Updates

Medical updates yesterday for three of the five of us - Y and the duad of the baby + me. Y saw the surgeon for a post-op and the removal of several of his stitches. Things look fine and the doc felt he was healing up nicely - though also cautioned him to take care not to overdo things to avoid reopening the wound. Next Tuesday he's due back for a second check-in and the removal of the remaining stitches. Y will head back to work tomorrow for a few hours at least and hopefully do half days or so for the rest of the week. Sitting still isn't real comfortable for him, and while the pain's subsided significantly, it's not gone yet.

Great scene at my 37-week OB apt yesterday at which the baby's heartbeat was completely regular for the second week in a row - adding to our hope that her arrhythmia may have resolved itself. If this were to be the case, it would make the birth much less stressful for her and me as we'd get a normal amount of concern and monitoring rather than a (likely) overkill dose.

The terrible and exhausting sinus infection that I battled all last week has at last receded in the past two days for which I thank God. It kind of put me over the edge. Some lovely ladies in my playgroup have been making meals for our family since Thursday which has been a true godsend. I've never before appreciated the degree to which meals can truly bless a family facing a challenging time.

We took a short crack at potty-training Q over the past day or so, an experience that clearly displayed that now is not the time. Some reflections on this here for anyone interested...

Happenings with hens

The chickens started laying while we were away on vacation, and they appeared to find their volume at the same time. Our neighbors who were watching them mentioned that they'd been getting louder, but we weren't prepared for the noise level when we got home. Noise noise noise noise. Wow, could those hens cluck. It was pretty stressful as there are literally only about 15 feet between houses in our neighborhood, and we never had any intention of being those neighbors. You know, the ones with the uber-noisy chickens.

It had been Y's plan all along to give two of our five hens to one of his work colleagues, an aspiring suburban chicken-raiser herself. We hopped to over the weekend, driven by the duelling forces of Y's pending surgery and the sheer volume of the chickens, and got a coop and two hens over to the woman late Saturday. Thankfully the 40% reduction of chickens in our coop has brought the noise level down significantly. And hopefully permanently!

The kids, as you can see, are greatly enjoying our feathered backyard friends...

Since surgery

It's been a long 48 hrs since Y's surgery on Monday... as one would expect. I picked him up about 5 pm from the hospital while our awesome neighbors the Scherreis watched and fed our kids, allowing me to run out to get his drugs too after picking him up. During this errand he lay on the floor in the family room on his belly near the TV where he's spent the better part of the subsequent two days as well. He was uncomfortable Monday but found the pain not too bad; yesterday it was considerably worse. He can't do much except lie and walk a bit. He is able to interact with the kids and plays with them on the floor for short amounts of time, which is nice, but between his limited motion and the pain/exhaustion he's contending with, we try to keep it short.

The kids' behavior hasn't been great since Monday - possibly a combination of their picking up on and reflecting our stress, and the sense that they can 'get away with' more since Dad's not in his normal mode. But who knows? While my sinus infection is thankfully improving, my fatigue is high and this no doubt adds to it.

It has been warm here, and today we broke out our small blow-up pool for its virgin CA use. Funny how I remembered it being significantly larger than it actually is. It was a good distraction for the kids (and me) to play out there for a while this morning, bathing suits and all.

I'm finding it hard to believe that the baby could be here as soon as 3 weeks from now, especially since our day-to-day life seems so altered and (dare I say) disheveled just now... Just one more reason to take it a day at a time!

Medic Monday

Well, Y is at the hospital having just completed (hopefully) the 1:30 pm surgery to remove his pilonidal cyst. A couple of hours from now I'll go and pick him up and we'll see what kind of shape he's in. When I asked him how he was feeling just before I dropped him off at 11:30 he said "hungry and dehydrated." He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything from the time he woke up today.

Over the weekend I developed a very quick and acute sinus infection. I'd had a cold for two weeks and thought I was over it - just a dry cough left - when it snuck up on me seemingly out of the blue. Painful. I couldn't sleep and my face killed. Sunday I had contacted the on-call doctor at my PCP and had her prescribe me antibiotics, which I'm now on. I feel better than yesterday for sure but still not great by any stretch and noticeably more tired. Hopefully within the next couple days...

