Medication Woes.

I was rummaging through one of our cabinets today and found two cups that brought memories flooding back as though they happened yesterday.

Michael was diagnosed with ADHD at age 5.
After over 6 months of trying every technique known to man other than medication, we finally decided to give medication a try.

I can tell you that we exhausted every possible alternative prior to taking this route but I know with 100% certainty that we made the right choice for Michael.

But we had an issue that I had not been prepared for when we got home with his medication.

It was in pill form.

To the average person, this doesn't sound like much of a problem.
To a five year old who's never taken medication that wasn't in liquid form, this was a catastrophe.

The pharmacist recommended that we open the capsule and drop the medication on a spoonful of pudding or applesauce if he couldn't get the act of swallowing the pill down right away.

Well I can tell you this...
We went through months of mornings in which Michael would either:
-throw up multiple times from gagging on the pill itself
-throw up multiple times from gagging after tasting the medication sprinkled on a spoonful of anything
-throw a monster tantrum in order to avoid either of the above.

It was a total and absolute nightmare.

This process went on for months without any signs of improvement in sight.

Until a good friend recommended that I find a "pill cup" that he remembered his brother using as a child.

I started searching the internet and located two such cups.
Obviously, out of desperation, I ordered both immediately.

The first one that arrived was this one.

I found it here.

This one is designed almost similar to a sippy cup.

The pill is supposed to be set inside and should just flow right down with the juice.

Here's the problems we experienced with this one.

First, the pill often sticks to the cup.

If it gets even the slightest bit wet, the pill sticks to the side and does not "flow right down".

We tried to remedy this by flipping the cup back, which would "in theory" force the liquid and the pill into the mouth quickly.

The issue was this. If you didn't put you're mouth completely over the opening, you'd wind up with juice all over yourself. If you did put your mouth completely over it, the pill would invariably get stopped somewhere around the teeth and not make it down the throat.

Unfazed, we waited for the second cup to arrive.

I found this one here.

This cup was designed similarly but was to drunk from as you would a regular cup.

The pill was set on the "ledge" and you just take a big swallow and the pill should go right down with the beverage.

Well... it took a few tries, but it worked!

I think Michael was actually so shocked the first time it went down that he didn't actually believe it himself.

To be totally honest, it still took months of practicing with his cup to really get the act of swallowing medication down completely.

We weren't successful every time in the beginning.

But I can not begin to express the relief as he started to get the hang of it.

It took stress off of Michael.

It took stress off of my husband and I.

And ultimately, he was able to take his medicine and start to see himself succeed at school.

And that... thanks to a silly sounding pill taker's cup... was life changing.

Similarities

Everyone that's met Matthew says the same thing when they meet him...
"He looks just like Michael!"
And every time they'd say that, I'd smile and nod and think... I'm not really so sure but okay... if you say so.

But today I dug up some baby pictures of Michael to look further into this assumption.

And you know what?
Everyone was right.
(I assure you, that was not an easy thing for me to admit).



Matthew and I.


Michael and I.


Matthew.


Michael.

I find it to be uncanny.
And what have I learned from this lovely experiment you ask?
My kids look like me.
Only cuter!
:o)

Maternity Leave = Baby Blanket Complete

Yep.

You read it right.

I have actually finished a knitting project.

I know.

Seems almost impossible doesn't it?

But I did it.

And isn't it a lovely piece of work?

So here's what I realized.

I'm good at completing projects like hats and the occasional scarf because they're quick.

Give me a large pattern and I get intimidated.

And bored.

Which is why this blanket was the perfect choice for me.

It's 56 small squares in different patterns.

Small squares means that I can work on it, walk away from it, and work on it without getting bored.

Bored with the stockinette stitch?

No problem!

I could just switch to a stripe... or a star stitch...

Brilliant!

Here are all the squares lined up and ready to be quilted together.

As you can see... I had lots of squares to choose from.

The super amazing colors are the colors of Matthew's absolutely perfect nursery.

Here's Matthew trying out the first strip of stitched together pieces.

I don't know about you, but it looks to me like he's LOVING this!

Here's the completed blanket without a backing.

It was absolutely necessary to back this because there was approximately 1,968 random threads hanging off the backside of the piece.


I went with a cute fleece camo pattern.

Is it perfect?

Not even close.

But for me... it's pretty much the closest I've ever gotten to perfect.

I am proud!

