So on Friday I was shopping at Wal-Mart and as I was leaving I saw a sign on the door for a blood drive the following day for a little girl that has some heart problems. I decided I wanted to go donate blood because I wanted to help this little girl. If it was my child I would want others to do the same as well.
So the next day my Mom and I went down to Wal-Mart where they had the San Diego Blood Bank mobile blood donation center set up. I filled out my paperwork (this was my first time donating) and was brought inside and got all registered. Then they had me take a seat in one of their special half laying down/half sitting up seats. Then the "Blood Collecting Specialist" came over and marked the vein that she wanted to stick. She even went as far as cleaning my arm with the iodine or whatever it is they clean it with before she realized they hadn't gotten my "bags" ready yet. So as she waited for the bags that would collect my blood, she looked at my arm and decided that the "side vein" (this what she repeatedly called it) would be easier to draw from. So she then marked that one and cleaned that area again. So then they finally got the bag ready with my labels on it and she went ahead and "stuck" me. The blood started flowing, but very slowly. She then proceeded to move the needle-and I must say this needle is huge!- around in my vein trying to get the blood to flow faster. I kid you not she poked and prodded at my arm for a good 15 min "trying to get the blood to flow faster". She kept asking me "does that hurt" to which I kept telling her no because I didn't want to be a pain, but yes it hurt very badly! I even looked down at one point to see part of the hole in the needle (the needle edge is kind of slanted if you know what I mean). I immediately freaked out thinking that she just pushed air into my vein...couldn't this lead to bad things?? It was around this time she finally called over the RN that was there and asked for her help. The RN felt the area where the needle was and said she felt a hematoma. I asked her what that was and she said it's a clot. I again freaked and she said "Don't worry it happens all the time". I figured that since she was an RN and she worked for the San Diego Blood Bank that I should believe she knew what she was talking about. They the told me that they would just take the needle out and I wouldn't be able to donate today. I had only filled the bag half way. I have never had an issue when I have had blood drawn before and they checked my hemoglobin levels before they started yesterday and they were fine, so I'm starting to think this "Blood Collecting Specialist" wasn't much of a specialist. So the RN walked away and the other lady pulled out the needle. When she did a small clot came out with it. She said "see there is the clot that is why your blood was coming out so slowly". So they got me all taped up and had me go sit in the "cooler" and drink some orange juice and eat a snack and then I was free to go. On my way out the RN said to me "come back and donate again soon!" Yah right. That won't be happening again. You will see why after you read the rest of this blog.
So my Mom and I went home and my arm was THROBBING! Like I said I have had blood drawn numerous times for labs and such and never had more than just a little bruising. My arm began to swell and I was in some serious pain. After about 4 hours my arm and hand started going numb and I was dizzy and getting some sharp pains in my chest. I assumed the dizziness was from giving blood (I later found out that since they only got half a pint from me it shouldn't have made me so dizzy). I text messaged my friend Caitlin about what happened. She told her Dad (who happens to be a Registered Nurse) what happened and he immediately told me to go to the ER because they might not have gotten all of the clot out and it can travel to your heart or lungs. (Today I looked up the symptoms of a blood clot and they were swelling, pain and redness in the area of clot-all of which I had). So my Mom took me straight to the ER. Scott stayed home with Alex because it was 6pm and I knew we would be at the emergency room for a while. Alex won't go to bed for anyone other than Scott or I, so we figured he should stay home with him. So we got to the ER and the nurse had me come in to take my blood pressure and heart rate and ask me what was going on. She looked at my arm and immediately said "Your arm should not be that swollen from donating blood". So she took me back in the room and the doctor came in and he said the same thing. I told him that when she pulled the needle out she had pulled the clot out with it. He said there is no way to be certain that they got the whole thing out and that I had all the symptoms of "Deep Vein Thrombosis". He sent me up for an ultrasound. That took about 20 minutes and was actually pretty interesting. They watch the blood flowing through your veins and everything and can even listen to it flowing through. The Ultrasound Tech checked every vein from my neck all the way down my arm. He said everything seemed to look and sound okay, but that he had to send it up for the Radiologist to look at to give the official okay. So they wheeled me back down to the triage room. The ER dr came in about 15 minutes later and said that everything looked okay..no clot! I was so relieved! I was so scared that I was going to have to be hospitalized and with Scott leaving sometime soon, I had no idea what we would do with Alex. Not to mention I have never been away from my baby boy for that long before! The doctor said that she probably bruised my muscle pretty badly and that is why it was so swollen and hurt so bad. The U/S tech even showed me all of the "little air pockets" in my tissue that the lady had created with the needle. There were about 20-30! So I was sent home with instructions to elevate and ice my arm and come back if I had chest pain or shortess of breath. I am also supposed to see my primary care physician in 3-5 days to make sure everything is healing okay.
