Day 7 and hoo boy am I tired

Madi worked with the PT and OT today. Everyone is pretty happy with the progress she's making - as it's related to walking and climbing.

She still holds back in social situations.

Ugh. I must have a sinus infection. My head is killing me. Sigh.

Day 6

I apologize up front for any typos - mama's halfway through her moscato!

Madi really paid attention to her surroundings as we went through school to her classroom. The teacher said that Madi's been paying a lot more attention to pictures during story time. yay! She's being drawn out into the world. :)

They played in the "rice" box today. It's filled with uncooked rice and beans. Madi, of course, flung fistfuls of both over her shoulders. It's okay, Miss Janice has a cordless vacuum cleaner. :)

I didn't really get a chance to nap today - maybe 15 minutes? Between, Lily and the cats.... phew I really don't know what to do about Madi. Pedro and I keep on switching off so neither one of us is too tired. :/ It doesn't mean we feel great, just that we can struggle through our days.

SIGH

It is great seeing Madi progress. I just can't wait for more!

Oh and Lily found some of Madi's "art" projects. I held my breath because I was sure a meltdown was imminent but she asked me if Madi made them for her and I smoothly lied and said "yes". So all was well.

Lily starts school in 2 weeks. Can't wait!

Day 5

Madi was good today. All the boys were crying off and on but Madi was the rock of good-naturedness. :) I'm starting to think about her lunch now, when I make dinner, so she got leftover pasta for lunch and she LOVED it! She didn't even throw much of it. :)

We were playing with her last night and she did a move I'd never seen. Slapped one hand against another and then slid it. I told her teacher and she said it sounded like Madi was trying to do the sign for stop. Lily and I did kind of come up on her fast. So how awesome is that?

They let me know that this week the therapists have been taking it easy with them but next week the kids will be worked hard. Oh boy.

Madi crashed again on the way home and since she kept us up half the night....

The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers

Well, I'm off to put some nail polish on Miss Lily's toes. Wish me luck - I've had a big glass of Moscato. wheee!

Day 4

I don't have to do things in order if I don't want to.

Wow, I reminded myself of someone....

This morning, Madi cried when I left. The TA said that the honeymoon is over. She's starting to realize that this is an everyday thing. Also, another little boy in her class always cries when his mommy leaves so.... They teach each other all their bad habits. :)

Madi's area at the lunch table looked like a tornado went through it. They used a new chair for her, one that forced her upright and held her more in position and she was ticked off at them for that. *snort* So she took it out on the carpet. :)

They do say she's a character. Miss Janice tells her to do something and Madi screws up her face like, I don't think so. The PT was there working with her again today. She's getting such great care. :)

They told me she says "ow" now whether she falls down or not. lol!

It's still a learning process for me. I know not to leave ANYTHING for the next morning. I make sure her bag has everything in it - except for her lunch box because the perishables are packed up but in the fridge. WHEW And soon, I'll be making snacks for Lily too! GAH

First Day

Apparently, Madi wasn't all that enthused about the hand painting as the TA almost got a hand print on her face. Madi might be small but she's scrappy. :)

Day 3

... of school and Madi really seems to be taking to it. She's there from 8:30 til 12:30. We might add in a nap later, we might not. I mean, once Lily is going to school it won't really make sense to have to drive out again later in the afternoon to get Madi.

hahahahahaha I told Lily that I would protect her piece of chocolate cake for her. WHAT. A. FACE. She must know me well or something.

Let's see, today Madi got blueberries with her lunch and proceeded to throw them everywhere. When I came to get her the TA was sitting right next to her with her hands up, ready to catch blueberries. *snort*

She does well in circle time, as long as the teacher doesn't stop singing. We've noticed that she's vocalizing a lot more. Not words but different sounds and intonations. It sounds like she's trying to talk. Sorta.

I've been working on the back deck, trying to make it more of a peaceful oasis for me. When it's cool enough, Lily and I light the citronella candles and sit outside. Me with a big glass of wine.

I'll be honest - it's been a lot easier without Madi in the mornings. I know she's getting great care and she seems to like it. She's not grouchy or crazy. The only thing is that she doesn't sleep like anyone thought she would. Yesterday, she had one 20 minute nap and that was it until 10pm. I'm keeping her up later because we had that awful night when she went to bed at 9. She just doesn't need that much sleep!

