A Bit About the Bean

This summer-lovin', pink nail polish-wearin', tractor-drivin' little gal has had quite the year so far.

I think I mentioned back in February when we were potty training her that we thought she had developed an infection.  The urinalysis came back clean at that point, but the doctor said there was blood in her urine.

Then in April when she went to the doctor (a PA this time) for Hand Foot Mouth they ran a urinalysis again.  Same thing--no infection but blood in her urine.

Then in May she started having a lot of accidents one weekend.  Certain that it must be a UTI this time, we took her back to the doctor.  Same thing--no infection but blood in her urine.

Thankfully she saw her real doctor this time (a fantastic pediatrician, I might add.  We really lucked out.)  She agreed that something else was going on.  Because her urine cultures kept growing out multiple colonies--a clear indication of contamination (I believe it is nearly impossible to do a clean catch on a 2-year old so I'm not sure how to avoid this one)--Bean hadn't been put on antibiotics up to this point.  It was suggested that we do one round of antibiotics to see if this somehow really was just a bizarre bladder infection.

We endured two weeks of the not so fun side-effects of antibiotics. 

I believe it was at this point that I recalled thinking earlier this year, "Wow, we're really lucky that Bean is such a healthy kid because we've rarely had to take her into her doctor except for well visits."  I regretted thinking this at that point.

After her course of antibiotics had cleared we took the Bean back in for another urinalysis.  Might I add that Bean thinks it's perfectly normal to pee in a cup now.

Same thing--no infection but blood in her urine.

Bean's doctor set up an appointment at Primary Children's (Riverton, thankfully) for her to get an ultrasound done on her kidneys and a Voiding Cystourethrogram (or VCUG.)  We always have to pep talk Bean whenever she's going in for something new.  I told her that we were going to get pictures taken of her kidneys.  Then I showed her some pictures of kidneys and told her where they and her bladder were.  She seemed fascinated when I told her that she had two, her Grandpa J. had 3, but that daddy only had one!

The morning of the appointment came and we headed over to the hospital.  That place is amazing!  I never had to go to Primary Children's when I was a kid but I can only imagine how it would look through the eyes of a two-year old.  (Even S was able to play video games whiel we were waiting!)  She got right to work at the art table making a project which wasn't really a good thing because she started to cry when they called her name to walk back and she had to leave the fun stuff behind.

The ultrasound went smoothly and thankfully everything looked fine with her kidneys.  They even had a TV in there for her to watch Disney on (Brilliant!) while they were doing the ultrasound.

The VCUG went well up until they brought the X-Ray down on top of her.  The procedure involves inserting a cathetar, filling her bladder up with a contrast material and checking to see what the flow pattern of the urine is.  We figured that the cathetar would be the hard part but she hardly even wimpered.  It never occurred to me that the X-Ray machine would scare her, but when they dropped it down she started screaming.  I was SO GRATEFUL that S had taken the day off.  I had to go behind a wall so I couldn't be out there with her.  I'm glad her dad was able to be there to comfort her.  At one point they had to restrain her legs.  She just kept saying, "All done, go home please."  It was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to hear.  I couldn't wait for them to be done so I could go back out with her.

It was all worth it though because we finally figured out what was wrong.  She has urinary reflux (you can read more about it here.)  Basically her urine is backflowing into her left kidney.  They commonly grade this condition a 1-5.  1 meaning they never do anything.  2-3 meaning they monitor it.  4-5 meaning immediate surgery.  Bean's is at a 2 (phew!)

So the plan now is to put her on a prophylactic (aka preventative) antibiotic--she is more susceptible to infections--for the next year and to repeat the VCUG.  If she hasn't outgrown it, which most kids generally do, then we will go from there.

But at least we are not scheduling a surgery for the same time I have a baby.

I told her that we wouldn't have to go in again and do that test for a "very long time" to which she responded, "Don't do it again ever!"  Poor kid.

Dear S.

Can you believe that in just a few short weeks we will be embarking on this adventure all over again??

There's no one else I'd rather become a parent-times-2 with than you.

Happy Father's Day!

Higher Education

S gave me these beautiful flowers for Mother's Day this year. 

                         

He also made me a yummy breakfast: biscuits and gravy! (Quite the different fare from my hurried pre-church bowl of cereal.)

