rapid weight loss during late pregnancy | It gets easier

rapid weight loss during late pregnancy

  Every day in every way, its getting better and better.

-John Lennon

 

I think Ive cracked the code on what people mean when they knowingly tell you, "It gets easier." For the longest time, Ive wanted to ask these people, "What on earth do you mean by that? Ive heard this since my oldest was born!" Four years and change and here is what I think they mean: survival and self-sufficiency.

Survival: you get through it.

When you have a newborn, you first must learn to feed it. This "gets easier" with practice. Feeding a one-year old can actually be much harder than feeding a newborn (dont freak out, new moms). Newborns dont throw food across the room or refuse to eat something because it is squishy/mushy/crunchy/green. You also pretty much know what a newborn will eat: breast milk or formula. One-year olds demand variety (or, perhaps, the same thing for every meal, turning mealtimes into a battleground). But-- here is the big but-- you have it down by then. You have been feeding this infant for a year and you feel like you can handle it. This is why I think it is survival. I did not feel like "it got easier," necessarily. It was nice not to leave the house with Boppy pillows, bottle warmers, breast pads, and burp cloths. However, I felt like I traded in Mustela for Munchkin: snack containers, leaking sippy cups, sandwich boxes, and a never ending demand for chopped fruits and veggies.

The light at the end of the tunnel: preschool age. We can find food for our four-year old on any menu. We can tell him, "We are finishing our dinner. After dessert we are going home. You need to be a gentleman until then," and he sits. No screaming at the table or that dramatic lean over of the side of the high chair as if he hasnt been fed in years. No throwing everything off his plate onto the floor or dragging in a diaper bag, snack container, sippy cups. Nope. If we are going to a restaurant, I usually put a coloring pad in my purse.

The other side of survival is simply just getting through it. Dealing with a newborns feeding schedule can be rough, then you have the sleep schedule. Once you get that down, you are again focusing on feeding-- starting solids. Once you have solids down, then you are dealing with transitioning to one nap. Then you have a toddler who battles afternoon nap for no apparent reason. Then doesnt like these textures or those textures. Then suddenly you have a two or three year old who wont nap at all, though he really needs a nap. By four oclock in the afternoon, it is one meltdown after another, even though you imposed "quiet time" earlier in the day. Somehow, you just get through it. You take each phase as it comes. And then he is four. He is just fine without a nap and sometimes takes one anyways (oh, those glorious afternoons!). You look back and realize that you arent dealing with the "does he need a nap?" or "is he hungry?" questions all day. You got through it.

Self-sufficiency: it does come.

A newborn cant even hold up his head, let alone feed himself, change himself, bathe himself, entertain himself. Once he gets mobile, he spends every waking hour trying to hurt himself, it seems. Light socket? Lets jab something in it. Bookcase? Im gonna climb it. Oven? Lets figure out how it opens. You worry when he is "too quiet" in the other room; what has he gotten into? With twins, you have two toddlers who throw toys; two toddlers who empty your bookshelves; two toddlers who want to play with big brothers Playmobile pirate set and Legos; two toddlers who dump plates of food off their highchairs. Diapers. Sippy cups. Baths. Changing clothes. Putting on jams. Reading stories. Playing/entertaining. All on your shoulders.

And then the magical age: four. Our fully-potty trained preschooler gets up in the night to use the restroom, washes his hands, turns off the light, and goes back to bed. He is responsible for all areas in the restroom-- no more calling for help on the, um, bigger tasks. He dresses himself every morning, puts on his socks and shoes, and puts his pajamas in the hamper. He picks up his toys. He showers himself. The other day, I moved the laundry while he showered. Oh, the freedom! He got out of the shower, brushed his teeth, hung up his towel, and then put on his pajamas. He can write his name. He can count to thirty. He knows a few sight words. He recognizes some letters and their sounds. He tells jokes and makes us laugh. He has ideas and wants to help fix things. (He keeps the tape in his room so he can fix his toys.) If you had told last year Me that one day my kids would take care of themselves, I would have laughed. The idea seems ludicrous when you are down in the diaper trenches. But it happens.

I call myself a deliberate optimist; Im a pessimist at heart. With every give, there is a take. There is much less hands-on work with four-year olds. Preschoolers are absolutely nothing like infants or toddlers. It is busier, especially with a preschool schedule. He is a little kid now, his own person. My husband is in the STA-21 program and it has been a crazy, busy semester. Maybe the stress of balancing all these different schedules is getting to me, but, really, when does this get easier? Will it be easier when I have three boys preschool age and up involved in outside activities (D currently participates in a sports class and AWANAS)? I dont see how three sports schedules on top of school will be easier, especially throwing in the Navy.

It gets better, thats what I think. I have so much fun laughing with D and hearing his thoughts. We do silly art projects and work on sight words. I love seeing the world from his point of view. We spent thirty minutes in the Lego store today just looking in the little windows at the Lego creations. My friends can tell you that I used to swear that I was a "baby person." I love me some babies. But interacting with my own preschooler-- our child-- has really made me marvel at the things he has to say... I cant get enough of it. In that way, it gets better. Easier, not yet.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

-The Beatles?

