Dental Hell

I know I've really been slacking, Mikey and I have had a super busy week. SO yesterday was my dentist appt. Background, several months back I broke a very back tooth on the bottom right. Called the only dentist local for my ins. They got me in for a cleaning and to check out that tooth. They procede to tell me I have ELEVEN teeth that need work. Now, let me just throw out there the fact that NONE of my teeth bothered me in the slightest way, not even the broken one. Seriously not a single stitch of pain or sensitivity from ANY of them. However, I put my trust in her and tell her to fix them all. She does 3 on the top right. I am pleased with the work, have a little sensitivity to hot/cold in one of those. Next up are 3 on the top left and 1 on the bottom left. While there I ask about the sensitivity to which she tells me to use Sensodine Toothpaste and it will go away in a week or two, she then procedes with the four for previously mentioned. I leave. Now these teeth HURT. They ache, they are sensitive to hot/cold, and to pressure when biting. So I figure give it a bit like the others. My next apt comes and I miss it due to baby issues. Then I decide not to reschedule b/c of the pain and start looking for another dentist. Fixed teeth should not cause this much trouble...PERIOD! Well more baby stuff delays my search and here I am finally a few months later following up. Mom gets me an appt at the dental clinic on campus where she works. They don't do anything real serious there but I can at least get started and find out the "why" for the pain. I go last Thursday. She says all my composits look good, so she's not sure why I'm having so much pain and feels the most important thing to do is fix the broken - yeah the one I originally went in about that the other dentist didn't even work on! However I explain to her that I have to stop this pain in my upper right before we can even think about the broken tooth, since afterall it causes me no grief. SO yesterday I go back. The plan is to clean out the 3 composit fillings in the painful teeth and place in some medicine to "quiet them down" then refill them. Simple enough right? Yeah, would I be blogging about it if it were simple???? So there I am, my mouth all jacked open, a "rubber dam" across my face, numerous anesthetic injections, and she begins. She's cleaning the old fillings out, gets up, comes back cleans some more, gets up, comes back. She says "these fillings just keep going down down down. Then it happens, she hits a nerve. Now I about came out of the chair, but her reaction blew me away - she was so pissed by what she'd found that she actually threw her little dental mirror she was using. The last dentist had completely hollowed out my tooth and just laid a composit filling directly on my nerve. As the new dentist is explaining I start to cry. I am so fucking angry. All I can think is she's going to have to pull these teeth. We both calm down and she explains that she won't go any further on the other two, just put the med in ontop of the remaining filling and put the temp filling over that. Hopefully it will help for now. The 3rd tooth has to have a root canal, which she is not set up to do, but she has no choice at this point but to start it. I am finally done, and my mom comes over to check on me b/c we have to leave in order to pick the boys up in time. I am crying, shaking, and in so much pain my lips are quivering like it's 30 below in that office. Now, let me tell those of you who don't know, I have a massive pain tolerance. If I hurt bad enough to shed tears, then it's BAD. And shaking, I have never done due to pain before. The next step is to get me referred over to the other dentist in Rome that they work with and have the one root canal finished and the other two will probably have to have them as well. I honestly feel like I've been hit across the face with a baseball bat. And I am soooooooo fucking angry. Teeth that didn't bother me now have to have root canals????? WTF? All b/c some dentist decided to completely destroy my tooth. I will be going to get my records and original xrays Tuesday. If I find out that there was no cavity or a small cavity that didn't require the tooth to be so "hollowed" or that in fact it was so bad I truly did need a root canal, and that this dentist should have made other decisions for my treatment - GOD HELP HER! And to top it all off, the fuckin' broken tooth is still untreated, b/c now the immediate concern is the 3 teeth that the old dentist destroyed.

