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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Dr. B

May 31, 2011 was one of the most amazing days of my life to date. The day I finally laid eyes on my two baby girls. So much happened on that day that most of it is just a blur. However there are a few random details that I can recall with surprising clarity.

One of those details was meeting the on-call pediatrician in the operating room. It was decided that I needed to deliver due to rising blood pressure and pre-eclampsia risk but I was also most definitely in the beginning stages of labor. And back labor at that. (It sucks big time for those of you that don't know.) I know I was nervous, excited, anxious, eager, and SCARED. I was about to have my first surgery ever and I was going to be wide awake for it. I remember sitting on the table while there was a flurry of activity going on around me - warmers being set up, nurses going in and out, getting my spinal ready, etc. I sat there in pain, excruciating pain, and I know I just wanted to get this started and over with. Several nurses introduced themselves to me and then Dr. B came up, took my hand and introduced herself. I don't know why that moment sticks out more than any other. I remember feeling uneasy about someone I had never met checking over my girls right after they were born which was totally silly because that's the way it had been with both of the other kids. I remember being ready to burst into tears as that made it really sink in this was happening. I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure I muttered some witchy response. Sorry Dr. B!

Soon, I was laying on the table and numbed. Mike was back with me and it was time to meet our babies. Adelyn, as we all know, made her debut first. Just thinking about it now nearly a year later still makes me get teary.  Husband was snapping pictures like a mad man not even knowing what he was getting pictures of exactly. Because of that we have some pretty graphic birth pictures....... But anyway, here's a picture of Dr. B (in the lighter blue) checking out my little Adelyn Grace.


Kailyn was a little more stubborn when it came time to make her exit. I remember so much tugging and pulling and feeling like they were reaching up my throat to grab that baby out of my stomach! Eventually they grabbed her little booty and pulled her out. She always has been a squirmy baby that is hard to hold on to at some moments.....  Here's Dr. B's while she was first checking out Kailyn.


Their doctor, some nurses and Mike showed me the girls and all their DARK hair. That was seriously the biggest surprise of the day. My newborns had HAIR!! They finished up with me and sent me back to my room for recovery. Mike was able to snap a few pictures of the girls being weighed, getting IV's, xrays and being poked and prodded. I am forever grateful to him for taking pictures and being there with our kids when I couldn't. 

This is Dr. B checking Adelyn. That day I had absolutely no idea how important she would become to our girls and to us. No idea.

So, while I remembered our first actual meeting I had no idea how important or special this woman would turn out to be. In fact for the next several days I didn't realize it and I don't remember an a-ha moment when I realized it either. It just sort of happened over the course of our hospital stay and our first visits to her office. Fortunately she didn't hold my horrible attitude against me ;) I was so NOT a nice person while I was in the hospital after the girls were born. I was worried about my health, I wanted them to be with me, I was annoyed with some hospital policies and I wanted to go HOME. I was also a little annoyed that she kept putting a 't' in Kailyn's name. Little did I know she was just the first of many, many people to do the same. I promise I don't hold it against her!

So, why do we like her so much and why do we feel like the world's best pediatrician kind of fell in our laps? Oh where to begin? 

Since we've started taking our kids to her it's been awesome to feel like someone really knows us and knows our kids. It's even more awesome that our kids love going to the doctor's office now. When my hands are full or things get overwhelming she's helped me get the babies dressed, taken Hadley out for some extra stickers, drove my stroller out for me, etc. It's all those little tiny things that make my life easier and make me feel very well taken care of. I don't know if most doctors are like this or not. Most of them that we've seen are in, out, done and ready to send us on our way as fast as they can. They don't seem to want to actually get to know us - they just want to get their job over and done with and move on to the next patient. I don't feel that way when we're with Dr. B. For sure she has other kids she needs to see but I don't feel rushed in and then shoved out the door. It also helps that I feel like she talks to me and respects that I'm their mom and that I know them better than anyone else. Too many times I feel like I've been brushed aside as irrelevant when my kids have had to see the doctor and that just doesn't sit well with me. Several times she has personally called me to pass on info she could have easily passed to a nurse and she's always offering words of encouragement which seem to come at the perfect time. Yesterdays adventure at the doctor's office only cemented her rockstar doctor status with me. She's always been willing to lend me a hand with the kids. Maybe that's because she feels sorry? Hahaha I don't know but I appreciate it!

Mike and I have been so happy and impressed that we've decided to stick with her even though our insurance has better coverage at different doctor's offices. Neither of us think we'll find someone who makes us feel like our kids are as important to them as Dr. B does and that is something we can't put a price on!





Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sick Buggle



 My sad, sad, sick little buggle. Miss Adelyn was diagnosed with a double ear infection on Monday. The doctor also said her left ear was perforated. Yikes! I had no idea she had that going on until she woke up with a little fever on Monday afternoon. I would have waited until Tuesday to take her in but after talking to our doctor (not the one she saw Monday night) I decided to have the husband take her in. So, she started on an antibiotic and some ear drops to fix her up. She was her normal silly,  
hamball self Tuesday
morning but by that afternoon I could tell she was feeling really awful. All she wanted was for Mommy to hold her and rock her except for sometimes she didn't but she did. She just didn't know what she wanted and I just didn't know how to make her feel all better. I knew her fever was up but not exceptionally high. I debated whether to treat it or not but since she was so obviously uncomfortable I did. Her little cough also started to get worse. Needless to say Tuesday night was a pretty restless night for my poor baby.

Wednesday morning she woke up jabbering away in her bed just like any other day except that when I went to pick her up she felt like she was on fire. I quickly grabbed a thermometer and plugged it in her ear. 103.2. Yikes! I took it under the arm with the same results. Yikes again! To be honest I don't think any of my kids has ever entered into the 103 territory and only once before have I seen 102. Yes, I know, I've been lucky but it was still kind of scary for me to see. She passed out on me as soon as I sat in the rocking chair. Poor baby was so upset when I had to wake the big kids up to get to pre-school. She actually got to ride in the baby carrier instead of the stroller this morning which she enjoyed. Anything to be closer to Mommy I guess (Mommy didn't mind). I checked her temp again around 10:30 (4 hours after a dose of Tylenol) & sure enough she was up at 103 again.

I got a call from Dr. B (a shout out to her coming soon) while I was loading the kids up after pre-school. She asked about Adelyn & decided she should be seen. To be honest I was glad she made the decision easy. I had been debating & couldn't decide if I was over-reacting or not. So, the kids had lunch in the van while I ran home to get more bottles before we headed in for what turned out to be an eventful doctor visit.

The nurse and I tried to get a rectal temp on Adelyn until she sprayed red poo (red from the antibiotic she's on - don't worry it's normal I guess). We opted for underarm instead which showed a fever that was only slightly elevated. That would explain the fact that she was being a hamball again. Her ears looked ok for being on the meds for 1.5 days but the issue came when Dr. B listened to her. Not too long after I was on my way down to x-ray with the girls. Fortunately we go to the world's best doctor and her & her nurse kept an eye on Elliot & Hadley while I was gone. Having a chest xray done on an infant is a special kind of torture. It took two nurses and me to get her in it and then she gave me those eyes. Oh the eyes. Those sad, sad, 'why are you doing this to me?!?' eyes. Break my heart a little more baby....  Kailyn was freaking out because her sister was freaking out. Luckily it went pretty quick and Adelyn was fine once I was holding her although she had a pretty firm grip on my shirt after that.

X-ray showed that she definitely has something going on in there :( Dr. B also told me that she's pretty confident the fevers and this chest business are a separate issue from the ear infections. Fortunately the meds she was already on don't have to be changed & we don't have to add in anything else. I hope my sweet little buggle starts feeling better soon. I miss my little hamball!

Here's a comparison of the difference in the twins tonight. One is a very happy, energetic baby. The other....is not. And please don't judge the mess in the background. I was too busy rocking a baby to pick anything up!



My happy, funny, crazy little Kailyn.











My sad, sick, exhausted little Adelyn. Big brother was trying to get in on this picture. He has a crazy love affair with cameras.

I'm crying

Hadley, for quite a while now, has been telling us how she's feeling after it's very obvious. For example, "I'm crying" while she's sobbing and dissolving in tears. Or we hear "I sad" or "I'm going back to bed" or "I don't like that" or "That's not vewy nice! but usually "I'm crying". Of course it's said overly dramatically as that seems to sum up my little Hadley.

Here's a picture that sums up her "I'm cryiiiinnnnggggg" phrase:

She's absolutely adorable even when she's crying, no?

Spring Soccer 2012

Elliot finished his second 'season' of soccer over Mother's Day weekend. We actually only made it to 3 out of his 6 games :/ When we signed up we didn't have anything planned and thought we'd be able to make it to a majority of the games. Sorry Green Team! Despite missing half of the games he still LOVED being out there, running around, occasionally kicking the ball and being with his buds. Like in the fall he preferred the practice portion since everyone had their own ball & he always got to kick it. He has improved in the respect of listening to instructions and actually doing what is asked. He also didn't run off the field at random times or need to hold the coach's hand during the whole game. So all in all a grand improvement. We're skipping the summer season but hoping to be back at it in the fall. Little sister will miss the cut-off for Fall soccer but hopefully next spring we'll have her out there kicking some butt I mean ball. ;)

My little Pele on his last day of soccer.