Kitty update

So I brought her to the vet today, and the vet thinks it's related to her allergy problems with her skin. She said that the irritation probably caused a clot to form, and it basically cut off circulation to the tip of her ear, which turned necrotic and fell off! It could have also been an injury, but since she is no longer a rambunctious youngster who plays outside, I would be surprised if that's what it was. Her weight is still good and her scabs, although they aren't gone, are definitely better.

On a side note, one little town in the UP close to where I grew up, got 38 inches of snow during this latest storm they had up there. Go Painesdale! That's a lot of snow!

Just a little update...

I haven't posted here in a while so I thought I'd check in...

Nights have still been really hard. I think she is getting better, at least a little more predictable and she is stretching out her feedings a little more too. But it's not quick enough for her mama. I'm still sleep deprived and some days I feel crazy from lack of sleep. It's not even "tired" or even "exhausted" anymore, it's just completely insane. Any moms who have been there/done that will understand what I mean!

I got some information about my 20 year high school reunion today. I am thinking we will probably be in the UP for it, but I'm not sure yet how to work out the logistics. I will need to either go home to nurse Sophie or find a place to pump, because she will still be exclusively breastfed in July and I won't be able to go that long without either pumping or nursing. I am sure we will be able to work something out, I might attend part of it but not all of it. I actually don't even know yet if we'll be up there... but it might be nice, it's kind of a milestone year. I don't feel that old, it's funny! It's hard to imagine it's already been 20 years.

My husband has a 4 day weekend now for Easter. I've been waiting for this weekend ever since he went back to work after Sophie was born!

My dad is coming for a visit next week so that will be nice. I don't think we've seen him since last summer.

Sophie is 6 weeks old now and is just a chunk! I need to get more pictures of her. I just got some but she is sleeping so I'll need to get more once she wakes up again. She's got lots of chins and big meaty thunder thighs and I love them! She's definitely getting plenty to eat! I still have oversupply problems though, and she seems to struggle with that daily... poor baby. Oh well, I know that once she gets older she will come to expect it and probably even like it...

Oh and now my cat (the scabby one) is missing the tip of one of her ears. So it's off to see the vet tomorrow. It looks like it's healed up ok but since she doesn't go outside, I can't imagine what happened???

Yack three times Baby... yack some more today...

My poor daughter. Every time I try to nurse her laying down (so we can all sleep!) I flood her with milk, she swallows air, she starts to cry, then she yacks all over! I gave up trying to nap with her today because she spent the first 20 minutes of my son's (way too short) nap time crying and yacking because I nursed her side-lying while trying to get my son to fall asleep.

Sometimes I feel like this is never going to get better. I think I have resigned myself on the sleep thing though, I am just going to have to suffer and just expect no sleep and to be tired all the time. There just isn't anything we can do about it. We already sleep either with her or very close (in an Arm's Reach co-sleeper, side carred to the bed) and she can nurse as often as she needs to all night... there just isn't anything else we can do. I know it will get better but I also know we could be doing this for many months yet and I just don't have it in me to think about it.

I am even eliminating dairy from my diet in case that's the problem... I'm sure it will do no good but it's at least something I can do easily as I already don't eat much of it to begin with...

Also, my allergic cat, who still has fleas despite two (almost 3) months of Frontline, now is missing the tip of one of her ears. So it's back to the vet for us next week. Will anything ever get better around here?

Another scabby cat update!!

Saturday night, I was combing out one of the cats (not the allergic one, but the other one - Kali), with a fine comb instead of a brush. She has a really thick coat and tends to get matted if I don't use a comb to get way down to her skin. She wasn't shedding much (thanks to changing their diets, their fur is growing in really nice now) but when I went to take the hair off the comb, there it was - a flea!! And it was ALIVE!!! I got all grossed out and the rest of the night couldn't stop scratching myself!

I put a call in to the vet first thing this morning. I wanted to get some Frontline or something similar because I don't want to mess around with this!! The vet called me back and was ECSTATIC that I found the flea! She now thinks this was 90% of P's skin problems, because allergic cats only need one flea bite per WEEK to get rashy and scabby and miserable! I will be going in later today to pick up the flea meds and we'll start them tonight. They checked P for fleas each time I brought her in but never found any - but she definitely could still have them. She told me I did well and was very happy I found the flea.

I can't imagine that a person would be SO happy that I found a flea, but that's just me! :)

37 weeks and scabby cat update!

All is well, and quiet, with the pregnancy! My blood pressure is excellent, my weight is still good, the baby is doing fine and measuring right on. The doctor said that I could to into my own little labor and it's just a matter of time! So that was all good news. I wound up having to call her later in the day, but I'll keep the day in chronological order so I don't mess up the story. :)

Later in the day I had to take our scabby cat to the vet for a check up. My friend came with me to help carry the cat in and entertain my son. The vet thought she was doing well, she hasn't lost any weight and her fur is growing in nice and thick and shiny. She thought the scabbiness was improving as well, and agreed that continuing to give her cortisone shots could be more of a risk than a benefit at this point. (I don't want a diabetic cat and neither does she!) So we didn't even get charged for the visit, and she would like me to call her back in a couple of months to let her know how things are going.

While we were at the vet, I started seeing spots. After a few minutes of that, I realized I was getting a migraine! I haven't had one in over 8 years but I knew right away that's what it was. I got us all home, dropped off my friend at her house, and got everyone out of the car. By that time I'd missed calling my doctor's office by about 7 minutes. The aura (the flashes of light/spots) was just about ending and I knew I had about 30-45 minutes before the pain started. I called her answering service and about an hour later she called back, and offered to call in a prescription for me. The funny thing was that I'd taken Tylenol before heading to the vet, because my back was hurting from all the running/sitting I'd done earlier and I didn't want to sit there in pain. Usually, in my experience, taking Tylenol for a migraine is like taking a pee on a forest fire! But, I think this migraine was to be a really mild one because I never really did get a bad headache. My husband picked up my prescription and I took some of it, and although I felt a few twinges (and now I'm hearing static - weird!), it never did get bad. The last one I had lasted for 3 days! Clane took care of Will the rest of the evening and I got fairly OK sleep. Today I am tired and feeling a little out of sorts but my headache is gone and I haven't needed to use anything else for it.

But all through this, the baby has been doing her usual sleep for several hours, then wake up and kick me, pretty much like normal. And my blood pressure continues to be excellent. I'm just taking it easy for today. So we'll see how this all turns out!