Lest I Forget

Well my friends, I will be carefully packing away my current knitting projects for the foreseeable future. Which is unfortunate in many ways, but mostly because it is my anxiety reducer. And right at this moment my anxiety level is mighty high. Sunday was Peter's fourth birthday. He asked us to take him to the skating rink. So I bought him a pair of cute roller skates that fit over his shoes, along with lots of other little trinkets. Sophie has been here with us and it has been a joy to have all my kids together under one roof. So we all loaded up into the van and went to the skating rink. The big girls and I took turns shuffling around the rink with Peter. Anna and Jack are quite good skaters and Therese almost matches them in ability. So, when Peter took a break, Therese asked me to skate alongside her. We were having such fun, coasting around the rink. Then, I lost my balance and went down. Hard. I heard the bone break. I looked at my arm. It did not look like my arm because i...

I am just wondering. Take, for instance, the seemingly simple task of booking a doctor's appointment for a child. I called this morning, all cheery, and tried to get Therese in to see the doctor, as she has been having frequent nose bleeds. The one yesterday at the pool, during her swimming lesson, lasted almost half an hour. The also cheery voice on the other end told me there were no appointments available, but she would put in a request to our clinic and they should call back within 2-4 hours. Fine. I really think they should just book appointments and not play this game, but fine. So I waited. Seven hours later, and close to the end of the business day, no call back. I called to see what was going on. They tried directly connecting me to the clinic (why didn't we do that this morning?) and once it began to ring, the line disconnected. We tried again. Same result. Apologetically, she offered that if I really felt she needed to be seen immediately, I could go to the ER. No,...

Wednesday, July 17 -going to the Botanical Gardens with good friends. Expect a great day. Don't forget to pack chair that I sold on craigslist. -get to the gardens to discover that child in charge of packing chair packed wrong chair. -the gardens are beautiful but it is sure hot. -get home, notice that Peter seems hot to the touch. Give him cool bath. -Peter is still hot. Take temperature. It is 103. -Google heat stroke in infants. Freak out. Head to ER. -Doc thinks it is only a virus. Big sigh of relief, still feeling guilty about taking him out on hot day. -get home. make pizza. watch movie. Peter still has fever. Thursday, July 18 -long, long night. Peter's fever is so high. Over 104 most of night. Many cool baths. -start packing for trip that may not happen if he is not better. -this fever just won't break. Keep giving meds and cool baths. -decide to postpone trip for one day. maybe we can still make it to the reunion. -Oh, my. Sophie's birthday! Sh...

Peter's month of confinement in a cast is done! He was a real trooper. He adapted very well and could still get everywhere, and I do mean everywhere! The stairs? Not a problem. He could navigate them up and down. The potty? He discovered it's a splash zone in there and we are currently training the rest of the troops to keep that door closed. As soon as we got home, I gave him the first bath he's had in a month. (Not in the potty, in the tub ;) ) We are all very thankful for that bath. Even a cute baby foot can get very stinky in a month. I'm betting that he will be walking in no time now that he is free.

Whew! What a month. We are back from Kitty Hawk. Peter and I hung out together on our first day early enough to watch the sun rise over the ocean. It was unseasonably cool that first day. The kids wanted desperately to get in the pool. Through chattering teeth, they swore that they were having a good time and were not too cold. I think he looks cold. Olivia and I had the same plan. Hang out poolside. Doesn't everyone use flippers as float paddles? They work ever so well! Poolside with the camera. My goal was to stay right there in that lounge chair. I had no desire to set foot in that pool. After lunch, we headed out to the Wright Brothers Memorial. My sister and her family met us there. Jack has been fascinated by all things relating to the Wright Brothers lately, and we were not disappointed. The man giving a talk impressed us with his knowledge and his love for the subject. They wanted to leave flowers on the memor...

I knew it was going to be a weird day when I awoke to the news of the Pope's resignation. That surreal feeling came over me, the one where you are reading the truth, but it seems so false. As I sat there letting this information sink in, the phone rang. Mind you, it was not even 8 o'clock in the morning. It was the hospital calling with the results of my blood work I had done on Friday. With a sinking even further feeling, I answered it, knowing that they wouldn't call just to tell me everything was good. My hunches were right and my old friend hyperthyroid has returned. The doctor prescribed a beta blocker to help bring down my heart rate and wanted me to come in for a few more tests. I hung up and then immediately thought of the question I should have asked, namely, is it safe to take this medication while breastfeeding. Over the next couple hours, I looked up information and put a message in to the doctor. Then I fed the kids some lunch, who up to this point had had a fr...