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pregnancy weight loss success stories | Life still goes on

pregnancy weight loss success stories

Our toddler old was diagnosed with reactive airways disease last spring and we recently wrote an action plan for him with our pediatrician. Looking online, the blogs and medical sites use the acronym RAD (Reactive Airway Disease). There is a lot of conflicting information out there regarding whether or not a toddler can be definitely told he has asthma. Medscape Reference states that a child needs to be "at least 5 years of age" before he can diagnosed with asthma in their December 2011 article "Pediatric Reactive Airway Disease." Expert Advice in the "Asthma: Difference Between it and RAD" Q&A, February 2002, says the diagnosis cant be made in "children under two years of age." Both pediatricians we saw as well as our CPNP and asthma/allergy specialist told us that O has reactive airways with a high probability of it later being diagnosed as asthma, considering our family history and Os personal medical history. While he does not have a diagnosis of asthma, we are proceeding as such because of his own medical history.

Weve started using new words around the home. Instead of saying, "Hes really laboring to breathe," we say, "Hes having heavy retractions." We already used wheezing, but now we talk about crackling lungs instead of saying, "Hes catching when he breathes." Flare-ups, yellow zone, nebulizer, breathing treatment... Our preschooler asks how O is doing and our non-asthmatic toddler watches the administration of breathing treatments to see if hes missing anything.

Last night I sat on the floor of the living room with my husband, showing him how to work the nebulizer and how to give a breathing treatment. We talked about Os medications and what they were for: Pulmicort, Albuterol, Oprapred, as well as his short-term antibiotic. We used the word "corticosteroid" several times today. I myself take a corticosteroid twice a day, Flovent, and have Albuterol inhalers tucked in key places around the house (though I havent had to use it in awhile, knock on wood). However, I am comfortable telling my doctor that I need a refill on my bronchodilator. It seems like a whole different ballgame having my son need a bronchodilator.

Corticosteroids are used for asthma management. This is what keeps your lungs "in shape," and is often referred to as a maintenance medication. No matter what "zone" he is in (check out my blog "Reactive airways"), he will take the Pulmicort twice a day. An article in Doctors Guide titled "FDA Approves Pulmicort Nebulized Corticosteroid (Budesonide) For Asthmatic Children" says that use of "inhaled corticosteroids has allowed physicians the ability to target inflamed airways." In "Managing Your Childs Asthma" published by the Childrens Hospital of St. Louis, it states:

Sometimes, flare-ups do occur even when asthma is controlled with the best possible means. At these times, your physician may prescribe Prednisone or Orapred, oral steroids used to reduce the inflammation in the airways and help in the resolution of the asthma flare-up. These oral medications are given for 5-7 days.  

O has an Orapred prescription for those flare-ups." I really like this article from the Childrens Hospital of St. Louis, so Im going to quote them again for the bronchodilator, Albuterol, or "rescue medication:"

The most commonly used rescue medication is Albuterol, which relaxes the contracted muscles surrounding the airways and helps move air through the airways. Use this when your child is having an asthma attack or when you expect an asthma exacerbation...

With all of these medications and things to watch and keep in mind, having an Asthma Management Plan is key. This is something that we wrote with our pediatrician. Again with the Childrens Hospital of St. Louis article, "An asthma action plan will help you manage your child’s asthma on a daily basis as well as serving as a guide for a) what to do if an asthma attack occurs and b) when to go to the ER for help."

We spent awhile today brainstorming what we are going to do when leaving the boys with our childcare-- drop-in childcare and with our baby-sitters. Our big dilemma is that our twins are identical. We wouldnt want our regular baby-sitter giving C Pulmicort when it is O who needs it, or for O to go unmonitored at drop-in childcare because he was confused with his brother or lost in the crowd. Or what about at the church nursery where there seems to be a new volunteer every week? I did some online research as well as posted on some twin groups. In all the websites I looked at, there seemed to be three basic options of bracelets: stainless steel small classic bracelet from American Medical ID, childrens adjustable alert fashion bracelets from Colonial Medical Assisted Devices, and a 3-pack of toddler sized asthma alert medical ID rubber bracelets from E-Bay. What kind of bracelet works best for a 17-month old? I dont think he would keep a Velcro bracelet or the child-size rubber bracelets on. Im also concerned about the information on the engraved medical ID. If we engrave Pulmicort and it gets changed, we would need a new medical ID... but dont we want to list his medications? Ugh. I dont know. I did get some great tips from the twin groups, such as zipper pulls and shoe charms (although Im lazy and his shoes are Velcro... haha!). My husband had a great idea this afternoon. You know those clear ID badge holders? He suggested I make a chart on the computer, print it out, and cut it out to fit an ID badge holder. I could have Os information visible on one side and print the medical symbol large for the other side. These would be much more affordable to make, so I could clip one on his diaper bag, hang it one on the stroller, and even attach one to Os person. This addresses all my concerns, making sure they would have all Os information in an emergency and preventing my toddlers from getting mixed-up. (Just one of a million reasons why I love this man!)

We did well today. O had a rough nap and slept fitfully. He woke up wheezing and out of breath. We watched him for a little while, "Does he need Albuterol? Is this just his cold working its way out? No, hes really wheezing... but hes smiling..." Every medical professional we have encountered has remarked on what a sweet boy O is. He always has a smile. He is very obedient. It makes it easy to treat him, but difficult to assess where hes really at. Even with extremely low oxygen levels in the PICU last February, he had smiles for the staff. We ended up giving him an Albuterol treatment this afternoon, which took care of the wheezing. I even left my husband home alone with the boys while I went to the movies with girlfriends. He gave O his Pulmicort and I tried not to think about him the whole time I was out of the house. It was good to get out for a bit.

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