The Journey Continues-

Wednesday I got up and my Mom and I spent part of the day running some errands that she needed to get to. It was good for us to get out of the house again and try and focus on some other things. My sister was taking care of Little Monkette and my Mom had talked to her about how it was going. She might have gotten more than she bargained for but she was doing well. We decided to have Amy come over to Mom and Dad’s house with Little Monkette so that they could help out with taking care of her and I could see her. I was fine with it at first but the more we talked about it, the more anxious I got about her being there. I still decided to have them come on, knowing that if it wasn’t working out, we could have them go back home.

It was nice to see her and have her be around. I didn’t have to do anything and on Wednesday, I didn’t. I didn’t hold her, feed her, anything. I just wasn’t ready to. I was just glad to see her and know that she was being cared for. My family has done a great job of making me feel as comfortable as possible with the situation while trying to ease me back into things. Wednesday I took some medication to go to sleep again and Amy and my Mom took care of Little Monkette.

Thursday I woke up and got my stuff together. Big Monkey came over from our house and picked me up. Amy was going to stay with Little Monkette. We dropped Roland off at a friends’ house and headed over to Uncle K and Aunt S’s house for a family taco lunch. Little Monkey was there waiting for us. He was excited to see us but also just as happy to watch his movie while we ate lunch. After lunch we headed to our hotel to check in and get ready for rehearsal. We also met up with Big Monkey’s Dad at the hotel. Big Monkey and I headed over to rehearsal and met up with everyone. Little Monkey was there too. He was too cute practicing walking down the aisle. Hopefully he will do as well on Sunday. Many people were asking about Little Monkette since they haven’t met her yet but we did not have her with us. I told them that we might bring her to the wedding on Sunday for a little bit so they can see her and meet her at least. It was a little tough to be at rehearsal with people asking about her because they were all congratulating us on her birth and asking if we were doing well and such. Of course we (me at least) are not doing so well, at least not as well as everyone seems to think that I should be doing. Also, one of the wedding coordinators was there and she had her son just two days before Little Monkette was born. Her son just slept the whole time but of course everyone wanted to check him out. I didn’t go check him out or anything; it was more than I wanted to focus on at the moment. After practice we went out for the rehearsal dinner at Delano’s. It was a nice place and we had a good meal.

After we finished dinner, Big Monkey and I decided to go back to my Mom and Dad’s house for a little bit to see Little Monkette. While we were there I decided that I wanted to hold her, so I took her from Amy and held her for a bit. I even changed and fed her. It did not feel natural or normal still, but I am glad that I did it. I feel like there is a bit of disassociation between her and I. Almost as if she is not my child, even though I am fully aware that she is. I know this is part of my journey with the postpartum depression and there will be a light at the end of the tunnel but right now it is still hard. After we hung out for a bit, Big Monkey and I went to the hotel for the night. It was odd to be there with no kids but it was also nice to be close by but away. This week has been a tough week and we are just taking it day by day.

How She Got Here-

At my doctor’s appointment at 37.5 weeks, the doctor told me that she expected to see the baby within the week. Of course, that did not happen. I was quite frustrated because I was more than ready to get her out! I made it to my 38 week appointment and had only dilated a little bit more. That doctor told me that he thought that I had a 50/50 chance of making it to my 39 week appointment. And wouldn’t you know it…I made it to my 39 week appointment. After trying to stimulate labor with the stripping of my membranes and doing lots of walking, the contractions stopped. And nothing happened on Thursday or Friday.

Friday afternoon my phone rang and it was a call from my doctor’s office. I was surprised that they were calling me because my next appointment wasn’t until Wednesday. On the phone was my doctor herself! She was wondering what was going on and why I hadn’t already delivered! She thought for sure that I would have been in the hospital on Wednesday night having a baby. She told me that she was on call for the weekend and she wanted me to come down to the hospital and get checked out. She said there was no promises of me being able to stay but that if I was at least five centimeters dilated I could stay and we’d have the baby. I was a little leery to pack everybody up and get Little Monkey and Roland to my sister and then us end up being sent back home.

