13 Weeks

It's been an interesting, and rough, couple of weeks.  Like I mentioned in my announcement post, I have been fairly sick but things seemed to just get worse.  I found myself incapable of keeping most food down and throwing up about 3-4 times a day.  I spent the better part of last week in bed because it was the only place I seemed to find comfort.

Last Tuesday I went to the doctor and explained my troubles.  He decided that I should probably do home health care and get an IV as well as this zofran pump that dispenses medication into my system for 24 hours a day.  This was a better alternative than being admitted to the hospital.  It had to get cleared through my insurance first which took a couple of days.  On Saturday morning, a nurse came to the house to hook up my IV and also the zofran pack.  I was ok with the IV, but my doctor did not warn me enough about the zofran pump.  It is basically this small plastic catheter that goes into my stomach with a long tube that connects to a the pump which is the size of a large pager.  The pump is then connected to a bag of medication (zofran) which is an anti nausea medication used for cancer patients and pregnant woman.  I had a fashionable red fanny pack that the pump and extra tubing could be easily carried in.  For the first few hours, it wasn't a big deal, but when I needed to be somewhat mobile (go to the bathroom, get something to eat, change rooms) it was alittle difficult to haul the IV pole in my left hand and the pack with my right hand.  Did I mention it was attached for 24 hours?  I had to attempt to sleep with this thing in bed next to me and remember to grab it each time I got up to go to the bathroom or fear ripping this port out of my stomach.  Luckily the IV bag was only hooked up for 8 hours so I was able to sleep without that attached to my arm but the IV port was still in my arm for the next couple of days so I could keep getting IV fluids.

The port in my stomach became very painful.  On Sunday morning, I had to remove the port from my stomach so the nurse could watch me insert another one on my own.  I took it out and noticed this huge, red welt on my stomach that was extremely sore and tender.  After dealing with all the pain, and now this painful red welt, I decided I could not put the port back in my stomach.  I hated being so incapacitated.  The IV was easy to get around with, but the pump really restricted me from doing too much.  I was unable to pick up Gray or really interact with him and I couldn't sleep or sit in certain positions.  Originally I was supposed to wear this thing for an entire week, but I just couldn't see myself going through that.  The nurse came out to check on me and I told her my decision to discontinue the pump.  She told me to go ahead and continue the IV for the day and see how I feel.  At this point, I felt pretty good so I think getting hydrated with the IV and a good dose of the zofran gave me a good boost.

This morning I still feel really good and the home health care company called to discharge me.  At this point, I will just continue to take my oral anti-nausea meds and see how I do.  I have been able to keep all of my meals down since Saturday so I feel like I am making progress.

As for the baby causing all of this drama, he/she is doing great!  I got a sonogram on Tuesday and he/she looked healthy!  At the end of the day, that's all that really matters to me.  Being sick and miserable is a small price to pay if it means we can have another happy, healthy child.

Baby Bybee #2 (12 weeks)

Hands in front of face

Shane has been a great husband and father lately.  I really have to give him props for being the primary caretaker the last couple of weeks.  I have been fairly incapable of taking care of Gray too much on my own so he typically has him in the evening hours while I lie on the couch and watch them play.  Gray makes taking care of him super easy.  He's such a great kid and really helpful.  Any chance he can get to help you carry something, he takes it.  We have even noticed lately how well he picks up after himself.  He puts his toys away before he goes to bed, closes doors, and pushes in chairs at the table when he gets down.  He's super sweet, too.  He will randomly run up to you, give you a hug or kiss and then go back to what he was doing.  He's picking up on so much that we love to test him and ask him questions to see what he's learned.  It really is amazing to watch him develop.  It's hard to believe he will be 18 months in 2 weeks!

Sad selfie

Caught this kid taking his dinosaurs for a ride

Playing with the loot from his Aunt Cra Cra's visit
to New Orleans

My dad and his mini-me.
Now we know where Gray gets his love of tv.

Showing us where his head is.
He can point to all major body parts now.

Here is a video of Gray eating with a spoon.  He is getting really good at controlling it and bring it to his mouth without losing too much food.  Not an easy task to do with peas.