Andrew's surgery

Andrew had his surgery on Monday.

We had to be at the hospital at 9 am. mapquest said it is 55 miles away, 110 minutes. This hospital is 15 miles from NYC, so be somewhere close to the city at 9 am, rush hour traffic. We decided to leave at 7:15. We got there at 8:15. Whoops!
They admitted us to the hospital but we had to wait around until we were scheduled to be admitted to pre-op. over an hour, borrrring. Plus, Andy and I were both starving, but not allowed to eat and certainly wouldn't do so in front of Andrew.

While we were waiting, Andrew was reclining in my lap, and apparently peed a week's worth of pee. I think it went up to his butt cause he was laying back, and leaked right on out, through his pants onto my pants! Gross! I haven't had pee or poop on me in forever! And I wasn't planning to for another 6ish weeks! Rude, yanno?

We get taken back around 9:30, and he had his temp taken, blood pressure, all that boring stuff, and we were sent to the playroom until they were ready for us. I think it was 11:15 when Andrew was obviously starting to get bored with the few toys they had (I expected a lot more at a children's hospital), so I took him back to his bed and we pulled out a few of the 800 activities we'd brought.

A little after this, the nurse brought him his gown and sleepy medicine to make him mellow. And a spacesuit for Andy. After about 5-10 minutes, the anesthesiologist comes to talk to us, and Andrew is acting nuts and horrible. Like, his worst behavior ever times 20. Which is funny, because I take sleep meds, like tylenol PM and it makes me want to go running and very not tired. And I don't run, and I like to sleep! Then that Dr. left, and his assistant came back by to take Andrew away, and when she was verifying it was him and asking questions, Andrew goes totally drunk! Andy was sitting next to him, touching him, and he asks "Where Daddy go?" "where da chair go?" And other weird stuff. Then he could barely sit up. It was so funny. Much better than naughty.

At 11:50 they let Andy carry him back, and just wheeled his bed away. Andy said that they let him keep holding him while they covered his face with the mask. We had been warned that most kids start to go under and freak out and cry and scream. Andrew started giggling like a fool. Hehe. After he was out, Andy put him down and they kicked him out. We had been told it would be about 90 minutes from that point.

We went and grabbed lunch at the Au Bon Pain they have there, then Andy ran to the car and got the gift we'd gotten him and Andy's computer. We sat in the main lobby trying to connect to the internet, but you had to sign up for access to the network, then after they gave you a conf code, call the front desk to be granted the access. It was just a few too many steps for us to find it worthwhile :)

We went back to the surgery waiting room at 12:50. I pulled out my book, and I think read two paragraphs when I hear someone's cell phone buzzing. it was SO LOUD, and sounded like it was right behind me. I started to get annoyed and look around to see who the hell was ignoring their phone, but there wasn't even anyone sitting around me. Then a nurse sticks her head out the door and yells Hoyt? Up we pop, gather our things and head over. Nurse: Did we give you a buzzer [like the one you get at a restaurant]? Yes. Nurse: Is it going off? Oh, um, yeah, it is. Here in my pocket. Thankfully, all of these nurses were super nice, and I am obviously super pregnant, and they just laughed at me being an idiot! I swear I just wasn't ready for us to be called yet at all, not on my mind. I thought we had another half hour.

We were taken to a room by the dr. He repaired the right hydrocele and a hernia. He says he always had the hernia, but I swear he never said that when we met before! He had been complaining a lot when I had to wipe poop from his balls and penis lately, so maybe he wasn't being a brat and it did hurt. The left side was fine and closed up. No crazy playing until the post-op appt. No bike riding, playground, running like a wild man. Ha. haha. We can avoid the ride-on toys and playground, but no running? hell no! Also, no bath until Friday. And its gotten warm again, this could get nasty!

Anyway, after talking to the dr we were taken back to see him. He was just coming out of it, and flipping and flopping, freaking out. As soon as I touched him, he calmed down. I climbed in the bed, and held him for about 40 min while he slept. Then I had to move him, I was too uncomfortable, and he woke up for good. He was really whiny, but we asked if he wanted to watch Cars, and he was good after that :) He was still groggy, but he started to act alert and talk. We offered him crackers and apple juice and he devoured them.

We were discharged a bit before 3. We had to stop in the main lobby to look at the Dory fish for five minutes then were on our way. Andrew fell asleep about halfway home. We stopped to drop off his prescriptions and were home by 4. So. we waited 3 hours to be taken to surgery, and were home within 4 hours of that... Stupid wasted waiting.

Andrew woke up when we got home, and we let him watch Finding Nemo. After an hour or so, he decided it was time to get up and play on the floor with his new trucks. He ate a good supper, and went to bed just fine.

Yesterday, he was back to his old self. Running around the house, asking to ride his bike, being bratty, wanting peenka butter sandwiches, etc.

