I Knew It Was Going To Be A Bad Day When...

It all started when I walked out the front door and discovered that I had left my windows open all night.

For those of you not living on the southeastern Massachusetts coastline, you may not be aware that we are in the middle of a tropical storm and have been since last night.

So yeah, my car was/is soaked.

I went back in, got towels and got the kids into the car and settled.

On the way(about 5 minutes or so away from home) I realized I forgot the bag I was supposed to drop of at my mothers on the way home from my 6 week checkup. I didn't have enough time to turn around with out being late so I decided that I would just come all the way back after, and then head to my mother's office. I wasn't too excited about that given that my mother's office is on my way home so I basically would have driven right by and had to go back again.

Anyway, I got to the doctor's office, "unloaded" the children in what was a terrential downpour, and went into the office. The secretary informed me that Amy was not in, but that Katie, the other midwife would be able to see me if that was ok. It was fine with me.

The kids and I hung in the waiting area for about 10 minutes and the secretary came back out and told me that Katie was still in Sandwich with a patient and would not be in for about another hour. She never told me that Katie wasn't even in the Plymouth office.

There was no way in hell I was going to sit in a doctor's office for an hour with Emily and Katherine(Juilia too but she was sleeping) so I just rescheduled for Friday morning.

Later this afternoon, I have to go out again to take Julia for her weight check at the pediatrician's office. So far, the rain appears to be subsiding and, hopefully, my car is drying out a bit. I will also be making a trip to the bank and to my mother's office to bring that bag by.

Because of this, I am not going to ask the typical, "Could it get any _ _ _ _ _ (you fill in the blanks)" question that I would normally ask in this type of a situation.

I might just jinx myself if I did that.

Life With Your First Child And Beyond

Two things regarding this journal and the pregnancy one have recently occurred to me.

1. I need to change the layout a bit to include a picture of all three of my children(which I am discovering may be near impossible...do you have any idea how hard it is to get three children to look at the camera at once? And I thought two was difficult!).

2. I need to change the name of the other journal from pregnancy to baby. Afterall, I haven't been pregnant for 5 weeks! Well, 5 weeks and three days if you want to get right down to it.

Anyway, below is an article I read in Parenting Magazine that I found humorous(and in some cases, oh so true!).

1st child: Play classical music to soothe your child.

2nd child: Play classical music to soothe yourself.

3rd child: Buy an electric guitar, teach yourself chords from Pearl Jam songs, and drown out sounds of siblings bickering.

1st child: Sleep when baby sleeps.

2nd child: Sleep when the baby sleeps and while the toddler is watching a video.

3rd child: Sleep while nursing, sitting in the minivan at soccer practice as toddler watches videos on the protable DVD player.

1st child: Accept all offers of help from family.

2nd child: Accept all offers of help from family, friends , neighbors, and acquaintances.

3rd child: Offer your spare change jar to anyone on your block who'll take your children so you can go to the bathroom by yourself.

1st child: Establish regular naptime routine with child in crib.

2nd child: Let child nap in the carseat while you're running errands.

3rd child: Move kids to couch or bed only when you notice they've collapsed in exhaustion on the floor.

1st child: Immediately wash and sterilize every single binky, blankie, or stuffed animal that touches the floor.

2nd child: Scrape away obvious dirt and give the item a quick tap-water rinse(or lick) before presenting to child.

3rd child: Dirt? What dirt?

1st child: Potty train by 24 months.

2nd child: Potty train by preschool deadline.

3rd child: Notice that no one has touched the last three packages of pullups and realize that she must have potty trained herself.

1st child: wonder how you could ever love someone this much.

2nd child: Amaze yourself that you're able to love two this much.

3rd child: Worry that you're capable of loving even more kids this much.

Emily Update

                                                         So, we had Emily's followup at Children's Hospital yesterday.

I discussed with the doctor the various concerns I had(her mood/personality change, wetting the bed etc.) and he decided that a medine change would be best. He feels that her wetting at night could in fact be seizures, especially since the bed wetting was never a problem before.

She will be starting her new medicine tomorrow. It is called "Lamictal" and as well as treating seizures, it has been documented to have a positive effect on the mood.

I am a little nervous about the change for the following reason:

The only side effect (or only major one)is a rash, which can in fact be life threatening to someone under the age of 16, as well as someone who is on valporic acid(which is the technical name for her current medication, Depakote).

Because of this, and because she can not just stop the Depakote cold turkey, the new medicine is being introduced gradually, starting at 5 mg for the first week, and increasing to 25 mg over the course of 5 weeks. During this time she will continue with the Depakote and, provided that there are no problems after the 5 week trial run, the Depakote dosage will be reduced and eventually stopped altogether.

I also discussed with him information that recently came to light when discussing Emily's condition with Ryun. He remembered a time when he was younger( about 5 or 6 years old) in which he was having such severe behavior problems that his parents took him to the doctor. It was decided by some means that one part of his brain had not developed as quickly or as fully as the other. He doesn't remember exactly how this diagnosis was reached (what testing they did to determine this) and unfortunately, his pediatrician has absolutely no record of Ryun ever being a patient there. Great.

