I guess I need to give everyone an update on whats been up with me over the past month. Well its all about getting used to a new normal.
First of all for those that don't already know, we released the name of our little boy. He is officially Sean Patrick McLaughlin. He is also really beautiful. We had another ultrasound on
July 2nd, and the little one is so incredibly gorgeous. We got several 3-D pics of him, and there was at least one that looked just like Bri, and another pic that really resembled my family, so who knows who he will look like in the end. They told us that he already weighed 2lbs at that appointment, and that was 2 weeks ago. He was also measuring 3 days ahead of his expected size. I think we have a big boy coming our way, everyone keeps guessing that he will be in the 9lb range when he is born, I don't know how I feel about all that, but as long as he is healthy then I'll take it.
Second, Brian, my sister and I took a trip to Charlotte, NC over the 4th of July to see his family for the last time before Sean arrives, and take my sister to her final college visit. It was nice to see everyone, and it was such a fun trip. The family threw me a baby shower while we were down there, and we received a bunch of cute outfits, as well as our Pack'n'Play, diaper genie, and a beautiful solar system mobile. We were so incredibly blessed to have so many people excited for us to have our own baby. One incredibly speacial memory from the trip for me was when my niece was talking to me about baby Sean, and she wanted to brush baby Sean's hair, she gave baby Sean a kiss, and put her ear up to my belly to listen to baby Sean. It was such an incredible feeling knowing that even a 2.5 year old understands that we are going to have a baby, and she is so excited about it.
Well, I guess I should get down to my health... I am doing as ok as can be expected. I am still on percocet every 5 hours, and have been for over a month now. Since being in the hospital, I have been seeing the OB every week, just so that they can keep a close eye on me, my pain and our little Sean. So far, Sean is doing wonderfully(as mentioned above), and I am going in for monthly growth scan ultrasounds to keep an eye on him to make sure that he continues to grow as expected. Every time I go into the OB, I know I am a special case... there is one doc that really understands what is going on without us explaining the whole situation, and we have been seeing her a lot, however, we have had a couple other appointments with other docs in the practice since being in the hospital, and each time we have had to explain why we are being seen so often, and whats going on with us. I know that there really isn't a ton that they can do for me, but its frustrating when they can't read my chart BEFORE they come talk to me.
I am also seeing a urologist once a month, mostly to do urine cultures, and to make a plan to remove the stone after Sean is here. It sounds like they can't do any procedures until around 2 weeks after the birth, which of course is frustrating, because it will come right in the middle of the bonding, and the first couple weeks or Sean's life will be full of doctors appointments and surgery for me. That is really hard to accept, and I am trying very hard to work through all of my emotions.
Today I saw a pain management specialist for the first time, it was such a waste of my time. I do know that my OB said that I would need a plan to get off the pain meds after the stone is out, but really I feel like he didn't do anything except take my money, and treat me like I might try to sell my pain meds on the street... it felt great. I will have to see him everytime I need a med refill now... at $40 a pop... what a frustration.
I guess my health is just a big waiting game at this point. Oh yeah, and I am not allowed to work at all. The doctor thinks that it would be too stressful for me to be working in a technical field with my incredibly slow response time. I have had a couple breakdowns over the last couple weeks wondering if I will ever be able to do my job again, or ever be able to think technically again. Its hard when I should know the answer to something off the top of my head that I just cannot recall, and its like my mind just has a huge block. Brian keeps reminding me that it is all temporary, and I will be my old self soon enough. I guess only time will tell.
Oh my, what else.... over the past month, Brian and I have been trying to make progress on several house projects, starting with repairing the leaks in the basement. Well we thought that it would be a pretty simple fix, and while it may have been pretty simple, it seems that it isn't as simple as we had thought, and we are going to have to get a serious professional out to fix the problem. This means that we are going to have to proceed with the nursery painting and such even without finishing the basement. We figure we are going to need to have a place for Sean before too long, so it is getting higher and higher on our priority list.
Oh yeah, my other sister came and stayed with Brian and I for about a week and a half, to help with our house projects. While she was here she created a number of art pieces for Sean's nursery. They are so incredibly beautiful, and so appropriate for what Brian and I do in real life. She painted a sunrise over the earth, a pair of merging galaxies, a supernovae, and the Orion nebula. They are really remarkable.
Wow that was a lot of information for one post.