My parents think I should call and complain to the San Diego Blood Bank tomorrow, but I have a feeling there is small print on the registration form I signed that protects them from things like this. But then again do they really want someone who doesn't really know what she is doing to keep poking people with needles and possibly causing someone permanent harm or even death? I think I will call tomorrow, but I have a feeling the conversation won't go very far.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Prayers
I am so blessed to have a beautiful healthy little boy. Every day I look at him and I know how lucky I am that he is and always has been healthy. This is not the case for so many other little ones out there.
Back in January, I began following little Harper Stamp's story.
I prayed for that darling little girl daily and asked for her strength as well as strength for her parents and the doctors and nurses who cared for her. I am so happy to say that Harper is doing great and is at home and getting cuter every day! I have continued to follow her Mommy's blog and have found a number of other sweet little babies and children who are in need of all of our Prayers. I figure the best way to tell you their stories is to just post the links to their parents' blogs. If you could please take a few moments to pray for these precious little ones. Pray for their strength and for them to heal. Pray for the strength of their parents and also for that of the medical professionals who care for them daily. There are a couple that I will list that have already lost their little ones. Please pray for their families. They need us all during these difficult days. Thank you all so much.
Back in January, I began following little Harper Stamp's story.
I prayed for that darling little girl daily and asked for her strength as well as strength for her parents and the doctors and nurses who cared for her. I am so happy to say that Harper is doing great and is at home and getting cuter every day! I have continued to follow her Mommy's blog and have found a number of other sweet little babies and children who are in need of all of our Prayers. I figure the best way to tell you their stories is to just post the links to their parents' blogs. If you could please take a few moments to pray for these precious little ones. Pray for their strength and for them to heal. Pray for the strength of their parents and also for that of the medical professionals who care for them daily. There are a couple that I will list that have already lost their little ones. Please pray for their families. They need us all during these difficult days. Thank you all so much.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Pee Pee in the Potty!
That's right my big boy went pee pee on the potty for the first time tonight! I didn't think he was anywhere near ready and wanted to wait til he was around 2 years old to start potty training, but Daddy wanted to try before he deployed so we got a potty last week. We have been sitting him on it and he has been scared silly up until tonight. Daddy sat him on it before bath and he went! Mommy missed it though! 
I made him a potty chart when we bought his potty, so he got to put a sticker on and he was so happy! Then he gave everyone high fives. He was so proud of himself! We will see how he does tomorrow! I am so proud of him!!
I made him a potty chart when we bought his potty, so he got to put a sticker on and he was so happy! Then he gave everyone high fives. He was so proud of himself! We will see how he does tomorrow! I am so proud of him!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I'm Feeling Crafty
I have been doing a lot of sewing lately. I've sewed before in the past, but I'm by no means an expert and I still make plenty of mistakes. I got a sewing machine for Christmas and have done quite a bit of sewing since.
We switched Alex over to cloth diapers about 2 months ago. In the long run it saves us money and it is better for the environment than disposable diapers that take forever to decompose. Another plus is that we can use the diapers on our next baby as well. I bought a couple of different cloth diaper patterns and made 5 cloth diapers. The rest of our stash we bought, but I was quite proud of the ones I made :) Here is a picture of one of them.
I just love that fabric. It's called Ooga Booga and it is so cute! I made him some pajamas out of the same fabric to match his diaper.
I bought the blue t-shirt and then I added the long sleeves and the little "ooga booga monster" on the shirt. It is hard to see from the picture but I did add some arms and legs to the little monster on the shirt. There are also matching pants. Alex loved them when I put them on. He loves the fabric and just kept pointing at them and saying "Oooo". :)
I'll be making another trip to the fabric store in a little bit to pick out something to make Alex another set of pajamas. I never thought I would enjoy sewing as much as I do. It makes me feel very accomplished :o)
We switched Alex over to cloth diapers about 2 months ago. In the long run it saves us money and it is better for the environment than disposable diapers that take forever to decompose. Another plus is that we can use the diapers on our next baby as well. I bought a couple of different cloth diaper patterns and made 5 cloth diapers. The rest of our stash we bought, but I was quite proud of the ones I made :) Here is a picture of one of them.
