In the last post I mentioned our plans for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea if the OB okay'd it. Monday morning (at 4am) I woke up feeling like I might have a UTI. With a ureteral stent in place running from my bladder to my kidney, a UTI can turn into a kidney infection in 12 hours, so it's not something to ignore. So I headed to the FCU right away. They did cultures and whatnot and found out there was no infection. They also monitored me for contractions and Alex's heart rate just as standard procedure. (As usual, his heart rate was fine and I had a few contractions but nothing major). The OB came in and talked to Mike and I (the nurse told me the dr. wanted Mike there for the conversation) for a while. She explained what restrictions I should adhere to (things I should've been told before leaving Tripler but wasn't). Basically nothing. I was seriously restricted (no driving, or baths) for 2 weeks, then just less restrictions (no lifting >20lb) for 4 weeks. The rest of the restrictions are for the duration of my pregnancy (no running, jarring exercises, sex, etc.) to avoid possibly jarring my stent out of place. That would be REALLY bad and would probably involve me going back to Tripler and staying until the baby is born. After that lecture, it was clear that any Disney-ing was out. So we spent Mike's 2 weeks of free leave sitting around the house. I felt bad that we couldn't do anything fun because of me, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.
Meanwhile the stent is absolute misery. I'm not sure what happened since it felt okay the few days I was in HI after the procedure. But for the past few weeks it's been horrible. Bad enough that I was planning on refusing to let them put another one in when it was time to change this one out. The urologist at Tripler said I would need this stent changed out 4-6 weeks after having it placed. The OB here (who is coordinating my care) decided no Japanese dr. will touch me being pregnant (based on experience at the very beginning of this ordeal), so it would be easier to send me to the urologist at Okinawa. That would involve a flight there and one back. Even though they're short, I'm REALLY pregnant to be flying. It would mean me flying home a few days before hitting 36 weeks when the risk of delivering on a plane skyrockets. The urologist at Okinawa decided I'm better off leaving the stent in since the only reason to change it was to avoid the small risk of it getting encrusted. The OB agreed with her and when the urologist at Tripler found out how far along I'd be for the flight home, he agreed too. Everyone was happy with that decision except me. I want this thing OUT!!! The part that coils in my bladder causes constant spasms, so I always feel like I have to pee. And when I do pee it's very painful. I'm not really comfortable leaving the house because I get very little warning when it comes to my bladder and I'm afraid I'll be in the middle of the commissary and pee my pants. So far it hasn't happened. =) The OB did give me some meds to help, and they do help a little. But I won't be sorry to see this thing go. Also, there's a chance that there's a big stone left that didn't show up on x-rays or ultrasounds. My first one didn't show up on any imaging until they did an MRI (which we can't do here), and the only way they knew I had an obstructing stone was that they could see via ultrasound there wasn't urine flowing into my bladder. If I got another stone right now, they'd have to send me back to Tripler to have the baby (probably with an OB on the plane since it's a 9 hour flight and I could have the baby on the way there). So I guess I agree that it needs to stay in for safety reasons although that doesn't make me any more comfortable in the mean time.
The final decision was that the stent stays in until 4 weeks after Alex is born. They want me to recover from the c-section before doing another procedure. They're looking into sending me to a Japanese dr. so I don't have to fly anywhere but no one is hopeful that we'll find one willing to take my case. The OB doesn't see what the big deal is for me to spend 3 or 4 days flying to Okinawa to get it taken out there and coming home, so she's not exactly pushing for me to be able to go off base. I'm not real thrilled about flying with a 4-week old with an immature immune system. Not to mention I'll have to find someone to go with me to watch him while I'm having procedures done. So we'll see when the time comes.
My c-section is scheduled for December 1st, but I'm really hoping Alex decides he's ready to come before then. Having him on the 1st means waiting until after the holidays to get my stent out. Having him a week earlier means I'd be home by Christmas stent-free. I pick that. Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to convince a baby to come when I want him to instead of when HE wants to.