I am letting PBS stay on all morning, and being lazy myself, so he kind of hangs out with me. We'll play cars and trains, build, and just go for a walk to get mail. he totally wants to go play outside and ride his bike though! I think he is feeling fine. Every now and then he jumps to hard or stretches, and then barely winces and puts his hand to his incision, but otherwise is good.

Balls, balls, balls

When we were driving home from NC I noticed Andrew's scrotum was all squished, and I felt bad for his balls, all strapped in like that.
On Friday, his scrotum was waaaay bigger. I thought it was weird, considering they fall out your body when you are hot, like with fever, which was all gone. I spent Saturday poking, trying to figure out if his balls were really swollen or if I was freaking over nothing. When Andy got home Sunday night, I made him look, but he wasn't sure either. We decided to rethink in the am. Yesterday am, everything looked ok. In the afternoon, it was swollen again. I decided to call this morning.
I called, told the receptionist what was up. She put me on with a dr. Who acted like he was about to explode, come in ASAP. I get transferred back to make the app, again telling the issue. It was making me blush and giggle all this talk of balls!
Ok, called at 9:30, appt at 10:20. There was such a line it took 5 min to check in. I am not sure how long before we were taken back but a dr didn't come into the exam room until 12:10. An hour and fifty minutes after my scheduled appt!! Dr told Me changes in the testes is srs bsns, and he should've come in the first weirdness. He felt him up, mentioned hydrocele, and wrote a Rx for a scrotal ultrasound STAT!

Oh, CRAP

I left at 12:20, called Andy and ran thru the Wendy's drive-thru. We probably got to the hospital and were checking in at 12:45. Since it was lunch time and we didn't have an appt it might take a while. Now remember, we'd been out of the house for nearly 3 hours, and I'd expected it to be 1 hr, I'd only brought one diaper! As we were being led to the radiology waiting room Andrew starts saying poopoo poopoo. Argh. Sure enough we had a poopy and no diapers. Andy was still working on leaving work, no idea how long until he could rescue us. I ended up asking at the front desk for a diaper or time estimate. It was going to be long enough that I ran out to rite aid for a pack of sposies.
Andy showed up at 2:10 and we were seen at 2:30. I had now been at this for four hours!
Andrew had to lay on the table pantless and be still. Haha right? The tech was awesome and showed him the gel and wand, we said it was like mommy had done to see my neck and Baby Sister. He lay there and was an angel!

We were home a little after 3.

I called twice before the drs leave at 8:30 but the results weren't back yet.

The dr did just call me and was so much nicer than earlier! Oh, but not good news :(

Moderate right hydrocele. What that means is that when he developed, after his testicles dropped from his body into his scrotum, the hole didn't close and now fluid is slipping into his scrotum during the day and back into his abdomen as he sleeps.

We are being referred to a pediatric urologist, and see where we go from there.

So, 2009:
Kate: thyroid makes pregnancy high risk.
Andrew: leaky balls.
Andy: you better watch out!! (andy will develop kidney stones in June)

Andrew put me in time-out today :( he was in the bath, and accidentally dropped one of his numbers on the floor, so i picked it up and tossed it back in the tub.

NO NO! BAH! TAHM-OWT!

It was so hard not to laugh in his face. Is there excessive use of the time-out in this house??


His 2 yr well baby was on Friday. Weighing him was the biggest torture ever. We ended up having to weigh me with him, then me alone, which let me tell you, is always a big self esteem booster. He weighed 27 lbs. Since he was already clinging and having a fit we tossed him on the baby tape measure and read the number as fast as possible. It was 0.5" shorter than last time, so who really knows, but he's still over 36" and giganticly tall, but string beany skinny. I did this lovely, and surely accurate, height predictor on babycenter last week, and it claims he will be 6'4" tall. Marist College, here we come!!
Then they pricked his finger. Such mean people. Then the nurse practitioner came in, and he is so in love with her, he was babbling on about cars outside in two seconds.
Declared in perfect health.

Andy's new job and moving

Andy was told about a job opportunity in mid-late October. He had a quickie interview the last week of October, and was offered the job. It was announced department-wide on Nov. 12. The new manager had shuffled some people around to create a new team, and Andy is the new manager to head it up. Everyone was really happy for him, and really sad to lose him. He started transitioning the moment it was announced , and was swamped doing two things at once for a couple of weeks. He headed down to Raleigh on Nov 30, and officially started on Dec 1.
He is a Software Development Manager for Websphere now. He isn't telling me what to say on how he is liking it, but I think he is :)

Half of his team is located in Raleigh, the other half in Austin. He can choose where to locate himself between those two, and obviously, we are choosing Raleigh area! He has been spending a week in Raleigh, a week home, rinse and repeat.

Our listing expired on Nov 30th, and we let it. We will put it back on the market in mid-January. It's really frustrating. We put it on the market 4 months prior to when we expected to start getting job possibilities, 6 months prior to when the job actually came. And nothing. The realtor says the best time will be the spring. Here's to hoping spring means mid-February! I really don't want to have to move and find a new OB and birthing center after May!