I just love that fabric. It's called Ooga Booga and it is so cute! I made him some pajamas out of the same fabric to match his diaper.
I bought the blue t-shirt and then I added the long sleeves and the little "ooga booga monster" on the shirt. It is hard to see from the picture but I did add some arms and legs to the little monster on the shirt. There are also matching pants. Alex loved them when I put them on. He loves the fabric and just kept pointing at them and saying "Oooo". :)
I'll be making another trip to the fabric store in a little bit to pick out something to make Alex another set of pajamas. I never thought I would enjoy sewing as much as I do. It makes me feel very accomplished :o)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Urgent Care
Alex has been sick since Monday. He has been sick a few times before in his life where he was all stuffed up and congested, but this time he had a really loose cough to go along with it. The only other time he had a cough in his life was when he was 4 months old and we flew out to San Diego for Christmas. He ended up with bronchitis. Needless to say ever since he started coughing on Monday I have been worried. Up until yesterday it had just been a loose cough, but then yesterday it sounded like it was settling into his chest and he was running a small fever. I immediately called his doctor. They had no appointments left for the day. WHAT???!! How can a pediatricians office with 6-7 doctors not have ANY appointments left for sick children?? I was then transferred to the nurse triage line where I had to explain what was going on again. She told me I could A)wait it out a couple of days to see how he was feeling, B) take him to urgent care or C) I could wait until Saturday morning at 8am and call the other office to try to get him in on Saturday. So when my Mom got off work we took him to Urgent Care. Luckily we were 4th in line when the opened at 4 so we didn't have to wait TOO long.
Now Alex DESPISES the doctors office. But what little one wouldn't? All they know is doctors=shots. He started screaming and crying the second we walked back to the room. He got himself so upset he almost puked a few times. I brought everything I could think of to comfort him, but nothing helped. Not his binky, nor his stuffed doggy "Spot", nor his blanket. The doctor looked him over and said that it was not settling into his chest and his lungs and breathing sounded great. They tested his oxygen level and said that was great as well. Then she checked his ears. He has the beginning of an ear infection. I am so glad I followed my instinct that it wasn't just a cold and took him in. If I would have waited all weekend the doctor even said he would have been in a lot of pain from the ear infection getting worse. So now we are on a round of antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Hopefully he starts feeling better soon.
Now Alex DESPISES the doctors office. But what little one wouldn't? All they know is doctors=shots. He started screaming and crying the second we walked back to the room. He got himself so upset he almost puked a few times. I brought everything I could think of to comfort him, but nothing helped. Not his binky, nor his stuffed doggy "Spot", nor his blanket. The doctor looked him over and said that it was not settling into his chest and his lungs and breathing sounded great. They tested his oxygen level and said that was great as well. Then she checked his ears. He has the beginning of an ear infection. I am so glad I followed my instinct that it wasn't just a cold and took him in. If I would have waited all weekend the doctor even said he would have been in a lot of pain from the ear infection getting worse. So now we are on a round of antibiotics to get rid of the infection. Hopefully he starts feeling better soon.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Oh the Sleepless Nights
Will they ever get better? I know eventually they will, but I guess I just assumed it would have happened by now. I know I said I wasn't going to blog about Alex again this next time, but I got quite a few comments saying how much everyone loved reading about him, so I figured it was okay :)
For those of you who don't know, let me give you a little background info on how Alex has slept since he was born. When he was first born we co-slept. I know a lot of people have a lot of different views on this and it doesn't always work for some, but it worked for us. We made our bed as safe as we possibly could. I did tons of research on safe co-sleeping and we made every necessary adjustment to our bed. Scott & I each used our own blanket and tucked it around us so it could not cover over his face. I could go on and on defending our choice to co-sleep, but I'm not going to. It worked for us at the time and all was well.
