The Grace of God

The beginning of this week has been pretty scary, that is for sure, but thankfully things are turning around for everyone! Macie had surgery yesterday morning to replace her ear tubes and remove her adnoids. We had tubes done last summer, so I was prepared for everything and went in completely optimistic. Dr. Wellendorf, the ENT and surgeon is absolutely wonderful and has a great way of explaining what is going on and keeping a person calm.

We got to the hospital in Storm Lake at 7 am (which was way too early for both Mommy and Macie.), and we checked in and waited in the surgery area for Dr. Wellendorf to arrive. Macie was very patient and quietly played with the new stuffed duck from the Buena Vista hospital, and some of the hospital's toys. Around 8, the nurses were checking all vitals, and explaining the procedure to us, and about 8:15 or so, she headed back with a new stuffed kitty from Dr. Wellendorf. (yes she got two new toys!!) I settled in the rocking chair in recovery, jamming out to my iPod and waiting to hear how she was. Dr. Wellendorf came back about a quarter to nine or so and told me that she was out of surgery, everything was fine, and they were starting to wake her up. This means that she had probably 1/2 hour back there to wake up and get oriented, and then they would bring her to me to have something to drink and make sure everything was great to go home.

Shortly after 9, two nurses came back into the room carrying Macie, and she was making the most terrifying noises I have ever heard. They told me that there was a complication when they removed the breathing tube and her throat was closing up, and she was fighting to breathe. They had given her one respirtory treatment, but it hadn't done anything, and they wanted me to hold her to try and calm her down so they could try again. They repeated the same treatment (albuteral or something like that?), and after no results, they gave her a different respirtory treatment (racemic epi ... again, i don't know if that's the correct term or spelling) at 10:10 am. After a few minutes, the treatment started to kick in and her breathing returned to normal around 10:30. They wanted to keep us there for a while to monitor her vitals, and her blood-oxygen level kept dropping to the 80%'s. They were talking about keeping us over night for monitoring, but after about an hour and a half, she was able to keep in up in the 90%'s, so we were able to leave and go home at 1:30pm.

I don't think that I will ever forget the sounds that she was making when they brought her in, and I have never been as scared as I was when they brought her back to me. But thank God, things turned around quickly and she is doing much better. The nurses at BV RMC were wonderful, and helped a lot to keep me calm and re-assure me that everything would be alright. Macie made friends with several of them. On the car ride home, she fell asleep, and slept until 4:30. When she woke up, she acted like her normal self, you never would have known that she had any procedure, let alone that there had been a problem with it. We are definitely a very lucky family!

Winter Blues

Sorry, I haven't posted anything lately, there just hasn't really been much to report. Because of the cold weather, we have mostly been sticking around home and staying in where it's warm! We did manage to get a few visits to my grandparent's house while my aunt, Penny, was home. That was really fun. It usually takes Mace a while to warm up to people, but she was running into Penny's arms right away!! And everytime she did it, she was rewarded by my aunt's big, loud laugh! She also got to meet my dad's cousin, Tim Bierman. She also warmed to him pretty quickly, and was sitting in his lap in less than an hour! Maybe she's getting over her fear of strangers a little bit.

We found out a week ago that Macie had pneumonia, but Tim took her to the doc for me this week (I had the flu all week), and they said her lungs sounded better, and she's already for surgery! She gets her tubes replaces and her adnoids out on Tuesday. Poor girl, that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me, but Dr. Wellendorf is really great with kids, so I'm not too worried.

Brave Heart

Hello! Today my little girl got to act like a hero for her Mommy! I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and I woke up about three minutes before I was suppossed to be there, so Macie got to come with. She was such a good little girl while we were in the room waiting for the nurse, she ran around being silly and laughing. Then she went to sit in her own chair across the room from me. Then the nurse came in and put the blood pressure cuff on my arm, and my very brave little girl climbed out of her chair and ran across the room to scream at her! LOL, she thought that poor Shannon was hurting me! After that 'close call', she had to sit on my lap for the rest of the visit to protect me. It turns out that I might be hypoglycemic, but since I don't have insurance, Judy just wants me to keep track of my blood sugar for a while, and when I get some ins, we'll do some more tests. I am also having problems with my arm so will be going to LeMars or Storm Lake to make sure there is no clot. I'm sure everything is fine though.

