Back to work and back to school

Well, everyone's vacation is over! Matt was given the green light to return to work last week and has been sweating and exhausted ever since. On the first day he returned to work he was asked to turn in a letter of intention for a supervisors position at UPS. It was a surprise after being out of work for several months. His bosses were serious though and he's gone ahead and started the process.

The kids have also returned to school... and none to soon!!! They both enjoy their teachers so far. I'm still waiting for the onslaught of homework. Heaven knows we had enough their first day of school. I believe it took me until 1 in the morning to finish filling out all the forms they bring home.

And, in a nutsehell- that's it. I'm tired an everything in the house is sleeping so off I go to join them. :D

Surgery

Noah recently went under the knife to get his umbilical hernia fixed. Bless the Hoeger genes...

He had a fabulous doctor at the Children's Hospital in Boston. He was pretty nervous about the experience and even tried to negotiate with the hospital staff but in the end everything went well and he had a quick and semi-painless recovery.

The End.

The nightmare is over. But, before I repress it completely I'll fill you in on the last 2 months of it.

I did end up needing a blood transfusion about the middle of July. I spent several hours having a stranger's (whom I thank!) blood pumped into me. Crunching on soft pellet ice was the highlight of the experience. By the time I got home I had gotten a little color in my cheeks and within a couple days I started to think a little more clearly and have a little more energy. I did have to endure some pretty nasty headaches for a few days while my body readjusted to having the right volume of blood pumping through my body, but it was worth it!

Just before the transfusion begins.

A little more color afterwords.

My induction was scheduled for the 4th of August and airline tickets were booked. All we had to do was get through the next couple weeks and it would all be over. By my last appointment I had had managed to bring my total pregnancy weight gain to 4 lbs. (I've since made up for that by rediscovering chocolate...) Each day I thought to myself "I can do this for 9 more days." "I can do this for 8 more days." and so on.

My mom came in on 3rd of August and we all rested and prepared for the busy day to follow. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon I noticed I had a message on my answering machine. It was the doctor's office informing me that I would not be induced the next day. Instead I would have to wait another week. I called the office, obviously I was upset. After several conversations with them I was told that the Dr. would be notified that I had called and was upset and wanted an explanation and she would be returning my call the next morning. First thing the next morning I received a phone call telling me that the hospital would not allow me to be induced because of liability. "But," said the nurse "if you had an amniocentesis done we could induce you on Thursday... if the lungs are developed." A large needle through my stomach or another week of being sick and hooked up to IV's. I didn't hesitate. My appointment was very promptly made and soon I was lying on a table with an ultrasound technician and the Dr. trying to find a pocket of fluid in a safe place to take a sample from. There wasn't one. The Dr. decided to check me to see if I had dilated further (I was a 1 at my previous appointment). I was a 3. She asked if I would like her to strip my membranes and I said "YES!" If she had asked if she could pull my toenails off I would have let her if it could end the pregnancy faster. She did it, asked us to come to the office first thing Thursday morning so she could strip it again, and sent us home with a little hope. Thursday morning my water started to leak and we went to the doctor who confirmed that it had broken and sent us to the hospital. While I was busy being poked and proded in labor and delivery Matt began the calls. He called my mom to let her know she'd get to see granddaughter this trip after all. Then he called his mom who jumped in the car and must have driven like a maniac. And, he called our darling neighbor-friend, Sherrie, (who'd been helping us for months) and arranged to have her keep the kids.

Noah, Abby, and Lucy were all delivered without the help of anesthesia but I didn't feel like I had another fight in me so I decided before I got to the hospital that I would be sucking it up and having a large needle shoved into my spine. When I was admitted the decided I needed a little help getting the contractions moving so they gave me pitocin and let me labor. It hurt! Again! I didn't like it! I kept saying "I want an epidural this time." "Can I have an epidural yet?" Apperently I was still smiling to much. My nurse told me when I stopped smiling and started hurting I could have the epidural. And so, I stopped smiling and got to work. By the time she thought I deserved the epidural there was no anesthesiologist available. An angel must have been watching out for me though because suddenly one became available and came to relieve me. He was my best friend for a whole hour! As soon as the epidural had kicked it completely my wonderful old bitty of a nurse kicked everyone out so I could sleep (except my mom... she wasn't going anywhere). The nurse sent Matt and Judy with a pager like the kind you get in resturants in case something happened. Not more then 5 minutes after he'd left me Matt called to check and see how things were. I laughed and said "like anything's going to happen in 5 minutes!!" About 5 minutes after I had laughed at him I felt something in my labor change and suddenly my old nurse was working very quickly to get all the right people in the right place. My doctor beat Matt to the room and said "Don't push yet!" Seconds later Matt came running into the room. He had just started to eat his salad in the cafeteria when his pager went off. He left his salad and ran. And, he got there just in time, too. (Judy was not far behind) 38 minutes after my epidural and after 2 pushes our darling little peanut was born. She was a tiny 5 lb. 13 oz. and 18" long. She had lots of dark hair and dark, piercing eyes. She hardly made a peep our whole stay in the hospital.

