More of the Same

Eden had her cardiology appointment today and it was more of the same. Her weight is up to 5.75 kg, which is about 12#11, so really good. Her length is 23.5", so nice and long. Her oxygen rate was in the high 80's and her echo didn't show anything unusual. I could practically just copy/paste previous blogs every time we have a visit.

We talked a little more about her heart cath, since that'll be the next time we see the doctors. They'll sedate her so she doesn't move during the procedure and check everything out. Apparently one of the septal defects (I'm not sure if it was the atrial or vetricular) is kind of oddly shaped. Plus they want to get a better look at her pulmonary stenosis. There's a possibility they might use a balloon to open the stenosis a little to give her more time before needing the surgery, but they won't know until they're doing the catheter. The head of the cardiology department makes the final call on when we do the surgery. The doctor today couldn't give us any idea on a time frame (of course) but she did say that she thinks it'll be sooner rather than later.

Eden's feet were unusually cold, which I figure is probably because she was in nothing but a diaper for about an hour and a half but the doctor is concerned enough, she's since emailed me saying she wants to get a doppler of her lower extremities. There's not cardiac reason for her feet to be so cold, so she wants to check and see if there's anything going on we need to be aware of. We'll hopefully get a call from the nurse either tomorrow or early next week setting that up. (Sidenote, it's a good thing I don't have a job these days. Taking care of Eden's appointments is a full time job sometimes.)

She was smiling and cooing to all the personnel we saw today, much to their delight. She's so happy 99% of the time, I'm sure that's a welcome change from kids who are really sick and cry a lot. We figure it's because she had a bottle before we came, so she wasn't hungry at all while we were there.

I've got another sinus infection, making my third round of antibiotics in about 6.5 months. I talked to the PA today and she said everything about me seems fine, it's very likely that my body is just run down from breastfeeding and taking care of three children. I'm not resting like I should and even though I try, I know I'm not drinking enough water. My milk is drying up, though, so that has good and bad aspects to it.

Good means I'll probably start getting more sleep because I won't have the discomfort of full breasts and need to pump three times a day. Eden is doing very well on formula enriched breastmilk and the few bottles we give her of just formula she takes with no complaint, so the transition to formula should be seamless. Maybe now I can start losing some weight and get some cute clothes that fit me well and don't seem so enormous to me (I used to be a size small and am currently a large/extra large....I know there are plenty of women out there who are bigger or who would love to be my current size, but when I'm 40 pounds over what my "normal" was, I feel huge). We have about two weeks worth of breastmilk in the freezer that we can either save or use now, depending on our feelings. Austin and I decided we'd save it for after her surgery, provided it's sooner rather than later. If they push it back, we'll give it to her sooner so that she can get the benefits of it and we don't lose any.

Bad means Eden won't get as much milk as I hoped. I started out thinking "I'll go until I can't" and when it was going so well, I decided I wanted to make it through her surgery. I will be a little disappointed to stop at 5 months, but hey, 5 months is great. Some people don't do it at all, or can't do it for long, for whatever reason. Her doctor and mine were both impressed with my making it to 5 months given my breastfeeding history.

To try to help me stay healthier, the PA advised me to start taking Claritin once a day once I've stopped breastfeeding. It dries up milk (at least for me) so I may as well just start it now. Make the transition easier on my body. Once I don't feel like gum on the bottom of someone's shoe, I'll dig the Claritin we've got stashed and add it to my nightly dose of vitamins.

Everything else around here is going well. The boys are happy and healthy and we're having an ok summer. It's been more stressful on my body not having that second day of Mother's Day Out (hence the sinus infection) but we've tried to fill it with activities: going to the library for Story Time, going to the Splash Pad, play dates with other MOPS moms, movies at Century, playing in our own back yard. Something every day may be part of what's wearing me out, so we may scale back a bit (though I'm seriously not doing much because I'm so tired all the time). If we scale back and I get more rest and start taking the Claritin and STILL keep getting sick, I'll likely go see an ENT to see if there's something going on. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

That's all for now! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, and to you single moms, too. You being present in your child's life is priceless.

Eden's Medical Fund