Friday, May 14, 2010

Baby spit up

*We are ALL sick in The Household. I thought I was immune because I didn't catch anything for a full week. But The Man & Bun proved to be too strong. Or, at least, their virus. Ick. But here's a little gem I didn't want to forget for The Bun to read later.*

Since The Bun was born, she had a serious spit up problem. We talked to her pediatrician and he said that it's normal for some babies. Because she was so small and because she spit up so much, we had to track her poop to make sure she was eating and keeping enough in. Because we couldn't measure her food intake due to being breastfed.

Well, we were told by her pediatrician that the spitting up would taper off around four months. It took SIX. Doesn't sound like a big deal? I mean, smack a bib on her and call it a day, right? She would spit up so much it was like she was throwing up. The only reason we knew that we shouldn't be alarmed was because it wasn't projectile spit up (which would make it throw up.) Since her pediatrician wasn't concerned, we weren't concerned. Well, "we" being her parents. Her grandparents, however, were always concerned. We were asked over and over again if this was normal because they had never seen a baby spit up so much. A good thing to say to new parents, by the way. But once The Bun plumped up, they stopped worrying. Because, for them, that was the best measurement of her food intake.

As my dad eloquently put it, "Your daughter's like a drunk. She babbles and then vomits. And then she keeps babbling like nothing happened." Thanks, Dad!

Saturday, May 08, 2010

I think our doctor may be The Man

at the very least, a professional bad ass.

Let me back track. The Man, my hubby, had Anthem Blue Cross health insurance for the longest time. When I became pregnant, we discussed and deliberated for a while about him moving to Kaiser Permanente. He let me make the decision. When he had open enrollment in December, we moved him to KP and added The Bun and me to his insurance. I wanted to do this for several reasons:

1. If the economy took a turn for the worse and I somehow lost my job, Ava & I would be covered and would be able to keep our doctors.
2. Which may actually be 1a. I LOVE my ObGyn. I loved her before I was pregnant and she became even more endearing when I was with child :) I find her to be capable, professional, sympathetic, attentive and accessible. I also really like my primary physician. I don't see her nearly as much as my ObGyn but she's direct, courteous and has been spot on so far. I'm also comfortable with KP's Optometry, Dermatology, Psychology, Prenatal departments & programs.
3. The Bun has a kick ass Pediatrician. He's even been recognized locally as an outstanding doctor. Enough said.
4. We live so close to both the hospital and the medical offices. Sooooo important and such an advantage, I've realized.
5. The Man's current (well, at the time we were figuring out if we should change his health care coverage) primary physician was awful. How awful? Unprofessional, lazy and ethically questionable. Throughout the years, when I was able coerce my husband into seeing a doctor for various ailments, his experiences would make me cringe. Oh sure, the doctor was nice enough. But he asked inappropriate questions, would make inappropriate comments and, in a nutshell, was what I called a Major Douche.

All right, I have a point. Other than the fact I'm a big fan of Kaiser Permanente. I know, some people don't like it or have had terrible experiences. And I've proclaimed it on Facebook and I'll proclaim it here. I think KP tends to get a bad rep because they are so huge and have so many patients that bad experiences are bound to happen to do the sheer volume of people who have health care under KP. I have been very fortunate. I have either had excellent luck of the draw and ended up with a fantastic doctor or I've received a referral and ended up with a fantastic doctor. I also think the programs and services they offer their patients, particularly pregnant patients, are superb.

But anyway.

As I mentioned in previous entry, on one day I took The Bun to her doctor's appointment and then accompanied The Man on his first doctor's appointment with Kaiser. His previous experience was with smaller, much more intimate doctor's offices so I could see how he would want company on his first KP visit. And I was really happy that when he moved from Blue Cross to KP and needed to choose a doctor, MY primary physician was available. (As you KP peeps may know, that doesn't always happen.) I was so excited because if I left it up to him, he would take months to choose a doctor. Probably until he was on death's door and he would pick anyone who would see him. He was relieved that he got a doctor that was referred by a reliable source. Me!

He said that his check up was much more thorough than the once from Major Douche. I kind of figured that would happen. And when our doctor saw the results from his blood pressure check, she said something to the effect of, "Your blood pressure is high. How long has it been since your blood pressure has been checked?" He said 2004 when Major Douche told him it was high but The Man did not want to be put on meds so he lowered it through diet and exercise. But did Major Douche stay on top of it and keep monitoring it? NO.

Let me go off for a minute because I LOVE my husband so much it hurts. I figured his high blood pressure would return. I work for an organization that is the leading funder in the nation (outside of the government) of heart disease and stroke research and prevention. I KNOW that his health may be in danger. But I don't have Dr preceding my name. And I'm his wife. So after one fight about me nagging him, I've steered clear. I kind of doubted myself, anyway, because of the fact that I wasn't a doctor. I felt like I was hypocrite, too, since I didn't eat the healthiest. He always points out my love for chocolate. Yes, I am a chocaholic.