Not more then a half an hour after her birth I was drinking and feeling better. I had lost enough blood during the birth that they considered giving me another blood transfusion but we decided to see what it would do. It has improved, maybe a little slower then I'd like but it's a little more manageable now. Before I was wheeled to the maternity section they removed the PICC line that I'd become so attached to for 7 months. It was wonderful and liberating!

About 2 weeks after the birth I started hemorrhaging. I was very lucky to do it very early in the morning while the kids were sleeping and while my sister, Tacee, who's a nurse was here. I was put on 'bed rest' for a few days and had to slow down. My head and my body still aren't agreeing on what's too much. My brain just wants to get busy and my body just wants to relax. Someday I hope they meet in the middle.

Gretchen has proven to be as easy as a baby as she was difficult as a fetus. She's very quiet and when she does get upset she's very quick to calm down. She's had a bit of a hard time quitting the night time partying habit she got into but she's getting there. She's also managed to gain a whole 2 lbs. and is almost in normal newborn clothes.

All in all we're very happy and healthy and we're back to being busy, busy, busy!

Updates (a.k.a. BLAH)

Blah. Everyone's been asking how I'm doing and how things are going. Blah pretty much describes it all. And I AM being optimistic!

Here's a quick summary of how things are going with the pregnancy-

• My weight has begun to drop again (-5 lbs. in the week between my dr.'s apts.).
• My hematocrit (used to measure iron) levels are dropping despite any treatments.
• I'm still getting 2 liters of fluids a day.
• The baby is measuring small. We have another ultrasound on Thur. to check her again.
• There is a possibility that she'll delivered before term.
• There's a possibility that I'll need a blood transfusion.
• There's a possibility that she be delivered c-section.
• My nausea let up a little in the 2nd trimester but is back with the 3rd (although a little more manageable with the IV's and anti-emetics).
• All my non-stress tests (NST) have had good results. She responds well to whatever contractions I've had during the tests.

So, unless things change it's likely I've only got another 3 to 5 weeks to hang in there. That's it for me.

Matt had his shoulder operated on and it was the best case scenario. They just had to scrap bursa and file down a spur. He's going to physical therapy once a week and they hope to have him back to work in about a month.

Noah had his pinewood derby last Wednesday and came in 4th. He also won for most realistic car. (it was made to look like a shark) Noah is also scheduled for surgery on the 24th of Aug. He'll be getting his umbillical hernia fixed and it should be a pretty easy procedure.

Abby also got to make a car for the pinewood derby but she didn't get to place (powderpuff but she wasn't old enough to place). She did win most original (she had a silver bus with flowers on it).

Lucy is loving having her brother and sister home for the summer. She has someone to play with, finally!

Well, that's it for today.

A Great Spring Break

Today is the last day of spring break. We're all alive, all body parts accounted for (and attached as far as we can tell), no major damage to the house, no calls to DCF or 911, and as far as we can tell we've avoided the plague... I mean swine flu (H1N1).
UPDATE: I think we've all lost our minds. I'm hearing a chorus of "Do-Re-Mi"... lead by my husband.

Speaking of Matt... his shoulder surgery has been scheduled for May 15. They're not sure what they're going in after so we don't know how invasive the procedure is going to be but it should be an outpatient surgery. Unless he has a hard time waking up... I'm not dragging a sleeping man out the car.

Here's a recap of the kids spring break.
Monday: Matt worked and we hung out at home. FUN TIMES!
Tuesday: Matt was home and we broke record highs. And we refused to put the air conditioners in. (It was April for crying out loud!) We were prepared with New England coping skills though. We kept the windows open during the night, waited for the heat of the day then shut all the windows, waited for the house to warm then went on an adventure to Matt's doctors office and the mall. By the time we walked out (hobbled in my case) there was a beautiful and cool breeze.
Wednesday: Sheri, an angel in disguise, took Abby and Noah to an art museum.
Thursday: Sheri brought her kids over and they played while she helped me with my laundry and a couple things around the house... she comes every Thursday with a couple other women from the ward (the don't call it the RELIEF Society for nothing!). She also took the kids to enjoy the park down the street.
Friday: Noah got his fill of the Playstation while the girls got mommy makeovers. They looked sparkly and fabulous. Alicia also stopped by for the weekly changing of the bandages. This one was a doozy.
Saturday: I felt much better then we expected I would at the end of spring break and the weather was amazing so we packed up a picnic (o.k., Matt packed it up), picked up some passes for a Seacoast Science Center by the ocean and went to the beach for a day. It was a lot of fun and the fresh air and sunshine were so refreshing. We came home last night and all slept very soundly. It was the perfect end to their spring break.

