Friday, June 27, 2008
Throat clearing
I think he has thrush and I have yeast and that is what the remnants of pain are when I breastfeed. So now I have to use Canesten which is easy, along with the triple nipple cream cooler doula mentioned in my comments a wee while back.
Hard part is the purple colored gentian violet for his tongue and mouth, which looks horrible and makes my nipples look like headlights, which I hate, hate hate. And then awful women come up to me and say stupid things like, "You know, you aren't supposed to feed your baby candy!"
That's right lady, candy and cigarettes, breakfast of champions for infants at my house.
On the bright side he has been sleeping five straight hours in a row every night since I last posted that I was in hell.
Let me guess, he is trying to lull me into a false sense of sanity---Sneaky little bugger, eh?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Ab update
I have an abdominus recti? After 6 pregnancies that lasted longer than 10 weeks, my abs have decided to separate and maybe get a divorce. They don't like everything I've been through and are protesting heavily.
Apparently when you get a crash c-section on top of separated abs it hurts like a mofo when healing.
And if you keep lifting things and not resting like me...it gets worse. I may have strained them more. So now I am not allowed to lift anything and I have to rest for another 4 weeks and then I go to physio. If that doesn't work I'll need surgery to fix it but since I'd rather die than get cut open again I'm hoping exercise and physio work. Any hopeful stories or assvice greatly welcomed? Anything I should or should not do?
Still tired but it's getting better. I'm letting boo sleep in the carseat which doesn't help the reflux but seems to make him happy, so why not?
Also I broke out the baby tylenol at 1:00 am last night for him and some pinot grigio for me. It was either make him sleep that way or run screaming into the street. I mean, it's not like the stuff is heroin right? And hey he slept for 5 wonderful painfree hours!!!!! And so did I.
Still a bit nutty, but I may see my shrink and work on that. Or I may just take some more naps....and give him some more tylenol the next time he mixes up day and night.
Yawn
P.S. Am worried about Antigone at http://antigonelost.blogspot.com . I keep checking her blog hoping she is okay and hoping her husband hasn't hurt her or the baby. If any of you hear from her by email let the rest of us know, K?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Broken Me
Julius will not stop screaming all night and of course looking angelic during the day, so my pediatrician thinks there is nothing wrong with him and won't give me medication for his reflux.
She says he might just have a floppy uvula and we should just wait and see. But I can't bear to wait. I am too tired and this is getting depressing.
She thinks I am getting PPD and she may be right. My husband is not exactly helpful, he thinks that if I just get through the next few weeks I'll be fine just like last time. (I was not fine last time I just didn't talk with him about it after awhile.) He is sympathetic but he thinks its one of those things where I just need to buck up or go for a walk or pull myself up by my bootstraps or something.
I am seeing my ob tomorrow about the pain in my abdomen. I am trying to eat and sleep and have a shower and keep myself together everyday, but it's very very hard.
I am a failure.
I worked so hard for this, I wanted it so badly and now I'm not even enjoying my baby.
I know that some of you without a baby at all are looking at this post and wanting to slap me for being ungrateful, but this is not what I planned and trust me you don't want to feel this way. I am grateful he exists, I just thought I would be a better mother when I got it.
I thought I had bootstraps. I guess I don't.
Some of you do. You go back to work. You have csections and can walk and you seem to be okay. Some of you do it all and blog about it, and I can barely get off the couch without a fulltime nanny. I don't understand. How do you do it?
I feel like shit.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Super Baby
I'm still utterly exhausted and making less sense than ever before, poor Lisa B came by my house for a visit and I think that I made absolutely no sense at all, blathering on about ummm, damn I can't even remember what?
Some strange person, maybe my husband suggested we let the boys stay home and hang out for a few weeks before we decide what we were going to do for summer camp. And the previous week they had spent at school doing not very much except having parties and performing at their end of school concert so they are now bored. And since I had to attend all of these events, I'm exhausted.
Bored children + tired mother equals kids who bicker endlessly about absolutely nothing while mother pulls hair out.
