When it rains, it pours.

Well, not literally. It's not raining now, although it's supposed to any moment. We need the rain.

Anyway.

This has been a week. Getting into work early because our office manager is out on vacation. VBS right after work every night. Not getting home until 10. House cleaning for guests. Laundry and packing for vacation. Fast food for dinner every night. Mom in the hospital. Cat got outside and was lost for several hours. Found out another set of friends' marriage is ending. Huge cold sore due to stress. Too big for regular clothes, too small for maternity clothes. Sciatic nerve already acting up, and still have 24 weeks to go. Last minute scramble to finish final exam for Pauline Epistles class. Need to make decision about work. Not enough teachers to fill schedule at church.

I'm exhausted, if you couldn't tell. Physically and emotionally. I described it this way to a friend: some people don't save their money, and so when a small-ish disaster strikes (need new brakes, fridge dies, etc.), they scramble to pay for it to make ends meet. I have overspent my strength this last week or so, and I am so exhausted and stretched that one more thing will make me crack.

Don't ask about the lipstick in the dryer. It's enough to make me cry.

*sigh*

Okay, so I'm going to go to bed, get a good night's rest (Ryan is staying up to wait for our house guests to arrive - I probably won't see them at all), and start over tomorrow. Tomorrow night is the last night of VBS, then we leave early Saturday morning to drive to Illinois for a week. I'm looking forward to time away to think and pray. My mom took a turn for the worse this past week and was admitted to the hospital for blood transfusions - she had severe anemia. She's home now, but it was enough to get me thinking about my/our role in what is getting to be the end of her life. Neither of my sisters are financially stable to care for the farm, pay for the funeral, etc. Er, not that I'm trying to kill off my mom or anything! She's only 60 and could have many, many more years ahead of her, although it's unlikely. I'm also trying to seek God's will for what to do about work. Do I stay at home when the baby arrives? Work part time? full time? contract hours? Helllllllllllllllllllpppppppp.

Counting to five

Here is how Katrina counts to five:

"One..." (holds up one finger)
"B..." (smiles)
"Five!" (holds up five fingers)

She's in the bathroom right now, sitting on the potty, and I'm in the other room. She insists she needs 'privacy' to go potty. Even though she doesn't give us privacy when we're going potty.

It's not Crohn's Disease!

Katrina's test results were great yesterday. The endoscopies showed no signs of inflammation or scarring, meaning she does not have Crohn's Disease. The gastroenterologist took some biopsies, just to be certain, and those results will be available in a few weeks.

The procedures themselves weren't so great. The first sedative they gave Katrina was called Propofol, and she had an allergic reaction to it. It contains a small amount of egg as an emulsifier, and even though the pediatric allergist swears Katrina's not allergic to eggs, she had a reaction. The doctor and nurses treated her for that (Benadryl, Albuterol, breathed for her for a bit), then switched her to Ketamine as a sedative to finish the procedure. All seemed to be well until she started having seizures. Apparently Ketamine can somewhat lower one's threshold for seizures. Katrina received two or three kinds of medicine for the seizures, and the seizures stopped after about twenty minutes.

We ended up staying at the hospital for six hours of observation. By the end of the evening yesterday Katrina was fine ... running around, playing, eating and drinking. She had a little bit of low muscle tone from one of the medicines used to stop the seizures, but she is MUCH better today. She gets a dose of Prednisone today, and we're under strict orders to keep Benadryl nearby in case she starts to have another reaction.

Next steps: head to the pediatrician tomorrow for a follow-up appointment, to make sure all the sedatives are out of her system and there are no complications; then back to the gastroenterologist in three weeks for the biopsy results and to create a forward action plan.

Today is going exceedingly well. God is good. :) Katrina took her first dose of medicine "okay" for Daddy this morning, then spent a few hours at the babysitter's house. Her second dose didn't go so well ... she threw that up. But then she took a dose of another kind fine, and is sound asleep. She only said "I hummy" TWICE since I've been home (five o'clock). I'm going to make a sandwich then it's off to bed, because we need to be up at five a.m. tomorrow to head to Georgetown. By this time tomorrow we'll know answers to why Katrina has been so sick!

The fun of it all.

