First Post of 2007
Well, I thought I should give some kind of update since we are now into February of 2007!
I haven't posted much lately because there is simply not that much to tell about. My daily routine is basically the same. I have been working a few hours in the weekday mornings at PTS, then travel to whatever school I am scheduled with for KidChess in the afternoons. Then I come home and take care of the household, as Bridget needs to take things easy. By the time everything I need to take care of is done, I am basically exhausted and I retire for the evening to try and get a decent night's sleep, only to get up and do it all over again the next day. Even though I have the weekends off, I spend the majority of that time cleaning the house and doing the laundry.
Now, all that I am sharing with you here is NOT a complaint. I am doing my best to be a responsible adult and do what I can to provide for and care for my growing family. Right now, that means my taking up the slack around home in addition to my work responsibilities. It's just that at the end of the day I have had little or no time for anything else. If I do have some time, I am generally so tired that I would rather go to bed early. I feel that I am way behind on a number of small personal tasks and/or projects. None of them are necessarily all that important or imperative that I complete within a specified timeframe, but I wonder when I might ever get the majority of them completed.
I mentioned in my last post about me laying down some vocal tracks to post online sometime. I have obviously not finished this project, either. Partly because of the time constraints I just mentioned, but also because I have hit a number of technical snags. I have been slowly working my way through these, and I hope to be able to proceed with this project soon.
Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, are coming for a short visit this weekend. They are bringing us an old sofa-bed and other items. We are getting rid of our old sofa-bed, which is rapidly deteriorating. We have also started rearranging furniture in the living room. God knows why...but Bridget and her mom have some kind of plan. I will likely be moving the desktop PC, desk, peripherals and all, out to one corner of the living room where there is sufficient space to allow more room in Rowen's room for the addition of the crib and another dresser. That is going to be a big project!
We had decided to change Rowen's day care, but ended up having to change back. The condensed version of the story is that we had decided to make a change because his current daycare was with the school system Bridget works for, and was only good for the school year, and then somebody would have to watch Rowen during the summer. With a new baby coming very soon, having the option of Rowen being away for most of the day over the summer made sense, and having him in a year-round daycare seemed to be a good idea. All the arrangements had been made and Rowen started at the new daycare when Bridget returned to school after the Holiday break. The "new" daycare was actually his original daycare we used during his first year, and the staff still there remembered Rowen and were excited about his return! Rowen was there for three days when his endrocinologist, Dr. Inger Hansen at Emory Children's Center notified us that Rowen's treatment parameters were to change. Nothing serious, but Rowen would now receive a small dose of slow-acting insulin every morning (Lantus), and if his blood glucose readings before meals still went above 200, he would require a very small dose of fast-acting insulin (Humalog). Well, that would mean that SOMEBODY would have to give Rowen a shot of insulin at daycare if he needed it. The problem was that although the staff at the daycare had no issues with testing Rowen's blood glucose several times a day, they would not administer the insulin if he needed it, and would require myself or Bridget to do it. Well, this daycare is too far away from either of us to make this practical. I can understand their point of view on this issue, as they are playing the game of "CYA" and avoiding any possibility of something going wrong and them getting sued for it. It just makes things quite inconvenient for us.
We had to have Rowen go back to his old daycare with Bridget's school system after all. At least then Bridget is only ten minutes away and can go over and give him insulin if he needs it (and he has a couple of times since he has been back there). At least we won't have this problem once Rowen is in school. In public schools, the school nurse is both qualified and required to administer medications (including insulin) to students.
We have a due date for the arrival of the new baby! We are to have a scheduled C-section delivery the morning of Tuesday, March 27th at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, the same hospital where both Royce and Rowen were delivered!
Of course, if history is factored in, it is entirely possible that Bridget will go into labor before this and we will deliver the baby earlier much like we had done with both Royce and Rowen. Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, will come up a few days prior to the delivery date and will assist us with "all things domestic". This includes taking care of Rowen. Since they are both now retired, they have the time and means to do this. My mother Peggy would not be able to stay at this time, but has volunteered herself to spend a lot of time with us and the new baby during the summer. If all goes well and there are no complications or other problems, I will probably go back to work the next day. I will take at least a few more days off once the baby is ready to come home.