Plus it's all been very emotional here, what with Kaz going to his welcome day at his new school, and trying on uniforms, and although I know that he is still my baby, and he isn't going anywhere really-----I'm having a heart attack here people!!!!!
My baby is going to high school. This is NOT good. Next thing you know he'll be wanting to pick out his own clothes, and feed himself, and then----move out and leave me forever!!!! Some horrible woman will take him away and marry him I'll bet. Grrrrrrrrr....
As we speak he is holding onto baby Julius and playing "Super Baby" basically where Julius gets held horizontally face down, and zoomed around the house. His secret identity is maintained by a soother, sort of like Clark Kent's was maintained by those glasses. I'm laughing and crying simultaneously.
Yes, I am hOrMoNal.
Why do you ask?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
baby breaths
So off to the pediatrician I go, ever so stupidly on the same day as last week and I get the same idiot replacement temp ped, instead of the good pediatrician we usually get. Our main one, is very nice and knows that I am pretty medically minded and don't just walk in over nothing, and don't show up asking for antibiotics on the first day of a cold. But this replacement one? A total goof, she regularly offends me by refusing to refill Kaz's ADD medication script. She keeps asking if he really needs it and if we should try something else like maybe we should stop giving him coca-cola....because of course, bad parenting is the cause of ADD in her small mind. *eyeroll*
And so she listened to Julius' chest and dismissed my concerns and refused to give us anything, like puffers, or cold medication, or even check him for reflux. She thinks he has a stuffy nose, except that he doesn't. At all.
She says it could not be reflux, even though he had loads of tubes shoved down his throat when he was being resuscitated, so that awful sound in his bronchial tubes could be milk coming back up and getting stuck in his throat, choking him.
Hell, it could be lots of things...but to her, why check it out, why even help, when she can talk down to me instead? New moms are all stupid idiots right? Even ones who have much older kids and can diagnose a cold vs. croup vs. bronchiolitis is no time flat.
So from now I have to see my regular ped only which is going to be a problem because over the summer, you guessed it, she takes extensive VACATIONS.
Someday when I am in charge of the universe, things will be different.....
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sleepless in babyworld
And then when your basement floods three days in a row and you and your husband have to mop and bale out the place continuously that sucks.
Then you run out of diapers and wipes and food and your husband has to work all day so he can't rest and your older kids keep waking you up and you really know life sucks.
But when some jerk decides to stick a nail in your husbands car tire and he has to spend all of Father's Day and most of the next getting the car fixed instead of relaxing and enjoying his day?
That's just craptastically crappy.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
slammed-one handed typing
nicole at just crazy enough to try had her baby, a little girl! yayyyyyy Her blog feed did not send the news to my bloglines so i didn't know for a few days. go say congrats.
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my bil P has returned to europe secretly after we advised him not to just yet. he has no support network or doctors or family over there and as we predicted things are going very very badly. he can't see his kids until he is stable and since he is acting well---manic? psychotic? he will likely not see them for awhile except from a distance mandated by a court. his emails and phone calls to them are sometimes normal and sometimes terrifying.
we think he missed his meds as soon as he left the hospital and got confused and started self-medicating again. worst part is that the whole family is fighting over him and whether or not he's okay. some people think he's sane but 'misunderstood', others think he is batshit crazy. all i know is that he is writing some unreal stuff in his emails about our family and anyone else who thinks he is still unwell. apparently we are the crazy ones, and have committed numerous criminal and immoral acts while engaged in a vast conspiracy against him. he seems to cast himself as the white knight in all these tales, rescuing me and my poor children among others from my evil husband.
paranoid and out of touch with reality perhaps?
sigh...we keep wondering if we'll get a call that he has been found dead somewhere. it all makes me want to cry.
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As for immediate concerns, I am overwhelmed with dirty diapers, and breastfeeding and we are about to start the three week growth spurt. Lilypadz rock for protecting blistered nipples from irritation. frozen lilypadz are like heaven on these poor injured bodyparts. just remember to wash the padz with soap and water in between uses or you'll get bacteria growing and you will hurt and the baby will get indigestion and gas.
julius is healthy and cute, i wish i could show you more photos but our camera seems to have broken and i need to get my hubby to take it in for repair. if my cameraphone can do it i'll post something from that. he does have some goopy stuff coming out of his left eye and i think he has a blocked tear duct but otherwise he is alright.
