September 2008 - Posts
Knock on wood...last night, for the first time our little one slept nearly 5 hours straight...in his own bed! Yes, that means I actually slept! He's been doing better the last two or three nights sleeping in his crib, and sleeping a few hours straight (2-3), but has still needed the swing to rock him to sleep around 4 or so in the morning. He's cooing on the couch next to me, what a happy guy he is when he's had a good night's sleep.
Since I slept more than 30 minutes at a whack last night, I'm feeling like a million bucks. When we woke up around 3:30 this morning after his nearly 5 hour bout I felt like I could have jumped out of bed and been good to go for the rest of the day. The remaining bits of sleep I got until about 8am this morning were just icing on the cake.
I've started running again now that my neck and upper back seem to be mostly better. Still a bit sore each morning, but I think I keep sleeping in strange positions without knowing it...hopefully this sleep thing will continue and I'll actually be able to sleep without sitting up in bed. The running has just made me feel that much more out of shape, but I'm sticking with it. Might not get out (or on the treadmill) every day, but I'll get my pre-pregnancy shape back in time. More importantly, I'll get the exercise I need to keep me healthy...oh, and set a good example for my boys.
I ran about a mile on Thursday night...up hill both ways. We live on a nice quiet street that is about 1/4 mile long. Only thing is that it isn't flat by any stretch. You go down a slight hill to get to our driveway, and then it goes down even more before it turns uphill all the way to the cul-de-sac. So, to run a mile, I have to run up and down the street twice...which means up 4 hills and down 4 hills. Great workout, but I would have really liked to run more the first time out. Yesterday my husband and I took the boys to the rails-to-trails down by the river which is really scenic. I ran with my older son in the jogger while my husband trailed behind walking with our youngest in the stroller (and his coffee). I probably ran 3 miles straight, and then walked another mile when I caught up to my husband on the way back. That was a pretty good workout...and it's mainly flat. Best part, I hit the farmer's market by the car before heading home, so we had nice fresh organic veggies with dinner.
I tackled a bushel of apples and made 14 containers of applesauce last night. Ten jars canned and 4 containers for the fridge and freezer. That makes a little dent in what I need to prepare for the winter. Another batch or two and I should have enough to get us to at least the spring. My son and husband loves the homemade sauce, as does most of our family...so we eat it all of the time. This however has caused my hands to worsen. The cracking is back, and the dry fingertips really got annoying as I was trying to change diapers and dress the boys for bed. Feel like I should wear gloves or something to prevent myself from sticking to everything I touch.
I have an appointment for a cleaning today, so we'll see what the dentist thinks of my teeth. Given the lack of saliva, Sjogren's sufferers are more prone to cavities and other dental problems (great, I don't love the dentist to begin with). Add in some sleepless nights where brushing teeth might be hit or miss...let alone the floss part...and we'll see what recipe we've whipped up.
I learned tonight that a pumice stone not only exfoliates your feet, but also is great for removing the dry, cracked skin on the tips of my fingers. Now I hopefully won't stick to everything.
I received my post pregnancy lab work today in the mail. It's been a little while since I've had blood work sent to me, so I'm curious to see how my numbers compare. However, it brought back how I was diagnosed. As I was reviewing the blood work, the first test the lab marked with an H (for high) was my immunoglobulin IgG...normal range is 639-1349mg/dL and mine is currently at 1819mg/dL. This was the marker that first threw my primary care physician, and prompted the other testing and finally a visit to the rheumatologist.
My Sjogren's Antibodies (and that's what the lab refers to them as...) were also marked H. My Ro Antibody (SSA) is >100 (that's what they entered) when normal is 0-25. My La Antibody (SSB) is 72 when normal is also 0-25. Now I'm really curious to pull out the last post pregnancy blood work and see how they compare. Maybe when I find a few minutes.
In the meantime, my neck and back are feeling better...thank goodness as between my two sons I don't think I slept more than 3 hours in total last night. Amazing how we can function with that little sleep. I'd get one down, the other would be up. I get the little one down and the older one had to pee. Little guy didn't want to sleep past 2am, so my husband took him downstairs to swing for a little while. Back up around 5 to eat, back down around 6 to swing.