Since history has shown that our babies tend to come early (although some factors were likely involved that may not be an issue this time around), we are basically going to be on "high alert" status after mid-February. As far as we are concerned, scheduled delivery date or not, it is still quite possible and even probably that the baby might decide to come early by several weeks! We have to be ready!
Rowen just went for his periodic checkup with Dr. Hansen at Emory's Children's Center yesterday, and she seems to think that (for now) the parameter and dosage changes have stabilized things well enough that she will make no further changes at this time. She did mention, however, that within the next year the subject of compensating parameters and dosage with respect to carb intake would have to start being addressed. Overall, she was very pleased with how Rowen is doing so far given his history! She also mentioned to me that just this past month of so this year, there have been three new cases of congenital hyperinsulinism that had been admitted to Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta (where both Royce and Rowen spent some time), which was a very unusual event, as they typically only get one or two a year. She did tell me that one child was actually eleven months old and had been a borderline case where they had to admit her again for surgery, as other options had been exhausted. Another child was actually from Mexico, and all signs were that this child had the very rare familial (genetic) form of hyperinsulinism like Royce and Rowen. The family had previously had five other babies born that had all soon died. At some point, I guess the doctors in Mexico figured out what was going on and arrangements were made for more intensive measures this time around to save this baby. I have to assume that the family was poor and did not have regular access to proper medical care.
Bridget also had an another appointment with the perinatalogist, Dr. Jeff Korotkin at Atlanta Perinatal Consultants yesterday. I could not be there with her as the two appointments were too close together. We are far enough along with the pregnancy that things are being even more closely monitored. Dr. Korotkin had been having us monitor Bridget's blood glucose this past month for signs of gestational diabetes coming up again (a high probability since Bridget had it while pregnant with Rowen). Although so far it appears to not be as apparent as the last pregnancy, her numbers were such that Dr. Korotkin elected for Bridget to finally start taking insulin (again, this is beginning later than the last pregnancy). Her dosage is a small dosage of Humalog right before each meal, and a sizeable dose of Humalin (slower-acting insulin) before going to bed at night.
In addition to the insulin, it has been noted that Bridget's blood pressure is starting to go up. It is not dangerously high as of yet, but it seems to be higher when she is on her feet and active versus off of her feet and inactive. Basically, this means it is higher at work than when at home. Dr. Korotkin does not want to take any chances. Effective immediately, Bridget is to take half-days at work, and could be made to not work at all before the due date if this does not alleviate the blood pressure readings.
This is in effect going to really screw us over financially. Right now, I am making just enough money to cover my part of the bills. I cannot cover for Bridget as well. As it is, we are hoping that our income tax refund will be sufficient to cover Bridget's part of the bills for the time she is out on maternity leave. Another couple of months short and with nothing there right now to cover for it is going to be a big, big problem!
We still have not decided on a name for the baby yet. I have been dragging my feet on this, since the worst fights Bridget and I have had in our entire marriage have been over naming our children. I hate conflict like this, and this is a large part of my reluctance to discuss the issue, which is almost just as frustrating to Bridget as arguing over a proposed name would be! I know that I am going to have to do it very soon...we don't want to be surprised by an early arrival and not have a name selected!
Another thing I am concerned about a few months down the road is the baby's baptism. We need to find appropriate godparents. My sister Beth was really the only choice (although a perfectly good one with better circumstances) where Royce had been concerned. We could choose Beth again for this baby, but she is now married, and her husband Josh is not Roman Catholic. We have already chosen Bridget's sister Sarah and her husband Edgar as Rowen's godparents. Now, I understand that there is nothing wrong with repeating things and have them as this baby's godparents as well, but I think it would be nice to have somebody different as well. The problem is that Bridget and I have few friends that are Roman Catholic, much less practicing Catholics. I have a few candidates in mind, but they must also be willing to do it, as they would for the most part have to travel a good ways to actually participate in the baptism. Giving them plenty of notice would help a lot I think. I should have the invitiations locked up before the baby comes, to give them time to think it over.