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nanny is a godsend. she is happily willing to do housekeeping and mow the lawn and deal with laundry but the cultural differences are wild. she just came over from the phillipines in the last month or so and explaining things like the toronto green bin have resulted in some funny moments. we keep our green bin (organic waste) in the basement because of racoons. our dry garbage and recycling go outside. well, we showed her everything but i guess she thought her new employers were very odd people for putting our garbage in our basement and she kept trying to take it outside for us. i found it hidden in the bottom of the garbage bins later. when we finally explained it to her with pictures from the website and some translation---she was very embarassed and we all had a good laugh.
also i keep trying to make her take a lunch break but she refuses. i figure she deserves one and keep encouraging her to leave and get a coffee once a day or go for a walk or at least eat lunch upstairs with us but she never does. i think she eats in the basement actually. I'm thinking that i may have to force her to take breaks upstairs because i'm still a mess and the boys are done school so with three kids and a weak lady to take care of she will have her hands full and if she gets overworked we're sunk, you know?
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actually i am feeling a bit more energy every day. i went for a walk around the block today with the baby in the stroller. took me an hour to prepare to go, but i did go!
the boys are very funny with the baby. Kaz is very very responsible and is like a little adult with the baby. he's able to carry him and rock him and knows how to support his head. it's a little surreal actually. mac on the other hand is still poking the baby and trying to pet him like a dog. he doesn't quite get how to be gentle. We're working on it.
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there is nothing on tv and nothing left on my dvr. thank god for the internet and my ipod or my brain would turn to mush while i breastfeed at 3 am. i'm about to break into my box set of buffy videos and watch them until my eyeballs fall out.
oh and i bought a medela swing breastpump and used it to start pumping once a day. i want to build up a frozen stock just in case i ever need it. that thing is amazing btw. much better and much gentler than my old crappy one. another reason to buy new instead of using my 13 year old junk.
ok ttyl dudes....tired.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Babymoon
So if I visit your blogs less or write less often, it's because I'm on a babymoon. I'm not leaving the blogosphere by any means nor am I going anywhere really. But I am SO in love with this baby I want to swoon every day. And the Boys are totally in love with him too....although Mac seems to treat him like a doll, not a baby. If he pokes him one more time....I swear I'll lose it!
In case those of you in the trenches are wondering, I feel a need to say it out loud, every single heparin shot was worth it.
Every progesterone suppository was worth it.
Every painful moment of heartburn, nausea and vomiting was worth it. All of it. Even when I almost choked.
Every dildocam, every moment of indignity, every blood draw was worth it.
And no I should not have had to go through that to get a live baby. None of us should---but fate doesn't work that way and life sucks so here I am.
I will admit that I am having a hard time wrapping my head around his birth and the emergency c-section. Yesterday was his due date and I had a weird time thinking about what should have been and what if and why...etc etc. I can't help it, whole thing is crazy-making when you have giant blanks and you the patient missed everything.
Like the other day I turned to my husband and asked him when he thought we should arrange the baptism. And he told me that he had already done it in the NICU. Now he baptized all of our other children, even the dead ones, but he had always done it in front of me. And then we had a formal ceremony in a church later and a party with friends and family.
But without me? I know he was under stress and terrified that Julius wouldn't make it, but I wish so much that I had been there instead of being spread eagled in an OR getting sewn up. And days later he had forgotten to tell me until I asked! Now I'm wondering what else I missed....
Plus the skin over my incision is totally numb, so numb that I'm worried a bunch of nerves were severed. And there is a ridge of tissue underneath that is hard as a rock and I'm worried it will be like that forever.
Anyone who has had a previous c-section want to weigh in? I know it's early for me yet, but how long does it take to get that feeling on your skin back? Did it screw up your sex lives? (Feel free to be anon for that part) I'm afraid to google any of this so that tells you how nervous I am.