Well, let me tell you, our primary physician is a bad ass. And may have to take the title of The Man. Because she laid it all out. She went on to say something along the lines of, "We need to lower your blood pressure right away. I'm concerned because this has gone untreated for years. You may feel fine but that's because you won't feel anything. You won't feel the damage it's doing to your heart. Until you have a heart attack or stroke. But any damage that has been done is permanent and irreversible. So we must do something about this right away. You need to start a low salt diet and you will have to do more exercise. I am going to schedule an appointment with you in six weeks. If your blood pressure hasn't gone down, we will need to put you on blood pressure medication."

Word, doctor. WORD.

My husband is great. He actually cares about his health, I KNOW he does. But I see how having a crappy and negligent doctor can give a person a false sense of good health. After all, if Major Douche wasn't concerned (even though we both knew he was a Major Douche), why should The Man be? I get it. But I'm glad our doctor said what she said. Because I knew he HEARD her. And he knows how much our family needs him to be around for a good looooong time. So he's going to take off work a little early and go to his follow up appointment. And he's already reading up on how he can lower his blood pressure through diet.

Say what you will about KP. And hell, I'm sure I'm going to end up eventually with a bad experience because that's what the odds are, right? But I am so glad we made the decision to all be under Kaiser Permanente. I received what I think was some of the best treatment during my pregnancy, throughout my labor and delivery and post partum. My daughter, the light of my life, has a doctor that I am 100% confident has her best interest in mind. And now I feel like my husband is getting the health care he needs and deserves.

PS: I also believe in Chiropractic care and other holistic treatments. I think Chiropractic is a primary reason I had a healthy and relatively easy (health-wise) pregnancy. But that's a whole other entry!

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Oh hell, what was I going to blog about?

Oh hell, even though I had one night of good sleep last night, the four bad nights prior have really messed with my head.
Serious.
I kept thinking, got to make time to write an entry. I don't want to forget [such and such]. But I don't remember the such and such!
It's been a rough few days in The household. The Man has been sick. The Man got The Bun sick. The Man and I got into a spat. We got over it but I felt like I couldn't ask The Man to help with The Bun because he was sick. It got so bad that I slept with The Bun (haven't done that since she was a newborn) but it didn't help, poor thing.
There has been challenges at work but, in the end, I am very happy to be employed and don't want to screw that up.
I was having awful sleep not just because The Bun was waking up but because, due to his sickness, The Man was snoring the loudest he has ever snored. EVER. No, not exaggerating. It is so loud that it would wake me up like an alarm clock. Between the two of them, I was getting very little sleep. Maybe 1/2 hour at a time.
I was drinking three cups of coffee a day. Finally, I asked The Man if he could take night time duty last night because I was afraid I was going to crash my car during the day. Yesterday I was Super Mama. I had taken The Bun to her doctor's appointment. Later, I took The Man to HIS doctor's appointment (at his request.) Although he was still coughing, I had gone with him to his doctor's appointment and found out he sounded worse than he was. Well, SHOOT. Hellz yah I was going to ask him to man up (hehe, man up) and let me sleep. To be fair to him, I hadn't asked until this moment. I knew he was sick yet working so I figured I should take one for the team. His cough sounded awful. It still does. But the doc assured us that it wasn't pneumonia or anything serious. It was a cold but really bad allergies too. Sweet.
Upon hearing the doc's diagnosis, I asked him to sleep in the spare room (which is what I did the night before) so I wouldn't hear him snore. He doesn't typically take night duty because I'll wake up anyway. I swear I have sonic hearing when it comes to The Bun's crying. I think moms are programmed that way. I have to put the monitor at the lowest volume but still wake up really easily. He has to put it at its loudest or else he won't hear her. When we are both in the same room, I end up waking up first. But since he was sleeping in the spare, he could do this without waking me. Win win!!!! Well, for me.
He had to wake up 3x but only had to feed her once. We found out from daycare that she takes formula pretty easily but she's still 95% breast milk. Since formula is super easy to prepare, he went ahead and used it. And let me tell you, say what you will about formula but dammit it's freed this mama!!! Because thawing and warming up b-milk is a pain, it's the primary reason I always took the night shift. Prepping b-milk is no fun and since mine are on tap, it's just so much easier for me to feed her during the night. But now we know we BOTH can feed her easily. [insert happy dance] Hallelujah!
I know, I'm babbling. And I also remember what I was going to blog about. The Man's doc visit! But that will be the next entry.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Mad, mad, mad

A blog is no place to write about frustrations one has, personally or professionally unless one doesn't care about the repercussions.
I do.
But man I wish I could go OFF sometimes.