Katrina has two procedures scheduled for Wednesday, so tomorrow morning starts a clear liquid only diet. How fun this will be to hear my toddler say, "I hummy! I hummy!" ("I'm hungry") over and over again, to which I can only respond, "Here, drink some apple juice/water/Gatorade/etc." She had to fast one morning last week for an upper GI, and that was miserable. I can only imagine (and dread) what tomorrow and Wednesday will be like. The pediatric GI will be performing the procedures himself, though, so we should know answers right away. Katrina has been hovering right around 24.4 - 24.5 pounds these last few weeks. We have to weigh her several times the next 24 - 48 hours, as she will also be taking magnesium citrate to induce .... cleansing of the bowels, and will likely drop weight quickly. *sigh*

My pregnancy is going well, all stress at work/church/home aside. I have very intense cravings for avocados. Specifically semi-ripe avocados sliced with lemon juice and salt. I eat just about one a day now. They are apparently a good source of magnesium. Still not showing much, which is fine by me. I'm surprised, though, as I've always heard and read that subsequent pregnancies show sooner. It's causing me to be quite vain about clothing, as I don't like my current clothes but I'm not ready to buy a ton of summer/fall maternity clothes.

Thursday is the last real night of my class. I've been taking Pauline Epistles, one of the courses I need for ordination. It's been a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun. Ryan has been wonderfully supportive through it all. He even made dinner from scratch one night AND gave Katrina a bath AND cleaned up afterward so I could study. The final is next week, but our "professor" (my senior pastor) is out of town, so he's e-mailing the final.

We're heading to Illinois the week of July 4th. VBS is the week before that, and so we're heading out Saturday morning the 30th. We're planning to spend two days and a night in Wisconsin Dells for 'vacation.' Of course, I won't be able to go on many of the water rides, being pregnant, so it's more of a chance to get together with extended family (the cousins are going, too) and hang out at a variety of amusement parks.

I'm really not a very interesting blog writer, am I? Maybe because the only time I find to sit down and write is late at night when the day is done ... and I'm exhausted. Or maybe I lead a very boring life. :)

News

The word is out at work and at church, so I might as well share it here, too ...

Katrina update

I was going to post some pictures of our peanut now that she's two, but the camera is at home and I'm at work. Instead I'll update you all on her two-year-checkup yesterday. I can't believe she's two already, even though she's been saying she's two for the last month or so. :)

Height: 35.5" (if the saying that kids are half their height at age 2, she's going to be 5' 11"!!)
Weight: 24 lbs

Katrina was officially diagnosed as 'failure to thrive/slow growth' yesterday. Really all this means is that she is underweight, and has not gained the weight she should have in the six months since her last checkup. This diagnosis will help with getting insurance to approve tests, exams, and specialist visits.

Now that Katrina is two, and really since she was 18-months, the doctor is more concerned with her weight-for-height rather than her weight-for age. We know other toddlers Katrina's age and older that weigh just a few pounds more, but they are at a healthy weight for their height. I was reading about toddler growth patterns last night, and weight-for-age matters in babies, because "they" have done close studies and traced the general growth patterns for infants and young toddlers. But once a child hits 18 months - 2 years, it switches to weight-for-height or BMI, just like adults. For example, I weight 150 lbs, which is a healthy weight for a 5'6" female, but irrelevant to being 27 years old. (Does that make sense?) Her weight-for-height (24 lbs - rounded up - for 35.5" ) gives her a BMI of 13.4, which is the 0th percentile.

http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html is a BMI calculator for kids. With her stats (2y, 24 lbs, 35.5"), we get these results: A 36-inch tall, 24-pound, 2-year-old girl has a body mass index (BMI) of 13.4, which is at the 0th percentile for age. This suggests that this girl is underweight. A healthy weight range for this particular girl would be from about 27-pounds to 32-pounds. So she's not that far from a healthy weight - needs to gain approximately 3 - 8 pounds. The problem is getting her to gain the weight. She eats well and often, but is not digesting the food she eats.

We have an appointment scheduled for June 11 with a pediatric GI to look at her inflamed intestines. The pediatrician is going to try to get that appointment moved up, though, because she thinks a month is too long. (Apparently the blood tests showed her intestines have been inflamed for at least three months or something). She also sees a pediatric allergist at the end of this month to figure out if there are foods/allergens that are triggering this inflammation. We know she has a slight egg allergy, but is not allergic to the other top food allergens (milk, soy, wheat, legumes, shellfish, and something else). There could be other allergens, though, that are triggering this internal reaction and causing her intestines to basically attack themselves.

