Shoulder surgery

Before I update about my shoulder, here are some of my favorite shots from this week. First, some shots from Chere & Jimmy's wedding shower. Grant dressed up by wearing a collared onesie - one of my favorite hand-me-downs from my sister. Derek called this party Grant's first blind date because Chere & Jimmy have a 3.5 month old, Marlee. She was precious and SO BIG! I'm not ready for Grant to grow yet. Here's his hot date now:

Look at these big blue eyes!!And a family shot, which shows that Grant's torso is about as big as a Route 44:Mike visited this weekend. He and Derek patched a leak in our roof (when it was about 100 degrees outside - ouch!). We weighed Grant, and the Wii says he is 11.2 pounds now! Mike brought us an awesome John Deere monogrammed changing pad. It's portable, so we'll be adding this to our diaper bag. Notice the appropriate wording: "Make dirt look good!" Ha!

Here is Grant sleeping in his "straight jacket." This product, SwaddleMe, is so great - Grant goes to sleep so quickly in it. We started using this just this past week. This should have made my post about things you need for a newborn, but it's in plenty of books and lists so I excluded it from my list. And here is Grant on the day he was 6 weeks old (Monday, July 12). We had fun with some tummy time. Not pictured is Lola trying to play with us when we are on the floor - and licking Grant's feet.

I managed to get a decent shot of a "grin". This isn't his full smile. There's no mistaking the smeyez (Jill - how do you spell that?).

Now, about that arm! I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday with Dr. Krishnan at the Carrell Clinic. He took an x-ray of my arm and evaluated me with his team of doctors. The Carrell Clinic runs like a well-oiled machine. I’ve never seen a doctor’s office like it – 42 patient rooms and 2 x-ray rooms. The short version is that my suprascapular nerve is entrapped. Because this has been ongoing so long (at least since January - but I thought the pain was pregnancy-related), I have significant weakness in my muscles. He recommended surgery, sooner rather than later, so I will have this surgery on August 6th. He likened the surgery to carpal tunnel surgery, but for the shoulder instead of the wrist.

The recovery is simple - sling for 1 day, followed by some physical therapy. You can be back at work the next day. He did say that you can only lift 2 pounds with that arm (my left) immediately after surgery. That should be interesting with my 11-pounder that is attached to me in one way or another the entire time I'm home!

I'm confident that this will make me better, and I'm soooo ready to have full use of both of my arms again! His success rate is 97% with the surgery, with 90% of his patients having equal arm strength in both arms within 6-12 months.

Advice for New Moms

Everyone thinks they’re an expert after having a child. I’m certainly no exception. Well, really – I have a lot of friends that are pregnant or may become pregnant, so I’ve been taking notes.

A friend of mine recently posted a blog about “things no one ever tells you about motherhood.” It was a great post, but I think if I tried that, I’d end up with a novel. Here’s a little bit of (unsolicited) practical advice.

I had read and stocked up on just about everything imaginable for when we brought our baby home... diapers, hemeroid creme, stool softeners, maxi pads... but there was so much more that I needed that no one told me about!

Things you need for your newborn that you won’t find listed in a book/article:

1. Eye Mask – so that you really can “sleep when your baby sleeps.” True, you can darken your house and live in a cave, but then your baby will never learn night and day! There is a reason that this is listed first!!

2. Mylicon (gas drops) – because when you don’t know what’s wrong with the rugrat, you WILL blame gas. Certainly MY baby isn’t crying for no reason!!! He’s too perfect to do that!

3. Hand Towels – these make much better burp rags than burp rags. Get several soft ones – one for every room that your baby is in, one for the diaper bag… and then a few extra sets for when you’re doing laundry. For some reason, you need a burp rag the most when it’s in the washing machine.

4. Mederma – you’ll want to feel like you can do SOMETHING about the stretch marks, incision (if you have a C-section), and the dark line that is vertical on your stomach. I’m still waiting on mine to go away six weeks after delivery. Actually, the doctor says it may never go away. That was another surprise. GREAT!

5. Snap onesies – dressing your baby in the first few days/weeks is challenging. I think it’s harder for daddies. Get some onesies that snap all the way up so that you don’t have to go over the little one’s head in your first days home. On that same note, you’ll need some snap t-shirts until the cord falls off (air helps it fall off faster).