When Alex was around the age of 5 months, we started the process of moving him to his own crib. It was a hard process. Mainly because he was still nursing at night. He would sleep in his crib but I was up almost every 30 min-1 hour. Around 7 months I stopped nursing him all together because I went back to work. He was still up a lot at night even when he wasn't nursing. I finally bought a book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" because I knew I couldn't handle letting him "cry it out". I read the book and we implemented the plans outlined in the Sleep Solution book. It took a few weeks, but eventually Alex was sleeping in his own bed all night waking only 1-2 times a night. He was even taking good naps at this time.
I know Im missing some things along this "sleep timeline" because his schedule has changed so many different times, I can't even remember all of the changes. Then came the cutting of the molars. For the past 4-5 months or so, he has been waking every 1-2 hours again. It isn't just as simple as laying him back down and giving him back his binky and he will go back to sleep. No he wants to be picked up and rocked. I know so many people have told me, don't give in, don't pick him up he will eventually get the picture. Okay we tried that. MANY times. And each and every time he will get himself so upset that he ends up throwing up all over his crib and himself. So we tried every time he wakesup and wants to be picked up, we pick him up, rock him until he is almost asleep and then laying him in his crib to fall the rest of the way to sleep on his own. DOESN"T WORK!!
The last month or so I have been so worn out from not sleeping, that I've given in and let him sleep with us again starting around 1 in the morning. I just can't keep going getting up every 1-2 hours and having to rock him for 20-30 min to get him back to bed. It was starting to affect my daily life and attitude. So needless to say for the past month or so he has been sleeping in our bed again. I know what you are thinking...I've let us take 100 steps back. I just don't know what to do.
Right now he is sick so I'm not trying anything new until he is all better. He was up until midnight last night coughing and just unhappy and eventually coughed so much he puked all over our bed. Luckily he slept til 10am so he was able to get some much needed rest, but now his nap schedule is all messed up today. Its a never ending cycle! :)
I love my son more than anything in this world, but I guess I just assumed that by 18 months, he would be sleeping through the night. I know it's mainly mine and Scott's fault for giving in and letting him sleep with us again, but we were just desperate to sleep! I guess this post was more of just me ranting and getting it all out. Thanks to those of you who have read this far!
P.S. I apologize if I rambled or totally lost my train of thought a few times on that blog..I am running on a few hours of sleep. Although Alex slept from midnight to 10am, I sure didn't! When he sleeps with us he tosses and turns and kicks and punches us :)
For those of you who don't know, let me give you a little background info on how Alex has slept since he was born. When he was first born we co-slept. I know a lot of people have a lot of different views on this and it doesn't always work for some, but it worked for us. We made our bed as safe as we possibly could. I did tons of research on safe co-sleeping and we made every necessary adjustment to our bed. Scott & I each used our own blanket and tucked it around us so it could not cover over his face. I could go on and on defending our choice to co-sleep, but I'm not going to. It worked for us at the time and all was well.
When Alex was around the age of 5 months, we started the process of moving him to his own crib. It was a hard process. Mainly because he was still nursing at night. He would sleep in his crib but I was up almost every 30 min-1 hour. Around 7 months I stopped nursing him all together because I went back to work. He was still up a lot at night even when he wasn't nursing. I finally bought a book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" because I knew I couldn't handle letting him "cry it out". I read the book and we implemented the plans outlined in the Sleep Solution book. It took a few weeks, but eventually Alex was sleeping in his own bed all night waking only 1-2 times a night. He was even taking good naps at this time.
I know Im missing some things along this "sleep timeline" because his schedule has changed so many different times, I can't even remember all of the changes. Then came the cutting of the molars. For the past 4-5 months or so, he has been waking every 1-2 hours again. It isn't just as simple as laying him back down and giving him back his binky and he will go back to sleep. No he wants to be picked up and rocked. I know so many people have told me, don't give in, don't pick him up he will eventually get the picture. Okay we tried that. MANY times. And each and every time he will get himself so upset that he ends up throwing up all over his crib and himself. So we tried every time he wakesup and wants to be picked up, we pick him up, rock him until he is almost asleep and then laying him in his crib to fall the rest of the way to sleep on his own. DOESN"T WORK!!