We're starting her on hypoallergenic infant formula, in addition to her normal meals. Hopefully she'll be able to digest it and absorb the calories/vitamins/minerals from that, at least until we can determine what the underlying cause of the inflammation is. (Dr. Mullen *thinks* it's Crohn's disease, but she said the GI has to make that final diagnosis.)

What's in a name?

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=116&sid=1138420

Spring is here!

Praise God for sunshine and warmth! I am so glad spring is finally here. We had a busy but normal weekend, with a lot of time spent outside. Our church's softball season started last week, so we'll be hitting (ha, no pun intended) those games each Sunday afternoon. I could list every single activity in our lives, but I'm sure that would be quite boring. :) Yesterday I thought, "Oh, I want to blog about this!" ... and then promptly forgot.

For those of you following along, Katrina's CF test came back fine. We took her last week for a weight check - she was completely uncooperative - and then to the lab where they drew several vials. We should have those results back today, hopefully. Tests include a complete blood count, celiac, several pancreatic enzymes, and a few others that I forget. The pediatrician said last week, she would rather exhaust every possibility than to say, "It's nothing" and in a year or two find out that Katrina has severely malfunctioning organs. Besides constant digestive problems, she is actually doing great! I can't believe she's going to be two soon. Where have the days gone?!

Whoops, it's almost 7:30 and I need to leave for work. I'll post more if I remember what I was going to say. Hope you all are doing well!

Family.

Last week, in a nutshell.

This past week has been a bit crazy for me/us. Here we go:

Monday - took Katrina to the pediatrician; ped says she needs to be tested for cystic fibrosis

Tuesday - rear-ended someone at a stop sign

Wednesday - somewhat uneventful

Thursday - stressful day at work; coworker upset, another coworker not carrying her load, looming deadlines

Friday - Laura's father-in-law passed away (Laura my sister-in-law - David's dad Dennis)

Wow.

For some reason, I was reading back through old posts. Er, my old posts. Specificially, I found this one interesting. Out of the nine things I listed then as wanting to do before I die, I have done one of them (Lasik surgery), am close to another one (being ordained), and am actively working on two of them (a gazillion kids and going back to Wales - via Ireland). It's been a little more than two years since I wrote that list. I wonder what the status will be in another two years ...

Okay, now I'm really going to bed.

They are almost here!

In less than 12 hours, my in-laws will be here. Ryan's parents are coming to stay with us for a week (Gail's on Spring Break), my house is a mess, and what am I doing? That's right, I'm blogging! :)

The bug is still floating around in the Herbert household. Katrina is feeling MUCH better, but now Daddy and Mommy are getting sick. Ryan and I have both been exhausted for two days now. I slept approx. 12 hours last night and he's on track for that tonight. I'm planning on crashing in a few minutes.

Katrina's recent bouts with rotavirus have led to what we think is 'secondary temporary lactose intolerance' (according to the nurse at our pediatrician's office). Monday she threw up and had diarrhea within minutes of drinking milk. It continued Tuesday and Wednesday, along with general crabbiness. I called the nurse and she said it's fairly common for kids to develop an intolerance for milk as a beverage after rotavirus. She said cheese, yogurt and other dairy products are okay, and we can even try lower fat (like 2% or skim) milk to see if Katrina can stomach those, just not whole milk for about a week or so. Katrina did lose nearly four pounds, putting her back down to 20 lbs. She's back up to 22 lbs - I was wondering if we were going to have to turn around her carseat, but she stayed at 20 or above.

Speaking of being crabby, Katrina was not happy to leave Ms. Elaine's house today. Here was our conversation in the car on the way home:

Me: "Katrina, how was your day?"

K: (silence)

Me: "Katrina, did you have a good day today?"

K: "No."

Me: "You didn't have a good day today? Did you take a nap?" (I know she did.)

K: "No."

Me: "Did you play with Emmy?" (Another known fact.)

K: "No."

Me: "Did you eat lunch?"

K: "No."

Me: "Did you watch t.v.?"

K: "No."

Me: "Okay, then. Let's sing 'The Itsy, Bitsy Spider."

K: "No."

I sing anyway, and Katrina joins in with choruses of "Noooooooooooooooooooooo."

Praise the Lord the babysitter only lives two miles from us. I don't know how much longer I can take this "NO" stage, and she's not even two yet!

In all seriousness, I am absolutely amazed at how much I love this little girl. Earlier tonight I stumbled upon the blog of a friend from college. She posted almost exactly what Ryan and I feel ... we adore our daughter, are amazed by her every day, can't believe God trusts us to be her parents ... I tuck her into bed, glad for a few moments to myself, but then I find myself missing her and want to peek in on her. Tonight before we put her to bed, the three of us laid in our bed, just laughing and talking and tickling. We are blessed beyond belief.