I wasn't sleepy enough this afternoon to take a nap...so instead, I went outside and worked in my gardens. Most people would think I'm crazy (as my husband told me), but I find it quite relaxing and satisfying to spend time in the garden. Not only do I have some quiet time to myself, but the work I do is pretty visible. Now, if I could just keep the weeds out! I stopped gardening about 3 weeks before I delivered, and aside from a 30 minute spree where I pulled what I could before my husband caught me, I haven't touched the gardens since. I'm sure you can imagine how they look...much like my lawn. Lots of grass. And of course every time I walk by them all overgrown, I long to clean them up. At first, I couldn't bend over, and then I couldn't find the time. Now I'm taking advantage of when my husband's home and it's nice out to work out there for a little while. Maybe someday I'll have the gardens I have in my head.
At least my back and neck weren't bothering me while I was out there. I feel the ache just a little when I turn my head the right way. Here's hoping I continue to "relax" and let my spine snap back in place. Now I'm dealing with super dry hands (it hurts when I bend my fingers, especially where the knuckles on my hand are)...and cracked finger tips such that I'm once again sticking to everything. Break out the hand cream. If my son hadn't smeared my bed, headboard, and wall with the super thick stuff my husband bought me for Christmas, I might be a bit happier.
That wonderful pain in my neck hasn't gone away. I had my loving husband stretch me out like the good doctor showed me, and that didn't really help. I'm fortunate to have a sister-in-law that not only is a physical therapist, but works like 10 minutes away from our house, so she was kind enough to swing by the last two evenings to work on me. Literally, work. She was here about 30 minutes the first night, and probably 20 minutes last night just massaging (deep tissue, not that "feel good" massage) my neck trying to get my muscles to relax enough that the joints in my neck slip back in place.
Although I feel pretty good after she leaves, I feel like I'm pretty bruised within about an hours' time. At least what she's doing has loosened me up enough that I can actually move my head, and there's not much pain in my upper back any longer. It's just time before my muscles relax and I snap back into position. Here's hoping it happens soon as it's been over 3 weeks now!
The hardest part of the day is first thing in the morning...I woke up this morning and could barely move. Definitely felt it more today. At first I thought I wasn't up to take my little guys to our weekly play date, but after a little while I felt better and realized that the best place for the three of us would be with friends. My eldest played pretty well with the other little ones, and my youngest just nursed most of the time we were there. I'm really glad I went, it's nice to get out and talk with friends...even if it's in between trying to break up a tussle or two between the little ones.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the nap I was hoping for today...or all week. Last night the little guy wanted to nurse just about every hour or so, which meant I might have collected a total of 3-4 hours of sleep. Today I was able to get my eldest down for a little while, then the youngest was up for a change and to eat. By the time I got him fed, he pooped again, and my eldest woke up in a fitful crying bout. Must have been a bad dream, but he couldn't settle back down for sleep. So here I am sleepless again this afternoon.
After nearly two weeks of discomfort, my husband finally talked me into calling the doctor to make an appointment. I was able to get in this afternoon, and my great husband left work a little early and met up with me there so he could drive the kids home while I talked to the doctor without any distractions.
After a few minutes of conversation, he had me stretch out on the table and then proceeded to pull and twist my head and neck. A few questions later and he said he knew what was going on...and actually grabbed a spine prop to show me. Turns out from sleeping on it strangely the other night, I moved my spine such that the facet joint is out of line. Basically, in twisting in my sleep I moved the joint such that it's sitting on top of the spine causing a great deal of pain.
The typical treatment - a muscle relaxant and pain killer. This would make the individual relaxed enough that the joint could naturally go back into place. As I'm nursing, no such luck. Instead, he showed me a few different stretches I can do with my husband, and if these don't work in relaxing my neck muscles enough to get the spine back in order, I can either see a PT or a chiropractor. Fun is. Lucky for me, my sister-in-law is a PT, so she's going to make a house call on Wednesday if things aren't any better.