And I need to take a pic of Madi's first day at the school photo. The teacher and the TA made them. It's so cute!

Big Day

So some of you already got the news...

The Genetics department, after 2 months, finally called me with the results of Madi's test. She has a minor deletion on Chromosome 5. It's an area associated with Cris du Chat, or cry of the cat because of the noise they make as babies.

Now.

She has a very small piece missing so she does not have CdC but it explains her learning delays. And her small head. And her low muscle tone. But CdC can be quite severe, and a major chunk of Chromosome 5 needs to be missing. So phew.

She will not have any physical problems due to abnormalities, no heart defects, etc. So phew.

It kind of caught me off guard because all of the specialists were pretty sure there was no genetic anomaly.

hmpf

Anyway, she's already started school. ECSE Early childhood special education? She works with an OT, PT and a speech therapist. Pedro and I have noticed her making more vocalizations already.

I spoke with Madi's doc, who is wonderful, and she said I'm already doing all I can. She's in a great program and time will tell where her delays lie. or lay. I never get that right.

Yay!

Wow I'm tired so please excuse any really bad typos. Funny ones are okay.

So we finally met with Madi's teacher yesterday. The meeting was changed two times and I was wondering if we were ever going to get in there. She's still eligible for school and she starts on Monday. I have a lot of stuff to get her. Due to their ages, the school is very fluid on how much of the day they're there. I think most kids are gone by lunch time. But we'll see what happens. It's fine for this month, but next month I'll have to coordinate with when I pick up Lily!

Gah!

Speaking of Lily, she was the best yesterday. I told her what we were doing and that I needed her to be on her best behavior. I also brought my iPod so she could play games but still. :) She was great. She helped me, sat quietly and was just a really good girl for an hour and a half! I was so proud of her. :)

I'm trying to think of what else is going on... Lily seems like she's over her virus although her throat still looks all lumpy. I really hope Madi doesn't get it but I caught her drinking out of Lily's sippy cup last night so... We'll see what happens. The doc did say that Lily's extremely contagious. I guess that's what you get with viral strep throat thingies. :(

I guess that's it. I'll need to buy back to school stuff for Madi this weekend. Wheeeee!

Excited

I know that I need to start gearing up for the pre-school year. It's almost a school year! :) Next month, hopefully, Madi will be starting school. I'll need to keep track of all the things that I need for Lily's pre-school. Or is it preschool? That always looks wrong to me. Oh well.

There are meet and greet nights, parents' nights. squeel! I have found that taking care of two little kids is very hard work. Babies are like the easy peasy part. It's when they start walking and getting into your makeup or cleaning supplies (looking at Lily who had to scrub the shower clean last night) that things get really interesting.

Lily and I slept together last night and I hugged her and thought of how soon it will be that she'll be a woman grown and probably no longer have the time for me.

So I whispered, "I love you." And I heard a little, "I love you too."

:)

But I think my point was, yay school! LOL

Better

So I'm starting to feel more like myself. I didn't know how long it would take to get over surgery. A week? A day? I mean, some people make such a big deal out of it. Most days I have at least one moment where I HAVE to sit down. I don't think I had that yesterday. But I've been trying to nap every day. This involves me waiting for Madi to sleep, then grabbing her and going over the rules with Lily:

#1 No leaving the house.
#2 Don't let anyone in.

New rule:

#3 Don't start any fires.

I always feel nervous leaving Lily unattended but when momma needs a nap, she needs a nap! Usually Lily joins us about halfway through. :)

And this just about killed me:

Lily, to the Pest Control Guy: "Will the ants eat me?"

PCG: "Would you eat an elephant? To the ants, you're like an elephant." He goes outside.

Lily, laughing: "That guy's crazy! He thinks I'm an elephant! hahahahahaha"

Oh boy.

Wow

I'm still tuckered out. I guess I thought I'd be doing a lot better by now. I still need to take painkillers, though way less than when I first got home. And everyday, I find that I have a period where I just need to sit.