While at the doctors, I was given some new diet guidelines, which include cutting back some carbs. neither Macie nor I are thrilled about this, because pasta is our favorite food and we have it almost every meal. So tonight we had chicken breasts and fried zuccini. She refused to eat any of it. I finished mine, but not happily. :)

I can't believe how big my little girl is getting!! She has learned how to climb onto her rocking elephant all by herself. Now she rocks herself on it and sings "rock-a-bye baby," but that's about the only part of the song she can actually sing! She is getting very good at letting me brush her teeth like a big girl, and she knows when it is bed time, although we typically get a small fit about that! I really wish I could turn back time and have her be a baby again, because I missed so much the first time around, but I am enjoying every second (ok, that's a fib, but almost every second) that I get to spend with her!

All About Macie ~ Just for Fun!

I love filling these survey things out when I am bored (yes, I'm a nerd), and then I had an idea that it would be really fun to fill one out about Macie!! So here are some of the things you might like to know about my little princess:

The Basics:

Full Name: Macie Renee Gum

Nick Names: Peanut, Princess, Mace, Mace-face, Macer, Monkey, Buddah, Sunshine, Snugglebug, Ne-Ne (short for Renee, my middle name)

Birthdate: June 7, 2007

Hair: very dark, with a little redish tint

Eyes: hazel-just like my mommy's

Pets: Buster, my puppy

Siblings: none yet... maybe someday...

My Favorites:

Drinks: Soy milk, water, soda when I'm allowed a special treat

Foods: any pasta! and sandwiches. I love carbs!
Songs: I really like anything, although I think my favorite is "Hush Little Baby", and anything by Enya. Also, hip-hop because it's fun to dance to! And for Christmas: "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey

Nursery Rhyme: Rock-a-bye Baby
TV Shows: 90210- the original (ok, I don't actually watch the show, but I love the theme song!), Sesame Street, Japanese cartoons

Books: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big, Hungry Bear; The Belly Button Book; Goodnight Moon; Are You My Mother?

Toys: Rocking Elephant, some really noisy dancing bear toy, Laugh & Learn Puppy, toy cell phone and remote, Winnie the Pooh couch, any empty box or laundry basket, my sock monkey

Outfit: Ivory knit dress (ok, I don't really care what I wear, but it's mommy's favorite)
Place to go: Debbie's (daycare) to play with my boyfriend, and my best friends!

People: Mommy, Daddy, my grandparents, Great-Grandma & -Grandpa B, cousin Mikki, Molly, Abby, and Lissy from daycare, Uncle Lee (well, I'm getting there at least...)

Words: Buster, Mommy, Grandma, Daddy, tickle, more, up, puppy, Abby, No!, Stop!, Macie, Rock-a-bye, Hello, hi, Bye-Bye!

More About Me:

Activities I like: Eating!, Bath time, dancing and singing, photo sessions - I love posing for the camera!, chasing Buster or playing tug of war with him, climbing on everything, brushing my teeth, swinging, rocking, sitting on the couch all by myself, helping fold laundry or load the dishwasher, chewing on everything, opening cupboards, playing on the stairs, giving kisses (finally!!), talking (gee, wonder where I get that!) Activities I don't like: Having my hair washed, diaper changes or changing clothes, bed time or nap time, sitting still, going to the doctor, being held by strangers.
My Interests: music, telling stories, books, animals, dancing
When I grow up I'm going to be: A dentist! This is just a guess on mommy's part, but I love to put my hands in her mouth and play with her teeth. I also like to watch her brush her teeth, and I've started to like brushing my own! I'm such a big girl!
My personality: Spoiled!, very sweet, adorable, silly, Independent!, talk-a-tive, shy (around strangers), flirtatious, full of attitude, determined, clever, sometimes sneaky, most of the time well behaved, stubborn, mischievous.
Future Activities: Ok, so no one knows for sure, but these are mommy's guesses- Golf (b/c daddy will have me out there as soon as I can hold a club!), Dance, Wrestling Cheerleading (Mommy hopes- One day I sat like a w. cheerleader, and mommy got really excited), little league/softball (hopefully I got my daddy's coordination, and not my mom's).