6. Food – my friends definitely made this part easy. If someone offers to bring you food, take it!! There were many days that I didn’t eat lunch until 3pm or didn’t brush my teeth until after dinner. When you’re going through the blur of the day, knowing you will have a nice warm dinner without the hassle of cooking and cleaning can help keep you sane (and healthy).

7. Stuffed Animal Paci Thingy – a friend of mine just told me about this. We don’t have one yet, but we will be getting one very soon! This keeps the paci in the baby’s mouth, freeing up your hand to hold him, pat his back, or (in my case) get the breast pump going! I don’t know that I will use it much when I’m out of the room, but it would be helpful when trying to hold him and burp him and eat my turkey sandwich (yes, all at the same time). 8. Massage – holding the baby works all kinds of muscles… so does nursing. I still haven’t had a “professional” massage yet, but my hubby and awesome cousin have been great about treating me to back rubs!

Nursing Moms

9. Hands Free Pump Bra – this may be the best $40 I have ever spent. If you have a hands free pumping bra and the Stuffed Animal Paci Thing, you can be quite productive while pumping!! As an added bonus, the pic on the front of the packaging is hilarious.
10. Nursing Tanks – Target brand is fine here (and WAY cheaper than all the others). I’ve found that I’m feeding so often that there is no point in wearing a shirt around the house. With a nursing tank, you can walk around the house without avoiding windows and feel fine answering the door for company!

11. Nipple Shield – I found out what this was in the hospital when I had sore nipples. The nipple shield is supposed to be used only temporarily (supposedly using it all the time can lessen your supply of milk). I must have an abundance of milk because I use mine all the time and have never had a problem. If you become addicted to it (as me and Grant have), you need one for every place you nurse, including one in the diaper bag.

Trophy

I organized our freezer today to make more room for breastmilk. I took time to inventory my "supply" and I've got 82 ounces! That's 3+ days' worth of food. Probably very uninteresting unless you are also a breastfeeding mom. For me, I feel like it's my trophy.

Little guy has been smiling alot lately - usually on the changing table. He's there ALOT because he HATES a wet diaper. I mean - I can spit more than he pees and yet he insists on a diaper change. Yesterday I changed at least 15 diapers. Today, I've changed 12 so far. As I'm typing, he's screaming again for a diaper change - we got a new diaper literally 5 minutes ago. Anyway, here are my attempts at getting a pic of his smile. Pretty pathetic, but wanted to share anyway.

Unprepared

Last night we enjoyed the Coppell fireworks along with Carrie, Jacob, Steve, Gloria, Matthew, Gloria's brother David & his wife and 2 kids and Cassie and Brian. And by enjoyed, I mean - we laid a tarp out on the wet grass, kept our umbrellas handy (and even used them), and hauled Grant around in the backpack (our first backpack experience). The highlight of the evening (for me) may have been when some high school boys used an area covered by 3 inches of water as a slip and slide. I overheard one of them say "This is what fourth of July is all about!"

Because of the gear involved, I switched over to our GINORMOUS diaper bag (shower gift from the Mitt women). However, I did not pack appropriately. First, we needed a hat to keep Grant's ears out of the wind - fail. I did rig up an umbrella to block the wind while it was bad, though. Next we needed a bottle for Grant - like the one I had prepared and left on the counter - fail. So, I improvised the "old fashioned" way and got out the goods. At this point, I needed something to cover up - like the Hooter Hider I have packed in the OTHER diaper bag... or an extra blanket, which we didn't have with us - fail. I did have a waterproof pad (to use for diaper changes, which there were none of while we were there, interestingly). So with some assistance, I was able to calm our screaming, starving child while the fireworks show was going on.

Once the fireworks show was done, we packed up and headed back to the car - all the while Grant was VERY angry for having his milk taken away. I didn't bother putting him in his carseat - he ate the whole way home. Mom of the Year!!

I would post pictures of the evening, but (keeping with the theme of this post), we left the camera at home.

Bottom line - we're still learning.

House guest

I saw the most vibrant gecko in our backyard today and ran to get the camera before Lola chased it away by barking!I can't remember what the pink throat thing is - maybe it's a mating call? Feel free to correct me!

4 week old

It's so hard for me to believe that my boy is 4 weeks old now. Grandma Rose says he won't be one-month old because this month doesn't have a 31st.

