Week Number... err... 4 1/2 Months!

(***Warning: this post talks a lot about birth control. If you don't support forms of contraceptives, then stop reading. If you don't want to hear about my experience with birth control, stop reading. If you are just going to criticize everything I'm going to say, stop reading. There, you are warned.)

What a crazy, busy insane, hectic, stressful, beautiful, amazing week it's been. We all know from my last post (cause obviously, you're a dedicated reader) that Monday SUCK SUCK SUCKED. This week has been a little stressful because both Ryan and I have been little sicklings. I'll start this post off with my mommy fail.

I admit it. I got my baby boy sick. I'm the person who's supposed to be protecting him from this world and keeping him safe from his surroundings, yet I get a cold, and as I'm breast feeding and shoving tissues up my nostrils, I don't have time to wash my hands in between every tissue blow (which seemed to happen approximately every 5 seconds nonstop) nor do I really have anywhere to sneeze. I can't sneeze into my elbow as they make you do in schools now because when I cradle him, that's where he lays! In my arm nooks. And I can't sneeze down my shirt because he lays against my chest. I can't sneeze in the air because that let's germs run free, and I don't have time to get up and grab a tissue, the kid has me by the nipple and both of my arms are supporting him. So what do I do? I sneeze right on his little body. By the time all of these thoughts raced through my brain, my sneeze was already past due and I just let it out all over his legs. I don't blame myself because it happens as a mom. When one person in the household is sick, it's really really hard to keep everyone healthy. But do I feel awful? YES.

We're pretty cute for a couple of sicklings

My poor, sweet little angel baby. His coughs are too tiny. They break my heart. He has such a raspy voice and raspy sad little cries. His nose is so stuffy and his breathing is congested. It's the cutest cold in the history of the world, yet it hurts to watch him suffer. I brought him into the doctor after three days of him not getting better. Actually, after the second night, he sounded worse so I called the next morning.

SIDE STORY. And by story, I mean VENT. So the hospital on base. It has a main line where you listen to options to make appointments, call the clinic you need, put in a rx, ask about insurance etc. So I call them to talk to a nurse. The main line. I push one to "make an appointment or talk to a registered tricare nurse". Then I push two to "talk to a registered tricare nurse." Every time I called, I got this automative response: "All lines are busy, please call back in 10 mins," AND THEN IT HANGS UP ON YOU. Every time I called, I got this damn message. I was getting so frustrated, so by day three, I decide to just call the appointment line and get him in instead. The person who answers, I tell them what's going on and how I've been trying to talk to a nurse for days. Guess what they say? "Oh, yeah, that number is no longer good." UMMMMM HELLO!!! GET IT OFF YOUR $@*%ing MAIN LINE THEN!!!! Good lord, what is wrong with people out here? Is it so hard to do your job correctly? I wonder how many sick, ticked off people there are who have been trying to get ahold of nurses and call back every 10 minutes.

Anyway, so we had our appointment. The doc said luckily, there's low risk of pneumonia, no ear infection, no virus, and it's just a plain old cold. That's the main thing I wanted to hear. I already knew there wasn't much I could do for him, but I wanted to verify that I wasn't slowly letting him die by just brushing it off as a cold and giving him extra cuddles. But no, he's a healthy boy with a case of the sniffles. He gave me some tips of what to use. He recommended Little Remedies brand nasal spray and behind the counter nasal decongestant, so I went over to target and got some of that along with Baby Vix (okayed by the pharmacist there). So between Ryan's nose drops/sprays and Belle's eye drops, my life is-in the words of one of my girl friends- extremely lubricated over here. Good lord! What is my life? I feel like it never ends! Someone get this girl her own reality tv show please. I'll show you what it's really like to be an army wife.

His body was freezing cold (I guess why they call it a 'cold') so I put a blanket on his feet. I came back and he was all wrapped up and cuddled in it. Too sweet. 

Speaking of... we got AMAZING news. The army had been toying with the idea of G coming home early. I said I'll believe it when I see it, seeing as how many of their ideas tend to just not happen. Well, bags are sent, tickets are booked, my man will be home! When? He won't say. He's planning on surprising me, but it's sometime before Valentine's Day :) :) :) You know when some dogs meet new people, they get so excited they pee? That's exactly how I felt! I was so unbelievably happy that my bladder just wanted me to pee my pants all over the place. I was at the pediatrics office. I didn't. I held it. But I experienced that intensity of happiness. It was the best. May I experience more of these happy pee moments in my future.

I, too, made my own trip to the doctors office yesterday. After finding out there's a chance G comes home sooner than later, I knew I needed to get back on to some type of birth control. It just so happens that my appointment was made the day that I found out he was definitely coming back and when I was sick. Killed a few birds with one stone on that one. At my 6 week post natal check up, I had talked about the many forms of birth control out there and thought it over. I had been on the bill for 7 years before I stopped taking it to start trying for a baby, so for me, I am attached to what I'm familiar with. I told my... dr? Actually, I don't even think he was my doctor. He wasn't in acu's. He said something about being a student and working with my dr? He talked so insanely fast I didn't quite pick up on it... but I told him I wanted to take the "mini" pill, or the progesterone only pill which is approved for breastfeeding. He told me that since I've been breastfeeding for over three months that I can add estrogen back into my bc and can go back on what I was using before, however I may have a decrease in milk supply, and there's always a risk that it won't go back up like it's supposed to. I figured we're already only a couple months away from introducing solids that I really didn't want to risk having to switch to formula for a month if my supply didn't come back, so I stuck with the "mini" or POP option.

