Post-Op Update

Sorry it took me almost a week to update you on my surgery. It was just so NICE taking a break. From dirty diapers, from baby wrangling, and yes, even from blogging.

So here's the low-down: I'm home, I'm recovering wonderfully, and my arms ache to carry around my babies again. Jacob has been back to nursing since Saturday afternoon - about 27 hours after I went into surgery, and a good 3 hours past the 24-hour wait-time instructed by the hospital to get the drugs and anesthesia outta my system. He was just in agony without me and absolutely would not take a bottle.

Stubborn German much?

Somehow I knew I would be back to nursing him quickly, and would not need the prescription narcotic painkillers (anybody want a prescription for Percoset?). If I can have two kids naturally without any drugs - including Lily's 31.5 hour labor - I can certainly recover from gall bladder surgery with just a few Tylenol.

Ryan and my mom and Aunt Ilse and Ryan's mom have been on baby lifting duty since last week. At the beginning, I enjoyed getting waited on and hardly noticed when little bottoms stunk to high heaven, but now I strangely find myself eager to get back to my quiet little life with my sweet little stinkers (Ryan included). It seems I don't have a very high, "Can you please do this?" and, "Can you please get that?" threshold, and have been secretly doing more than I'm supposed to when no one's looking. Ssshh don't tell Aunt Ilse.

Stubborn German much?

I have four small sets of stitches on my belly: one just beneath my belly button, one about four inches higher, and two to the right of those. The largest, most bruised incision where they actually removed my gall bladder hurts the most. And when I sneeze, cough, or laugh, the area where my gall bladder used to be hurts like crazy and feels like it's going to come flying out through my Steri-strips.

I still can't pick up anything heavy or reach my right arm high to get things, but I'm walking around fine, albeit slowly, and am recovering quite nicely. I'm not allowed to drive for another week, and have no idea how I'm going to manage next week when all my helpers leave and I have to lift and carry and wipe little tushies and manage the household all by myself.

Think the surgeon will yell at me for driving myself to my post-op appointment next week and carrying both kids into the office? Yeah, maybe I should think that one through a little more...

Pre-Op

Ryan and I are sitting in the surgical waiting area, waiting to be called. I haven't eaten since dinner last night and haven't been allowed to drink since midnight.

They made me drink 10oz of magnesium caltrate before dinner...pretty nasty but nothing could be as bad as the castor oil I downed trying to induce myself with Lily (didn't work). It's pretty potent stuff and that's all I have to say about that.

I'm so glad I never had scheduled deliveries with the kids because this scheduled appt stuff is the pits. I woke up at 4 a.m. unable to go back to sleep - the alarm was set for 4:30 anyway. Hooray for a 6 a.m. arrival time...

Ryan just looked over and asked if I was writing a book. I guess that's my cue to stop rambling. OK more waiting...

Lily and Jacob: 101

To Mom (x2) and Aunt Ilse...who will be here in shifts whilst I recover from having a body part removed Friday.

Foods Jacob Eats:
Rice and Rice Cereal
Oats and Oatmeal Cereal
Barley and Barley Cereal
Sweet Potato
Butternut Squash
Pumpkin
Carrots
Corn

White Potato

Zuchinni

Peas
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Spinach
Green Beans
Prunes
Bananas
Apples
Peaches
Kiwi
Pears
Avacados
Papaya
Egg Yolk (no white)
Bread
Pancakees
Split Pea Soup
Squash/Pumpkin Soup
Mashed Potatoes
or, any jarred food in the pantry
or, any food cubes in the freezer
**Definitely no nuts or fish or eggwhites or citrus**

Foods Lily Eats:
Everything but nuts and shellfhish

Vitamins:
On the kitchen tabel, labeled w/name and doseage, once/day

Nursing:
5 or 6 a.m.
Before breakfast
Before lunch
Once in afternoon
Just after dinner
Before bed
Once around midnight or 1 a.m.
*I'm not sure how this will translate to bottles, or how much he will take each time. Good luck!

Food Ideas for Jacob:
Jacob eats three times a day, same as when we do . There are jars of baby food in the pantry and cubes of frozen food in the top of the freezer, but he really likes REAL food the best, i.e. table scraps or fruits/veggies processed just small enough that he can't choke. He loves soup (anything warm is usually a hit). His favorite food is banana, followed closely by avacado. Another easy snack is applesauce. He has not yet had yogurt, cheese, or meat.