This was my third Mother's Day and probably the best yet.  There wasn't anything super extraordinary about the day.  It was just nice to spend time with my family.  We also were able to go visit S's ailing Grandma S. (aka Gramma Great to Bean.)  Bean has been able to go with my MIL several times now when she's staying with them.  Bean and Gramma Great have developed quite the relationship over the last several months and it absolutely warmed my heart to see them interact with each other.  I'm sure Bean will miss going there as often in the coming months.

Being a mom (and a parent in general) has been on my mind a lot lately--in case you haven't been able to tell from my recent posts.  I've been reflecting on how much has changed over the last 3 years. 

Only a few years ago my 5-year plan included applying and (hopefully) getting in to Medical School.  Not many people know this--like I could probably count all the people that do on both hands--which is why it's sort of terrifying to put this out there like that.  When I graduated with my bachelors in '05 S immediately started school.  He earned his degree, was accepted into the Fire and Rescue Academy and got hired on with his current department in '08. 

I think the plan then was always for me to go on to continue my education.  At that point we were 26 and realized that starting a family really was more of a priority than we had thought.  We certainly weren't getting any younger.  Not long after Bean was born we talked about having another child in a few more years, after which I would go back to school.

Well that few more years is here and I find that, not only is it difficult to comprehend being away from my kid(s) any more than I already am but I'm not sure that having "MD" after my name is as big of a priority as it once was.  I admit, academically and career-wise, I am very comfortable in my job--almost too comfortable, which probably isn't good either.  But I look at work now as something I do in between what matters most whereas before Bean was born it was probably the most important aspect of my life, second to S of course.

Another thing that has taken me by surprise is just how much I am learning by being a parent.  Motherhood, honestly, has not come extremely easy to me as it has some other women out there.  I feel like I've had to work really hard at it.  I can do the basics, of course.  But my patience has been challenged on a level that it only could be with someone who is used to having things go her way most of the time.  I also have realized that I suck at giving time-outs.  Okay Bean this is your last warning.  Okay?  1...2....Bean are you listening?  You are going to have a time out.  Okay?  1...2...2 1/2... 

I think what I'm saying is that I am 100% dedicated to my mom role now.  It's the most cliche thing to say that moms in the home work, too, but there isn't one person out there who wouldn't contest this statement.  I think as soon as I started realizing that I am a wife first, mom second, whatever third that I've sort of started realizing that when I am home with Bean that that is my job.  Now I'm not handing in my 2-week notice any time soon.  I still really like my job as a lab scientist and feel fortunate that I found a job that suits me so well.  I will still keep working as long as it is reasonable for our family, but it is certainly secondary (err, tertiary, quad-iary?) to my life at home.

As far as going back to school goes...I don't ever rule anything out in my life.  I know of a doctor in particular who just finished her residency not too long ago and she is significantly older than I am.  I also don't rule out the possibility of me still doing a marathon someday.  But what I've realized about life is that there is a season for everything and right now I'm happy accepting my role as Bean's and soon-to-be Boy's mommy.

Greatest Snow on Earth

St. George...hmm...

We've only made St. George a destination vacation three times (that I can remember) and every single time it has snowed!  No joke!

We decided sometime in March that we would go to this really neat camping resort outside of Zion National Park mid-April.  As you remember, the weather this spring in Utah was GORGEOUS!  We assumed the trend would continue for a quick weekend trip to southern Utah.  Wrong.  We woke up to it snowing Saturday morning just outside of St. George.  We should be used to it by now, but S and I kind of scratched our heads trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. 

I should back up a little bit.

Bean has been eyeing our trailer parked alongside our home for the past little while and begging (as much as a 2 year old can) for us to take her camping.  So, even though the weather was not ideal, we still tried to make it as much of a camping trip as we could.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the [thankfully light] rain the night we arrived.  Bean had her very own bed and sleeping bag set up with all of her stuffed animal friends.  She quickly got to work getting all of her toys out, too.  So I don't think she realized that the bad weather was actually a damper.  She was just excited to be camping in her trailer.

Anyway.  In trying to find the address of the Johnson Farm Dinosaur Track site, we ended up at this wildlife museum.  They gave Bean her own set of binoculars.  Every 20 minutes or so it would "thunder and rain" inside the building.  She thought it was pretty great.  (I took some fantastic pictures with my phone, but it was a new phone and I didn't realize you had to click "save" in order to save the pictures.  So I don't have any of those pictures  :(  )

Afterwards we headed to the dinosaur site.  It was pretty interesting!  Hard to believe that all of this was discovered during some excavation for contruction.  It's pretty lucky that the guy saw the dinosaur tracks or it would probably just be under another parking lot for a Walmart or something.