And I'm pretty sure Matthew loves it!

Now, we just need to get through the 115 degree summer days and he can actually use it.

Brothers

I was extremely nervous about how Michael would react to having a sibling in the house.

7 years is a long time to go as an only child.

And not only was he an only child... he was the center of pretty much everyone's attention.

He was the only grandchild.

He was the only nephew.

And I had no idea how he was going to react to a baby in the house that required alot of attention, care, and love.

About three weeks before Matthew's arrival, I went into premature labor. Thankfully they were able to stop the contractions. But that set us into overdrive. We had a nursery to finish. Supplies to purchase. Baby clothes to wash. Everything began to revolve around preparing for Matthew to arrive. And Michael started to act up.

Notes started to come home from school.

We noticed Michael fighting with his friends in our front yard.

He was clingy, whiny and needy.

And that had me worried. Real worried.

And to be completely honest. I was worried about myself and my relationship with Michael.

7 years of Michael being my only baby.

7 years of clinging to this child for dear life.

7 years of fighting for him, loving him, needing nothing more than his little arms around my neck to make all things right with the world.

Would things change?

Did I have enough love to go around?

Would I have be able to give Michael the attention he needed?

Would he resent me for bringing another child into our family?

Once Matthew was born, the first thing my husband and I did, was have Michael brought to the hospital.

And he played peek a boo with his infant brother.

And he asked if he could hold him.

And he took his brother into his arms like he'd always been there.

And that was it...

The love was there between them.

It just came naturally.

And I found out that a mother's love is infinite.

There is more than enough to go around.

Matthew Has Arrived!!!

It's hard to believe it's been 6 weeks.

It's hard to believe that we ever lived without this beautiful child.

April 8th, 2010.

Matthew joined us.

His delivery was as easy as his first 6 weeks have been.

Quick, painless, mellow and an amazing gift.

I spent most of the evening of April 7th having pretty consistent contractions.

They were essentially painless.

By morning, we sent Michael off to school and I decided we better head to the hospital.

The nurses (who were amazing and fantastic and a gift to the medical community) were sure that I was going to be sent home because there was no way for a woman to be in labor and be feeling this great. And trust me, I thought the same. I was laughing, cracking jokes, facebooking and doing all things un-labor-like.

But Matthew had decided that he was going to make his arrival. Once the nurses admitted me, we made the necessary calls to friends and family and I continued to labor with barely any pain.

Honestly, I asked for the epidural with no pain.

Here is a lovely video of me in the middle of a contraction. I had not gotten my epidural yet... it was just seriously that easy. You can see in front of me, my delicious ice chips. Oh, I was starving. I would have begged to stop at Taco Bell on the way to the hospital but I had no intention of accidentally pooping on the table. I'm not even sure if that's an urban myth or not... but I can assure you that I was not taking the risk!

The epidural was another story. Thanks to an ever-worsening case of scoliosis, it was no small feat to get an epidural tube into my spine. In fact, it took 3 effing tries! They had to bring in the Chief of Anesthesiology to get it right. This pissed me off because I was A: insisting on pain medication when I actually had no pain, B: creating pain that was unnecessary and C: worried I was going to get charged for 3 epidurals. I mean, a bandaid probably costs $58 in the hospital, who knows what 3 epidurals would cost. I did kind of feel like I was in an episode of Grey's Anatomy though and just pretended that the Chief had great hair and an awesome post-it note wife named Meredith Grey.

I digress. After an unexpected case in which I "Brady'ed" which essentially means I passed out on the table... wait... I'm not actually sure what it means... heading to google now...

Okay... I was probably better off not knowing all that information. In a nutshell, my heart rate dropped to less than 60 beats per minute.

But then... after 3 pushes, he was here. And I was again overcome by the love one can feel for their child. And I was overwhelmed by his cuteness and his perfectly shaped head.

I was overwhelmed by the way Kevin looked, looking at his baby. And I couldn't wait for Michael to arrive and meet his amazing, incredible little brother!

When Michael came, I felt complete. I had my family with me and every ache, pain, unhappy moment I had experienced in the last 9 months, instantly disappeared.

Needless to say... Matthew is a perfect angel. He has maintained his mellow demeanor since his arrival and he is honestly almost unreal.

I am blessed and complete and completely happy.

I am also thankful that the last nine months are over.

I am a lucky, lucky girl!!!