The last month or so I have been so worn out from not sleeping, that I've given in and let him sleep with us again starting around 1 in the morning. I just can't keep going getting up every 1-2 hours and having to rock him for 20-30 min to get him back to bed. It was starting to affect my daily life and attitude. So needless to say for the past month or so he has been sleeping in our bed again. I know what you are thinking...I've let us take 100 steps back. I just don't know what to do.
Right now he is sick so I'm not trying anything new until he is all better. He was up until midnight last night coughing and just unhappy and eventually coughed so much he puked all over our bed. Luckily he slept til 10am so he was able to get some much needed rest, but now his nap schedule is all messed up today. Its a never ending cycle! :)
I love my son more than anything in this world, but I guess I just assumed that by 18 months, he would be sleeping through the night. I know it's mainly mine and Scott's fault for giving in and letting him sleep with us again, but we were just desperate to sleep! I guess this post was more of just me ranting and getting it all out. Thanks to those of you who have read this far!
P.S. I apologize if I rambled or totally lost my train of thought a few times on that blog..I am running on a few hours of sleep. Although Alex slept from midnight to 10am, I sure didn't! When he sleeps with us he tosses and turns and kicks and punches us :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Year is A Long Time
Scott should be leaving anytime now. We still don't know an exact date and that is very frustrating. We would like to at least know how many days we have until he leaves, but we don't so we are just spending every second we can as a family. I still don't think it will completely sink in until he is gone...a year is a LONG time to be gone, but he is doing it for us, for our family, to better our future. All of the sacrifices will be worth it in the long run.
As for everything else, it is all going pretty well. Except for the face that Alex is sick. He has had a very loose cough for a few days now. Poor little guy just doesn't feel well at all. I hate seeing him not feeling well. He is sleeping worse than normal...which for anyone who knows how poorly he sleeps in the first place, can imagine how little sleep we are all getting right now. As soon as he feels all better, I am going to stick with a plan to get him to sleep better and sleep in his own bed. We have always let him go back to the old habit of sleeping with us and I know it is only going to make things harder, but I know I have to do it.
We took him to get some professional pictures done for his 18 month milestone. He is normally such a ham when it comes to the camera at home, but the photographer couldn't seem to get the best smiles from him. However, the pictures still came out great!
His new favorite thing to do is color. I got him some Tadoodle crayons and a coloring book and he loves to draw pictures for Mommy & Daddy! I have a feeling he is going to be very creative and love arts and crafts. I plan on starting a new project every week with him once he is feeling all better. Right now he doesn't want to do much, except lay around. He is also really big into reading. He has about 30 books and we read each one about 3-4 times a day (at least!). I am so glad that he loves reading so much. He is so smart. And boy does he have a personality! What a ham he is! He knows how to get a reaction out of people so he is constantly "performing" for us. I can't wait to hear the things that will come out of his mouth once he is really "talking". He is such a crack up!
I know my blog is always about Alexander, so I think my next post, I will try to post about something else. Maybe. :) After all he is the most important thing in my life!
As for everything else, it is all going pretty well. Except for the face that Alex is sick. He has had a very loose cough for a few days now. Poor little guy just doesn't feel well at all. I hate seeing him not feeling well. He is sleeping worse than normal...which for anyone who knows how poorly he sleeps in the first place, can imagine how little sleep we are all getting right now. As soon as he feels all better, I am going to stick with a plan to get him to sleep better and sleep in his own bed. We have always let him go back to the old habit of sleeping with us and I know it is only going to make things harder, but I know I have to do it.
We took him to get some professional pictures done for his 18 month milestone. He is normally such a ham when it comes to the camera at home, but the photographer couldn't seem to get the best smiles from him. However, the pictures still came out great!
His new favorite thing to do is color. I got him some Tadoodle crayons and a coloring book and he loves to draw pictures for Mommy & Daddy! I have a feeling he is going to be very creative and love arts and crafts. I plan on starting a new project every week with him once he is feeling all better. Right now he doesn't want to do much, except lay around. He is also really big into reading. He has about 30 books and we read each one about 3-4 times a day (at least!). I am so glad that he loves reading so much. He is so smart. And boy does he have a personality! What a ham he is! He knows how to get a reaction out of people so he is constantly "performing" for us. I can't wait to hear the things that will come out of his mouth once he is really "talking". He is such a crack up!
I know my blog is always about Alexander, so I think my next post, I will try to post about something else. Maybe. :) After all he is the most important thing in my life!
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