Here's some pictures of the previously mentioned beach trip.

What kind of parents are we?!

Last weekend our ward had a cake auction to help our scouts pay for camp. Everyone was invited to bring a cake to donate and Matt had the grand idea to make the famous Hostess cake. It was a work of art, an amazing tribute to everything preservative. I can't even comprehend how many calories and fat was in it. It was stunning though and someone was going to want to pay a hefty price for it to be sure!

And then...

...the rice crispy treat cake that supported all the Hostessnessy goodness started to collapse. The forensics team has determined the rice to mallow ratio was poor (too many mallows is a bad thing?!).

So, we beg 2 questions.

The first, what would you do if you had a useless mountain of Hostess goodiness?

Our answer: Give your kids 3 minutes to eat as much as they can then chuck it!

The second question... does this make us "wicked awesome" parents or negligent parents?


(We have video documentation but it's on Matt's phone and getting it to the blog is presenting a challenge. I'll keep trying though!)

Jeepers, Creepers! I forgot to tell you...

It's a girl!

This is why I don't gamble. She's very healthy and active. (unlike her mama)

Oh, whoa is me... ;)

Since nobody will believe I hadn't updated the blog because I don't do anything- here's an exciting tutorial of my day.

A TYPICAL FRIDAY MORNING
Finally showered (should have taken a picture of my arm all wrapped in Press and Seal... every time I shower) and dressed.

My fabulous nurse, Alicia shows up.

The changing begins...
Off with the old. The red marks on my arm is from my skin becoming irritated and breaking open. It seems you can't wear bandages for 3 months without making it unhappy.
People are always facinated by this sight. This is the insertion site. The blue tube is fed through my arm, up my shoulder, and sits about an inch above my heart.
Swabbin' the site. They use something that rivals battery acid to sterilize the site. Very painful when it's new or starts leaking!
Ahhhhhhhh... the new bandage. See you next week, Alicia.

THE HOOK-UP
Matt has done this for me every single day for the last 3 months.

Step One- drawing out 2 bottles of vitamins for my banana bag.

Step Two- Injecting the bags (sorry a little blurry- he's a quick one!)


Step Three- Inserting the tubing into the bag.


Step Four- Bleed the line.


Step Five- Feed line through pump.


Steps Six and Seven- Sterilize PICC line cap. Flush with saline (tastes icky!).


Step Eight- Insert tubing into PICC line cap.


Step Nine- Program the pump and start infusion.

Step Ten- Be tethered to a loud, irritable machine the next 4-5 hours. Visit the potty frequently. Find something to do (like play around on the computer ;).

Pics for Bri

Here's some promised pics for Bri-

Where have you been?

So now that things have improved we'll fill you in on some details and misc. infomation. Also- there's going to be a lot of random pictures for Brian on here.