We don't go back to the doctor until he's 2 months old. I don't have much of an update. I weighed him on the Wii today and he is 9.7 pounds (9 pounds 10 ounces). We've had plenty of visitors. Last week, my mom came and helped me take the boy out to my work & Derek's work.

Last week Grant lived in his vibrating chair (see pic below). This week, he doesn't seem to like it as much. He likes to be talked to and most importantly HELD. He has pretty much always slept in his crib, but in the past 3 days, he has been waking up as soon as we lay him down and crying to be held. So I'm trying to learn to sleep somewhat comfortably with him on me.

Last week his baby acne was terrible! We've been washing his face with Cetaphyl and it's getting much better!!Lola is still adjusting to life with baby. She's done really well with me and Derek, but last night with Lorena, Lola wanted to share the attention!

Daddy has gotten really good at soothing Grant. I think he's been growing lately because he (Grant) wants to eat every 2 hours (or before) - so it's best to have someone around that DOESN'T have milk to sooth him.

In other news, I had an EMG on my arm today. My suprascapular nerve is pinched ("entrapped"), so my physical therapist is sending me to a doctor that specializes in that injury. I've been taking Tylenol every 4 hours for 4 weeks now trying to keep up with the pain, so I'm VERY ready to be fixed, and I'm sure my liver is too.

Footprints

Today, Grant fell asleep on my after feeding (he does this at least twice a day). I put him down so that I could shower, and then I noticed in the mirror that I could see his footprints on me. Can you see them?

We left the house... and that is newsworthy!

In the past 2 days, our family has been out and about! Friday was Grant's best day ever - I got a shower, blow dried my hair, put on makeup, did laundry, and took a nap with him. I was ready to celebrate, so Friday night, Derek, Grant and I went to Fireside Pies. We fed him right before leaving and called ahead to make sure we didn’t have to wait to be seated. Grant was an angel – he was alert and quiet in his car seat for the first hour, then he fell asleep. He was ready to eat again once we got home, so we timed it perfectly! Derek and I did feel like we were walking on eggshells for the first 20 minutes or so though. I got to have some sangria – and it was as delicious as I remembered! Yes - I made the waitress take our picture. Today, we went to visit Big Gaga. I didn’t realize it until we got there, but I hadn’t been to her house since Christmas!!!! Grant was good – he went to Angelos with us, then nursed while we played Scrabble. It wasn’t the easiest feat, but it was well worth the juggling act! Tomorrow I hope to stay home all day, and possibly even use the pool for the first time since Grant’s arrival!

Quick update on Grant's stats - At his 2 week appointment, Grant weighed 8 lbs, 2.3 oz and was 21.25”. That puts him in the 75th percentile for height – the doc says that would make him 6 feet if he keeps it up (I don’t think there’s a correlation between height at 2 weeks and height at adulthood though). I weighed him on the Wii later in the week and he was at 8 lbs, 12 oz., so he's growing quickly!! He has blocked tear ducts, which is quite common and leads to gunky eyes. We have antibiotic drops to give him and wipe out the gunk about 5 times a day. Since our last doctor’s visit, Grant’s developed some baby acne. We started treating that today with Cetaphil – we’ll see how well that works. The good news is that he doesn't have another doctor's appointment until his 2-month shots!

Second week - update

Grant has settled into somewhat of a routine over the past few days. We don't marry him to a routine... but our practice has been to keep him awake when Daddy is home from work. He sleeps MUCH better at night this way. I can't really complain about sleep - he'll sleep a solid 4 hours at night, often more. Then go back down for another 3 hours or so... We love this, but depending on weight gain, our doc may have a different idea.

Grant's newborn pictures yesterday threw a wrench into this "routine". I can't wait to see them, but moving him around definitely messed up the daily cycle of eat, sleep & poop. (In other news - the other thing that messed up this cycle - mama eating beans... makes for a poopy Grant ALL DAY!!!).

So today has been recovery day. Grant has slept almost all day - we'll see how the night goes. But he fell asleep several times while feeding, so I took the opportunity to pump... which meant I could go out with my mom & have a margarita tonight!! It was just as good as I remembered.

Grant's 2 week appointment is Tuesday. He will NOT be back to his birth weight (which would be typical for babies... apparently), but I will update with new stats!! I have an appointment tomorrow where I will (hopefully) be approved to drive.