This morning before dropping Y off for his procedure I had an OB appointment to check the baby's heartbeat (see here for info on this). Last week I met with the actual doctor at the practice rather than my normal midwife and found him not very informational. Today I got a better read from the midwife about the situation - particularly about how the birth was apt to be. I appreciated her candor but wasn't too pleased with the information she shared (including that she probably wouldn't be the one to deliver, it was apt to be heavily monitored, etc) and how things might go down. But then the good news: when she listened to the baby's heartbeat, it was completely regular. Not a single irregular beat. First time I'd heard that since my 29-wk appointment - which was great. Doesn't necessarily mean that it's gone for good but we'll see - certainly a hopeful sign. Have to take it one week at a time for now.

Surgery and such

Next Monday is surgery day for Y to remove his pilonidal cyst; he is in for his pre-op blood and paperwork this afternoon in preparation. We are very pleased to have been able to get him in so quickly given the upcoming events of August. The surgery is a half hour outpatient procedure with a recovery time of somewhere between one and three weeks, apparently. The surgeon plans to utilize a new procedure that, when successful, reduces recovery time significantly (from 2 weeks out of work to 2 days out of work)... When unsuccessful, the longer recovery time is necessary - and apparently twice-daily dressing of the surgery cite to keep it open and draining. Lovely. We'll see what happens.

Meanwhile Q's and my colds are finally nearly gone and Y's discomfort level from his infection has been reduced to almost nil - just a bit of tenderness. We are back on west coast time and more or less caught up on sleep from the travel and trip. So life is calming down...

Vacation drama

Last Tuesday, one week ago today, provides a good snapshot of some of the unforeseen challenges of our vacation. It was about 65 degrees and pelting down rain in central Maine... fairly standard weather for the few weeks we were in New England, with a few happy exceptions. Q and I had come down with a cold that my family was passing around to each other, and she had a fever of 101. I was in the maternity ward of the local hospital having the new baby's heartbeat monitored.

Why? Because 48 hours before we left, I discovered at my 32-week OB appointment that the baby's heartbeat was abnormal. She has an arrhythmia, specifically a relative common situation called premature atrial contractions (PAC's). In most cases the heartbeat irregularity resolves itself without intervention in utero or within hours of birth. I learned all this the day before we left for vacation when I saw a perinatologist for an ultrasound, and the morning of our departure when I met with the pediatric cardiologist. Happily the baby's heart itself looks great. The cardiologist advised me, however, to have the heartbeat monitored while on vacation on the off chance that the arrhythmia might convert to tachycardia - a consistent fast heartbeat which is often much more problematic than a PAC. So I had it monitored three times while we were away. The second of the three times had slightly worrying results but the others were fine.

As I was driving home from a 2-hour stint in the hospital for the monitoring last Tuesday, I spoke with Y who was not in a good way. A lump he'd discovered on his tailbone late Monday had grown increasingly painful throughout the day, and by the time I returned home it was so bad that he immediately went to the ER (of the same hospital from which I'd just returned) where they gave him no real helpful input and prescribed him Vikiden for pain. 36 hours later he wasn't able to sit, walk, or function due to the pain so we got him to the local clinic where they diagnosed an infected abscess related to a pilonidal cyst. They drained it - the most painful experience of his life, he said - and immediately put him on antibiotics and Oxycontin. Two days and another draining later, he was vastly improved - enough that he could actually move around and somewhat enjoy the sun that had finally come out. And travel home on Sunday in relative comfort. Praise God.

Doctors appointments for both of us yesterday (OB for me - thankfully he is not too concerned about the baby's heartbeat - still a standard PAC; our PCP for Y) and a consult with a a surgeon for Y today as he'll have to have the underlying tailbone cyst removed surgically. Typical post-op recovery: two weeks. Not ideal given less than 5 weeks now till the baby's due date...

All that said, it was lovely to see family and friends and be in New England again. We hit Dunkin Donuts probably 20 times while we were there. We enjoyed the thunderstorms and the thick trees. One thing's for sure - it's not a vacation we'll forget anytime soon.

Vaca photos from week 2

We had a eventful second half of our vacation to say the least. More details to come (tomorrow-ish) when I have enough brain space to think and write. Late night return travel last night and jet lag are taking their toll.

For now, here are a few photos of some of our fun moments...