Food Ideas for Lily:
Lily would be happy with oatmeal every single morning (and will probably ask for it as soon as she wakes up!). She is also a big fan of eggs ("Look, Lily - chese!") or pancakes. For lunch, we normally have leftovers from the fridge, and if there are none, grilled cheese or mac-n-cheese are always popular. She likes to snack on yogurt, applesauce, hard-boiled eggs, Cheerios, or of course junkfood. If she's acting picky, adding ketchup, bbq sauce, or shredded cheddar usually helps ;)

Jacob's Sleep Habits:
B/t 5 - 6 a.m. - Up to eat, then back to sleep
B/t 7:30 - 8:30 - Up for the day
B/t 10 a.m. - noon - First nap (not long! Usually 20 minutes, at most an hour)
B/t 2 - 5 a.m. - Second nap (maybe longer, but 20 minutes still common)
Night: b/t 7 and 9 p.m., depending on when he last woke up
Night Waking: Up once around midnight or 1 a.m. to eat, then back to sleep

Lily's Sleep Habits:
Nap: anytime b/t 12-5, usually lasting 1-3 hours
Night: b/t 7-8 p.m. and 7:30-8:30 a.m.
Night Waking: Usually sleeps through the night, sometimes wakes up looking for her pacifier, sometimes wakes up a million times for no explainable reason

Lily's More Common Hard-to-Understand Words:
Rah rah rah - Pacifier
Shah-sheet (or rubs cheek w/back of hand) - Blanket
Shah-sheet - Jacket
Nyoke - Milk
Away - Awake
Heep - Asleep
Hopchop or Hoppy-yop - Jacob
Foo foo Fay - Uncle Jay
Wori - Lori
Taytum - Kirsten (also pumpkin)
Feffrey - Jeffrey
Oh-hee - Oatmeal
Hnah - Snack
All of her words are very deliberate and always repeated exactly the same. She does not normally chatter (except to herself), so if she looks at you and says something, it's something specific you can figure out if you ask her enough questions or make enough guesses.

Jacob's Mobility:
He is rolling all over, so don't leave him on a bed or a couch or a chair. He can take a nosedive off. He is pushing himself backwards on the floor, and just Sunday, really started getting his knees under himself and lifting his belly to crawl backwards. Just make sure when you put him down that Lily (or anyone else) has not left anything small enough for him to choke on lying around, like a hair barette or a piece of a crayon. He can sit "unassisted" on the floor, but put a pillow or something behind him, because he is very fond of throwing himself backwards when he is done sitting.

Diapers:
Diapers and wipes for each kid are in the top drawers of their dressers. Extra diapers are on their closet floors. There is also a small diaper/wipes station in the dining room. It can be restocked from the diapers in their dresser drawers. Lily is a size 4 and Jacob is a size 3, but if it's too difficult to tell which is which, it doesn't really make a difference. As long as she's not in a size 3 overnight, she's good. Dirty diapers go in the guest bath garbage or the kitchen garbage.

Clothes:
PJs are in their dressers. Lily's shoes, jeans, overalls, dresses, onesies, and matched sets are in her closet. Shirts and sweatpants are in her dresser. Socks and tights are in her nighstand. Jacob's onesies, socks, and shirts are in his dresser. Pants, sweaters, overalls, and sleep sacks are in his closet. It's normally too much of a hassle to put shoes on him (not like he's walking), but if you feel like it, his shoes are in the Star Wars backpack in his closet. Good luck fining a pair that fits. We typically put two sleepers on Lily over her onesie when we put her to bed...so it's like she's wearing an undershirt, pjs, and a blanket. We put a long-sleeved sleepsack over whatever Jacob's wearing when we put him to bed (if he's wearing something stiffer like jeans or corduroys, we'll change them for sweats first, so he's more comfortable).

My goodness, I feel like I've written a book! I know this is way more info than necessary, but it's also nice to have it all written down so I can look back someday and see what they were doing at these ages (8 and 25 months).

Pre-Surgery Bloodwork

I had my bloodword done today in preparation for my surgery next Friday. (It's coming so quickly!) The bloodwork will check:

• My liver - it definitely needs to function properly if I'm going to be down a gall bladder


• My blood count - to make sure I'm not anemic, etc.