In the meantime, I made and decorated 3 cakes, whipped up two dips and a baked brie in a homemade crust for a party we're going to tomorrow at my sister's. I'm in pain, I'm just not letting it hamper me too much. I feel it most first thing in the morning, when I'm talking on the phone, and when I'm driving a car. The rest of the time I'm more tired than in pain.
I've made it to the final finish line in the birthing process - six weeks post delivery. For the first 2 weeks home, I had the no heavy lifting, no driving, and no more than once up and down the stairs a day rules. Add the no bath, swimming, or exercise (including intimacy) for the next 3 weeks, and here I am at the post delivery finish line.
I saw my rheumatologist yesterday, and atypical to most post deliveries, I have no flare-ups with my Sjogren's. Thank goodness. I couldn't imagine on top of being sleep deprived to the point that I can't open and close my eyes they are SO dry (and I'm not exaggerating), that I'd also be dealing with physical changes in my body due to the stress from pregnancy and delivery. She did an exam and had some blood work done, but overall didn't find any other changes in my being. I did talk with her about the dryness that I experienced the first few weeks, especially the part about how my mouth kept splitting open and wouldn't heal. Nothing more fun than taking a bit out of something and seeing blood on the food remaining. She said that I could have a vitamin B deficiency, so she added that to my blood panel. After donating 10 tubes (no kidding) of blood, I left there a fairly happy camper.
I saw my OB this morning for my post delivery follow-up. Nothing much new to report there. They have me down a whopping 12 lbs. Not quite what I had yesterday, but then again we had Chinese for dinner and I drank a bottle of water on the way in. I'm less concerned with that number right now. Give me a few more months and then I'll really start dwelling on the fact that I have to tackle the weight issue. My blood pressure was great (110/60), and everything looked a-okay with my incision. The doctor was as surprised as I have been that my steri strips haven't fallen off. I guess I actually listen to the physicians a little too much...I didn't try and speed along the process.
One thing that was discussed at length during my visit was birth control moving forward. This was something the doctors brought up towards the end of my pregnancy. Well, not birth control. Sterilization. That's such a harsh word. At the time, I said I wasn't yet ready to make that decision. My husband asked what was involved. He's two and through. Has been from before we were even pregnant with #1. I've always wanted four children. Everyone I've talked with assumes it's the "I want a girl" thing as we have two lovely boys. It could be, but I've always seen myself having more. Not necessarily with a gender associated.
Before delivering, my husband and I tabled the discussion, with the grounds that after a few months with the baby maybe I'd be ready to make that decision more final. Although I'd like more children, and both my OB and high risk OB have said we could, they and especially my rheumatologist have cautioned me about what the risks are. Obviously, the older I am the higher the risk of issues in general, and the more likely we would be for multiples. Nothing like going for a third and getting a fourth. Know people that's happened to. On top of those normal risks, I also have the increased risk of having a child with fetal heart block or other Sjogren's related complications, I have higher risks of miscarriage (due to Sjogren's), higher risk for flare-ups and other Sjogren's related pregnancy complications. On top of it, to be safe, I should be off of the Plaquenil at least 6 months prior to conceiving, so an subsequent pregnancies would have to be well planned. Finally, the stress on my body of another pregnancy could cause the autoimmune disease to go into overdrive. A risk I had this time around, but luckily avoided (keep your fingers crossed).
So, the conversation today laid out all of my options. There is a pill I could take (progesterone only) that is safe for breastfeeding Moms, I could go the IUD route, or I could have some type of tubal ligation (there's two methods). Things to think about. There are risks with each, and it really depends on what we see in our future. Right now, I can't tell you how I'll feel in 2 years so I'm inclined to take the pill and play it month by month. The doctor also threw out there that my husband could be sterilized...and my response is that we were aware, but that wasn't something that I could discuss with an OB. I'm going to read through all of the literature that the OB provided. Not thrilled about the thought of having the IUD, but then I wouldn't have to remember to take the pill everyday. I've also heard of a few people who have gotten pregnant with the IUD in place. Think I'd rather take the pill and know vs. just hope the IUD doesn't slip!