Way to Grow, Mikey!

mikey had his recheck today! he's up to 7lb 12oz!!!!!!! and his billi is down to 7!! finally we are seeing some major progress! we go back in 3 weeks.

it's hard to believe he'll be 4 weeks this tuesday. man the days have just flown by! of course i knew they would, look at neal, he's NINE already.

we had our first rough night last night, and it was on the low end of rough. he just seemed to have a little belly ache or something and woke more often, but he was easily soothed by nursing. or just snuggling.

i'm still having issues with low milk so i picked up a slew of herbs today at my favorite herb shop. it was $50 for what she set me up with but if it works it'll be soooooo worth it.
i also SCORED today at a church consignment sale. i got a medela pump in style for $20!!!!!!!! i was so freakin' stoked about this find. and it works great! i had all the personal parts b/c i had rented that other pump earlier on, so i am set! boy am i excited.

oh and i have to brag about my neal-bean! he auditioned for the chorus this past saturday. they only accepted 25 students from the 4th and 5th grades. we got his letter on thursday and i don't know who squealed louder, me or him. i was sooooooo afraid i was going to have to let him down gently. i kept reminding him that it was ok not to make it b/c there were so many trying out and only so few spots. so when i saw he made it i was elated!

ok here's two new pics of my sweet baby boy, wide eyed and semi-smiling!

what's new, gertrude???

let's see......i've been slack on blogging so i hope i can hit the highlights and not bore you to death.
friday night i went to my first moms club event. it was family night at CiCi's Pizza. chris had to work late so i said "what the hell". i took all four boys by myself and it was not at all as stressful as i had inticipated. the older boys met some new buddies in the gameroom and i got to chat it up with the moms. i am really glad i did this - thank you chelley! this thursday afternoon is a boys party at another girls house and i hope i can get everyone picked up and make it to that one. should be fun - and chaotic.

saturday mom and i took the boys and went shopping and to a bowling birthday party. the boys had a super time. who knew my kids were good bowlers?!?! jacob scored 122 and neal 99, i think zach was in the high 80's. i laughed saying this would be the one "sport" jacob was good at - look out bowling scholarship. they had never played before so i was pretty impressed. thanks again deska for the invite! this was also the first time i've ever had to pump or nurse in a public bathroom. i did both. i suppose there always has to be a first time for everything right?

sunday was a lazy day. boy was that nice. and monday was more shopping. we are trying to find mikey some clearance newborn sized clothes - the kid is so little he has nothing to wear - he wears the same 4 or 5 things over and over, lol. i'm just not used to have a small kid. i didn't score him anything great but i did score a pair of yoga pants for myself.

today i cleaned out my closet and brought back out the non-maternity clothes. i still have a ways to go to get back into my "thin" clothes, but all the "fat" clothes i didn't give away last year fit, so i'm good for now. i am counting down the days until i can get back to the gym - i'm so ready to get my body back to where it was this time last year.

it's been hot as hell here lately - i'm so glad i didn't suffer through those last 4 weeks in this heat - look at this on my car thermometer - yes that reads "131"















sunday - chris decided to clean up "big nasty" (his big ole jacked up jeep). he came in to get something and when he went back out this is what he found. jacob will do anything for daddy - he's such a suck up!





















and a few pics of mr. mikey, one just sleeping so sweetly taken on sunday and one taken yesterday in his one "outfit" that fits - everything else is a sleeper or a onsie, lol - score this at the carter's outlet on saturday for $6 - go me!

quick update

just a quick update. mikey had his weight check today - he is at 7lb 3oz - still 1oz under his birth weight but a definate improvement. however his billi count is going up, today's count was 11.2 up from 10.7 (8 days ago). this is concerning b/c it should be going down since he's peeing/pooping/eating well - so they are going to check it again in one week and decide what they need to do. so please keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming for my littlest man.
and i've got some new pics, but i just haven't had time to upload them to the computer yet. so watch for those in the coming days!

sinus infection & breastfeeding do not mix

i felt it coming on earlier this week. oh man. i went to the doctor today. first let me say that Dr Henley at the Harbin Clinic has the personality of a ROCK. anyway. turns out there's nothing i can do other than vitamin C and Mucinex DM. anything RX or OTC with a decongestant will dry up my milk (yeah i took sudafed yesterday and already my milk is well under half of what i was producing - i feel so retarded for not asking first) and he gave me an Rx for an anti-B but of course i shouldn't get it filled unless absolutely necessary b/c it will give the baby the runs, tummy cramps, and fussiness........ugh. i feel like i was hit by a truck, all i want to do is sleep. mikey and i enjoyed our peaceful morning, however the brothers are home and well, it's gonna be total chaos until chris gets home from work. great.

