Ivig drama

In May, I got my blood drawn on Monday. I didn't get the results until Wednesday. They were 53K. I got them drawn again on Thrusday. they were 34k. We decided that since they were trending down and it was Thrusday, that I would go up to ABQ that night and have IVIG at 8am on Friday.

These are my pre-meds so I don't have a reaction, or slow it down if I do.

IV and quilting the binding on the red/pink quilt.

My view....ABQ's mountains

Doctor's note for Chris. We love Dr. Quintana! I'm so glad she had me stay the night becuase its so much more comforting to know that a hosptial that can handle me in five minutes away, not 15 minutes to a helicopter ride.

October 26, 2012

The boys, Betsy and I headed up to ABQ for doctors appointments. We went to Globug's eye doctor appt. It was a quick in and quick out appt. He was just seeing if the patching was working enough. We are to continue to patch daily for 2 hours.

Then we went to my appointment at the blood doctor. It was just a "Hi, how are you? appointment." So got my blood drawn on the way out and called up Raesha to meet up for lunch!

We met at her office parking lot and had Joe's Deli. Fancy had never been there before. It is a good place for a healthy lunch. Something we dont usually get in ABQ. In the middle of lunch, Dr. Quintana calls me back and says, "Your platelets are 6K. Get here now, you have an infusion scheduled for 1pm."

So turned to Fancy and Raesha and said that I had to cut our date short. We ran to the Dollar Store and I grabbed coloring books, crayons, cars, puzzles, toys....anything to keep the boys busy in the waiting room for 4+ hours with Fancy. They weren't allow to have kids back in the infusion area because they bring germs and loudness. The nurse was going to sneek them in but she never did and I didn't push it.

Anyway I knew the drill, sit for a few hours and get infused. Get chills and shaky and a huge headache. Plus get sleepy. All things awesome while stressing about the boys in the waiting room. I emailed Chris what was going on but he was sleeping.

This is my room.

This is the medicine.

This is reaction to said medicine. I am now allergic to Gamunex. Awesome.

We get all the way done with the infusion. The nurse pushed it fast because Id had it so many times before without drama.

I go to check out and start to itch. Then Fancy says, "Uhhh...your lip is bigger." I checked. Hives. Awesome again.

I got back into the nurses station. The doctor is paged. I'm given steriods and benadryl. I go back out to the waiting room to help with the boys. Keep in mind it was 4.5 hours of being sooo good in the waiting room. They were starting to lose it.

So we stayed until I stopped growing hives and the doctor okay'd us to go home. She said take it easy and Fancy watch her! So Fancy and I took turns driving home. It took awhile with a few stops but we made it! Ben was gone for some reason (?) and Fancy had no problem staying the night on the couch.

We got up the next morning and went on with our world. Bee went to school and everything else. But what an adventure we had in ABQ in October! :)
Thanks Fancy for ALL your help! You are wonderful.

Our trip to abq

Our trip to abq January 4th was a story to tell!

My blood doctor called in a favor to her throat doctor friend, to see me as soon as possible. (He's next available new patient is June.) so she called and said I have an appt tomorrow, Friday the 4th at 1130am. I hung up and thought about it and thought, oh why not? Not as well get this consultation appointment so when the ducks are in a row, I can have my tonsils out as soon as possible. I call back and said, "Yes. We will be there."

That was before I knew the weather forecast. By 730pm, there was ice on the roads, from the rain of the day, freezing over. They even let people out of work early so they could get home Thursday, before the roads froze. I just figured it was just like every other time they said it was going to snow, it would a half an inch and be gone by noon the next day.

Well there was still snow on the ground at when I packed up the boys and left the house at 4am. We got on the highway and I only felt comfortable going 45mph. Now that says a lot because I'm not know for my slow driving. So we get through town and out the roads between Alamogrdo and Tulie, and I want to see how much traction I actually have. So I gently up on the brakes, going 45mph...I lose control of my backend. I slow down to 35mph, put the truck in 4WD and brake again...I lose it again. I slowed down and turned around. If I lost traction in 4WD at 35mph, it was time to get off the road. Plus if I drove 35mph the 200 miles to ABQ, it would take forever and I would miss my appointment anyway.