I'm not good at sitting. I mean, I'm good at sitting, but not the kind of sitting where you can't get up. I'm trying to figure out if that makes sense.

Blame the vicodin.

Anyhoo, life goes on. I'm still glad that everything worked out with the surgery: that whole day was one fluke to another. :) I'm so glad that my doctor sent me straight to the hospital. I mean, he looked really thoughtful about it, like maybe he wasn't sure and being cautious was the better way to go.

When I got there they said I was the third appendix person to show up in an hour. wheee doggies! It still cracks me up that I was in high heel wedge shoes. I didn't know I'd be going to the hospital. So that's what I had to prance around in, in the emergency room. lol

Ah well.

In other news, I'm really looking forward to the next time we go to Yorktown. G-ma has said she'll make soap with me! Pedro has some skin issues and can't use regular soap, like Dial, etc. He can only use the $5 a bar french-milled soaps. Needless to say, we can't afford his soap requirements. Sarah's soaps are free of all the yucky additives and Pedro doesn't have any reactions to them. So... we'll have some soap and I'll get an idea if it's something I want to do on my own. I know it's not super expensive to make soap but I want to get an idea of the equipment that I'll need.

Anyway, it's almost noon and the big dawg needs to get up. Wish me luck....

So....

Where to begin? So I got my appendix out. It was kind of all a fluke and went very smoothly.

Let's see... Monday night, I ate my dinner (grilled steak, mashed potatoes, peas) and I felt fine. Then I had some grilled turkey tenderloin and I hurt. I thought, well that serves me right for overeating. I had stuff to do and I kept on doing it, the pain wasn't THAT bad. Cleaned the sofas and the bathrooms, etc.

It was hard to fall asleep that night, I was uncomfortable. But it wasn't until 2:30am that I really started to hurt. I took some Advil and waited for that to kick in. Then I took one old Tylenol 3. Waited for THAT to work. Then I took another T3 and that finally worked, phew.

I've had a few gastrointestinal issues before so I was pretty sure it wasn't gastritis or gas pains. Those are sharp, stabbing pains that come and go. This was a chronic constant barrage of pain. I thought it might be my gallbladder since the pain was in the middle of my abdomen.

Sigh.

So we have an appointment with an OT for Madi who immediately tells me how awful I look. I know, I know.

I make an noon appointment with my doc. We talk a little and he starts pushing on my belly. The pushing was painful but it was the sudden release that made me want to scream. He steps back and looks really thoughtful and says "You need to go straight to the hospital". Now I've known Dr Peter for a few years and he's not the melodramatic type. So that shook me.

So we do go straight there. Not knowing I had a hospital visit in my future I was wearing a short skirt and hoochie mama heels. What? I couldn't get a hold of Pedro so I had to call a coworker and she was kind enough to find him for me.

We met at the hospital and Lily was crying and complaining about her appendix. Good grief.

I go in the emergency department and everyone's very nice but kind of not really believing my appendix story. Hey, I didn't want it to be my appendix either. But I drink that juice thing that makes your belly light up for the CAT scan as fast as I could and that was pretty fast because I'd only had a teeny fiber brownie for breakfast. I pretended it was a smoothie.

My blood work looked good, my white blood cells were only slightly above normal. They offered me morphine, which I declined. You know, I just wasn't looking like someone who was going to need surgery.

Then I get my CAT scan and that goes well. I think someone told me that it could take an hour to get results. Well, I barely had my butt in bed (ha, no pun intended) and the emergency doc comes over and says the radiology department had just called and I was going to be having surgery. I definitely had appendicitis.

C.R.A.P.

The surgeon showed up soon afterwards (amazing, I know) and she told me what she was going to do and that an OR had opened up and because I was an emergency, she bumped me into the slot. So everything was like, bam bam bam. Just all going so quickly and smoothly. I think it was 30 minutes after that conversation that I was out and undergoing surgery.

I mean, really. It was amazing.

I think the worst part was the antithetic. My throat still hurts today from the breathing tube even though my cuts look better. I had laproscopic? surgery. And the cuts were exactly where Dr Trahan said they'd be. I really liked her.

I also feel lucky because I liked just about everyone that looked after me.