Grant is 1 week old!

My son is a week old today!! The past week has FLOWN by. Unlike supermom Mary, I haven’t had an ounce of time to blog! I definitely want to remember this week, so more for my own sake than any of my readers, here’s a recap.

My “birth story” –

Sunday, May 30 – Back and hip pain start and become more noticeable around 2pm. I started timing them around 6 pm. At 9pm, I went to the bathroom and saw blood, so I went to the hospital. It turns out this was my “show”. I came out of the bathroom and told Derek we needed to go to the hospital… he was about to tell me goodnight! He asked if he could shave – ha! I was bleeding!! NO! We had to go!

We got to the hospital around 9:30 pm, where they told me I was 4cm, 70% effaced and having contractions every 2.5 minutes. Of course, finding out this information and getting checked in (with 1 million questions, all of which I had already answered in pre-registration… what was the point in that?!) took about an hour. Once we knew we were being admitted, we called our moms. I guess at that point Derek also texted everyone in the world with his pre-typed text message. It said my water had broke, even though it hadn’t.

At 11:30pm, my mom arrived and I asked for my epidural. My contractions were every minute by then. It took an hour for the anesthesiologist to get to the room, then get the epidural in. The nurse checked me right after and said I was at 7cm. She broke my water and said I was progressing great and it wouldn’t be long!

Between 12:30 and 3, Derek, my mom and I tried to sleep. This would have been IMPOSSIBLE without the epidural. It wasn’t very much or very good sleep, but we all managed to get a wink of sleep. They were monitoring my blood pressure every 30 minutes, which is standard procedure… but it SUCKS when you are trying to sleep!At 3am, the Irish nurse, Kathy, and two other nurses rushed into my room. “We have to get you on your side.” I HATE lying on my side!! I was very irritated at this. Then someone hands me an oxygen mask and Kathy held her stethoscope to my belly. I asked what was going on, but if she answered, it wasn’t clear because of her accent. She listened for a while, then disappeared for a minute. She came back with a shot and said I needed the shot to slow down the contractions. They stabbed my left arm (even though I had an IV in) and continued to monitor. FINALLY (it was probably 5 minutes after rushing in, but seemed like an eternity!), she explained that the baby was in distress because I’d been having contractions every minute for the past 3.5 hours. His heart rate had dropped (I found out later it had dropped a LOT), so they were slowing down the contractions to give him a break. The shot they gave me was Terbutaline – it’s used in preterm labor too (to stop labor). The contractions weakened and were less frequent, and Grant’s heart rate came back up very quickly. SUCCESS!

Around 4 am, she checked and said I was at 8cm. At 6am, the pressure was so bad that I requested more medicine. They gave me a “boost” of the epidural. I was at 9 cm. Some time during that time span, Grant was in distress again. Again, the rolled me over and gave me oxygen. They didn’t give me a shot again (thankfully).

At 7 am, we got a new nurse, Lori. Lori was GREAT! Lori gave me some Pitocin (at a rate of 2, then 3 – both very low apparently). Labor wasn’t progressing like they hoped, and with Grant in distress twice, they wanted to move things along. My contractions picked back up and I was off the Pitocin very quickly (30 minutes – 1 hour). Some time between 7 and 9 am, I had to get a 2nd bag for my epidural. Also during that time, Mom ran to Whataburger and my labor “coaches” got to eat. I was jealous of the food, but probably more jealous of the Dr. Pepper that my mom had! And I remember talking a lot about bacon. Mmmmm – bacon. They didn’t eat in the room, so I didn’t have to be tortured with the smell of real food while I was eating ice chips.

Finally, some time between 7am and 9am, I had to be turned onto my side and get oxygen again. This may have happened once… maybe twice during that period of time… I don’t remember. So I had to eat ice chips, then put the oxygen mask BACK on. My throat was sore from so much oxygen. Derek and Mom took turns feeding me ice chips because at this point, the epidural was NOT effective at taking away my pain. The pressure was so great that I kept pressing the button for more pain medicine… whenever I could find it. Most of the time, I’d ask someone else to press it for me.