oh and as i'm leaving Dr. Dumbass says "don't give it to her" taking about mikey - i didn't even bother to correct him "if she gets it she needs to go to the ER, and they'll have to do a spinal tap, so if she runs a fever take her straight to the ER" - WTF?????? i just stared at him and then asked "what would you consider a fever?" and he says "100.4" and walks out of the room.
could someone please pass the tissues.......and the rum???

covet

ha you thought this was gonna be juicy - sorry. i got my monthly Ulta ad Monday and it had a sample of this new Sara Jessica Parker perfume "Covet" in it. i HAVE to have this. however, it's going to take me a while to suck it up and pay $60 for a little bottle.
on to other things....

i've been slack on blogging, just seems i've been too busy to sit down and type. i've cleaned out my bath cabinets and reorganized, i still need to do my closet and kitchen cabinets, maybe tomorrow....

yesterday i came home from dropping off the kids at school and laid down to nurse mikey, we fell asleep and didn't wake up until almost noon. there went that day, but boy was it nice!!! i didn't even realize i was that tired until i woke up.

there is this commercial i saw the other day for baskin robbins - ohhhhh chelley & brooke, i thought of our baskin robbins excursion in nashville that first time. the dad is cleaning up the dinner dishes and he tells his son that if he doesn't finish his peas then they aren't going to baskin robins. so he turns his back to the sink and the mom grabs the peas and inhales them. ohhhhhh i've so been there - needing a serious ice cream fix!

what else is new? had a great lunch with alesha and deska today. it was so nice to have some adult interaction and a little girl talk. just what a momma needed! next time i hope a few more of you gals can join us, it's so refreshing to just kick back with the girls, i've missed that dearly. i really hope to be a more active friend. and in trying to find some other local moms to befriend, i've joined the local moms club. i'm excited to meet everyone and get involved. it's probably my hormones but i'm so friend lonely these days.

mikey is still the best baby ever, and i feel great. neal, jacob, and zach are all doing well in school. being back on a schedule is also really nice - i know i've said it before, but it just really is.
as for my essure (tubal) procedure. it's scheduled for sept 11th. HOWEVER, as of last night we have officially decided to cancel it. not because we WANT more, no plans to give the Duggers a run for their money. but neither of us are ready to say let's go permanent. i was stressing about it last night and it was the biggest relief ever to hear chris say "then don't have it done". who is this man i've been living with for the last year???? he's amazing and i am sooooo in love with him. he's an amazing father and an amazing husband. i never thought i'd say it but i am one lucky woman!

hmmmmmm, anything else i need to add????
mikey has his weight check on Friday, so let's think "grow baby grow" for my littlest man.
oh and lastly - mark your calendars - because january 4th and january 5th are PARTY nights! i'm sending my 20's out with a bang and everyone is invited! girls only friday night - somewhere downtown atl - ideas welcome. then saturday night is a family/friends affair - ideas for that welcome too. if you know a good DJ let me know.

it's been a few days

let's see. i'll start with Thursday. Mikey had his doctor's apt, his billi was down to 10 and his weight was up almost one ounce to 6lb 14 oz (what zach weighed at birth). so we're on the upswing, gotta go back this coming Friday to check his weight.

Friday was the 1st day this week we didn't have the boys home or have to go anywhere, i actually got to enjoy a nap with Mikey......it was sooooo nice but too short. by the time i laid down it was only an hour until we had to get up and get ready to pick up the brothers from school. but i'll take what i can get.

the boys are liking school. neal's class is working with an economy system for behavior and such. it's pretty cool. they earn "money" for good behavior. they get fined for bad behavior. they can purchase things like extra recess time, and supplies, etc. and they are all applying for "jobs" within the classroom. they have to fill out a job app and get references, it's really a great idea to teach them about responsibility and money management. neal is applying for DJ....lol. his ambitions after that aren't too high - pencil sharpener and computer tech (who only really cleans and turns on/off the computers).