"Down Came the Rain"

Ok, here's my PSA for the blog. :) You may or may not know that I suffered from a pretty severe case of Post Partum Depression after I had Macie. It is something that is hard for me to talk about because it still makes me feel a little ashamed, although I know that I shouldn't. I am writing about it now, because I think that it is important for any new mothers who are reading this blog to know about the disease.
For almost 18 months, I was unable to bond with my daughter. It was the most horrible feeling in the world. I was sad, detached, resentful, and angry. It felt like Macie wasn't even my daughter. Of course I thought she was beautiful, but spending time with her almost felt like I was babysitting for someone else and waiting for them to come pick her up. I just did not enjoy taking care of her, and I sometimes I even had a hard time having fun with her as well.
We first found out that I suffered from PPD two weeks after Macie was born. I was put on some medication, but it didn't really help me. Of course, I was too depressed to even realize that the medication was not helping the way it should. Thankfully, this fall I realized that something was terribly wrong, and I spoke to my doctor about trying a different medication. This time it worked for me, and I am finally able to love my daughter the way I knew I should, and to be a real mother to her!
I would encourage all mothers to read Brooke Shield's book "Down Came the Rain." I recently read it, and when she describes her experience and feelings, it was almost as though I was reading my own story. Even if you don't suffer from PPD, it is a good book to read because it may help you recognize the symptoms if it ever happens to you or someone you love.
And I'm coming down from my soap box now! :)

Happy 2009!!

Wow, I am horrible at blogging. I just always seem to forget to do it! I hope everyone is having a great new year so far and that the holidays were fun and safe! We had a great time, Macie was a lot more fun this year with the presents. She still didn't quite get the hang of opening them, but once they were opened, she just couldn't figure out what to play with! It was so cute watching her bounce around between all her gifts. Of course, her favorite was a box of kleenex that Grandpa John wrapped up. She had such a great time pulling them all out of the box and then stuffing them back in. I'm not sure why anyone spent any money on anything else!! And, thanks to Grandma Kari, she also got plenty of noise makers. Pop-pop and Grandma Teri got her a really cute little kitchen set. She loves carrying around the pots and pans that came with it. She also got a table and chairs set from Grandma and Grandpa Gum, and according to Daddy, she just loves it!! Although it is a little too big for her right now, and Tim said she fell out of one of the chairs, but I told him not to worry, she falls down a lot!

Christmas was also great because we got to spend some time with Uncle Leeballs!! Macie was a little leary of him at first, but not as bad as she was over Thanksgiving. Of course, Jeb had to make it a competition over whom she liked better, him or Lee, and she did choose Jeb. But after a few days of hanging out with her uncle, and him spoiling her like Grandma Kari does, by getting her out of bed when she was crying-against my wishes, btw- she had warmed up to him quite a bit!

We had our six month tube check up at Dr. Wellendorf's office yesterday. It did not go as well as I had hoped- one of the tubes has fallen out, and Macie has started to get ear infections in that ear again. She is on an antibiotic for a week and then we go back in two weeks to have her checked out and discuss putting a tube back in that ear. She has also been having some problems with stuffy noses, and the doctor that we saw thought that it might be a good idea to have her adnoids taken out when they replace her ear tube. Awesome. At least her tonsils still look ok, and we shouldn't have to have those removed as well! The adnoids will add some recovery time onto the tube surgery, but not as bad as it would be if we also took out the tonsils. Poor girl, those ears are really giving her some trouble! But if she starts getting infections like she had before, I definitely think it would be wise to replace the tube that has fallen out. She's already had two in that ear, and they are no fun for her or mommy!

Macie has also become Miss Independent lately! She no longer wants to sit on mommy or gramma's lap, but prefers to sit on the couch or in the chair by herself!! It really is cute, as well as a little sad, because my baby is not really a baby anymore. :( When we were at the doctor's yesterday, she wanted to sit in the chair by herself, just like a big girl. It was precious! I have a picture, but I took it with my telley, and I'm not that great with computers, so it is sideways and I don't know how to fix it. Bear with me!

That's pretty much all that is going on in our lives right now! Thanks for checking on us!