We decided that we would take the chance and I started running around the house getting everyone packed up. Big Monkey was up at a friend’s house in our neighborhood, so I called him and let him know what was going on. He suggested I go on a walk before we headed down to the hospital in hopes that we could get some contractions going. My sister came and got Little Monkey and Roland and I took a walk around our neighborhood. I ended up at the top of the hill where Big Monkey was. He was nice enough to drive me back home. I finished packing and we both were able to take showers and head to the hospital. We stopped for some dinner (we learned this last time…eat before you go!) and then headed for the hospital.

Where Are We?

As you can see, I haven’t posted for a few days. Needless to say that things are a little hectic and different around here. We are just trying to find our new way of life. I have been working on writing the story of what happened during Little Monkette’s birth, but it is hard to find the time to sit and type it all out. I will try and start posting it in sections so that at least you get something and it won’t be too much to read all in one sitting.

We are working on getting things figured out as to how things work with our new family of four. Yesterday we took Little Monkette to the Doctor for her checkup. She looks great and so far is doing very well. We still await the results of her PKU test though. Hopefully we will know before the end of the week.

Medical Updates Take Two!

This is actually try number three to get this post written, saved and published!!! This is crazy!

This post is to give you medical updates on both Little Monkey and Little Monkette.

Last week we got Little Monkey’s lab results back from his most recent trip to the doctor. His phe level was 6.0 (This is on the high end of the acceptable range for our clinic.). Last time his level was 6.1. The dietitian decided to reduced Little Monkey’s daily phe intake just a bit. They figure if his phe intake is that high when he is fasting for the blood test, it is likely even higher during the day when he is eating. Hopefully this change will make a difference and bring his levels back down where they have been before. Little Monkey doesn’t have to go back in until December. (If Little Monkette also has PKU, we will be visiting them again much sooner…we will have to wait and see to find out if she does.)

Earlier today I went in for my weekly check on Little Monkette. The doctor was happy that I have made it to full term; I am 37 weeks and 2 days. I did not gain any weight this week. I did dilate a little bit more though. We are now at 3 centimeters dilated and still 70% effaced. I am measuring about a week to a week and a half behind so the doctor is sending me for an ultrasound to check her size. The doctor didn’t seem too concerned that she may be small as Little Monkey was small and I am small. She may just be slowing her growth because she is running out of room. The doctor still wants to get a look at her though just to make sure that she is on track, but just small. I will be going on Friday for the ultrasound, so hopefully we will know her approximate size then. The doctor said that she expects to see Little Monkette within the week! OH MY! Time to get ready… Well I think we are mostly ready already but I do need to pack my hospital bag and probably a bag for Little Monkey. I also need to wrap Little Monkey’s gift from Little Monkette that he will get from her when he comes to meet her. Today Little Monkette’s car seat arrived; I think that is the last item we actually HAD to have to get her home from the hospital!

Medical Updates

I just wrote a post on this….and when I hit publish…..the entire thing disappeared….it will show up again, once I rewrite it. Sorry….come back in a bit and it should be here!

Golf For A Cause

A couple weekends ago, Big Monkey went down to south Florida with his Dad (Grandpa) to play golf in the PKU Golf Tournament. The event is to raise money for PKU Research. This is the second year that Grandpa has gone to the tournament. This year he also had two other buddies go with him. They all met down in south Florida on Friday and played a practice round of golf. Then they went to a social hour and out for dinner.

On Saturday, they played in the tournament. Big Monkey said there was a decent turn out and they had fun. They did not win any of the big prizes or door prizes, but Big Monkey did get a “PKU Swag bag.” Inside the bag was a coupon for one food company and a gift certificate for another. There was also a box of cereal, mac and cheese, water bottle, banana muffin mix, blueberry muffin mix and vegetable masala meal. When Big Monkey brought the bag home, Little Monkey was SO excited that all of this stuff was for him! He has since tried the vegetable masala and at first said it was good but then we had to fight a bit to get him to finish it. I am excited for him to test out some of the other foods that he hasn’t had before.

The PKU Swag Bag! All for Little Monkey!

The golfers also got golf “swag bags” but I didn’t take a picture. It included a golf magazine, two tshirts, divot repair thingys, coupons and some golf balls. If there was anything else in there, I’m not sure but that’s all I remember.