jacob and zach both are adjusting well too. and i just can't believe that every morning this week has run so smooth and no one has been tardy!!! being back on a schedule feels good.
as for me, i'm feeling great, i'm ready to go back to the gym, but can't until 6 weeks. so i think i'm going to start morning walks next week - if the heat isn't too bad of course. the only complaint i have is my neck. i really must have done a number on it during delivery. the left side is almost completely better but the right side only seems to be getting worse.

mikey is the best baby ever. he hardly cries and sleeps so well. i still have to wake him for most of his feedings. it almost scares me how good he is, lol. he is having two good awake times each day now, one in the morning and one in the evening. so that's good. and b/c my babies are usually so big i only got like 2-3 newborn outfits, this poor kid, he just gets lost in everything. if he's wearing a footed sleeper he curls his little legs up to his belly and leaves the legs and feet empty. i'm used to chubby little monkeys, and mikey's a skinny-mini!

i missed my post-license exam window while i was in the hospital, i've got to contact the commission next week and see if there's anything i can do. all i have to do is take (and pass) this exam, so i'm hoping they will give an extension. i remember reading about it somewhere but just haven't put any effort into finding out more info. i have a "to do" list two pages long, a lot is marked off, but there's still a lot to do. i still haven't gotten those pictures from kodak gallery sorted out, but i will. but for today, my goal is to get to the grocery store at some point today, maybe when chris gets home from work, otherwise we're eating buttered bread & chicken noodle soup, and the baby is going to be wearing cloth diapers by tomorrow, lol.

oh and i'm super excited, we're having our house painted this weekend!!! it needed it bad, not like there's much to paint, just trim and some small areas, but the chimney especially needs it, so i'm stoked. that was one thing we really wanted to do before putting it back on the market!
so, that's it in a nutshell, here's a pic of my sweet baby boy from today for those fighting that baby fever...

first day of school, first bath, and other motherly ramblings

today was the first day of school. i'm pretty certain i was more excited than the boys, lol. the morning could not have gone any smoother, it was just perfect.














zach, my sweet zach, i can't believe he's in preK. that little dude walked in the front door and immediately dropped my hand, walked right into his classroom like he'd been there for ages, saw what the teacher told the other kids to do with their bags and just did it, without prompting, and then went right over and sat down like he'd been in this routine for years. it was sooooo bittersweet. last night he told my dad "i hope they show me where the lunchroom is". that kid, always worried about where his next meal is coming from, as if....




















jacob, my shy one. he didn't really want me to leave, but i also think he didn't want me to know he didn't. so i kissed him and told him i'd pick him up first, that seemed to put him at ease. last night he wanted to know if he'd have homework the first day.



















and neal, who is of course too big to be walked in, hopped right out and headed into fourth grade. saying hi to everyone. he's like a magnet, people gravitate to him and everyone knows him and he knows everyone - by name.




















so with only one child, i have time to get some stuff done. mikey made his first trip to target, he'll come to find this is a once or twice a week thing - at least. i really didn't want to have him out this soon but there are a few things i couldn't go another minute without, so we braved it. luckily no one wanted to touch him, the just smiled and commented and went away - like good strangers should. when we got home he had his first bath. yeah, he's not really a fan of being naked and wet. but he smells sooooo good now.


















then we nursed for the first time since being in the hospital and he latched like a champ. i think we'll nurse when the boys are at school and at night, when the house isn't so chaotic, and i'll pump and bottle feed the other times. i'm just very pleased that things are going so well this time. my milk is in, my nips don't hurt one single bit, and it all just seems to be falling right into place.
now, i'm taking advantage of the quite, to blog, then i'm off to sort the monster order of photos that just came in from kodak gallery. it'll be 1:50 before i know it and time to collect the masses.

one week old

yesterday was a BUSY day. i had to go in and have my bp checked, it's up a bit, but managable. and the pitocin seems to have caused me a lot of swelling, along with the bp. today is better i think, each morning i see a few more pounds disappear on the scale, which is nice. i'm still pumping and really getting a good supply, we'll start trying to nurse tomorrow, with the boys in school i'll be able to give mikey my full attention to get us on the right track.

