Friday, August 20, 2010

Back to Sewing - Nursing Cover-Up

Found a small bit of time to make myself a couple of nursing cover-ups after finding some on Etsy.com that cost $25. The local quilt shop has some great Amy Butler fabric on sale for $5 a yard so it was meant to be. Felt like a cover up was something I could make pretty quickly and without a pattern. Hindsight, it needs to be a few inches wider and longer but besides that, they turned out and now my modesty has been preserved ;-)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Stealing an Idea




So I decided to document my KC run as one of the runner bloggers I follow at It's Just One Foot in Front of the Other. She takes pictures of herself after running and posts them along with inspirational thoughts and ideas. No inspiration from me today just a snapshot of downtown KC and an overview of my run through downtown Kansas City, MO.

Being in KC for G's latest procedure meant a morning run through the city while he and Mikey hung out at our room at the Ronald McDonald House which meant starting at the base of quite a hill and that was just the start. It was very different than running in little ole' Carthage, MO - lots of hills, cars, people, bridges, buses, and great buildings to look at. Thanks to my friend Don, I had a 4.5 mile route that took me past Crowne Center, The Sprint Center, and Children's Mercy Hospital. My route was part of the Hospital Hill 1/2 Marathon Route so now I am may have to run that one someday but not sure I can take all the hills....I am feeling those hills today in my shins hope it doesn't affect my 8 miler tomorrow.

Run On!
Brooke

KC Running

One of the sites on my 4.5 miler documented with my Hipstamatic app.

Hipstamatic


One of the sites on my KC morning run. I LOVE the Hipstamatic App.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

2nd Sclerosis Procedure

At the end of another full day here in KC at Children's Mercy. Lucky for all three of us, we are ending it at Ronald McDonald House instead of a room at the hospital. They sent us on our way after 4pm this afternoon to be in charge of the drain tubes and to hang out until Friday when they take them out.
The day started off with blood work taken at the Children's Mercy lab that all turned out good. Man, those ladies that draw blood there are good. One stick, some tears, and 3 tubes later and we were out of there. This was very un-like his experience at St. John's this week - ahhhhh. Greyson's hemoglobin has finally decided to even out and it was a non-issue today and hopefully we won't have blood work again until before the January surgery.
Then up to radiology we went and the waiting started...30 minutes in the radiology main waiting room before the sedation nurse came to get G. Then 2 hours in the sedation room (think small hospital room) where all the doctors came to check out Greyson and have us sign consent forms. The MRI was supposed to start at 11am but they didn't even make us hand him over until 11:30am. What was scheduled for an hour MRI was really a 2 hour MRI since they were scanning both the buddy and G's right arm. After that they took him on to the room where they do the sclero-therapy for a 45 minute procedure all while we waited in the MRI waiting room (much nicer and quieter than the main waiting room). Greyson was completely out and intibated (sp?) for both procedures which seemed to add a bit of anxiety to all the waiting. The good thing was anesthesia gave him some gas to fall asleep before putting in the IV so he skipped out on that pain.
Even though we were without him for so long it was worth it. Dr. Rivard said that this will most definitely be his last sclero-therapy treatment since he has now taken care of all of the large cysts. This type of treatment isn't for the 100's of small cysts that remain. The surgery will take care of those. Dr. Rivard also read the MRI of Greyson's arm and let us know that the lumps and bumps that we can see, and some that we can't, are more cysts much like the ones in his chest. So the plan is to wait until after the large growth is taken off to see how the ones in his are react and then decide what to do about them.
Again, we had excellent nurses and doctors taking care of our little one. We are so lucky to have these experts to help Greyson through this detour in his journey.
We must thank our friends Don and Jackie for having us over for dinner tonight. They made quite a spread and entertained us for the evening keeping Michael and I from going stir crazy in our RMH room all night. The fajitas and fixen's were great but the time hanging out, relaxing, and visiting with good friends was even better. And thanks Jacks for putting the little guy to sleep even after the drain bulb incident ;) you handled it all like a pro!!! Your a natural.
Greyson went through a lot today but started with smiles and ended the day the same way. What a great little guy we have....all the nurses today agreed.
Thank you all,
The Higgins

Saturday, August 14, 2010

New Pre-Baby and Baby Layouts

It's been fun putting together pages for Greyson's album. Again I have to give a huge thanks to my friend Allison (MomBE) for taking some great pictures of us and the new little guy:)

It's so amazing how little G fills our days and nights and now is the inspiration for all my hobbies.