Every hour, the nurse would check me. At 9am, I was still at 9cm and the baby was between a 0 and 1 station. He wasn’t dropping and I wasn’t dilating. The nurse said she needed me to consider the possibility that I would need a C-section. She wasn’t 100% whether or not I would have to have it, but wanted to start getting me used to the idea just in case. At that time, it was leaning toward a C-section. I think I tried to push then too, to see if he would drop or if I would dilate… but nothing progressed.

At about 10 am, I asked if I could elect to have a C-section. The pressure was too intense, the medicine too weak, and I was too exhausted to push effectively. Lori said she would have to check with the doctor – if the baby was too far down, a C-section wouldn’t be possible. While the doc was en route, Lori and another nurse turned me side to side while I was in various positions – had me stay there for several contractions… all in an attempt to progress labor. NOTHING happened.
About 11 am, the doc checked me – said I could have a C-section. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Fox, was called in. He asked if I was on my second bag for the epidural – I told him yes. He said C-sections were the norm whenever Mom had gone through 1 bag. I don’t remember a lot of the next part. I remember Derek putting on the scrubs – it seemed he was in them for a long time. I was wheeled into surgery, and Derek had to wait outside a few minutes. During that time, they transferred me to a new table – I remember thinking to do so by myself would have been IMPOSSIBLE! I still had a lot of pressure (all vaginal, which is not ideal – for labor they want pressure like you’re going to poop!).

On the surgery table, I had a melt down. I was SO SCARED! My sis had 2 c-sections, but I wanted to deliver vaginally, so I never paid much attention to c-section information. Plus the idea of them cutting on me, etc. Dr. Fox was VERY comforting. The nurses were going through a checklist of basic information they needed from me. I think I even signed a consent form on the surgery table (which I think is probably NOT enforceable… and I may have told them as much). Finally, Derek could come in. Between him and Dr. Fox, I was able to relax more… which is not to say that I was calm by any means. We chatted with one of the doctors about living on the same street as my friend Anna. There were 2 docs for delivery (Cope and Allen), 1 anesthesiologist (Fox), 2 nurses for me (Lori and Jenny), 1 for baby (Ashley), and 1 floating nurse. Very soon, the curtain was up and they were cutting.

WOW!! The C-section was SOOO painful! I think my epidural was less effective – the anesthesiologist seemed concerned that I had been on it for 12 hours. After they had started, I asked if they could put me under completely, but they said they just needed about 30 more seconds. I told them to continue. Sure enough, about 30 seconds later (at 11:50 a.m.), I heard my baby cry. A few seconds later, they held him up for me to see. Derek asked “So, he was born at 11:51?”, and someone corrected him with 11:50.
I remember the docs saying that Grant was peeing on them. I remember telling the doctors how mean they were to do that to me – to which one of them retorted “We gave you a baby – we’re not mean.” And I agreed. I remember Derek held my hand the whole time – we were both so overcome with emotions. He tried to lay his head on mine, but it made me shake, thus made it more painful for me, so I asked him not to put his head on me. Then he went over to where Grant was… according to him, he saw the placenta (in a bag?), and may have even seen me cut open – awesome. I remember Dr. Fox telling me that he could up my pain medicine since Grant was out. The next thing I remember is being wheeled out into the recovery room. I think Derek may have been talking to me when he was over by Grant, but I don’t really know. In recovery, the nurses inputted all sorts of information. I got to hold my baby the whole time – it was incredible. Lori spent a TON of time with me and Grant teaching us both how to breastfeed. She was so incredibly patient. I also told her how mean she was for pushing on my sore belly! At about 2:15 pm, I was wheeled into my room. This time I had to transfer myself onto the bed, and that was not easy! Derek hung up the banner that Jesse had made, while Janet (nurse) took Grant’s vitals and mine and got me settled. Soon enough our family was able to come visit! Joyce, Mike, Kennedy, my mom, Rachel and Jesse all took turns holding our boy. My sis had seen him in the hallway and the nursery but had to leave. She came back later that evening to hold him, but I had to breast feed, so she couldn’t hold him. The rest of the time in the hospital was pretty uneventful. Doctors, nurses, and visitors streamed into our room at all hours, and we sent Grant to the nursery every night so we could get some rest. I’m SO glad we did that! On Wednesday night, I sent Derek home so that he could rest up (and on a comfy bed) before we brought baby home! That is all I have time for now. I will update more on the first week later, but baby Grant is waking up now from a 3.5 hour nap. He is sure to be hungry!