mikey also had a dr appt yesterday. it was almost 2 hours in there and i was just worn out after all i the running around. his billi count was down to 13 and his weight was only at 93% of his birth weight (6lb 13oz). so we had to go back today. that was fun with ALL the boys - NOT. i suppose it wasn't too bad, it just took forever again (about 90 minutes) so they get bored even with gameboys and hot wheels on hand. everyone kept saying i seemed so calm with 4 boys, not sure if that was a compliment to my mother skills, but i'm going to tell myself it was. anyway, mikey was still at 6lb 13oz, so no more loss, which is awesome. and his billi came down about 3 tenths of a point, not what i'd hoped for but as long as it's going down i'm happy. we go back thursday - thank goodness school starts back tomorrow. mikey is still only taking about 1oz at a feeding, we have had 3 feedings where he took 2oz. however, we are now able to wake him up enough to eat more often, so hopefully we'll just keep moving in the right direction.

chris is awesome, last night i got to sleep through the 1am feeding, when my alarm went off he came in and told me to just keep sleeping, he'd already fed and changed mikey and was just chillin' with him on the couch. he brought me a sweet sleeping baby sometime around 2am and i snuggled with him until it was time for his 3am feeding.

we did open house last night. that was insane. but the boys are ready and so am i, lol. tomorrow can't come quick enough. i'm ready for some quite time and a set routine.

as for me, i'm sooooooo on the fence about having that essure tubal sterilization done. not that i necessarily want another (any time soon at least) but i don't want it to not be an option, ya know. i'm just not ready to say "give me a permenant fix". i have 5 more weeks to decide what i'll do. so who knows.

i finally have a little down time today. which is nice. chris has to go to charlotte tonight for a class tomorrow, so mom and dad are going to come stay the night and help me with bath/bed time and getting everyone ready and off to school tomorrow. it's so nice to have such a super support system.

i think that catches us up. oh wait, mikey's cord fell off yesterday. i was in shock, neal and jacob seemed to take forever to lose theirs, zach's of course was removed at the NICU. it's so nice to have a cute little belly button instead of that stumpy clamped cord, lol.

jaundice update

it's down to 14. doc said this is the point where it would usually peak, but instead of going up it's going down. woohooo happy dance. the billi bed goes away tomorrow! we're going to put him on it on and off for an hour at a time just to be safe. i'm sooooooo excited.

almost 4 days old

well, we are sitting here awaiting our billi blanket. his count is 17 today, so we're just going to do some home photolight therapy to get it on down. we'll go tomorrow and get a heel prick to see if that's going to do the trick.

he's not nursing right now, using formula to get the poops going and get the jaundice processed out. saw a LC and my body is not really producing anything b/c he is so sleepy that my body thinks it doesn't need to make milk. so i rented a hospital grade pump and i'm pumping every 2-3 hours to build it up so we can get back on the bf wagon ASAP. right now i'm getting only drops, but this last time those drops actually made it into the bottle to accumulate one big drop. i'll see the LC again monday. our goals are 1 feed the baby by any means necessary 2 build my milk supply and then 3 get him nursing and tackle any hurdles that have been created by bottle feeding. i do have his wonderful ability to latch on my side though. so i'm still very positive about nursing this time.

he finally pooped a non-meconium poop at 4am - oh the things we get excited about. so that means we're on our way to processing out the jaundice, now with the lights, hopefully it won't take too long.

sleep - ahh sleep is not a complaint i have. b/c of his excess blood and jaundice we are having to wake him up. he goes sometimes 6 hours straight, we can't even wake him up enough to suck more than once or twice. he barely cries - unless it involves a cold wipie. i told chris that we are so going to pay for these easy first few days in a couple of weeks, but that'll be ok b/c that will mean his body is all balanced out and he's able to spend more time awake and alert and eat more. he ate the most at 4am, 1.5 oz. this is so weird for me b/c i'm used to babies who eat every 2 hours and i mean EAT! so this part is definately new.

as for me, i feel pretty good. i'm still crampy, and my bleeding isn't quite tapering off yet, it's not bad but not getting less, if that makes sense. my bp is a little up, but nothing alarming and i'm still a little swollen. but for the most part i feel ok, not too tired and so far only one breakdown. my back is sore from the epi, but i was expecting that.