I made a few New Year's Resolutions back at the start of the New Year. As we all know, New Year's Resolutions tend to start out strong and then flag and fail later on, anywhere from a few days to a few months. I of course had losing weight at the top of my list (one of the most common of the resolutions made, and also one of the most likely to fail). I dragged my feet and got a late start on it and did not start until a couple of weeks ago, but I at least did it. I am not doing anything radical. Real excersise is not a realistic option right now, so I had to figure out other ways. I decided to try and drastically cut back on some things that I know are not helping me. I am trying not to drink any sodas during the week, and only one or two as a treat on weekends, as they are full of carbs. I have tried drinking lots of water (of course) and unsweetened iced tea instead. So far, I have been largely sucessful, but I do miss drinking them! And diet sodas don't work for me, as they have an aftertaste that I don't care for. I have also tried cutting back meal portions by about 20 to 25 percent to reduce caloric intake. If I must get fast-food, for example, that means not "upsizing" whatever I am getting. The hardest thing I have attempted is to cut back on eating sweets. So far I have failed miserably with this, but I will keep trying. In another week or so I will weigh myself and see if I have made much progress or not.
Another resolution I made is to try and catch up with a lot of old friends I have not kept in touch with enough, or in some cases not at all or never. That means tracking some people down. Due to time constraints, I have not made much progress here, either. However, I have gotten a few good leads on some old friends I lost touch with. More on this later.
Very soon (Feb 15th) will be my 38th birthday. This day will likely be a non-event, as I am not only not relishing the fact I am getting older, but the simple fact is that I will be too busy to really celebrate anyway. A lyric from the song "Another Birthday", a favourite songe of mine by the late, great Atlanta band Salem Ash was "another birthday closer to my grave..."!
Regards,
Bill
I haven't posted much lately because there is simply not that much to tell about. My daily routine is basically the same. I have been working a few hours in the weekday mornings at PTS, then travel to whatever school I am scheduled with for KidChess in the afternoons. Then I come home and take care of the household, as Bridget needs to take things easy. By the time everything I need to take care of is done, I am basically exhausted and I retire for the evening to try and get a decent night's sleep, only to get up and do it all over again the next day. Even though I have the weekends off, I spend the majority of that time cleaning the house and doing the laundry.
Now, all that I am sharing with you here is NOT a complaint. I am doing my best to be a responsible adult and do what I can to provide for and care for my growing family. Right now, that means my taking up the slack around home in addition to my work responsibilities. It's just that at the end of the day I have had little or no time for anything else. If I do have some time, I am generally so tired that I would rather go to bed early. I feel that I am way behind on a number of small personal tasks and/or projects. None of them are necessarily all that important or imperative that I complete within a specified timeframe, but I wonder when I might ever get the majority of them completed.
I mentioned in my last post about me laying down some vocal tracks to post online sometime. I have obviously not finished this project, either. Partly because of the time constraints I just mentioned, but also because I have hit a number of technical snags. I have been slowly working my way through these, and I hope to be able to proceed with this project soon.
Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, are coming for a short visit this weekend. They are bringing us an old sofa-bed and other items. We are getting rid of our old sofa-bed, which is rapidly deteriorating. We have also started rearranging furniture in the living room. God knows why...but Bridget and her mom have some kind of plan. I will likely be moving the desktop PC, desk, peripherals and all, out to one corner of the living room where there is sufficient space to allow more room in Rowen's room for the addition of the crib and another dresser. That is going to be a big project!
