It's Been Way too Long

To all my faithful readers,
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update my blog! As I'm thinking back to the last time I blogged, I realize that WAY too much has happened for me to capture everything, but I'll do my best.

First and foremost, Jackson has been sick. He has had some stomach difficulties... whether it's a virus or something else, we're just now sure. It has involved diarrhea, a fever, vomiting, constant crying, terrible gas with pains, reduced bottle intake, outright bottle refusal, and lastly, dehydration. We spent two separate nights down at Scottish Rite Children's Hospital and after seven attempts at an IV, four times getting a catheter, IV fluids, and a chest x-ray, we are home and seem to be doing better. Needless to say, Ryan, Jackson, and I have barely gotten any sleep the last two weeks. We visited a doctor almost every single day since my last blog. Yikes! I was terrified that Jackson was aspirating his food again and that I would suddenly look over at him and he'd stop breathing. Luckily, that didn't happen, but I was terrified. I kept thinking back to his time in the hospital (pre-swallow study) and hearing the warning signs from our GI doctor. Thank goodness, the chest x-ray is clear and my baby is doing better.

I've also been struggling with my health recently as well. My endocrinologist is still seeing me once a week about my thyroid condition. My hormone levels seem to be doing better; in fact, now he's worried they are turning the other direction and my thyroid isn't producing enough hormone. ::sigh:: I've also developed mastitis (again!) which is a breast infection. So, after days of horrible pain and more antibiotics, I'm feeling better. Luckily, since I'm not allowed to breast feed Jackson directly, there is no harm to him. I never thought I'd be happy that I have to pump every few hours and then mix my milk with other additives to give to Jackson. Yay for preemies!

I have also taken on the role as editor for the Parents Partnered for Preemies monthly newsletter! PPP is the organization that supports families of babies in the NICU at Northside Hospital. This newsletter is designed for both families still suffering through the preemie two-step in the hospital and for families who have brought their little ones home. I’m almost finished with the first issue... my goal is to have the overall layout completed by the second issue! :)

The worst news of all this week concerns my precious baby, Hannah. Last Monday, I took Hannah to the vet because her face smelled really awful. I really took her to ask the doctor if she needed her teeth cleaned. When he looked in her mouth he said, “Anna, it’s not good.” I asked, “How bad? Kitty bad?” and he replied “Kitty bad”. So, I called Ryan and he quickly drove up there. My wonderful vet, who we adore, told us that Kitty has a tumor under her tongue. This tumor is cancer. Worse yet, the tumor has some small holes in it that have gotten infected. In terms of treatment, the vet put Hannah on an antibiotic to try to clear up the infection. If the antibiotic works, best case is 3 months. If it doesn’t, we’ll have to say goodbye to her in 7-14 days. So far, I think the antibiotic is working. She doesn’t smell as badly (yea!) and I haven’t found any more of the little blood stains I was finding on her blanket. It’s amazing... she is still running around, getting into mischief, and trying to eat our food. If the doctor didn’t tell me she had cancer, I wouldn’t know she was sick. For me, the worst part of this entire situation is that Jackson won’t get to know our beloved Hannah Bear. It’s amazing how the best and worst in every situation now makes me think about Jackson.

I have begun the search for a real estate agent. I am interviewing two this week. One of them (it’s actually a husband/wife team) seem wonderful. It’s all beginning to become very real to me that my household will be moving to Ohio in less than a year. I’ve never lived that far away from Georgia before and I’ve definitely never lived outside of the South. I’m nervous, anxious, but most of all, very excited.

Well, I think I’ve hit all of the highlights of the past week and a half. I’m sure I’m missing a million things, but I’ll try to update everyone as I go along! Today, we are going to the Duluth Fall Festival to look around and most importantly, to see my family! My parents own their own company, Jill’s Jams and Jellies, and their products are wonderful! If anyone is interested, check them out at Jillsjam.com!

Jackson’s Weight: 8 pounds 5.5 ounces (5-10 percentile on 1-month Newborn Growth Chart)

With love,
Anna