It was a good thing I turned around because I got home and the DOT closed part of the highway that goes to ABQ, in 3 different places. One was where the trucks are on their sides, in the median. They also closed the pass to Ruidoso, Cloudcroft and Las Cruces, Thursday early morning. I didn't see a single trucker on the road from base to Tulie and back. That's extremely rare around here.

So we ate our McDonald's breakfast in the kitchen and we got out a train set I bought online for $5.00. Bee and Globug were happy campers!! We all took naps and just had a lazy cold day. The base was quiet because no one wanted to be driving around. We didn't even get mail that day.

The pilgrims

We have this guys with us again! Chris' dad, Don, came down to watch the boys while we were up here having a baby. Before that, Courtney, Amy and Susie watched them for 5 days! I soooooooo owe them!!

Anyway, Don drove up Tuesday and brought the boys. I missed them soo much. I knew I was going to miss them but not to the actual hurt-in-my-heart miss them. 

It's not fun having them in a hotel but at least they are here. I just can't wait until we are ALL home. Sleeping in our own beds, doing our regular stuff, eating our regular food.

Glo bug has hurt his leg also. That has been fun too. He is doing better but for a few days he could barely walk. It doesn't seem to hurt in one spot, just his whole right leg. I'm thinking the boys were wrestling and it got twisted or something. If it's still drama on Monday, we will call Tricare. Having a whiny boy on top of this stress leaves me crying most every afternoon...then it's naptime and things seem a little better after a nap.

Dragonfly is doing great. He's eating well. Taking a bottle on half his feeds. He's gaining weight. Now we just have to wait until he eats all his food by bottle. We have no idea when that will be. It's up to the little guy.

random pictures of the past few

This is one of the statements from Tricare for Glo bug's hospital stay. $17,009.30. That was just the cost of the NICU. Not including his infusions or doctor's fees or anything else. Thank goodness of our insurance!

This is my sun baby, Glo Bug. He had to be in the sun cuz of his jaundice when he first came home. Now he just loves it. He takes his afternoon nap in the sun. (Doctor's said it was great)

You can really see Glo bug's eyebrow issue here. They said it's superficial so we aren't worried about it anymore.

Here's another angle. I think he's just handsome!

Speaking of handsome!! I'm probably going to frame this one. This is the pool at the hotel in ABQ. We went up there for Glo bug's appt with the skull specialist and to pick up Marie.

We went to El Paso with Marie and this truck was in the parking lot of Chris' favorite restuarant. He's now in love.

And this is Chris and Bee waiting for the doctor. They were running 2 hours behind!! It's a cheap way to entertain Chris and Bee!!!!!

Everything baby part 1

Glo bug at about 6 weeks. He is wearing his first newborn onesie. (He wore premmie stuff before.)

So let's start 7 weeks ago, February 19. I went in for our biweekly stress test. (Our high-risk doctor saw some extra fluid around Glo bug's heart so we started going in to get stress tests.) A stress test is the machine that they hook up to you during labor. They wrap the stretch things around your belly and you can hear baby's heart beat and watch your contractions on the paper.

Well I usually go by myself and Bee. But it just so happened that Chris had that morning off. I asked him to go with to help watch Bee and we could go do something after. (I can't remember what it was now but it got canceled.) They hook me up to the machine and ask me to drink some water or juice to get Glo bug moving.

Twenty minutes later, the MA comes in the room and checks to see if Glo bug has moved enough to see his heartbeat and if it's stressed. She looks at me and back at the paper. She asks me if I'm feeling okay. I said yes just tired. I didn't sleep much cuz I was having small contractions since Wednesday night. (It was Friday AM.) She looks at the paper again and leaves.

Katrina, the RN, comes in and says, "Hey Trouble-maker, I see you are causing trouble again."

I look confused, "I am??"

Katrina points, "See this line here...that's a pretty big contraction. Are you feeling those?"

