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

Watching His First Game

This past weekend, Jackson, Ryan, and I went to a local restaurant (in Lawrenceville) to watch Tech at Kansas. Our friend, Melanie, invited us to watch the game with the Gwinnett County tech Alumni Association. It was awesome! It was sad that we didn't win the game, but we had a great time! Jackson seemed to sleep most of the game, but it was so nice for Melanie to finally get to meet him!

The last two nights, Jackson has decided to stay up most (if not all) of the night. Once I got over the initial reaction to being up (being upset) it wasn't so bad. I kept reminding myself how thankful I was to be home and that seemed to make it easier!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog yet, but our family is hoping to move to Ohio in the next year to a) be closer to Ryan's family and b) to go to graduate school. I am working on my application to Kent State's Masters in Library Science program. The more that I look at the program, the more excited I get! Jackson and I are going to go to North Georgia (where I got my bachelors) tomorrow in order to ask some of my old professors to write me a recommendation. It'll be nice to show off Jackson to my old advisor ! I know she'll love him!!

In other exciting news, Jackson is outgrowing some of his newborn clothes! He's getting sooo chunky!! :)

I also went to my endocrinolgist today. He ran some more bloodwork in order to see if I need to go back on my meds. He seems to think I do, but we'll see. Hopefully I won't have the same reaction as last time!

I have some new pictures to post soon. I'll try to upload them tomorrow!

With love,
Anna

You Never Appreciate Somethings Until They Are Gone

Ryan, Jackson, Amie Sue, Mario, Jacob, Hannah, Graze, Iza, Miss Brooks, and I have been suffering without an air conditioner for the last two days! Our heat pump finally broke two days ago, and we've been suffering ever since! Luckily, a company came out and put in a new heat pump today and now we are appreciating cool air!

Jackson and I went for walk this morning in the park! It was the first time I had taken Jackson for a walk and it was AWESOME! It is absolutely getting added to our daily routine! I also gave him a bath today, which he didn't like so much. I felt terrible because he kept crying while Ryan was on a call. Oops.

Doctors visits went well this week! Jackson's retinas are finally mature with no sign of ROP! That means he won't have to have another eye exam for six months!! Yea!! He is now 7 pounds 6 ounces! What a chunky monkey! :)

Everything else here is great. I (finally!) finished all of my ironing today... it only took me a bazillion years to get it done! I have such a sense of accomplishment!

Love to everyone everywhere. :)

With love,
Anna

Go Jackets!!

In celebration of Jackson's first football season, our family got decked out for the big day! :)



We also went to the Decatur Book Festival this weekend, bought some great books for Jackson (and a wonderful historiography text for me!) and then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Chick-Fil-A!




Jackson's cousins Lauren, Seth, and Eric also sent him a super cute blanky that he now sleeps with! Isn't he adorable?


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Jackson also got a clean bill of health from the GI doctor. Yea! He weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces! We have a ton of appointments this week: endocrinologist for me on Tuesday, Pulmonologist for J on Tuesday, Pediatrician on Wednesday, and Eye Doctor for J on Wednesday! Yikes!!

My sister, Aimee, came by to visit this morning. I helped her with her homework, and she got to hold Jackson for the first time! I could tell she was really antsy to hold him and loved doing it! :) I think Jackson really liked it too!

Lastly, I'm finally feeling better. The doctor took me off all of my thyroid meds (for now) because the beta blocker was causing me to have fainting spells...like, a lot of fainting spells. I had to go to the ER to get my head checked out because I fainted multiple times and hit my head on the floor very hard. It really worried Ryan, but the doctors said my head was fine (thank goodness!) and now I"m feeling tons better! MeMa (Ryan's mom) went back to Ohio yesterday, but Ryan's mom, dad, and sister will be back next weekend! :)

Lots of love,
Anna

Being Sick Sucks

As many of you may remember, I've been having trouble with my thyroid recently. After I delivered Jackson, I found out that I have hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid). At first, the doctor thought that it was postpartum hyperthyroidism which is brought on after pregnancy and usually goes away in 3 months or so. However, after running some more tests, he thinks it is more likely Graves Disease which is a longer lasting form of hyperthyroidism that isn't related to pregnancy. I've been seeing my endocrinologist for awhile now trying to wait as long as possible to start treatment because I'm still pumping and breastfeeding. Needless to say, in the last week my symptoms have become significantly worse and the doctor decided it was time to begin treatment. So, I am now taking a thyroid medicine (3 x per day) and a beta blocker (1x per day). In addition, I developed mastitis (a breast infection) so I am taking an antibiotic 4x per day. Mastitis sucks. Totally and rediculoulsly painful.

So, this week has really been awful for me. I feel like I have no energy whatsoever, have a racing heartbeat where I feel like I can't breathe, tingly feeling in my arms, and just overall hurt. I'm hoping that my body can get adjusted to this medicine so I'll feel better soon. I can't function like this and if I can't function I can't love on Jackson as much as I want. For those of you that know me well this will show you how awful I feel... I mostly let Ryan and his mom feed Jackson instead of me. :(

In other news, Jackson is doing wonderful. He's becoming quite the chunky monkey. We are getting ready to leave to go to his GI doctor appointment. The new medicine I am on is safe for breastfeeding, so that's a good thing. I'll update everyone later to let them know how the appointment goes!

Right now, I have seven furry little ones who are ready for their breakfast! :)

With love,
Anna