News

I'll start with the good news.

1. We had a nice morning. Nadia went to gymnastics for the first time in 3 months. It was exciting to see the new skills that she'll be learning in the preschool class. It's a bit of a challenge to corral Ian during that 45 minutes. There were 2 other younger brothers being coralled by their moms. There were 5 girls in the class today. One of the moms commented that Ian really changed a lot since she had seen him last (3 months ago). She said he went from being a baby to a little boy. Why do they grow up so quickly? It turns out my Dean's daughter is in Nadia's class. Small world! After gymnastics we went straight to a library program. This children's library is much larger than ours. Nadia did a great job of listening to the librarian read stories, and I was grateful for the toys the library had, which helped keep Ian occupied although I still had to chase him down some. We left the house at 8:30am and got home at 11:30. It makes the drive seem more worthwhile when we can do two things in one trip.

2. Ian is doing better with texture. Yesterday I put some spaghetti noodles in the Magic Bullet along with some stewed tomatoes. He didn't gag! This was exciting as the noodles were only cut in tiny little pieces. It seemed closer to normal food compared to all the pureed food I usually feed him.

3. Ian still isn't throwing up even though he's been off the Prevacid, Pulmicort, and EleCare for 1 week. I called the Allergist today to ask what the next steps would be and also to find out if we could cancel next week's appointment in light of the 5 hour (RT) drive. The doctor said we could postpone the appoinment. I am going to get an appointment with a pediatric allergist at the local hospital now that we have Blue Shield insurance again. He said we can now introduce eggs again; the first introduction is to be through a baked product that has egg in it. In two weeks we are to discontinue the Singulair. This means he'll be off ALL medications. PTL!

4. The BEST news is that I spoke with HR today because they didn't know until my conversations with the Assistant Director yesterday that I am part-time this semester. I found out today that because my reason for asking for leave is to care for the medical needs of my son, I am eligible for FMLA! This means (BIG drum roll please) that I can use sick leave, personal leave, etc. to turn my leave into PAID leave. I am 99% sure (waiting for a response from HR to make it 100% sure) that I'll be paid as if I am FT this semester!! In addition to my salary doubling, it also means we won't have to pay as much for our health insurance. PTL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I had understood about FMLA prior to today because I could have used some of that in the spring as you're allowed 12 weeks per calendar year, and I'll only be using 8 weeks worth this semester. This also means I can be paid a FT salary in the coming spring semester (even though I only plan to work 50%) because I can use another 12 weeks of FMLA in 2012, and I have enough accrued leave from the past 9 years as a professor to last for both semesters. This makes me feel much better that I wasn't able to use much paid leave during my recovery from my 2 c-sections.

5. I spoke with the ivf nurse today, and she told me when I should schedule my first appointment. The reason I am including this in the good news list is because she said we didn't need to attend the ivf class. WOOHOO! When the previous ivf nurse said we needed to attend the class (again) for ivf #2, I objected, but she insisted. I was just assuming we'd have to attend our 3rd ivf class, but the new ivf nurse said that we don't need to attend the class. The first appointment takes long enough (paperwork, bloodwork, mock transfer, etc.) without adding in a slide show/lecture. She said the new RE doesn't use the bcp at the start of the ivf protocol. The good news is that although my cycles are not the 28 day "norm," they have been fairly consistent lately (the last 4 cycles have been 40-42 days long).

There also is some bad news.

1. As I type this, we have 5 inches of water in our basement. At least we don't have a big mess to clean up this time. Praying the rain stops asap! Classes were actually cancelled at my university for this evening and all day tomorrow due to the flooding. My choir rehearsal was also cancelled. Many roads are closed.

2. Ian is still crying almost all the time when I try to feed him. I'm  not holding his face or his hand any more when I feed him. Karen (upon observing a feeding session today) said that maybe it was time for Ian to participate in the intensive day program that the Hershey feeding team runs. Basically the child stays at the hospital all day (8am-5pm) Monday through Friday (goes home or to the Ronald McDonald House at night). It typically takes between 2-6 weeks for the program to be completed. Thankfully the psychologist doesn't think that's necessary yet. He said I need to give him milk after every bite, but I am not to give him any bites if he's crying. Me thinks my boy isn't going to eat or drink much tomorrow. Please pray for my sanity tomorrow as this is going to be hard, but if we can teach him not to cry during meals, it will be worth the agony to have victory in this area.