Then on the Thursday before the parties, I fell. We were coming out of the Taiyo rec center where we had lunch, and I missed the two little steps from the door. I just forgot they were there and didn't see them. But I landed flat on my front. My face took the brunt of the impact, and some was dispersed to my hands and knees (my reaction time was super slow so I didn't really catch myself like I should have) and my belly hit, too. Everyone FREAKED out!! I kept saying, "I just fell!" but no one would listen. They called 9-1-1, and I got super special treatment. 2 Firetrucks, 2 ambulances, 3 police cars (can we say OVERKILL?!). Then they put me in a c-collar and on a backboard, loaded me in the ambulance and sirened me across base to the hospital. They cleared me "spinally" in the ER and sent me upstairs, where once again, they hooked me up to contraction and fetal heart rate monitors. Alex's heart rate was fine, but I had a LOT of contractions in the first 4 hours so they decided to keep me overnight. They said it was just uterine irritability from being jarred in the fall, which makes sense. They wanted to make sure I didn't have a placental abruption or bruising on my belly. I didn't and I went home the next afternoon.
Yes, seriously, I have the worst luck. Poor Alex has been through more already than most kids go through before they're 5 and he isn't even born yet!!! Luckily, he's been pretty unaffected by everything. Unfortunately I foresee that making him difficult to reward or punish since he doesn't really seem to care. =)
So there's the medical update. Now on to the fun stuff!
Jackson after playing in the dirt.
Jackson had his 2-year checkup and the doctor was very nice. He's in the 25th percentile for height and weight, which is pretty much where he's hung out all his life. So he's growing fine. Developmentally she had a few concerns, but all of them were communication concerns which are already being addressed in speech therapy. Some of the behavioral things I mentioned caused her to pause a little. Not really concerned but she wants to see him again in 3-6 months instead of waiting for a year. He's doing some strange things that are probably due to the 5 million changes going on in the house right now with moving, and Mike coming home, my medical stuff, etc. And it's not going to get any better until well after Alex is born. So we'll see but no one is really actually concerned at this point, just trying to be proactive to make sure if there is something wrong we catch it really early.
Then there was the party. Oh the party! I fell on Thursday, got out of the hospital Friday and the party was Sunday. I had a very busy Saturday night! Mike made a huge difference and helped me frost cupcakes, washed dishes that I needed to re-use and pretty much anything else I asked him to do. I ended up with 4 dozen cupcakes and 18 chocolate cornflake cupcakes. Okay, so the chocolate cornflake cupcakes didn't turn out that great. The problem was I ignored my Brittish friend who told me "just melt some chocolate and put in cornflakes until they're all coated but not too soupy." Instead, I found a recipe online. MISTAKE. Oh well, I'll know for next time. Plus I also made 18 (so 36) deviled eggs, and cut up veggies and fruit for a veggie tray and fruit salad. It all took about 3 1/2 hours to do.
The morning of the parties, Jackson got his trampoline when he woke up. He absolutely loves it and I love having a place to tell him he can go jump so there's no more jumping on the couch or bed.
The shower went well. There were 9 people including me and it was very low key. Sat around and talked for a while, had some snacks and cake, then opened presents. Alex got lots of cute outfits!
Jackson's party was a huge hit with the kids. Everyone loved the bouncy castle. And I had traced and cut out pumpkins on orange construction paper. They decorated them with stickers and crayons then "laminated them" in contact paper. Jackson knew how to blow out his candle, which was adorable. We'd been telling him that it was his birthday since that was the day he got presents. He'd talked to family that morning and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him on the phone. When they finished he said, "More sing" and O'Sheila made them all sing again. He tried the same trick at his party, but it didn't work that time!
He got so many presents that we had to save the ones from family for the next day. By the time we got the room cleaned up and got home it was time for Jackson to go to bed, and I couldn't move off the couch. So the next day he got to open presents from family. He got started and then both camera batteries died. Then while we were waiting for them to charge, he got tired and had to take a nap. After he woke up from his nap we finished those presents. And we still hadn't given him his bike. He didn't get that until the NEXT day.
So he opened presents for 3 days. RIDICULOUS! I'm concerned about how Christmas will go....
No comments:
Post a Comment