#31 On the Mend
Finally, in what seems like the first time in forever, I’m feeling a little bit better. Woohoo! Even though I’m not 100% yet, just the fact that I wasn’t feeling nauseas every single second over the last few days has me feeling like a new person. I swear I hit rock bottom last week. It wasn’t a case of finding the light at the end of the tunnel. It was more like, “What light? I’m still looking for the tunnel!” I mean, I just could not stop puking and I was so worried about going back to work. I probably should have gone back to the hospital for another IV (especially considering what the doctor said about the amniotic fluid being low), but I think that my experience with the horrible doctor traumatized me and I figured that as long as I kept SOMETHING down and managed not to puke all night long, that I’d be okay. At least things are getting better now and although I’m still a little nauseas in the mornings and usually more so at night, it’s not as severe and I haven’t puked since Tuesday which is wonderful. I was getting so, so used to going to bed with terrible nausea and stomach pain from having vomited so much that I just about wanted to die. Honestly, there were times I thought it would be better just to die than feel the way I felt.
We had a busy, but lovely day today. Woke up at a decent hour and then took a walk to the park. It was such a beautiful day and so hot that we wanted to get out. We bought some tea on the way and then bought some egg and tuna bagels at this little coffee shop near the park and then stopped to have a picnic on the grass. We couldn’t eat in peace, though, because people kept coming up to us and asking to take pictures of Jay. Then, even though they couldn’t speak English, they’d just hang around while we tried to eat our food and drink our tea. It was kind of weird and I guess a little annoying, but both of us were feeling too good to be truly bothered. Afterwards we went to Park Lane to Daiso where we needed to get a few things and on the way out we felt hungry again so we got some more food and drinks and had another picnic and were disturbed by the hordes once more. Honestly, we had no time to ourselves at all. It was kind of funny. I know my son is cute, but come on! I guess they can’t get over his blue eyes. I swear these two girls took about a hundred photos of him in all.
His eye has healed so well. I never mentioned it in my e-mail last week because it happened later that night. We were getting ready to go out. Anyway, it was Greg’s turn to watch him and my turn to get dressed. Suddenly Greg came running in and Jay was crying. There was blood gushing out right below his eye. He had been crawling around on the floor in the baby room and Greg had his mini drum kit out and was practicing. Next minute Jay pulled it over and one of the screws landed right below his eye. I’m so thankful it didn’t land on his eye, but poor Greg felt so terrible. He rushed to the doctor, but he was on a break. The receptionist said that it didn’t look bad, though. Once it stopped bleeding it didn’t seem so serious. She said to just put some saline solution on it and then apply some iodine. I held his head and Greg used a Q-tip to wipe some on. I could already see an improvement the next day and now you can hardly even see it. The next day, though, Greg slammed Jay’s fingers in the car door, but just in the rubber part so he didn’t cry much (although by that point Greg was ready to quit being a father) and the next day while I was watching him he fell down near the edge of the bed when he let go of the railing and somehow managed to hit the wall, but also part of the cupboard which left a little scrape on the side of his face. Not too serious, but still! Poor little bubba was in the wars and started looking like a champion boxer the day after a fight. I guess that’s boys for you. Greg’s colleague, the one that gave us so many clothes, has two little boys and he says it’s crazy. They try and climb up cabinets and onto TVs and jump from high places. Yikes! Jay is already SO active and it’s only going to get worse when he starts walking. Oh my!
He is so, so cute though. He loves to pat everything and he walks along in his walker patting every surface he comes into contact with. Rocco is very happy with that because I’m sure he enjoys the pats more than he enjoys the hair pulling that preceded this. When I read him his books he often squeals with delight at each new page, but he still wants to close it while I’m trying to read to him or grab hold of one of the pages and rip it. He now gets his teeth brushed every night and he is very good about it. Opens his mouth wide and I brush his two teeth for him. I bought some special baby toothpaste that is safe for him to swallow and just put a tiny bit on the brush because he can’t rinse and spit out yet. He is too little. Speaking of teeth, though, he has nipped both Greg and I a couple of times and those little teeth are sharp! Ouch! He loves, loves, loves bath time and splashes around like crazy and plays with all his toys. He pulls himself up on the bed rails and then walks along quite well. He often only holds on with one hand so he can play with something else in the other hand, although he does love to drop his toys over the edge which isn’t quite as fun for Mommy. He also loves it when you let him hold onto your thumbs and then he walks along. He crawls SO fast, but it’s still down low and he looks like a kind of lizard. He has finally started holding his bottle, but only when he feels like it and then he often just wants to play by either taking it out and putting it in again or just moving it from side to side. He is also pretty good at drinking from a sippy cup although you have to help him get the angle just right.
And that’s how Jay is doing. Right now the little guy is asleep in my arms, but he is starting to wriggle a bit which means he is in the beginning wake-up stages. I’d better be off.
Lots of love
Em x
(snippets from February 2010)