Here is a set of tracks.  (This time I had my real camera.)

They had a set that they allowed visitors to touch.  Bean had a hard time understanding why she could touch this one but none of the others.

Another thing we kept promising the Bean was that we would go swimming at the campground.  We even had a spot that backed right up on the pool.  The pool was heated so, even though it was still chilly (the snow had turned to rain at this point,) we decided to head over and fulfill a promise.  Bean had second thoughts, though, and screamed the moment we got there.  Needless to say our swimming expedition was only a few minutes long.

The next morning we packed up to head home.  S took care of all of the cleanup.  Naturally the weather was back to GORGEOUS.  We headed over to the playground and walked around the campground.  She was fascinated while watching a couple parking their enormous RV.  I took the chance to take some pictures.  I may be biased but I think she is such a pretty girl! 

The rest of the story:

I should back up a bit again.

The day before we were supposed to leave, I was at a recognition luncheon and Bean was my guest.  She kind of poked at her food and then said that she wanted to sit on my lap.  She immediately cuddled up and fell asleep which has happened never so I immediately suspected something was up.  Our pathologist kept commenting, "Oh that is so sweet!"  I replied that yes, it was sweet, but totally uncharacteristic.  The longer she slept the more I felt like my arms were burning up.  I started feeling on her head and neck and realized that SHE was burning up. 

I let her sleep awhile longer and then excused ourselves.  We were close to my parents' house so I headed over and took her temperature and it was 101+ which is the highest temperature she's ever had in her short life.  I gave her some Tylenol and immediately got her in to see the doctor.  Her fever had climbed by the time she got to her appointment.  She had a red throat so they ran a battery of tests and couldn't find anything to explain the fever and suggested the standard acetaminophen/ibuprofen/rest treatment and sent us home. 

At this point our trip was on hold, but sometime during the night her fever broke and she woke up pretty much normal.  We decided to still go on our trip and, other than her still not eating a whole lot, everything seemed like it was okay.

When she still didn't have much of an appetite, S looked in her mouth and saw a some sores and immediately thought she had cankers. Poor girl!  What a bad week...She slept great the first night we were camping but during the second night she woke up screaming and she was inconsolable.  It was probably the worst parenting moment I've had in a long time.  My patience was so thin and I couldn't understand why she just wouldn't go to sleep.  S thought maybe the cankers were bothering her, so I asked if he'd run into St. George (about a 20 minute drive--poor guy) and buy some orajel.  In doing so he almost got ran off the road by someone in the wrong lane.  I'm so glad he was okay.  This night was just getting better and better.

He got back with the medicine and she was still sobbing.  It was a lot more difficult to get the orajel in her mouth but I finally managed to and she calmed down and went to sleep.  Two hours later the same thing happened all over again.  This time I studied her and realized that she was still asleep!  So we just didn't do anything or say anything and she fell back to sleep on her own rather quickly.  Two hours later--again, same thing.  By then it was getting light outside so this is when we decided to head home.

That night S was looking in Bean's mouth and noticed that the sores had multiplied and quickly.  Definately not just cankers.  I don't normally believe in self-diagnosis via WebMD but in this case, every single symptom matched Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.  We suspected that this is what she had.

A few hours into her sleep the same "wake up screaming" thing started happening again.  This time we gave her orajel and pain relief medicine and I patiently explained that she had a bug that was making her mouth hurt.  I told her that if she went back to sleep, she would feel better.  I let her snuggle with me until she was ready to go back to bed and just prepared myself to be up every 4 hours.  The next night was the same thing.

At this point S had returned to work at the fire station where he learned that there was a huge outbreak of Hand, Foot, and Mouth going around.  We never took her back to the doctor, but at this point we considered our suspicions validated. 

We got pretty lucky in the fact that no one who interacts with Bean acquired the virus.  (I hope the other guests at the luncheon fared as well.)  I do feel like a rotten parent for dragging her out camping--let alone to the swimming pool in a rainstorm--while she was probably feeling pretty miserable.  What a little trooper!  And as you can tell from the pictures, she actually seemed to be enjoying herself!  So even though it was definately a week I will remember, I guess it could have been worse. 

We talked about going back down to St. George again sometime later this spring but I honestly think that we are bad luck at this point and perhaps the residents of St. George might appreciate us making our vacation destinations elsewhere.