We had decided to change Rowen's day care, but ended up having to change back. The condensed version of the story is that we had decided to make a change because his current daycare was with the school system Bridget works for, and was only good for the school year, and then somebody would have to watch Rowen during the summer. With a new baby coming very soon, having the option of Rowen being away for most of the day over the summer made sense, and having him in a year-round daycare seemed to be a good idea. All the arrangements had been made and Rowen started at the new daycare when Bridget returned to school after the Holiday break. The "new" daycare was actually his original daycare we used during his first year, and the staff still there remembered Rowen and were excited about his return! Rowen was there for three days when his endrocinologist, Dr. Inger Hansen at Emory Children's Center notified us that Rowen's treatment parameters were to change. Nothing serious, but Rowen would now receive a small dose of slow-acting insulin every morning (Lantus), and if his blood glucose readings before meals still went above 200, he would require a very small dose of fast-acting insulin (Humalog). Well, that would mean that SOMEBODY would have to give Rowen a shot of insulin at daycare if he needed it. The problem was that although the staff at the daycare had no issues with testing Rowen's blood glucose several times a day, they would not administer the insulin if he needed it, and would require myself or Bridget to do it. Well, this daycare is too far away from either of us to make this practical. I can understand their point of view on this issue, as they are playing the game of "CYA" and avoiding any possibility of something going wrong and them getting sued for it. It just makes things quite inconvenient for us.
We had to have Rowen go back to his old daycare with Bridget's school system after all. At least then Bridget is only ten minutes away and can go over and give him insulin if he needs it (and he has a couple of times since he has been back there). At least we won't have this problem once Rowen is in school. In public schools, the school nurse is both qualified and required to administer medications (including insulin) to students.
We have a due date for the arrival of the new baby! We are to have a scheduled C-section delivery the morning of Tuesday, March 27th at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, the same hospital where both Royce and Rowen were delivered!
Of course, if history is factored in, it is entirely possible that Bridget will go into labor before this and we will deliver the baby earlier much like we had done with both Royce and Rowen. Bridget's parents, Gus and Carolyn Reinwald, will come up a few days prior to the delivery date and will assist us with "all things domestic". This includes taking care of Rowen. Since they are both now retired, they have the time and means to do this. My mother Peggy would not be able to stay at this time, but has volunteered herself to spend a lot of time with us and the new baby during the summer. If all goes well and there are no complications or other problems, I will probably go back to work the next day. I will take at least a few more days off once the baby is ready to come home.
Since history has shown that our babies tend to come early (although some factors were likely involved that may not be an issue this time around), we are basically going to be on "high alert" status after mid-February. As far as we are concerned, scheduled delivery date or not, it is still quite possible and even probably that the baby might decide to come early by several weeks! We have to be ready!
Rowen just went for his periodic checkup with Dr. Hansen at Emory's Children's Center yesterday, and she seems to think that (for now) the parameter and dosage changes have stabilized things well enough that she will make no further changes at this time. She did mention, however, that within the next year the subject of compensating parameters and dosage with respect to carb intake would have to start being addressed. Overall, she was very pleased with how Rowen is doing so far given his history! She also mentioned to me that just this past month of so this year, there have been three new cases of congenital hyperinsulinism that had been admitted to Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta (where both Royce and Rowen spent some time), which was a very unusual event, as they typically only get one or two a year. She did tell me that one child was actually eleven months old and had been a borderline case where they had to admit her again for surgery, as other options had been exhausted. Another child was actually from Mexico, and all signs were that this child had the very rare familial (genetic) form of hyperinsulinism like Royce and Rowen. The family had previously had five other babies born that had all soon died. At some point, I guess the doctors in Mexico figured out what was going on and arrangements were made for more intensive measures this time around to save this baby. I have to assume that the family was poor and did not have regular access to proper medical care.
Bridget also had an another appointment with the perinatalogist, Dr. Jeff Korotkin at Atlanta Perinatal Consultants yesterday. I could not be there with her as the two appointments were too close together. We are far enough along with the pregnancy that things are being even more closely monitored. Dr. Korotkin had been having us monitor Bridget's blood glucose this past month for signs of gestational diabetes coming up again (a high probability since Bridget had it while pregnant with Rowen). Although so far it appears to not be as apparent as the last pregnancy, her numbers were such that Dr. Korotkin elected for Bridget to finally start taking insulin (again, this is beginning later than the last pregnancy). Her dosage is a small dosage of Humalog right before each meal, and a sizeable dose of Humalin (slower-acting insulin) before going to bed at night.
