well, isn't that interesting. the last 2 posts were 1 month apart, and both involved a diagnosis of strep for ava.

poor kid. at least we caught this one early, before she got completely sick.

i have not posted in over a month, this is due to my preoccupation with ava's school thing (not good--will post a long story later, probably), the kids' skating thing, and my pregnancy thing. i hit a wall with the pregnancy a few weeks ago, and just could not find any motivation.

i have had so many contractions over the last few weeks, however they were all non-productive etc. then last tuesday (at 38 weeks), i thought it was really the day. it was totally miserable--the contractions were not consistent, but definitely strong and uncomfortable. i figured, ok, soon. then on wednesday i felt terrific. and thursday am, i felt superb. then on thursday, 1/2 hour before i was to pick up the kids at school (ava does half-days now, that is part of the school thing), i suddenly could not see. there was a jagged flashing half-circle in my left eye that would not go away, and then it just got worse. eventually i could not actually focus--later i read a description of an ocular migraine as "looking through a broken window" and this was apt. i thought of it as seeing the world through cubist glasses. so i called peter, said "i can't see. i need you to take me to urgent care." NOT the phone call he thought he was going to get. by the time i got into the car, it was starting to resolve, but i was feeling really weird. so we went. on the way, i told him that he also had to go get the kids from school. his reaction was one of competent calmness mixed with disbelief. so, there we were, in the waiting room, and while i could see, technically, it also felt like i could not see. like things were oddly blurry. and then i suddenly becamse VERY cold in my extremities, started to shake, felt numb, and then burst into tears--but it was so weird because the tears were not associated with fear or sadness or anything--it was like incontinence of the eyes. i said "peter, something is very very wrong!" and then it was sort of like a scene from a movie--he leaped up, yelled for help, the entire staff came running (judging my the number of feet i saw), and they got me into a wheelchair. riding in a wheelchair with your eyes closed in a building that you are familiar with is very weird. the halls seem 3x as long. ultimately, they got me in a room, hooked up to an iv, feet up, vitals taken, blood drawn. i lay there for a long time and slowly started to feel better. turned out i was dehydrated even though i drink a TON of water, anemic, and had low blood albumin. this was eventually all attributed to the compounding effects of ulcerative colitis -- which is apparently doing me in this time -- and the pregnancy. i eventually was discharged, then 1/2 hour later returned with ava because she needed to be cultured for strep. which was positive. again. i floored the doctor when i asked for zithromax tablets vs suspension, but it is a LOT easier to get ava to swallow a pill vs. drink a medicine she finds vile.

on friday, i felt great. then at 3 pm, things started getting crampy. then they increased in length, and came pretty regularly for a long time--several hours. i packed the bags, called my mom, put her on alert, and asked her to come by, just in case. everything kept ncreasing in intensity, and i finally said "i think i am in labor." so off we went. got the kids in the hotel room, (the hospital is about an hour away), put them to sleep, which was easy because by the time we got there it was 9 pm, put nana in the bed next to them, and went to the hospital. i was contracting every 6 minutes, they were pretty strong, but i was only 2 cm dilated. so, they put me on a bolus of fluid. now, apparently, in order to have a bolus, i needed to be stuck with a 20 guage needle. for those of you unfamiliar with needle dimensions, this is a very large needle. much like having a fork tine jabbed in your vein. and it did not work. my vein did not cooperate, and it was the one on the side of my wrist, where there are a ton of bones, not much fat, and a good bit of scar tissue from my broken wrist. i was literally writhing in pain as she tried to get it in. peter later commented that i had been very calm. huh. perspective is interesting. so, the shift changed and the new nurse tried again, this time in the back of my left hand. it did not work again. by this point i was assuming that it had to do with the low albumin or something, because i have never been in this situation. she then said 'i am going to try again, but if it does not work, i am calling iv therapy' -- i said 'what is that?' and she said 'the people that do ivs and only ivs all day long' -- i almost said 'why in god's name haven't you called them already??' but i let her have another go at it. in her words, the "vein blew immediately." so, 20 min later, iv therapy arrives. guess what they have? NOVACAINE. hello??? i was so relieved, but on the other hand, so frustrated that it was so easily obtained -- it felt like i had been put through gratuitous pain. and believe me, i don't mind needles, and tend not to mind ivs--i have had my fair share of them, and they are not great but they are not terrible. this needle was truly terrible.

so, hooked up to a bolus of fluid, and the fetal monitor, i was then asked a zillion questions, and given a ton of paperwork. i sent peter to the hotel to get some sleep, since i knew it was going to be a long night, and they finally left me alone sometime around 1 am. however, i felt like i was not allowed to do anything to get the labor to progress--they wanted me to sleep, and they wanted the monitor on me, and i had to be on my back in bed. and when the first bag of fluids was empty, they put another in me. and another. (my ankles reflected this dramatically). i found this incredibly frustrating. and sure enough, the contractions started to space themselves further and further apart. i was so upset because i felt like they would inevitably send me home in the morning, and after going through everything that i had gone through i really did not want to have to do that. not to mention that when i did get a contraction, it was pretty intense, and not the regular braxton hicks that i had been experiencing. but eventually they were down to 2 per hour, then 1 per hour. needless to say i did eventually sleep. in the morning, they were almost gone.