• My bloodtype - I already know what I am, but I can understand why they'd want to check for themselves

I also had to leave a "sample" so they can check if I'm pregnant. I'm thinking I'm not, but I'm glad they're double checking, because, hey...you never know. Results should be back Friday or Monday, then they need to precertify me with the insurance company, then I'll be 100% covered for the surgery.

Finally - those monthly insurance premiums are going towards something!

We're still not able to get Jacob to take a bottle, and he still throws up every kind of formula we've given him. I only have about 3 or 4 pumped bottles in the freezer (oops...I gotta get on that), and when the time comes, he's just gonna have to take a bottle, whether or not he wants to. He'll eventually get so thirsty he'll have no other choice.

Poor little Mama's boy has no idea what he's in for while Mama's out of comission!

Gall Bladder Update

Had my appointment with the surgeon today. Gall bladder must come out. It will be a laproscopic procedure with four small incisions lasting all of 45 minutes, though it requires general anasthesia so I will be knocked out for the duration. Recovery time will be a week or two, and I'll be on pain killers for at least 3-5 days. SOOO that means I'll have to pump and dump. Very sad, pouring Jacob's precious liquid gold down the drain! That also means lots of pumping beforehand in preparation. Too bad it takes maybe two pumping sessions to get a full bottle. Don't ask me how that works.

Or doesn't work.

Oh, and did I mention that Jacob will no longer take a bottle? Yup, not a one. It's been well over a month (maybe two) since I had the need to give him one. When I tried again just before Christmas, he was like, "What in the world? Get that thing out of my mouth!" Much gagging and hacking ensued. That night was also the last night he ever took a pacifier. Seems like I'm all he wants! Which is a little flattering, but will have to change before I go under the knife. I guess when he gets hungry enough and desperate enough, he'll take a bottle again.

So anyway, the surgeon's office will call me in a few days to schedule the appointment and tell me what I have to do to get ready (for instance, eat a low-fat diet from now until then - haha - and get bloodwork done to verify that my liver is functioning properly). Sounds like my mom and Ryan's mom will come up for a little while afterwards to help take care of the kids while I recouperate, though I'm not really expecting it to be that bad. Can't be as bad as after giving birth. It's not like I'm pushing out a baby.

Just a gall bladder ;)

Photographic Proof, As Promised

Here's an ultrasound of my abdomen with the gall bladder circled:



Apparently, a healthy and stone-free gall bladder should look something like this:



Meaning all those white things circled below? Gall stones:



You can understand why I'd be a LITTLE uncomfortable...

"Congratulations! We're Having Gall Stones!"

The prognosis: Gall stones galore. More than the ultrasound tech wanted to count. I even got a picture to take home with me that I'll scan and post. I felt all proud walking out with my picture. Your gall bladder's empty - mine's full of treasure.

My doctor called after he saw the reading to confirm that yup, it was the stones causing the pain. I left a message for the general surgeon he recommended and we'll take it from there. It's good to know there was a reason for all this and that I wasn't just exagerating.

Which, compared to two natural drug-free births, I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

I Got Issues, People

Yesterday, I had some serious stomach pains. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, just the first time in a while. It started off and on back in July and after a few weeks when it stopped happening, I figured whatever it was had just worked itself out somehow. Not so. The pain is so overwhelming, I said I'd rather be in labor. At least in labor you get a BREAK between contractions and know what in the world is happening.

So Lori came over yesterday to watch the kids (including her two, so the poor girl had FOUR under 2 1/2 - thanks, Lor!) while Ryan left work early to go with me to the doctor. After discussing all my symptoms, he decided to send me for an ultrasound today to have my gall bladder checked for stones or inflamation. If the gall bladder is not the culprit, next I'll have to go see a specialist to check for stomach ulcers.

Not fun stuff. I'm not even sure what to hope for today. Should I hope they find something? Yes, so I finally have some answers, but then no, because that would mean they found something. So please pray for wisdom for the lab techs and the doctors and whomever else ends up checking me out and making decisions. I would really like to have an answer so I can just get this dealt with already.

It's not like this is happening at an inconvenient time of year or that Lily's second birthday party is tomorrow. No, not at all. ;)