Help!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Vampira is back
Whiter than humanly possible is how I look lately and when my hemoglobin was 54 the day after the c-section I looked like a corpse. Add in the pitting edema that swelled my entire body and especially my legs to double their size, and it truly was my finest moment. Pale, puffy, mentally impaired, weak, breathless, bedridden, yep definitely hot momma dating material.
Anyway, some good news today! My hemoglobin is up to 106 and since normal is 120+ I'm doing really well. I'm still taking iron pills and will continue to until I am solidly full of rich red blood and not the crappy light colored cherry juice I am now.
Other good news? The swelling in my feet is remarkably reduced, almost gone. I can see veins in my feet and the vague outlines of bones! Weeeeee. I almost fit my old shoes!!!
And today I walked all the way to the pediatrician's office and back. (Just a quick check of Julius' bellybutton healing-it's all good.) The office is a 5 minute walk from my house. It took half an hour each way, I needed our nanny to push the stroller and I needed a rest afterwards.
But I did it!!!!!
I am so proud of myself.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
I'm alive albeit stoned
I think he was up crying a lot because his umbilical cord was coming off after getting caught on some clothing and it was a bit painful. They had cut it slightly longer when he went to the NICU in case he needed an IV there but they didn't---and when it dried up it was kind of big and sharp edged. My other kids never had this issue! More confusion.
It's off now and healing. I think he'll have an outie when all is said and done, but who knows?
Meantime, I'm tired and the pain is still everywhere. I went to see my GP and she sent me for an x-ray and some more bloodwork. She also upped my iron dosage, gave me more painkillers, and explained that with an emergency c-section they cut and repair everything the same way as a planned (at least mine was) but the speed means that there is a lot more bruising and tissue damage.
So I will logically take longer to heal. My incision looks good but my stomach muscles will never be the same I think. The top seems to hang over a bit where the scar is. Kind of disconcerting to look at myself in the mirror, you know? I don't look pregnant or fat, more like--half-inflated half-deflated? Weird...I wonder if it will stay that way forever? Anyone else have this happen?
The oxycodone makes me dopey so I got tylenol 3's and naproxen instead. Much better for my brain although slightly more painful.
And my new nanny is awesome. I swear I could not make it through this without her. These days most women don't live right beside their moms or their moms have jobs and can't help out. And husbands? Well, mine is great with diapers etc. but he has to go back to work during the day and we have two other kids to get to school and activities. In my case, I have no mom and only two hands. So having some help around the house is a godsend. A true miracle that every postpartum woman should get to experience. Hmmm- sounds like a great social program benefit for women. Maybe some political party should suggest it?
Oh, and Mr. Cotta put a birth notice in the paper that is hilarious. Leave an email or comment if you want to read it and I'll send it out to you. That man makes me laugh so hard....
I have lots more to post but I'm kind of fried and need a nap. One last thought....the baby's blog name is going to be Julius, inspired by the description on my sidebar.
Ironically it took me days to clue in to the name. Does pregnancy brain leave fast or slow? Sigh.....
Monday, June 02, 2008
sick
And an hour ago he threw up everything he nursed, and looked very out of sorts. He's slept all day.
I'm going to take him into the doctor tomorrow, but I really have this desire to run to an ER right now.
I'm sure he's fine....I fed him again, cleaned him up and swaddled him and rocked him to sleep.
I just wish I knew for sure that he was okay ahead of time, so I could relax and sleep now.
Gahhhhhhh
Sunday, June 01, 2008
trying to find some equilibrium
Nursing this baby on still feels like an exercise in nipple meets staple remover, mostly because his latch is still developing, and between the nipple cream and the shield some healing is happening. Good news---all the bleeding has stopped! Awesome! I'm trying not to consider the possibility that I don't have enough blood left in my circulation to spare and this is one way that my body is conserving red blood cells.