One of these days I should figure out what I want to be when I grow up. :) I confuse myself sometimes, thinking I want nothing more than to stay at home with her ... or to have another baby ... then I go to work and think that what we have is great, too. I am taking a couple of days off while Ryan's parents are here. They have visited a few times before and it always seemed to fall during a big proposal for me. This time we are 'in the waiting' on a few procurements. Monday I have to travel to Virginia (to Ryan's worksite, actually) to give training on a new database we're using, Tuesday I'll be at the office, and Thursday I have an offsite meeting but it's in Frederick. So Wednesday and Friday I'll be off work (hopefully). One of those days we need to take Katrina for her very first haircut! The kid will be two in eight weeks, and her hair is just now long enough to need a trim. I should post a picture of her so you can see her blonde mop ...

Okay, enough. Time for bed. Good night, all!

Randomness

My life seems to be about randomness lately, if that is possible. Tonight was the night to see strange, random things on the highway. On the way to church, I saw an ambulance being pulled by a tow truck. Then, on the way home from church, I passed a flatbed truck with two Metro cars. For some reason these 'vehicles' struck me as odd.

The weather has also been odd. Wednesday was in the high 70s/low 80s; Thursday, rain and 60s; Friday brought rain, sleet, and 8" of snow. By the end of the day Friday I was wondering if the end of the world was near.

Work is ... eh. I'm in between proposals, which is good, but Katrina has been sick again lately (more on that topic later), so I've been juggling a full-time job, a full-time ministry, and a full-time family. Work is basically getting the least of my attention, and I'm annoyed/irritated/disgusted with a cow-orker, which doesn't really help.

This is pretty much a pointless post. I'll post more next week ... Ryan's parents will be in town, and I'm planning on taking a day or two off while they are here.

Jaime and Andy have news!!

Lent

Happy first day of Lent! Today begins sugar-withdrawal for me. I've given up sweets and fast food this year. We'll see how that goes. I apologize in advance for any crabbiness.

And of course, we are celebrating my boss's birthday today. With cake. *sigh*

Heh. I was just thinking about the time that Marte and I gave up saying the word 'crap' for Lent. Except that in it's place we said, "Oh, Lent!"

Is anybody out there giving up something for Lent?

Yes, Katrina is sleeping with a hammer. A toy hammer, thank goodness.

..... maybe I shouldn't let her watch HGTV just before bed .....

My daughter learned a dirty word from LeapFrog.

That's right, folks. An seemingly harmless educational toy has taught Katrina a dirty word. For about a week or ten days we've noticed that Katrina has been saying 'caca' ('poop' in Spanish, for the truly naive out there) and couldn't figure out where in the world she learned it. Well, the mystery was solved tonight on the way to swim class.

Katrina has this fun little alphabet thing from LeapFrog that hangs on our fridge. It's magnetic and teaches the sounds letters make. Ryan's parents gave it to her for Christmas. It has a catchy little tune that says, "Every letter makes a sound and S says 'sssss,' 'sssss'" and so on. We have the letters in Katrina's name out so she can learn her name, and tonight in the car I sang, "Every letter makes a sound and K says --" when Katrina shouted "CACA!!" K, of course, says "cuh, cuh" ... which sounds like a dirty word when a toddler says it.

Thanks, educational toys of the world, for teaching my daughter a dirty word.

CPC and the Girls Letter

I spent Wednesday - Saturday at Children's Pastors' Conference. I loved it. Awesome speakers, challenging topics, fun workshops, tons of new ideas and resources, and I even connected with a couple of old friends and made some new friends. God is good.

Debbers sent the girls' letter tonight. How my heart aches to be reuinited with my dear friends. The years and miles may separate us physically, but the Holy Spirit continues to bind us together into a cord not easily broken. My hopes and prayers for the girls:

Debbie - may God continue to heal you, both physically and emotionally. I miss you too much, I think sometimes. I wish you lived closer so we could get together. Are you SURE you don't want to move to DC? :)

Char - may our Father continue to richly bless you and Jeremiah as you raise little Reece. How much he has surely grown since this fall! I need to see pictures!!

'rika - How I love to read your blogs! You are one of God's most beautiful creations, and I don't think for one moment that you need to compromise your standards. You deserve only the best in a mate! Keep praying and waiting for His guidance.