"Yes I feel them but I just thought they were Braxton-Hicks."

Katrina laughs, "No Crazy-lady, those are contractions. You are in labor. Dr. B will be in here in a second but pack your stuff up cuz you're going over to labor and delivery."

Chris and I look at each other and laugh. I made him rub my belly the night before. He asked if we should go to the hospital. I said no. (I guess he was secretly timing them cuz he knew when we went to the doctor, how far apart they were that night. I believe every 11 minutes or so.)

Dr. B. came in and said, Yup you are in labor. You gotta go to the other end of the hospital and check yourself in. We'll call so they know you are coming. I'll be there around 12pm. Tell them to check your platelets before they put an IV in and that your contractions are about every 7 mintues.

So Bee, Chris and I check in and I gown up. They check me and I am at a 2. Nothing to cause drama BUT they don't want me to have Glo bug in Alamo cuz they don't have a NICU. As soon as he was born, he would have to be airlifted to ABQ without me. (SOO not an option in my book.) So the nurse gives me a shot to stop the contractions. At that point, Chris and I realized that we needed to start telling people in case things started to happen.

I text Nicci, Amanda, Taron, and Kassy. I told them that I was in labor but they were trying to stop it. They didn't want me to deliver there or at 36 weeks. Well that just got things started. After they gave me the shot, I got jiggery and my heart raced but it didn't work. The contractions weren't steady anymore but they were still coming. So I got another shot. Same thing.

The platelet count came back, I was 19K. SOOOO not good for pushing out babies. So I got an IVIG infusion. It just so happened that the hospital had one on the shelf. (Blessing #1)

So Chris went and got McD's with Bee and my phone charger. I was texting my little heart out to anyone and everyone that would listen. Ha ha

The nurse came in after the IVIG and said that we were probably going up to ABQ to stay until I had this baby. So start calling babysitters for Bee.

I text Kassy and told her. Then called my dad and then my mom. Chris' mom was suppose to come to ABQ to help with Bee while I was in the hospital. He was calling his family. By the time I called my mom, she was already ordering a plane ticket and driving to Seattle airport. (Blessing #2 that my mom could drop everything and come to ABQ)

We hung around in the room until about 5pm. The doctor came in and said, "You can be airlifted to ABQ or you can drive up there right now. You have to be there within 6 hours."

I didn't hestiate and said that we would drive. I didn't want to be alone in my first helicopter ride. Bee would have had to stay with Chris and drive up there. So we walk out to the parking lot and George pulls in. We give him the key to the house so he can watch the puppies. As we go to leave, MSgt Chord pulls up in the parking lot. All 3 wives are pregnant! It was funny and we chatted for a second. (Come to find out, Chord's wife had her baby that weekend too!)

So home we went, packed our bags and jumped in the truck. A short stop at Wal-mart to buy a car seat for Glo bug and off we went!

Mom calls and says her plane gets in at 11:30pm. Perfect. Our GPS says we will arrive in ABQ at 11:25pm. (Blessing #3) So we pick up Mom and head to the hospital.

Just before our last turn into the hospital, red and white lights start flashing. Chris is getting pulled over! I start laughing so hard. Chris getting pulled over with his mother-in-law in the truck.

Officier, "License and registration please. Do you know why I pulled you over?"

(I'm wrestling through all the paperwork, trying to find the registration.)

"No, Sir."

"You were driving without your headlights on. Have you been drinking?"

"No, Sir. We just came from the airport and I guess I didn't turn them back on."

(My mom giggling in the background, me looking for the dang registration.)

"Where are you headed?"

"To the hospital. My wife is in labor."

The officier stops and looks at me. "Seriously???"

"Yes we have paperwork saying she needs to be at the hospital ASAP."

"Oh. Oh. OH!! Umm....yes, turn left at the next light. And turn your lights on!"

(He practically throws the insurance card back at Chris and waves us on)

Now how many people can actually say they were pulled over while in labor??

This story to be continued soon. Little Glo Bug is calling.

Seriously though, do you know anyone that's gotten pulled over while in labor??