Anyway, I am now trying to choke down iron pills and vitamin C and Mr.Cotta is madly cooking red meats of every kind. I may switch from these pills to liquid Fer-in-Sol because I can break it up into smaller doses throughout the day with meals and juice and alternate with some fiber. I plan on asking my GP next week for a series of blood tests that I can get done every couple of weeks until I am topped up and completely perky and ruddy. The pain in my side has come back, and I think I can now safely get an x-ray done to see if anything is broken or if I just have muscle strain.
I am also very very very happy that I got that bikini wax, because the c-section incision area used to be hairier and taking out those staples and the tape would've been well, an extra bit of pain I did not need. Now if only I had remembered to get a back wax to ensure the epidural tape didn't hurt so much. (Also, arm wax to make sure the IV removal hurt less.) Oh well, at least you can all learn from me, right? Trust me.....ouch)
Regardless, you all need to know that I have the most brilliant child ON EARTH. Today he was sitting in his Fisher Price bouncy chair getting a little vibration and listening to some tunes, and his eyes focused on the hanging monkey and parrot, and then he touched them. Repeatedly, not even randomly. He isn't supposed to be able to do that for weeks.
Which means that he is obviously a genius, and we're applying for early entry to Harvard next week. Today, at one week of age----he is intelligent, captivating, handsome, and yes, a master champion at filling a diaper with great big poops.
There has to be a scholarship for that, right?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Back home
The last 48 hours have been a blur of pain and insanity. I'm so tired that I may never walk further than 3 feet ever again.
Remember how I said that I was getting transfused? Well, my hemoglobin dropped a lot, because as that placenta pulled away, I lost a lot of blood.
Half the blood volume in my body to be precise.
Hemoglobin started out at 95 prior to labour, then went to 80 immediately after the c-section. The next day it had dropped to 54. The resident came in and explained that I would need a transfusion of at least one unit maybe two to avoid permanent heart damage. Really they were concerned about more than just heart damage, but they were trying to be low key to avoid freaking me out even more than before.
And that is why I have even more pain and swelling than the average c-section.
When my blood was at it's lowest level on Tuesday I really began to lose my mind. That was also the day that the residents started to shit on me and ignore me because they could; because the staff Docs were gone....
And again the nurses rode to my rescue, tracking down the Doc on call and figuring out who should be covering for my case and getting them on the phone and begging them to come to my room and make a treatment plan. And they did....
After an US to make sure I didn't have any bleeding into my belly or retained placenta or excess fluid, I got another unit of blood and a good night's sleep. (Thank you baby for not keeping me up)
And I stopped crying. I also called my GP and told her the entire story and after she got over the shock she helped me out too.
Today before I left, I met with the lactation consultant and got a nipple shield and some polysporin for my cracked bleeding nipples. I breastfed both my older kids for well over a year through thrush and mastitis and all sorts of hell and I am absolutely determined that I am going to breastfeed this baby as well even though we got off to a rough start. This is my thing and my thing only btw, like my attitude about pg loss and IF. If someone else wants to use formula, whatever, I'm fine with your choices, but when I really really want to do something I get a bit stubborn about it, so don't take it personally and please be supportive. Thanks.
So to those of you who had emergenciy c-sections or bled out during delivery or just have low hemoglobin---any suggestions? Ideas?
Assvice welcome? Heeeelp?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
My adorable little guy and how he got here

I have some more photos, mostly from my phone, although several are from are our real high tech camera---the one we never got to use, because we got quite a surprise. Once again, no birth film, even like this, geez I wish I had one.
Speaking of which, I know some of the details I wrote were kind of sketchy, and I'm actually trying very hard to remember more, but my biggest issue right now is that I don't remember certain things because I was in such extreme pain, (non-labour pain- so far some people are speculating that that pain was my placenta was tearing, and that pain is nightmarish) or when I was passed out cold, no bp etc.....and that little blank spot is getting me a bit freaked out to be honest.
Anyway, in my usual fashion, I am trying to speak to as many people as possible who were there who can give me their version, and maybe that will jog my memory more. I need to remember it more clearly. Fill in the blanks.