Sick But Still Running

Yesterday was my long run for the week 7 miles and I almost canceled. Seems that I have picked up some kind of bug (probably at the school I was at the day before). I slept poorly and had aches and a headache. Thought about texting Debbie or leaving her a note on my door saying "Sorry but sick" but finally decided to tough it out. Before leaving at 6am took an 800mg ibuprofen left over from C-Section and washed it down with some peanut butter and water. Met up with Debbie not far from the house and talked our way around town. At mile 4, Michael called and said that G had woke up early and he needed to get in the shower and go to work so I headed home got out the BOB and finished up the last 1.25 with Greyson. Turned out to not be such a horrible run and was glad to finish 7 miles so still on track to run a half-marathon in October.

Unfortunately, as the day went on the headache, aches, and even a fever came back and the ibuprofen doesn't seem to help. Hoping this passes soon, it has already canceled a "fun in the sun" day at the lake today, fondue party with family tonight, and what was supposed to be a trail run on Sunday morning.

Run On!
Brooke

Saturday, August 7, 2010

6 Miler in a New Country

Last two days have been days on my own but have been anything but boring. With 70,000 people in town for a Vietnamese/catholic celebration, Marion Days, I have had lots to look at and many people to chat with. It is amazing how many years these people have been coming back to reconnect. Many of them camp out on the monastery campus using porta-potties and "summer camp like" showers. Lots drive in and lots ride buses from all over the country. Restaurants from Texas and a few other states pack up and set up shop under huge circus tents with fans hanging from the poles and long banquet tables. Needless to say it lends itself to a great opportunity for people watching. You really feel like you are in another country. Not only did I run around it yesterday and today but we also went for dinner last night with friends. 

Other mentionables..... Ran my long run of 6 miles today- longest run since before Christmas and counted 17 secedes (bugs) on the road Friday. Found a new water stop - Lowe's has 6 water fountains open at 7am mon-sat and 8am on Sunday. Chatted with a friendly runner in town visiting Marion Days at the end of her long run (11miles).

Run On!
Brooke
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Officially 3 Months Old

Today is August 7, 2010 - which officially marks the day when Greyson turns 3 months old and he is doing GREAT. Michael and I, along with a lot of family and friends, have been enjoying every day with him.
As most of you know, babies change all the time and Greyson is no different. He is getting bigger and bigger, almost 14 pounds, and of course likes milk but LOVES apple juice. Seems that he has a sweet tooth like his mom ;) During a visit from Michael's mom this month, she verified that G does look a lot like Michael when he was a baby except for that nose and chubby cheeks, those seem to be mine.
G is getting so strong, holding his head up on his own with only a little head bobbing ;) He gets some tummy time every day and likes riding around in the baby wrap and Bjorn pack. The physical therapist thinks he might be ready for a Bumbo seat soon so we are on the look out for one. We're hoping some time sitting up will help with the bald ring that has formed around the back of his head where he rubs his head back and forth in his bed. Hope it grows back soon. He is going down for naps pretty well these days and is sleeping for 5-6 hours at a time during the night.
He has really started to get animated with lots of smiles and more jabbering all the time. G loves to stick out his tongue and chewing/sucking on his hands, occasionally gagging himself. He even started to laugh a bit when Grandma B was playing with him on a recent trip to Columbia.
We will be heading back up to Children's Mercy in 2 weeks for his second sclero-therapy treatment and an MRI (Aug 18-20). His buddy has continued to shrink some on the top and we hope the next round works as well. We will add updates when we get to KC so that everyone knows how things are going.
Enjoy the rest of your summer. Stay cool ;)

Monday, August 2, 2010

A Stroller Workout

G decided that he wanted to get up a bit early today (5:20am) so he joined Chanti and I on our Monday morning run. All I have to say is that pushing a stroller on flats and on hills, adds a whole new dimension to the run. Going to have to take it more often to get an even better workout. Think the pace really suffered but he had fun (no crying) and even got a short nap. Glad this boy is liking the B.O.B.
Run On!
Brooke