Megs - Okay, showoff! Not one but TWO triathalons?! You are amazing!!! Good for you for keeping healthy and stretching your body to do more! I'm proud of you! And I promise, I won't tell anybody your duplex secret. :)

Jill - I should have checked to see if you were going to be at CPC! I'm sorry VA didn't work out for you ... it was nice to have you for a semi-neighbor, even though we didn't get together. And happy birthday yesterday to little Ethan! I can't believe he's a year old already!! What did you guys do to celebrate?

Leah - my almost-sister who's closer than a sister, what would I do without you? I think of you so often, and my heart aches to know your sufferings. But your faith and determination to shake College Park and the surrounding communities are an inspiration! Hang in there, my dear friend. One day we will see the fruits of our efforts. (And by the way, I still have Christmas presents for you guys! Didn't I do the same thing last year and give them like a month late or something? I really need to work on getting organized.)

Melanie - I was going to say that you cheated and didn't really update, but then I realized my contribution wasn't any better! What's new with you? Where are you working? How is your family? Tell us more!!

Sara - I needed to cry in the shower this summer and wished you were here. A major ministry event I planned was a huge flop, and although no one said it, I know everyone was doubting my leadership abilities. I was so embarrassed! I knew that you would know just the right thing to say, and that you would listen and let me cry it out. Those days at camp seem so long ago ... God has really brought us a long way, hasn't he?

Amanda - Sometimes 'uneventful' can be a good thing, as long as you are in God's will. And remember, "This too shall pass." :) Sooooooo .... what's the exciting changes in the near future that you mentioned??

Amy - It sounds like the last year was really rough for you. I'm so sorry, but I am very glad to hear that you were able to make the best of it and get a new position in Herscher! I attended grade school through senior high at the next district over (Tri-Point) and Sidra attended Herscher schools, so it's a blast from the past to hear about it. And congratulations on the romance! If you submitted your update in the fall like some of the others, has much changed since then?

Allison - I don't know where to start. Congratulations on Gabriel ... and I'm so very sorry to read about Donovan. Has anything changed since you wrote? I am definitely praying. We serve and are loved by a God who wants the best for us and who proved His might when He rolled the stone away. I am certain that He has a plan for you. Please let me know how everything is going.

Krista - Okay, you get the award for the "Least Informative Submission" - after Marte, of course. :) Girl, I know a ton has happened in your life in the last year ... you have got to share how God has been at work in your life, leading you all over the world and back to Kankakee and such! And you have to share about your kittens, too. Trish says they are adorable! :)

Krissy - Congratulations on your marriage!!! I am SO happy for you!! It does sound like you are very busy, but it also sounds like you love what you are doing. I'm so glad you have John beside you.

And last but not least, Sidra Schkerke - Marte!! No more AWOL allowed for you!! And you didn't call me back after your cryptic message last week or so, either! I'd better hear from you soon or I'll ... I'll ... I'll call your mother and tell on you! :)

My dear girlfriends, I love and miss you. I am thankful for each of you, for the trials and triumphs we shared in school and beyond. May the Lord bless you and keep you, as we continue to journey through another year.

Rotavirus

Katrina caught a stomach bug from another little girl at day care, and the symptoms are showing in full force tonight. She got sick all over Ryan just as we were about to leave for the grocery store, and has thrown up/spit up several more times this evening.

We feel so helpless when she's sick. This is reminding me of when she first caught the rotavirus bug just about a year ago ... March 2006, when she was almost ten months old. Our poor little baby was so miserable. She had vomiting for several days followed by diarrhea which led to the rotavirus diagnosis. I remember she went from 16 pounds to 13 pounds in three days! If she lost any more weight she would have been hospitalized.

I pray she doesn't get that sick this time. The good news is that subsequent bouts of rotavirus tend to be not as bad as previous episodes. And there is a new vaccine called RotaTeq available for newborns and infants that protects against rotavirus. You can read about it in this Washington Post article. Please, moms and moms-to-be, get this vaccine for your babies. I can't tell you how scary rotavirus is. Most people think, "Oh, it's just a stomach bug," but it can quickly lead to weight loss and dehydration in infants and toddlers, which in turn leads to hospitalization and sadly, sometimes death. The RotaTeq vaccine came out after Katrina was past the age of getting it, but we are most definitely getting all of the rest of our babies vaccinated for rotavirus, and we'll encourage our friends to do the same.