Anyway, because I had that small breakfast, I was able to go into surgery immediately, you know? It was all such a fluke.

I also bitched and moaned about being hungry. I didn't beg for food or anything, it was just a constant complaint. I knew I couldn't eat until after surgery and man, did I feel like a hoagie. I never crave them but I did on Tuesday.

So I'm in hell. I mean the recovery room and I'm getting hungry again. It took forever to get my head together but I think I started asking when I was getting food. LOL! I was going to make a trip down to the cafeteria on my own if dinner was over. Really.

Waiting for me in my room was a cup of hot chicken soup. OMG Nothing had every looked or smelled so good. My nurse observed, slightly intimidated, the way I annihilated my soup and came back with....

A HOAGIE!!!!!!!

omg I must've had some seriously good karma saved up! Pedro and the girls showed up at this point and I warned them that I was not sharing. I was still slightly nauseous and it took me an hour to eat the whole sandwhich but my belly felt SO good for it. :)

And that's it, I guess. G-ma was able to come up yesterday to watch the girls so I could get some sleep and sleep I did. whew At the hospital, I had compression thingies on my legs and they checked my vitals every so often and if I bent my left elbow then the IV stopped and an alarm went off. So I didn't get to sleep all that much...

But I feel better today and wow, for an emergency, things went better than could be expected. Thanks everyone for your well wishes. I just need to have a goodbye party for my appendix and I can wrap it up. :)

Epilogue:

The surgeon told me that one end of my appendix was fine and the other was funky.

The cuts she made were just below the bikini line where she said she was going to make them.

Yay!

Yay!

I logged in and it actually worked. So, not a lot to report this week, which I guess is good. I got Lily's preschool application off and they just called to let me know that they got it. I'll be meeting with the school in a few weeks to make sure that Madi is still eligible for their program. Still haven't seen the genetics testing results. phew But still things are sort of evening out again.




Pedro's been sleeping more with Madi. Too bad I haven't been sleeping well. argh Lily either wakes me up in the middle of the night or it takes me hours to fall asleep. Sigh. I do worry about Madi. I found the results from her last doctor's visit and she's fallen from the 40% for height down to 11%. Now, I know trying to measure a wiggly baby isn't an exact science but that's still worrying. We go back next month for another height/weight check.

I did bring up a growth hormone deficiency. Just throwing around ideas. I mean, 3 out of the 4 of us in this house are above average height and weight. Lily just because she's such a big kid.

I am still so glad to see her walking. She can bend over and pick things up and not fall down. Usually. :) And yes, she's my snuggle bear. Be careful what you wish for: I wanted a snuggly baby. :)

Good Times (mostly)

We went down to Busch Gardens over the weekend. I won't advertise that stuff until after the fact. I know it might be... I can't think of the word but just in case someone sees something on here or on Facebook. I don't need to let everyone know that we're not going to be here. You know? I did tell one neighbour but she's a good egg.

Anyway, so I dumped all the photos off of my phone and this included pics from my old phone. The one of Madi in the pink hat just cracks me up. She reminds me of that sidekick guy in the old western movies. Can't think of his name...

So I think we did pretty well at Busch Gardens. Pedro had issues with waiting for everyone and it looked like he was about to pass out from heat stroke but we made it. We didn't go on a lot of rides on Saturday. I got to go on more rides on Sunday. Also, this was pretty much Madilyn's level of happiness all weekend. I tried to get her out of the stroller a little bit to cool off.



This was Lily's first ride ever. :) And she chose the super sparkly hat. Which you might not be able to tell is sparkly from the picture. Sigh. So anyway, I have a year's pass so we'll likely be going back a few more times this year.

This was the best pic of Lily and Pedro. I'd get to one end of the ride just as they went to the other end. argh But it looks like they had fun. Madi was obviously too small for most of the rides. I think next time, I'll make sure that I have their bathing suits and Madi can crawl and play around the water park. I'll need to bring something for me to wear as well. :/







I think you can tell by all the water around the pool that they weren't just sitting there nicely. :p It was nice to sit there with g-ma and Aunt Maria just watching the girls. (while all the guys napped) Oh and just one more thing....










FUNNEL CAKE!!!