.  Like one month would be 27-29 day and the next would be 31-33 days.  I've followed the pattern since about November of last year.  My theory is that my longer cycles are coming from the ovary attached to the twisted ovary (the left one, I think, incidentally the same one that didn't fill during my HSG).  My doctor noted that during the surgery looking for endometriosis years ago.  However, this month should have been a "long" month, but I started spotting on CD22 and full blown AF showed up two days later, resulting in a 24 day cycle.  In all my years of tracking my periods (basically since the fall of 2007 when we started TTC Tyler) I have NEVER had a cycle that short.  Then I thought I was done around Friday midday but NOPE!  Saturday evening I was suddenly bleeding again.  It never got very heavy, but another 3 days of spotting followed.  I called shenanigans.  And my doctor.  
• I went to see said doctor yesterday and apparently I have a cervical polyp, which is causing the spotting in between periods.  So yay.  She told me to call my OB/GYN (My doctor (well, she's a PA) does my yearly exams typically, but for this I need to see a true OB/GYN) and schedule to have it removed.  She said these are usually benign and not a big deal, but it should come off.  I called my OBs office today and found out that she has left the practice and now works in McCordsville, with is about 35 minutes from home and work.  That's not going to work.  So I asked to be scheduled with Dr. A, who I've only met a couple of times, but she did my C-Section, since she was on call at the time and she seemed nice enough. Amber faxed over a report and they'll call me to schedule. Apparently these are usually done on a "procedure day" which is typically the first Wednesday of the month, so for now I'm assuming that'll be happening next Wednesday.  Seriously what's up with my body?   It just doesn't seem to work right!
• As for the short cycle, we aren't sure what that's about.  Amber encouraged me to talk to the OB, especially since we are considering trying to conceive again.  They may decide to prescribe femara right out, instead of struggling against short or irregular cycles.  She said some OBs will do this and some won't. So we'll see.  I guess it's officially time to make that decision.  I don't know why I'm having so much trouble committing to it.

I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it now and really that turned into quite enough!

Headwounds and blowouts

If you clicked on this blog post, you deserve a prize!  Probably the most unappealing title I've ever used, but that's motherhood for you!  I wonder if I'm going to survive AJ's toddler years, that kid is always falling down, tripping over things, and hitting his head!  He's finally starting to walk while holding someone's hand, and Saturday he fell in the parking lot of a restaurant.  Adam didn't have a tight grip on him and he scraped his head and lip, poor guy.  That one didn't concern me too much, like I said, he bumps his head a lot!  He looked a little rough and he cried for several minutes, but after that he was fine. 

Sunday was another story though.  We went to my Dad's apartment to hang out. AJ was already tired, it was close to his naptime when we got there and I figured he'd fall asleep and take a nap while we visited.  Trouble was, he started asking for his paci, which he likes to have at naptime, and we realized we didn't have one with us.  Since we only live about  minutes from Dad, Adam went to get one.  We decided to walk to the playground on site to distract AJ from his lack of paci.  Well, he went racing down the sidewalk.  I caught up to him and turned him around and he started back toward my dad and Angie and of course, he tripped.  He really smacked his head that time.  UGH it was awful!  Right away, he had a big bruise and a goose egg on his forehead.  I was really nervous, just at the size of it.  He stopped crying after about 10 minutes, and by that point, he was completely worn out and falling asleep, which only made me MORE nervous.  We took him back in the house and laid him down and I decided to call the nurses line.  They were very nice and after asking lots of questions, assured me that it didn't sound like anything serious, but to watch him closely, make sure he'd rouse every so often and call back if any symptoms she mentioned showed up.  He woke up from his nap a while later in a very good mood and even went to the playground and ran around for awhile, acting no worse for the wear while I hovered over him nervously. 

His head looks better today, though it's still pitiful to see my little guy bruised.  We checked on him during the night, just to be sure (yeah I'm paranoid, sue me) but he doesn't even seem bothered by any of it.  Man, this rough and tumble stage is tough on the mama!  I felt so guilty that I wasn't holding on to him, even thought I know this happens all the time and I can't always be holding onto his hand.  I'm just glad he's okay.

The kids both had fun, mostly playing with my dad's dachshund's Oscar and Charlie.  Then we went to Steak N Shake for dinner.  While we were waiting for our food, Adam suddenly discovered that AJ had a MAJOR blowout...seriously, it was the kind you normally would just put the kid in the bathtub!  Oh it was horrible.  We took him in the bathroom (yes both of us, I'm not kidding, this was a two person job!) and cleaned him up the best we could. Then I left Adam to do that actual diaper change and I ran around the corner to buy him a new set of clothes, since both his shirt and jeans were not at all wearable at this point.  15 minutes later I got back, pulled his new shirt on him (he looked funny, sitting shirtless in his high chair, we had an extra set of shorts, but no shirts in the diaper bag...live and learn!) and ate my somewhat cold dinner and rewarded my stressed mommy self with a hot fudge sundae too! 

Ah the day in the life of parents!  Never a dull moment!