Anyway, Emily's neurologist told us that a new clinic is being formed between Children's and Beth Israel that will be studying exactly the condition that Emily has. He also said that given how otherwise healthy Emily was given the fact that most people with Emily's condition usually have severe disabilities, the doctors involved in the study would probably take a special interest in her. He also reccomended that Ryun accompany us to her first appointment with docotrs in charge of the new clinic so that they can determine whether or not it may be beneficial for Ryun to have an MRI as well. This could of course establish a genetic connection and possibly shed a little light on Emily's "vague" diagnosis.

So, that is where we stand at this point. We have an appointment set up for the end of September to see how the medicine is working and to determine if this is the right course to take. I should be hearing from the clinic soon to schedule and appointment to meet with them as well.

Thank God

                                                                                  Thank God for health insurance.

Combined total of all medical expenses for Emily, Julia and I for the month of July:

$13,126.80

How much did we have to pay out of pocket?

$140.24

I repeat...thank God for insurance.

Yikes.

Emily Update

Emily's blood work came back fine. One of her liver enzymes was a little elevated but it was apparently nothing to be concerned about.

She has had two more occasions of wetting at night so I will definitely be mentioning this at her follow up at Children's. She has never wet the bed before, even when she was being trained at night so for her to do it four times in a month's time seems to me to be worthy of mentioning.

She has also been experiencing rather dramatic mood swings and basically cries at the drop of a hat. This too has been since she started the medication. Emily has always been a very emotional child, but lately, she has been way over the top.

I am of course glad that the medicine is controlling the seizures but I do feel like these other issues need to be addressed.

I really am not sure what can be done. Maybe there is another medicine we can try? Whatever the outcome, the main thing is of course seizure control and as long as I never have to see that again, I will be happy.

Just In Case

An email I received this morning:

Republican National Convention Schedule: Revised, August 2004

6:00pm - Opening prayer

6:15pm - Supplementary opening prayer

6:30pm - Prayer in thanks of first two prayers

6:45pm - New energy policy presented by Exxon

7:00pm - Canonization of Reagan

7:15pm - Additional prayers

7:30pm - Opening remarks by Halliburton

8:00pm - Prayer for the safety and well-being of Ken "Kenny-boy" Lay

8:15pm - Additional remarks by Halliburton

8:30pm - Stoning of the first homosexual

8:45pm - New healthcare polices presented by HMO leader, Kaiser Permanente

9:00pm - Invasion of Iran or North Korea (TBA)

9:15pm - Halliburton contributes 1.4 billion to Republican party

9:30pm - Reagan elevated to savior, Holy Trinity now referred to as "the quads"

9:45pm - Bush undergoes plastic surgery to look more like Reagan

10:00pm - Cheney runs into Ron Reagan, Jr. Tells him to go fuck himself

10:15pm - Recall of troops from accidental invasion of South Korea

(Bush: "Damn, the SOUTH is our ally. My bad.")

10:30pm - Burning at the stake of 16 year-old Jenny Williams, who had an

illegal abortion after being raped by her cousin

10:45pm - Dancing around the golden calf

11:00pm - Stoning of the partner of the first homosexual

11:15pm - New forestry policy presented by Weyerhaeuser

11:45pm - Thanking God for his wisdom in choosing Bush as president

12:00pm - Closing prayers (lasting until 2:00am)

2:00 am - Hookers arrive for all delegates

C'mon, even you Republican readers have to see the humor in this.

Overcoming Fears of the Third

I went on my first official outing with all three children today, and, I admit, I am somewhat suprised at how well it went.

Emily had to have her blood drawn today(to check her medicine levels and liver functions) so we went to the lab in Middleboro for that. She did well...heck she's an old pro by now.

After that, we took a drive over to Carver to pop in and say hi to Mimi at work. All three girls were good(one slept, bet you can't guess who) and the other two were happy to visit and get a candy bar from their grandmother.

On the way back home, we went to the bank to deposit two unemployment checks and finally, we went home.

I have no idea why, but I had visions of three screaming children running though my mind.

Now, the only thing I have left to do in order to get past all fears that have come with having a third, is get through the beginning of school and all of Emily's extra curricular activities. Again, visions of screaming uncooperative children.

I don't know exactly why I was/am nervous about these things. My children have generally been well behaved in public and at home. I guess it's just a "mom thing."

Great View

Some of you may remember that my parents took Emily and Katherine to Disney World the week after Julia was born. They had a fabulous time and although I was/am sad that I missed their first trip there, I am so glad they were able to go.

I spent the week at my parents house with Ryun and Julia of course so that I could take care of my mother's flowers and the pool. It was also convenient because my mother's neighbor(sort of like a second mother to me) was right next door should I need anything.

Anyway, we went over to my parents house last night and watched the video from the trip. It was good to see ho much fun they had but it made me a little sad too.

My father relayed this story to me as we were watching the video. This is just so "Emily".

At some point they were walking by a statue of Walt Disney.

Emily: "Did Walt ever get to see Disney World?"

Papa: "No, he died before it was finished."

Emily: "Oh, thats sad."

Papa: "Yeah, it is."

Emily: "Well, he's got a great view now."