Ok, that's it! Look for backdated entries on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and new entry on Andrew's birthday!

hey all. I am still around! I haven't forgotten this blog. I just uploaded pictures last night, from the sunday before Christmas through yesterday! So you can tell I am behind on computer life.

I promise to update on all of our goings on soon! But for now, a funny from at the Hoyts.

my poor child. He wakes up every now and then and whines owie owie! He'll then point to his arm or foot, which I assume have fallen asleep. So, I rub the limb. In the middle of the night, he goes right back to sleep, but naps, he's usually up for the day. Today, andy went to rescue him from the owie cry, and then sat on the couch with him. Andrew snuggled with his eyes open for maybe 20 minutes, but eventually went to sleep again.

A few minutes ago, he apparently decided Daddy was no longer comfortable...


whoop! he moved again. it's a snuggle fest over here! then, after I took this picture, he flailed his arms in the air. I guess the flash is too bright.

These antics have me cracking up so hard... except I have to be quiet. It is hard!

Christmas Eve

This year, we decided to switch things up a little bit, and went to the five o'clock service on Christmas Eve. It's the "family" service, so when your kids is misbehaving, it's no big deal. This meant we'd have to eat dinner with mine and Andy's parents as soon as we could after we all made it to our house from church. This posed a meat-making problem for me! Not like it was really an issue, but it meant I had to do something new :) I stuck a ham in the oven when we left the house, and it was perfectly done when we got home! Fun times. Service at my church is typically an hour long, at Andy's parent's it's 45 minutes. This time, ours was 45 minutes, and their's was an hour 15 minutes! We ended up sitting down for dinner at 7:30. Andrew behaved pretty well... always showing off for the grandparents! I made a buche de noel for dessert, I love that thing. Not my best, but still so tasty.

Andrew got to open one present before bed, and it was a pair of Elmo pajamas! He was so happy with them. He changed and modeled for his grandparents before they left, and he headed to bed. He went into bed, and Andy and I did some quick arranging before I ran back to church to play at the 11 o'clock service.
I was in the RCW Christmas play this year, and in my scene, we were unpacking Christmas things in the attic, and needed a nativity. I offered up my nativity set, since I wasn't planning to put it up with Andrew and his clumsy hands around. I offered it up as a prop, and the church thought the size of it was so great, the borrowed it to display in front of the pulpit all season. I hadn't noticed it during the Family Service, but when I was up in the balcony for the 11 o'clock, I could see how there was a spotlight on the stable the entire service, and the sanctuary lights dimmed most of the time. It was absolutely beautiful, and i felt so honored that it was my family's nativity!

and fun fact: My Granny bought that nativity in CA, before they moved back to MS after my grandfather died, so early-mid 1960's. She passed it on to my parents when they got married, and my mom passed it on to me after we got married and didn't have one! Third generation, isn't that cool?

Early pregnancy visits

I went to the dr for the first time on Dec 1. The nurse was suprised I hadn't had it confirmed in anyway other than the test at home, and I was that far. I said, I dunno, I just did what they told me on the phone! She made me pee in a cup, then dropped it on a test, and pretty much immediately exclaimed, yep, you're pregnant! I weighed in only 4lbs heavier than my regular weight on my home scale. And was wearing jeans, and a heavy sweater. totally haven't gained weight, right? I met with the dr in her office. Where I noticed she was wearing a pair of my favorite slacks. And in the corner, had an orange tote bag I also have. I like her :) She asked why I was switching practices, and responded appropriately when I told her the ways I was unhappy with my previous birth. And she played with Andrew. And she asked questions about my thryoid nodule, and was rather dismissive of it. Which, really, its not like it does anything. Then we went to get and exam. She checks my heart and breathing, then feels my neck. Oh, wow! You really do have a good size nodule! Lol, I told you so! My uterus was properly swollen, my boobies good. All normal, healthy, and apparently pregnant.

I scheduled the nuchal translucency ultrasound for Dec 23, and another appt for Dec 29. They called me this Tuesday morning, and asked if I could come in at 12:30. They hadn't done an acual intake appt, where they get history and such, and preferred to do it sooner, rather than wait until I was 14 weeks. In I went! My mom was able to meet me and corral Andrew. I gave a million vials of blood, incl some to test my TSH levels, which haven't been done since 2005. Seems weird with a growing nodule, right? Otherwise, I just talked to the NP, went over history, how I am doing, blahblah. I was declared the easiest patient ever.

I got a giant bag of "goodies," all stuff from Similac. A planner, and travel bag with a can of formula, and the bag the give in the hospital, with samples, and another formula sample. Ugh. Can maybe they wait to attempt to sabotage a mother's nursing relationship? And at a midwife too. She is supposed to be helping me have a natural birth, wouldn't she also advocate the natural way to feed babies? I want to complain, but um. really like the practice so far. I don't want to cause shit! Plus, there is a pretty handy toiletry bag, AND a sample of aquaphor, which I do keep meaning to buy for Mr. Chappy Cheeks.