A New PKU Food Recipe

This week, Amy and I worked on PKU-friendly cake balls. It was Amy’s idea and we are using the recipe to enter a PKU Food Recipe contest. Check out this post on Amy’s blog to see the details of making PKU-friendly cake balls. (She also has a link on there to regular cake balls if you want to make them for your non-pku friends/family.)

Yum! Three different flavors!

He’s Growing

Little Monkey had his three month check up with the geneticist yesterday. He had a good appointment and the Doctor is happy with his growth. He is now three feet tall (barely) and a whopping 28 pounds. The Doctor said we are doing a good job and to keep up the good work. As long as these labs results come back good, we will not go back until the end of August! They took extra blood this time, to do his yearly lab tests also. This will check his iron level (he is on a supplement), as well as a bunch of other stuff.

When the nurse came in, Little Monkey recognized her right away, as usual, but he talked to her some. Just before they were going to have him go to the table for his blood draw, he became VERY clingy and made me pick him up. He asked me to help him with his arm. (I think he wanted me to give them blood instead of him, but of course it doesn’t work that way.) He teared up but I told him I would stay right there. I put him on the table and he cried and cried big alligator tears. He calmed down and they got ready to do the needle stick. Once they started, he didn’t move or cry at all. Such a big kid! He even got a special car bandage to cover up his battle wound. (We bring special band-aids with us. Seemed to help before so we just keep doing it. Then he is so excited to show off his cool bandage to anyone who will look.)

Formula Drama

In January, we were getting low on Little Monkey’s formula and we let his dietician know that we needed to order more from the state pharmacy. She placed the order and not too long after we received half of the order via overnight delivery. The other half of the order…never showed. She tried to get it delivered but got nowhere with the state. After trying for awhile, she gave up and ordered a brand new full order. We all figured that this would solve the problem but boy were we wrong.

It is now March and we will run out of formula today! (This is after being given two cans when we were at the Dr.’s office two weeks ago. We are supposed to be receiving our order today, via overnight delivery. After multiple phone calls and emails, our dietitian finally spoke to someone at the state pharmacy on Tuesday who claimed that they never got the original order. (How is it possible that just now you realized that? All those other phone calls and emails….??? Did you just ignore them? I need this guy’s job. I’m sure I could do it at least as well as he is.) Our dietitian refaxed the order AGAIN and the guy promised that they would be overnighting it to us. So I hope today that I will get some boxes of formula. If for some odd reason it does not show up, it looks like we’ll be heading to Orlando to pick up the very last can that the Dr.’s office has. And that can will only give the state an extra 2.5 days to get the formula to us.

I guess I should be grateful that we haven’t even had issues before with getting our formula in a timely manner but this has been going on for two months!

Rock Band Party

Yesterday we had family over for Little Monkey’s birthday. He had asked for a Rock Band Party, so that is what he got.

Our families came over (except for Uncle K and Aunt S-they were on vacation) and we hung out. We played outside for awhile and enjoyed the great weather. Then we grilled out and had burgers for dinner. Little Monkey opened his gifts and got lots of great things. One of the favorite items…of his and also J’s was the bubble maker! I think J might have been more into the bubble maker than Little Monkey!

After dinner and gifts, we had cookie cake. Amy had made a special guitar cookie for Little Monkey and we made a drum set of cookies for others to eat. Everyone did try Little Monkey’s cookies as well and everyone decided that they really were quite tasty. Little Monkey only decided to eat one big cookie and he picked out the one that had held his candles. He was very excited about his candles and seemed surprised that he managed to blow them all out at once! When everyone sang Happy Birthday to him, he even sang along. It was very cute.

The Drumset Cookies

After everyone had cookies, we did end up playing Rock Band to finish off the night. Little Monkey played his air guitar and was ROCKIN out! He loved it. He was bummed when the band failed and would say, oh man! We failed! He was a great sport and kept trying to play his air guitar. He said he had a fun time and enjoyed his party.

Little Monkey Rockin out!

Overall, I think Little Monkey had a great time and so did his guests.