Our newest niece

Bethany Elise Yanchick arrived yesterday (Saturday, July 28th) at 7:37 a.m. She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces, is 22 inches long, and is GORGEOUS! Laura and David are doing well. :)

What the?!

I just read this - http://wgts.org/wordpress/?p=264

I hope they don't change the style and message of WGTS.

:(

It's a ....

GIRL!

Level II ultrasound was today. The baby's heart looks good (that was the reason for the visit to the perinatologist - my sister has a mitral valve prolapse); the baby was a little uncooperative, though, and they were only able to fully see the right side of her heart. I have to go back in two weeks for another ultrasound, and they'll search again with hopes of cooperation so they can see the left side of the heart.

The placenta looks great ... it is neither low nor pulling away. It turns out the bleeding is from a moderately-sized subchorionic hematoma - a blood clot. The size and place of the clot introduces a risk of fetal death if it grows and pushes the placenta out of place, hence why I have to return in two weeks (to see if the clot is changing size). Until then, I am on 'mild rest,' meaning no marathons or bicycle races. I told the perinatologist he didn't have to worry about that. :) I can still work, but am encouraged to rest often and avoid any strenuous exercise or heavy lifting, as that could dislodge the clot or cause more bleeding.

I'm still at work. We have a task order response due tomorrow. Today was one of those swamped days. I told a coworker, if anyone else asked me to do one more thing, I would either cry or scream. Or both. Now the office is nice and quiet, and the end of this crazy task order is so close.

Signs of an early reader?

Katrina, Ryan and I were playing a game this evening where Mommy or Daddy would write down a letter on her Magna Doodle thing and Katrina would name the letter. We knew that she knows the letters R, B, and I, but thought that was the extent of her letter recognition. Boy, were we wrong! Katrina recognizes and names SEVENTEEN (17!) letters of the alphabet - and she is just 26 months old!

The letters she knows (unrecognized ones in parentheses): A, B, C, (D), E, F, (G), H, I, (J), (K), (L), M, (N), O, (P), (Q), R, S, T, U, (V), W, X, Y, Z

We couldn't believe it! When I taught preschool, we quizzed the four year olds at the mid-year point, and a few of the students recognized four or five letters. By the end of the year (when they turned five), all students recognized at least one letter, and the average number of letters recognized was ten. Katrina has already surpassed that for sure!

The Tale of Two Tired Parents

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there were two parents. Two tired parents. Their daughter, who recently turned two, had even more recently decided that she didn't need to sleep at night. She fought sleep; oh, what a fighter she was. She could shriek and cry like the best of them. She also learned to throw up on command, much to her parents' dismay ... and disgust. She hadn't always been this way. In fact, her mommy was recently telling a friend how easygoing this little girl was, and how blessed mommy and daddy felt.

Mommy and Daddy shouldn't have looked a gift horse in the mouth.

One sunny summer weekend, this little girl decided not only did she not need to sleep at night, but she didn't need to take naps anymore, either. And she decided she could start waking up at that crazy hour in the morning where it's too early to get up, but too late to go back to sleep. This made the little girl pretty cranky, even though she did it to herself. She was unfriendly at church and cried during Sunday School; during Children's Church she would only let her daddy hold her.

But! Mommy and Daddy felt hopeful when the little girl fell asleep in the car on the way home from church. Daddy oh so carefully unbuckled the little girl from her seat and carried her in the house, then gently set her on her waiting bed. You see, even her bed missed the little girl who used to sleep so well. (Her pretty bedroom rug did not miss her, though - it was tired of being puked on every night.) The hope was short lived. The little girl woke up with a start and a loud "NO!"

Mommy and Daddy tried everything they knew to do. They played a cd of lullabies, then a new cd when that one maybe the little girl cry harder. They read stories and got a snack and stretched out on a blanket on the floor with the little girl. Nothing would work, though, and eventually, the mommy and daddy fell fast asleep on the floor while the little girl played and read books to herself.


(Daddy asleep on Katrina's floor, two hours later.)

Second Trimester Bedrest

Meh. I visited the OB midwife yesterday for some bleeding issues, and she wants to put me on bedrest, at least until my ultrasound on Tuesday but maybe until at least the end of next week. She thinks perhaps the placenta is low-lying or even separating from the uterine wall, but she can't confirm it without an ultrasound. Since I already have one schedule for early next week, and I'm young and without previous complications, she was fine with waiting until then.

I did feel pretty crappy yesterday, but I feel SO much better today. I took it easy last night (Ryan heated up leftovers for dinner, helped get Katrina ready for bed, etc.) and slept well, too.

I'm at work today, so I'm obviously disregarding the doctor's orders. If they do find something on Tuesday, I'll consider working from home for a few days, but it's just too crazy right now to drop everything.

Not so fun way to spend fun money.

For a couple of months now, Ryan and I have been tracking 'fun money.' Each day we pack a lunch (rather than eat fast food or go to the Orbiteria), we 'earn' $5. The same goes for each time we work out at the Y. We track our fun money balance at Joe's Goals, and the money is to use how we see fit. (We have separate fun money accounts.)

I usually spend mine right away, on books, music, library fines, etc. Ryan has been saving his for a big purchase like a PS3 or other video game related items. Well, while we were in Illinois, Ryan got a letter informing him that he had spent $75 of his hard-earned fun money ... he ran a red light here in Frederick at an intersection that is camera-monitored. This is actually his second offense in a year, but thankfully the city doesn't keep track of that, so it doesn't count against his driving record. But it's still a less than fun way to spend fun money.

(This reminds me. I have an overdue library book. Eek!)

Our trip to Illinois was fairly uneventful. We has some miscommunications with Ryan's family about when we would arrive, etc., but it all turned out fine in the end. Katrina has a whole slew of new words, including:

- Boppy/Popeye (Bobby)
- Nawna (both Shawna and my sister Leea)
- Monkey (my mom! I have no idea why she calls my mom "Monkey" - we refer to her as Grammy)
- water
- fench fye (french fry)

... and my favorite: happy. She started saying, "I happy!" while we were in Illinois. Not sure if she really understands the concept, but she sure says it a lot. She will walk around the house saying, "I happy, Mama! Happy, Mama?" and she told me tonight "Rabbit happy!" meaning the rabbit on her pajama top was happy.

It's hard to believe she's two. It's even harder to believe she'll be a big sister in a few months. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday (yay!) but I do need to call the OB in the morning as I've had some spotting (sorry if TMI). Hopefully they will say, "Take it easy until Tuesday then come see us after your ultrasound" since the OB and the Fetal Medicine specialist are now right next door to each other in the same building. It's busy at work the rest of this week and next week through Wednesday, and it will be hard for me to get away from the office.

I have some decisions to make regarding work and what to do after the new baby arrives. I was honest to Kurt/Hal/Gordon when I told them I was pregnant, that I wasn't sure I would be returning full time after the baby is born. They all have been very supportive (is there such a thing as TOO supportive? sometimes it's annoying how they coddle me!), and encouraging me to do what is best for our family ... while trying to entice me to return to work. :) On top of that, our pastor has semi-officially offered me a job at the church. That job seems perfect, but I am managing to talk myself out of it.

Pretty much I'm terrible at making decisions, so pray for me. :)

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!