It was around two in the morning. In the dimly lit hospital room, I nursed my baby, studying this new little person. His sweet face that reflected a little of each of his siblings, his tiny fingers, his slender delicate arms. Carefully, I unwrapped the swaddling blanket to check out his feet. There is something so precious about those miniature newborn feet. Caressing his soft skin, I looked at his feet. Something didn't seem right. I slowly counted his toes. I counted again. I turned on the light. I paged the nurse. On his left foot, I kept counting to six! Surely I was mistaken. The nurse came in, casually looked at his foot, and calmly replied, "Interesting. Usually it is not a fully formed toe." Usually? As in, this is a normal thing to have happen? Not in my little world! After seeing the orthopedic doctor last week, we have a decision to make. Do we have it removed or leave it alone? The doctor left it up to us, though he did say it would be hard to find shoe...

Man, oh man. I wish that I could just trust the health care professionals whose care I am under. But unfortunately, this is not the case. I wonder if they really listen at all sometimes. Low milk supply is supposedly helped by taking fenugreek. I bought some in the form of an herbal capsule upon the recommendation of the lactation consultant and started taking the dosage on the bottle. I definitely saw an increase in milk, but it seemed like Peter was having stomach pains and his stool started getting foamy. I could not prove that it was because of the fenugreek, but I stopped taking it and he seemed better. But my milk production went back down too. Also, during that time, but I did not associate it with the supplement, my thyroid symptoms seemed to flair up. I know this is a possibility at any time since I had post-partem thyroiditis after Therese was born. I discussed all this with the lactation consultant and she suggested trying a drug called domperidone to increase milk product...

Jenny is still at the hospital, safe and sound. So, I, Tony, the husband, will have to give all of you J. Reosti blog followers who are in suspense the initial report on Peter Louis Reosti, the newest Reosti. We're 95% solid on Peter. Charles is option, though. But Louis is rock solid in the middle. He was born 5:52pm EST, 7lbs 11ozs, 19.5ins long. The smallest of our 7 babies. No complications as of yet. I am sure Jenny will post all the details when she gets home. But for now, here are a few pics:   Pete all cleaned up. Mom resting very happily. The rest of the gang saying hello.

This past week, I needed something sort of easy and mindless to knit. I found a pattern for a baby toy and it was the perfect project. I have finished the knitting and only have to bind off and stuff the toy now. I had to sit in many doctor's waiting rooms this week and my mind was restless with worry and not knowing. I had to keep my hands busy. A couple weeks ago, I went to the ER because my right arm was numb and heavy and my right leg was shaking. Then I started having heart palpitations. The doctor was concerned that I might have suffered a mini-stroke and wanted to admit me immediately. But I couldn't. Tony was out of town and I had left Olivia at home with the little ones. It was decided I could go home and the tests would be done over the next week. On Monday, the doctor called to let me know she had an answer for me. My blood tests showed that I have a hyperactive thryroid. Now we know and now we can fix it and move on. Praise God! One of the best things about this y...

Outside my window...it is still dark but I cannot sleep. My mind is full of thoughts that keep me awake. I am thinking...about Anna, about SUDEP, about how to control my fears, about how to trust God in all this, about how to get her the best care possible. When we went through this with Ben, the doctors seemed so unconcerned by his case and I thought we were doing all the right things and Ben seemed so healthy. Now, the doctors still seem unconcerned, but I am not! I feel the need to fight for more monitoring of her condition. I am thankful for...my family all under one roof again after a weekend apart. From the learning rooms...hoping a new week and a fresh start and healthy kids will make for a productive week. From the kitchen...I need to make bread today. I may try my hand at the no knead bread from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". I had been using my bread machine while my fingers healed from some pretty bad burns, and while I am grateful to have that machine, it can...

Without giving too much information, my 17 year old daughter has been experiencing irregular cycles. Enough to make me worry. When I took her to the military clinic this morning, the doctor immediately wanted to put her on oral contraceptives to "regulate" her cycles. No tests, no bloodwork, just straight to pills. Am I overreacting? I find this appalling that the medical profession goes for the easy "put a band-aid on it" fix rather than trying to find the solution to a problem. After explaining that I was not comfortable with this option, he reluctantly ordered blood tests to check for any abnornmalities. We should hear something by tomorrow. Unfortunately, I am not surprised by this visit. There has been only one doctor in the last 7 years that I felt did a thorough job and took the time to really listen and diagnose my children's ailments. This is not a good percentage, in my opinion.