Sweet freedom!

Much like Claire, I am taking steps to recover from her entrance into the world. I stopped taking the Percocet on Wednesday last week since the doc's really don't want someone on a narcotic behind the wheel of a car... By Friday I was feeling pretty good and felt that I could handle driving myself to the hospital. It was nice to not feel like a burden to Pete. It tuckered me out quite a bit so I came home and napped. This whole low hemoglobin thing is a bit weird. A walk across the parking lot can wear me out. I'm still dealing with many of the effects of the HELLPs. My heart rate is really high (resting rate is near 100) and I'm constantly on the lookout for dizziness, new floaters in my eyes, general nausea and headaches. I've spent a lot of time on the couch.

Saturday felt really good but I think I pushed it too far. Drove myself to the hospital again which didn't seem to wipe me out as much. I spent most of the day sitting up which, while relaxing, doesn't help my blood pressure. We have my nephew's birthday party today at my sister's so it will be another long day. Who would have thought that going to church, a 4 hour birthday and a visit to the hospital would seem like a long day.

My body seems to be recovering well from the surgery. Sometimes it is hard to lay on my sides. The muscles are still weak and repairing themselves. As I laid down last night to go to sleep I reminded myself where I was a week ago and how far I had come since leaving the hospital. I told myself that in a matter of 2-3 weeks I would be even closer to my old self, able to stand up or lay down with little pain. It's only a matter of time before I strap on those running shoes and get back out on the pavement. I imagine it will be walks at first, moving towards short runs but it will feel nice after laying about for so long. I wasn't sure if I would want to run again after such a long break but I am starting to feel the pull. Perhaps it is the drive to lose the extra baby weight but whatever it is, I don't really want it to go away.

Uncle Arnold

Got some sad news last night that my great uncle, Arnold Schember, passed away. He is my paternal grandmother's brother. Uncle Arnold had been in hospice care for some time now. If you ever had a chance to meet Uncle Arnold you know what a special man he was. Always cracking jokes, always, always smiling and a pack-rat extraordinaire. Uncle Arnold was the man who encouraged the family to keep our silver dollar tradition alive and loved to be the presenter at our family weddings as we moved the coin from one couple to the next. (The silver dollar was started by George Schember who believed that as long as a couple had a silver dollar in their pocket they were never poor).

What I remember best about Uncle Arnold:

• his sense of humor
• eating mashed potatoes with him at a relative's wedding while he cracked jokes the whole time
• his garden
• his ability to always include people in his life
• his energy and enthusiasm for life

While it is very hard to think he won't be at the next family reunion in August I know he is home now and will be watching us all as we get together and share stories about his life.

God bless you, Uncle Arnold

Update on Claire

We've created a site dedicated to Claire's progress. For some reason I can't get the hyperlink to work so I have just pasted the link below.

http://claireschronicals.blogspot.com/

Claire Marie

More later when I get home and can upload pictures.

Claire joined us a few weeks early (7.5 weeks) after I was diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, a disease associated with preeclampsia. The only cure for HELLPS is delivery of the baby. We went in on Monday afternoon after a routine checkup with our OB and after three days of pushing the envelope with the help of the doctors and two steriod shots to help Claire, she joined us at 2:08pm on June 14, 2007. She was 3 lbs 10 oz and 16.5 inches long. She has a full head of hair and looks really good, other than being a wee tot. Considering her mother was 5 lbs 13 oz and was full term I have high hopes she will come out of the NICU with no real issues.

She currently is feeding through the feeding tube and has an IV but is not on a respirator - a big win for a 32 week baby. Promise, pictures will be posted as soon as we get home from the hospital.

Right now, I am being monitored for my blood pressure on a regular basis. There are some concerns about the fact that it hasn't dropped. We're hoping that it will begin to go down on its own, but perhaps I will be taking high blood meds sooner than I had intended.

Thanks to everyone who has sent their prayers. You are certainly a key part of what helped us hang in until Thursday, buying us enough time to get those steroid shots for Claire. We will keep everyone posted on her development and growth.

Bless you all!

Rude Employees

Sorry to be venting but I really am getting tired of people not treating each other with respect.

My job requires me to notify folks if they are in arrears on completing a required training course. Due to some software rights and general goofiness when working with a large company accessing the course isn't as easy as one would like. I have tried to make it easy for everyone but when people grow accustomed to a certain 'path' to obtain information, no matter the amount of explanation I give, some still can't figure it out. To be fair, not everyone in the company is familiar with the same jargon and I would be remiss in not admitting that what makes perfect sense to me may not to Joe Blow working in a lab. Nevertheless, why does that make it OK to send me an email like the following?

Hello,
I have tried numerous times to access this link. It does not work.
Don't you know this by now.
I will try again.

This is nothing compared to some of the others I have received in the past. Lucky for this bloke, he works in Austin, TX. I'm getting to the point where I want to drag my pregnant ass over to my fellow employee's office/lab and introduce myself. Let's see how they respond when they have to speak to me face-to-face and not hide behind their email or vmail. I understand why people can get frustrated, I really do. But please approach me with a little respect and drop the hostility. I had another person call me today and start in on why this whole thing is a mess. Due to the fact that my body is no longer my body and I am sleeping for shit I kinda lost it on him. No yelling or anything but I finally said, I am not the programmer of the software and if I had my druthers I would have done it the way you suggest, however that option was not available to me so I had to develop a work around. I apologize if you don't like what I did. He promptly became easier to deal with.

Do they think I'm just doing this to make their life tougher? Seriously. I like taking these types of phone calls and opening email messages that blast me. That's the type of job I look forward to coming to everyday. Use some of that brain to think about how you would like to be approached if you were the individual receiving the complaint before you open your damn mouth.

'K. I'm done.

Safe Hybrids

Darn, looks like my options for a 'sedan' hybrid are dwindling. Dang. I was hoping to land a new Accord Hybrid as my next car. Guess I will have to settle for a Camry until new model comes out somewhere that is more like a sedan. I'm not sure why but I feel safer in a sedan. In reality, I am driving a Corolla right now and have a long way to go before I can offload that puppy so I should just get used to the idea that my kid is going to be in a small car. It's great for the gas mileage but I sometimes worry that it is less safe. Whew. This being a parent thing brings out a whole host of new things to consider. When it was just me in the car I didn't seem to have a problem but now... I wonder what I'll begin to worry about next!

7 months

Actually, closer to 7.5 but who is counting?!?