He then asked me about the option of an IUD device, such as Mirena which goes into the cervix and stays there until I'm ready for another baby, which I pull on a string and it comes out. I told him I wasn't really comfortable having something just in my cervix hanging out every day (let's face it, I'm still a little emotionally scared from the last thing that came out of there) and the idea sort of weirded me out, but I would consider it down the road. He said he understood, but then kept telling me how great of a technology it was and how it's changing birth control and he recommends to it everyone because he thinks it's so great. Excuse me. Hold the phone. If you don't have a cervix, then don't try to convince a girl who just confessed that she didn't feel comfortable sticking something up there to get it. I was slightly irritated by that. I'm all for the doctor's perspective about things, but once I tell you my reason for not wanting it is something that only women can experience, then don't carry on and on about the benefits. If he were my husband pushing it on me, my answer would have been easy.. CONDOMS. Let's see who's uncomfortable now, bi-atch.

So this POP I got. I have to take it every day at the same time, otherwise it may not be effective. I've got my alarm set on my phone all ready to go. I really hope the hormones don't mess with my moods. I really don't want giant mood swings. I'm sure my hubby doesn't want to come home to that either. But the good news is that unlike regular birth control, it only take about 7 days to kick in. That was another thing my "doctor" kept pushing on me. 7 days.  It won't work in the next few days. If I have sex in 3 or 4 days, I'll need a back up form because it won't work for 7 days. I kept telling him my husband was overseas and he's talking to me like I'm gonna go out and flaunt my new breast-feeding birth control all over Anchorage. I get it. 7 days!! I think abstinence should work just fine as birth control for a week. It's been doing me good for the past few months. Ahhthankyou. And this is only going to be a temporary fix. I guess as soon as I start weening Ryan, it's no longer effective. They said even if I miss one regular feeding to switch him to regular food, I can start ovulating and get knocked up again. I'm going to make sure I switch to the regular pill BEFORE we introduce solids to my little man. Planned parenthood. Yes.

And then I asked about what I can take for a cold. They gave me some nasal spray, but I can't even use it until after I've completely cleared out my nasal passages. I need to spray saline, take a hot shower with vix, "farmer" blow snot out my nose and then spray it. Yeah, that's convenient. It better work.

Enough about me, back to my boy. He lost some weight! I noticed it a couple weeks ago. I usually have to shove his little chunky thighs into his footie pjs so the zipper can close over him, but lately, it seemed like his clothes were looser and there was less shoving of legs into jammies. I wasn't crazy. He was down to 16.25 lbs at his appointment. I realized that this was probably because we no longer do night feedings. He's been crying himself back to sleep... IN HIS CRIB.. at night so less eating=dropping some chunk. I wasn't worried about his weight at all, but I'm glad that, as his mommy, I am not crazy and noticed that his body definitely was a little bit smaller. He's still eating regularly despite being sick so that's not the problem or anything. Just a little healthy weight loss from extra sleep.

He usually face plants and cries when on his tummy time toy. Today, I watched him face plant, but instead of cry, he just stayed there and kept playing. LOL! Must have been too tired to cry it out. 

Ry is such a little ham. He has got the fake cry to a tee. When he doesn't want to nap (which apparently is every afternoon these days), he will give me his fake cries and look over his shoulder to see if I'm watching. If I'm not, he continues with constant checks, and if I am, he cries harder. It's outstanding how a four month old baby grasps the concept of manipulation and tries to wrap me around his little fingers. Only some times do I give in.

As much as I love my little cuddle buddy at night, it's nice to have my bed back to myself. And, it's so much less stressful knowing that my hubby can come home to a bed to himself as well. Or should I say, a bed to a blanket stealing wife and three very uncuddly, bed-hogging dogs (I get their cuddle ends, he gets their feet usually). Oh well, we'll work on it when he gets home. All I can say it that I think we should invest in a king sized bed at our next long-term station. Never has a queen felt quite so small...

It's also nice having a baby who sleeps in!! I usually wake up and get anywhere from 30 mins to an hour and a half of alone time! It's great! What do I do? I've cooked breakfast twice this week. Cooked! Eggs with tomato, spinach and avocado rather than a bowl of cereal. So tasty. I've also been doing 20 mins of yoga in the mornings to keep my body in line for my work out routines. And when I finally hear his sweet little voice over the monitor, I get to go up there and find him with his eyes wide open just talking to himself in the dark. And when he finally sees my (and Cato and Denali's) face peeking over the edge of the crib, I get giant smiles. Oh, how I love those smiles.

I made him. *SIGH* Love him. 

Quick update on the dogs. Well, just the problem dog. I had to send in a rx to some New Jersey pharmacy for these special 2% whatever eye drops for Belle. They call me saying they got my rx and they were going to charge me. They told me it was $39 for the drops plus and extra $20 for shipping. Great! It was cheaper than what I thought so I said go ahead and put it on my card. I get a call back. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize the concentration of the drops, so the price isn't what I told you. It's $150 plus $20 for shipping." WHOA! That took me by surprise. I was not expecting that. I told her I'd call her back cause I wanted to talk to G first and see what he felt about it. My amazing husband. He said do it because he wants her healthy (swoon-what an amazing father he is). And I agree. If this will help her get her eyes to start making tears, then we'll do it. It's a lot cheaper than surgery (which is an option if we'd like. It's actually kind of cool. They would take one of her salivary glands that connects near the jaw and re-route it towards her eye balls so they moisten up there instead. I guess it's a highly successful surgery, but we'll cross that point later on if necessary.) Our little problem child. I'm so glad we adopted her and not another family that wouldn't go out of the way for her genetic problem. I love my Belle Belle so much!

Okay, this post had a lot of babbling and it really wasn't too thrilling to say the least. Of course, thank you to everyone who took the time to read about my ever-so fabulous life (sense the sarcasm). Until next time :) SMOOCHES