The thing I didn't tell her or my OB at today's appointment is the pain in my neck and back that I've had since last Thursday. Despite being given the go-ahead for all activities, I won't be doing anything strenuous for at least a few more days since I still can't hold the phone between my ear and my shoulder...nor turn my head to far enough to each side to see over my shoulder. Yeah, probably shouldn't be driving. I keep hoping each day it will be better, and truthfully, beside the blog and when it inconveniences me, I kind of forget that it hurts. Just don't have the time to dwell on it. I'm just thinking one foot forward. Change a diaper, feed a baby, keep toddler occupied while I do both. What's for lunch? Get toddler down for a nap, breathe, update blog, feed a baby, change a baby, feed a baby, and somewhere in between it all figure out and make dinner. Phew.
I have to wonder. To sum up the past several weeks...I'm tired. Very tired. Thankfully, my partner in crime really is my partner - my husband actually let me "sleep in" (aka, I just had the baby...who's nursing every hour) on Saturday morning while he took our 2 year old out of ear shot.
Let's see...the birth went well, as did the hospital stay. We came home, and the first week or so home my baby kept losing weight and really wasn't interested in nursing. He slept. I got some rest, but was really emotionally exhausted from constantly trying to nurse (for an hour of more at a time...so basically fighting with him) and having no success. Then all of the sudden he latched and was ready to eat...and that's all he did for about 2 weeks. He would eat for 25-30 minutes, we'd change him, lay him down, and within 5 or 10 minutes he would be ready to eat again...all night long.
We finally got into a good groove where he'd eat and then rest (whether sleeping or just content) for about a week or so more, and then he started to spit up. The occasional spit up turned into every time...to volumes of curdy milky spit up that would soak through his clothing, burp cloth, and any clothing we were wearing that was in contact. At first I thought he was just over eating, but even nursing for 10 minutes he'd spit up.
For the past week I've been on a dairy free diet. Yes, no milk, yogurt, cheese, or butter. No milk products. Do you know how many things have milk products or butter in them? Let's just say I've had my fair share of veggies and fruit. Not the worst thing as I'd love to work on the remaining 40 lbs of baby weight I have yet to see leave my body. It's working.
The pediatrician thought that by after a week we'd see some improvement if the baby really had a milk allergy (most milk allergies do go away around the year mark, and aren't a sign of lactose intolerance). Over this past weekend, the baby has been extremely fussy, won't really sleep, and when awake is screaming. He eats for 10-15 minutes, a few minutes later spits a bunch up, then screams for a little while, sleeps for 15 or so minutes, and then wants to eat again. You can just tell something isn't right. No fever, no other symptoms, so I called the pediatrician this morning as the next thing this could be is reflux (GER). We're going to start in with a reflux medication this evening, and if it's reflux we should see some improvement by the end of the week.
The only change I've noticed in the past week with the spit up is that it seemed to just be milky over the weekend (not much curd) and then today there's chunks that look like cottage cheese. Interesting, huh?
Oh, did I mention that on Thursday night I slept weird and woke up with a very stiff neck? Yeah, fun. Thinking it would go away, I just let it go. By Friday afternoon the pain was into my back so I used the giant heating pad throughout the evening. Saturday I wasn't any better...and not really on Sunday either. Actually took one of those big Motrin they sent me home from the hospital with...no help. I'm a little better today, but can't put the phone between my ear and shoulder. Can't lift my head high enough to look at the ceiling. Hurts to turn to the sides, but at least I can now. Ah, and I haven't gotten the all clear yet from my OB (as it's not 6 weeks) so I can't even sit in a hot bath. FUN.
Went to take a nice hot shower last night and my 2 year old climbed up the stairs with me. He proceeded to take his shirt off and lament "bath, bath" while I was getting my towel and letting the water warm up. He got a bath...then I got a very quick shower before he went to bed. All I was looking forward to after spending the entire afternoon cooking and baking (first time since I gave birth, so I was on a mission to get a lot made for the week) was a LONG hot shower. No go. Maybe tonight.
Tomorrow is my 6 week follow-up with my rheumatologist. Will have to tell her that I'm beyond tired (how much is Sjogren's related...we'll never know)...and that I'm so tired my eyes are SO dry I can barely blink late at night. Not much else too concerning. At least that's what I think - we'll see what she has to say.
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