The beginning of Dec. I began to suspect I was pregnant. I was missing a certain reoccurring event, I was tired, and I was starting to feel a little nauseous. We decided we'd just wait it out a while, there was no hurry to find out. On the 8th of December I so nauseous I decided it was time. Sure enough, Hoeger #4 was on it's way. I enjoyed my birthday two days later by trying not to be too sick. That weekend our ice storm hit. And so did full fledged morning sickness. Throughout the month of Dec. my morning sickness got worse but I was still able to drink some fluid and eat some food and keep it down. I was diagnosed with mild hyperemesis by mid-Dec. My the time January rolled around I wasn't keeping down anything and I spent my days sleeping, throwing up, and staring out my window at the trees (I've got all the limbs memorized now). I wasn't able to talk on the phone, watch tv, listen to music, or read. The only time I could do any of those things was immediately after I threw up and I only had about a 20 min. window.Matt meanwhile was trying to manage his job at UPS and our business, take care of the house, care for the kids, and everything else that needs to be done. I'm so grateful for family, friends, and my kids fantastic teachers for all the help he had. So while Matt was exhausted and about to snap I was in and out of the hospital and switching medication about every week. On medication inparticular gave me vertigo. I was rushed to the Dr. where I recieved IV's on the spot to try to flush the medication out of my system. I would rather have hyperemesis for another week then have vertigo for 10 min. During the course visits to the hospital I lost 25 lbs. and my muscles slightly atrophied. I also felt like a human pin cushion. By the time I finally recieved my PICC line the nurse and I counted that I had 15 needle marks in a 2 1/2 week period. The PICC line was a whole different experience. I expected it to be an IV I could unhook when I needed to. Well, it is that but a little more complicated. I had to go into the oncology wing to have it inserted and when I got there they told me that my room would be ready in moment. Why would I need a room?! Then they brought me to my bed, barf bowl in hand, and gave me a johnny coat. What did I need a johnny coat?! When I was dressed the nurse came in with a large package and began to explain to me that in a sterile environment the PICC line would be inserted, while using an ultrasoud, into an artery in my uppper arm. It would then be fed through my artery, through my shoulder, and it would rest about an inch above my heart. AHHH! So I've got this lovely port and line that we hook up to an IV once or twice a day so I can get 2000 ml of fluid (1 vitamin infused) each day. It takes about 4 hours and is a ball! People ask if I can feel the line inside me. I can feel a flutter the kind of takes my breath away if lay on my side while I'm getting my fluid. Other then that it's realtivly painless. Infact, the worst part of getting it put in was finding out how it was put in, followed by the 2 stings of numbing whatever-they-use. So, they've descovered I can't digest the oral pills properly and they found me a new medicine that seems to work adiquitly. I still get nauseous (like I am currently) but it's more of an irritation then an urge to run for the toilet or grab a bowl. I've got a little more energy but I'm still drained after simple choress. It's great to be able to help the kids with their homework now and read to them and paint fingernails and do simple, fun things with them. Once in a while I even try to leave the house.

So, that's the skinny on me.

Now, plenty of things have been happening in the family. Noah had his violin concert, the kids spent a week with Grandma Judy (Lucy spent 2), Matt's arm is still a mess and this week they may actually find out why (love workman's comp :l ), our my newest business venture if back on track and getting done very quickly. Mum's still the word when it comes to what it is though. Someday, you'll all find out... promise! I promise it's nothing illegal though. ;) Ohhhh, and we're only having 1 baby. Still 6 weeks (in my 2nd trimester now) until we can find out that's it's a boy!

Noah's concert and update

(From several Wed. ago)

This is Matt posting this one as Hydi is currently feeling the affects of a baby infestation.
So here are some very quick updates....
Noah had his first violin recital last night. Here is a video and some pictures.





Hydi is doing everything she can to keep the fetus from devouring her from the inside out. Tomorrow comes the first ultrasound to RULE OUT twins. Then comes the insertion of a PIC line so she can get some fluids at home.

Our children are currently with Grandma Judy getting everything they want while Hydi and I try to keep things under control at home. Thanks to Ali who came for a whole week and put our house back together and Grandma Judy and Milla who kept it goin for us.

Thanks to everyone who's offered to help. We hope this all ends soon and we can't wait to get back to life as normal.

Brief Update

I don't spend more then a couple minutes (if that) on the computer these days and today's no exception. I just wanted to drop a few lines and reassure you that we're not dead.

Our power was restored the Tuesday following our outage. We came home on Monday night hoping for the best and found ourselves still without power. We climbed under layers of blankets and hunkered down for the night. The next morning we spent trying to stay as warm as possible (our house was around 45 degrees) and we finally a message from our power company telling us that we would have power restored in the next 48 hours. I promptly melted into a hormonal sobbing mass on the floor. I just wanted to be sick in my own home but we knew we couldn't keep our kids in the house that long. Suddenly our power flickered on. I really do believe our Heavenly Father knows our limits and won't push us beyond them!

Since then the holidays have come and gone in a blur. They were great for everyone else. :)

I've got some serious morning sickness issues though. I seem to be developing what only about 2% of pregnant women get. It's called hyperemesis gravidarum or HG. I had it with Noah (his was violent but quick) but this seems to be different in that it's lasting longer and the weight loss hasn't been as rapid. Noah: -25 lbs. in 3 weeks. Fetus #4: -15 lbs. in 1 month. Zofran almost entirely cured my sympotms with Noah. Zofran is doing next to nothing with this one.

Matt, who's pulling both our weights, also injured himself at work. He'll be seeing a Dr. tomorrow. We'll let you know if anything major happens with that.

Well, I've spent all my 'good' time writing this so it's time to go. Lots of love and wishes for good things for you and yours.