then the morning nurse came in and said "well, i hope you are not in labor. do you want to know why?" and i looked at her expectantly, and she said "because the doctor on call will not do VBACs, and if you are in labor you will be getting a c-section." i almost fell out of my seat. i had been told that every practice at the hospital supported VBACs, and here i was, being told that this was not the case, and that if i were to be in labor i was having surgery. i looked at her and said "if i am going to have a c-section, i am going home and having it in saranac lake. there is NO WAY i am going to be post-op in the hospital for 5 days an hour away from my house with 2 kids." she nodded and said she understood. i was in shock. turns out the midwife on call who had ordered the fluids and the monitoring was actually trying to get my labor to stop, i just did not know that. why no one mentioned it to me is beyone me. i would have tried harder to sleep, vs sitting up, trying to get off my back.

however, ultimately i did not have to worry, because the stress of that statement caused my labor to come to an absolute screeching halt. the doctor came in eventually and declared me in 'false' labor, and discharged me. no one ended up with any sleep, my mom winning the prize with 1 hour, the kids spectacularly wound up after getting up at 5 am, peter slept fitfully, and i slept maybe 2.5 hours. so we all went home, and managed to get through the day to 6 pm, when we all collapsed.

today (sunday), i have had recurring contractions, nothing like friday night, but lost my mucous plug, so something is certainly happening, albeit at a very drawn out pace. as of 7 am tomorrow, i am safe to go to plattsburgh and avoid a c-section. or at least be allowed to avoid a c-section. so, we made it to the end of the weekend.

eventually a baby is going to come out. not sure when though!

yeah. its strep. woohoo. actually, to be more specific, it is scarlet fever.

this is the 2nd time she has had scarlet fever.

carter is fine. he said so to the dr. "i'm fine."

the worst of it was that we got to the pharmacy 10 minutes after they closed. the staff at the drug store were not exactly compassionate or helpful. in fact, they were rather callous.

so we drove 20 min back to the urgent care center and begged for a sample of the zithromax adult pill (they did not have the children's suspension). she was reluctant to give it to us, simply because she could not imagine that ava would swallow it, but ava gulped it right down.

hopefully tomorrow she will be on the mend.

ava is sick. fever of 102. we went to a birthday party today, where i managed to lose a couple of battles in my ongoing war to prevent ava from understanding who hannah montana is. (i don't know why i am so anti-hannah, i have never even watched the show, but it is just some sort of anxiety about marketing and pop culture and well, frankly, she loooks a bit old for ava--a little too much on the teen side of things, and i don't think ava needs to be leaping into teen-dom at 5). anyway, we returned home where she collapsed into the green chair and i put my hand on her to sort of say, "i know, that was really exhausting..." (it was). and when i did, i thought, gee, she feels hot. then she said "mom, my throat hurts..." and so i got the thermometer. 100.6. and then, 1/2 hour later, 101.9 -- where it has remained despite various interventions. between my recent illness, the fact that a stomach bug is going around, and that a little girl in her class had strep throat, i am not exactly surprised. it just stinks.

moreover, the school issue remains a big problem. i finally conferred with the principal, and we are trying to find a solution, though it is sort of a slow process. i am advocating a half-time schedule.

i am feeling very defeated. though we may have found a piano teacher for ava. exactly when we are going to fit that in, i have no idea.

carter has conquered scissors and now appears on his way towards wanting to write.

he keeps asking me how to make the primary colors. to him, if you can make green from yellow and blue, you should be able to make yellow from some set of pre-existing colors. he looked at me oddly when i suggested he take some blue out of the green. i thought he might get the joke, but he was very dissatisfied with that answer.

ava adores her microscope.

yesterday she asked me how to make milk. we reviewed the concept of mammals again, and then that prompted her to ask how many animals there were that were mammals. answer: 4500-5000, though it is a number in flux.

it did dawn on her how arbitrary our choice of cow is for our milk, and then she had great fun considering alternatives. chipmunk milk was the funniest.

briefly:

i am seriously ill, pulled a muscle in my belly from coughing and seem to be expelling snot from my right eye. it feels great. the only mitigating factor is that it is sort of interesting in a "huh, would you look at that" kind of a way.

i have taken the day off, only cooking and claning up the dishes. i am leaving the kid's messes and toys right where they are, partly to document the phenomenon that the less tv they watch, the messier the house. this, i think is the real reason parents let kids watch tv (at least it is mine at 5 pm when i have just finished picking up)--to prevent the production of yet another mess.