For now, I just wanted you all to know that so far as I can tell my birth plan was followed. My C-section was completely absolutely medically necessary and I didn't even need to whip out the rusty butter knife to do my own. They were very kind and gentle to me at all times, even when I was being wheeled down the corrider at top speed. Mr.Cotta was put in charge of the baby as soon as he had his scrubs on, even though he admitted he was so shocked that it took some time for him to put his pants on.
There was some early interventions that they wanted to do, but my nurse, Livia, who was an absolute angel, told them no, it wasn't medically indicated, and stopped them! And later when some goofy medical student was eyeing my chart and wanted to ask the complicated lady some questions while contracting...she stopped him from coming into my room. And near the end, when my epidural had failed and my pain was so unstoppable I begged everyone to kill me, she held my face in her hands, and spoke to me slowly and clearly and told me that they were trying to find out what was causing the pain.....and that alone, knowing that someone gave a damn enough to try to save me, that alone made me want to live.
These are the bits I remember tonight as I sit here, getting transfused, weak as a kitten and swollen and beaten up.
Baby is sleeping, he finally agreed to latch on and drink some breastmilk so he could be discharged from the NICU. (Funny contrast to the U.S. here-babies there are required to be able to bottlefeed to be discharged from a NICU, here, no one cares as long as they eat one way or another, and if the momma wants to breastfeed, then they go to town to make sure she can. At least at this NICU....weird huh?)
Time for me to sleep, maybe snuggle with this baby....take care my sweets.
okay that didn't work
Grrr...Rogers is evil.....
Anyway, I will try again when my brain starts to work.
He was 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth, ands we're naming him after Mr. Cotta's dad. I have to think of a blog name for him and edit this post later, any suggestions? In other news, he broke out of the NICU last night at 5 pm, too healthy or something they said. He proceeded to demonstrate his lung power and bowel prowess, still trying to figure out the whole boob in mouth thing....so I am now in pain and tired. I'm trying to nap while my husband has him. Yawn...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Baby is here
They replaced the epidural catheter in my back and my pain did not decrease very much. They gave me fentanyl and it made me very dopey and then I passed out? Then the baby's heartrate dropped rather suddenly and would not go back up. They did a quick ultrasound right there in the OR and realized my placenta was toast and I was bleeding to death.
So I just had an emergency c-section that was done in under 5 minutes flat.
He's in the NICU overnight and I'm in recovery.
We almost died---both of us, but we didn't. We are alive because we happened to be at the hospital getting induced.
This is terrible and awful but really right now I feel like I have horseshoes up my ass.
I have a live baby. He didn't die. And neither did I.
More later.
Relief and redemption
Alley is right, pain relief drugs rock! Got my epidural and it wasn't easy because the contractions were 1.5 minutes apart. But I made it!
Something weird is happening though, all my contractions this time are sharper as opposed to dull. Anyway they are going to check me again soon and likely break my water.
I may post a picture later, not sure how to mobile blog it. But if I can I will!
The redemption part? I'm walking around earlier trying to make things progress and I shuffle past the special room, the room where Matthew died. I always say a little prayer when I go past it....well this time I see a woman I know from my OBs office and she and I chat a minute. She is staying there because her BP is high and they are trying to keep her baby in a little longer.
So wild seeing a woman who likely will get a live baby in a place I associate with a dying child. While I am working on getting a live baby as we speak.
Redemptive.
There are blessings all around us if we just take the time to look.
1:47 pm labour update
Am torn between epidural now and possibly stalling labour and epi later when more steady labour hits.
The resident examined me and I am now 2 cm dilated only 30 per cent effaced and still longish but at least we know the damn contractions are doing something. If I was going through all this pain for no progress I'd murder someone, seriously.
So I wait a little longer then maybe get my IV, with fluid and antibiotics then the epidural.
Also sucky friend called my number and implied I was about to do something dangerous if I had a dose or morphine in the interim like she gives a shit more than I do about this baby. Am no longer answering the fucking cellphone if I see her number.
Sigh.....
Lil more action
So I'm sitting here in between painful productive ones letting you know to always always ask for the attending, and you know, cry and beg for stuff.
And look piteous, so they don't make you drive home over the ::_-;!:(*: city of toronto speedbumps and potholes while in labour.