In addition to the insulin, it has been noted that Bridget's blood pressure is starting to go up. It is not dangerously high as of yet, but it seems to be higher when she is on her feet and active versus off of her feet and inactive. Basically, this means it is higher at work than when at home. Dr. Korotkin does not want to take any chances. Effective immediately, Bridget is to take half-days at work, and could be made to not work at all before the due date if this does not alleviate the blood pressure readings.
This is in effect going to really screw us over financially. Right now, I am making just enough money to cover my part of the bills. I cannot cover for Bridget as well. As it is, we are hoping that our income tax refund will be sufficient to cover Bridget's part of the bills for the time she is out on maternity leave. Another couple of months short and with nothing there right now to cover for it is going to be a big, big problem!
We still have not decided on a name for the baby yet. I have been dragging my feet on this, since the worst fights Bridget and I have had in our entire marriage have been over naming our children. I hate conflict like this, and this is a large part of my reluctance to discuss the issue, which is almost just as frustrating to Bridget as arguing over a proposed name would be! I know that I am going to have to do it very soon...we don't want to be surprised by an early arrival and not have a name selected!
Another thing I am concerned about a few months down the road is the baby's baptism. We need to find appropriate godparents. My sister Beth was really the only choice (although a perfectly good one with better circumstances) where Royce had been concerned. We could choose Beth again for this baby, but she is now married, and her husband Josh is not Roman Catholic. We have already chosen Bridget's sister Sarah and her husband Edgar as Rowen's godparents. Now, I understand that there is nothing wrong with repeating things and have them as this baby's godparents as well, but I think it would be nice to have somebody different as well. The problem is that Bridget and I have few friends that are Roman Catholic, much less practicing Catholics. I have a few candidates in mind, but they must also be willing to do it, as they would for the most part have to travel a good ways to actually participate in the baptism. Giving them plenty of notice would help a lot I think. I should have the invitiations locked up before the baby comes, to give them time to think it over.
I made a few New Year's Resolutions back at the start of the New Year. As we all know, New Year's Resolutions tend to start out strong and then flag and fail later on, anywhere from a few days to a few months. I of course had losing weight at the top of my list (one of the most common of the resolutions made, and also one of the most likely to fail). I dragged my feet and got a late start on it and did not start until a couple of weeks ago, but I at least did it. I am not doing anything radical. Real excersise is not a realistic option right now, so I had to figure out other ways. I decided to try and drastically cut back on some things that I know are not helping me. I am trying not to drink any sodas during the week, and only one or two as a treat on weekends, as they are full of carbs. I have tried drinking lots of water (of course) and unsweetened iced tea instead. So far, I have been largely sucessful, but I do miss drinking them! And diet sodas don't work for me, as they have an aftertaste that I don't care for. I have also tried cutting back meal portions by about 20 to 25 percent to reduce caloric intake. If I must get fast-food, for example, that means not "upsizing" whatever I am getting. The hardest thing I have attempted is to cut back on eating sweets. So far I have failed miserably with this, but I will keep trying. In another week or so I will weigh myself and see if I have made much progress or not.
Another resolution I made is to try and catch up with a lot of old friends I have not kept in touch with enough, or in some cases not at all or never. That means tracking some people down. Due to time constraints, I have not made much progress here, either. However, I have gotten a few good leads on some old friends I lost touch with. More on this later.
Very soon (Feb 15th) will be my 38th birthday. This day will likely be a non-event, as I am not only not relishing the fact I am getting older, but the simple fact is that I will be too busy to really celebrate anyway. A lyric from the song "Another Birthday", a favourite songe of mine by the late, great Atlanta band Salem Ash was "another birthday closer to my grave..."!
Regards,
Bill
posted by Bill Kargel | 6:34 AM
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