the ultrasound went well, baby is measuring between 32 and 33 weeks, right where she should be. her estimated weight is almost 5 lb, so she should land right where her siblings were. i am just small because i am running after 2 kids, coughing my belly into some serious muscle tone, and dealing with persistent nausea -- only able to really enjoy fruit, carrots, cucumber, cheerios, roast beef (?), crackers and water.

ava's school came up with a solution--they are going to have a girl from the after school program come in and stay in the classroom with the teacher. this is superb--ava knows her, and she is a super kind, super kid-focused, fun, cheerful and loving person. ava likes her a lot. carter absolutely adores her (she has substituted in his classroom sometimes). when i told ava, the cloud over her lifted measurably.

i am very sick. managed to get some horrendous cold, and am coughing like crazy/sore throat/etc--if this baby doesn't pop out during one of my coughing fits, it will be amazing.

tomorrow we go for an ultrasound--i am officially measuring small, so they just want to check that all is ok. the baby is rather active and rolling around, so i am not that worried. i seem to remember everyone being concerned that i did not have enough fluid with ava and it turned out that i did, it was all just hidden somewhere.

ava continues to have terrible issues with school and the new teacher, primarily because there are some kids taking out their stress in not so great ways--ie tantrums, yelling, hitting, kicking, and she just cannot stand it. apparently today one of the kids flew into a huge rage and had to be carried out of the classroom, practically restrained, to the principal's office. this happened right before lunch, and the teacher later told me that ava promptly started sobbing, a HUGE deal, since she will NOT cry in front of her peers. (even the other day, when she was skating and fell very hard on her bottom, she flew off the ice, and when i saw her i could see thashe was close to tears and when i asked her what was wrong -- i did not witness the fall -- she snapped "NOTHING." and i said "really? you like you are going to cry." and she said "MOM! i'm FINE. i just need some pretzels" -- since she doesn't even like pretzels, it was pretty obvious that there was some serious pride issues going on. then her instructor told me that she fell, and might have hit her head. i asked ava about it very quietly and she whispered "it was my bottom." 2 minutes later, she was back out on the ice). so the fact that she had cried in class was upsetting, because it meant that it was a Big Deal. approximately 5 minutes later i arrived to pick up carter and she was in the hall, on her way to lunch. she saw me, flew over to me, attached herself to me, sobbing, and begged me to let her go home. after 15 minutes of this, i said "fine--let's go" -- i acknowledged to the principal and teachers that this might technically be a choice that is frowned upon, but it was just to the point of being ridiculous--and frankly, at this point, i feel like it is simply unfair that she would have to stay and be subjected to those sorts of behavioral outbursts. if anything, i am starting to feel the less than charitable inclination that said child should be removed until he can behave. i realize that is somewhat inflammatory, and probably not in that child's best interest, and the pre-child version of me would have been horrified at such a suggestion, but on the other hand, why should ava suffer? even the teacher said "i have absolutely no idea how to handle this situation." this is a child that has a history of instability, though his current family is loving and committed, etc -- but the upheaval of a new teacher is sending him into orbit. and it is very stressful for the teacher--understandably--which further stresses ava out. and it is not just one kid--though this one is a doozy--many of them are struggling, and i am sure that is making the teacher less than enthusiastic about being there. so, i took ava home. i just felt like she needed to know that when worst comes to worst, she is safe and taken care of and listened to. that and i had to get out of there before i started crying too.

afer a few relaxing hours at home, ava, carter and i all went to the dentist. i told them i had a cough, but they did not mind. everyone passed with flying colors, though carter had knocked out the filling on his front tooth -- he had a patch where the enamel did not form, and we were warned that the little spot of filling might come out. given the amount of skiing, skating and just plain running and jumping that he does, that it did finally fall out is not surprising. no cavities, it just needs to be replaced. other than that, everything was fine. when the hygienist asked him what he got for christmas, his eyes lit up and he said "i got a book about SPACE!" -- and so she asked him about it and he said "there is a picture of the space shuttle, but it is already flying -- there is no launch pad in the picture, and there is a page about the sun, and one about the moon, and the one about the moon has a little square picture of A. MAN. WALKING. ON. THE. MOON!" and she said "really!?" and he said "yes, and he goes like boing...boing...boing" -- at which point he motioned with his index and middle fingers like a person jumping. and she said "he jumped ALL the way to the moon?" and he stopped, looked at her with an expression that might have well translated to "that is the most idiotic thing i have ever heard" and said "no! people jump ON the moon to get around because there is no gravity. people cannot jump TO the moon. the ASTRONAUTS flew there in SATURN FIVE. it is a huge rocket that fall apart as it blasts off!" she could not stop laughing, and she said "well, thank you for clearing that up!" he walked away and she said "well, i guess i learned my lesson on that one."

when he was getting his teeth done, he said "mommy is pregnant, and her baby is coming in march sometime. that is going to be a very long day."

basically, he charmed them all. ava, for her part, continued to establish her reputation in that office as an extremely serious smart kid, who refuses to be talked to like a kid. i don't know what transpired, but the dentist came in and said "she's something. pretty sharp, that kid."