Taking the Scenic Route

responding to the comments on my previous post (which I will switch back to public in case somebody else wants to read the info too)

Ok, you don’t have to ignore me today. lol.  I just didn’t feel like making a cohesive entry last night.  I just couldn’t get to sleep, but I wasn’t awake enough to have any critical thinking skills left. 

I am having issues with giving the baby both the eye drops and the vitamin K shots at birth. 

The eye drops make zero sense to me.  They are given if the mom has an STD.  I know I have no STDs.  I am pretty sure I have been tested for them, but am willing to be tested if not if it means they won’t give her the eye drops.  Not only do I not have an STD, but the baby won’t even be going through the birth canal.  Therefore, it is just something they do as a “one size fits all” procedure without forethought.  Plus, it messes with their vision for the early days, and can mess with it for the first few weeks if their eyes are sensitive (a definite possibility if she takes after her mom).

The vitamin K shot is a bigger deal to me that is going to require a lot more research.  According to the dr.’s office that is currently slated to attend the birth (that might be changing, I will write about that in a minute) both the eye drops and the vit K are “mandatory”.  I haven’t read all the literature, but I believe that the vit K is to combat a very rare blood clotting condition.  It isn’t something that runs in either of our families, to my knowledge (although I will be confirming this before a final decision is made).  The reason I have a problem with it is because the dosage is some ridiculous number (like 100x) the daily recommended dosage, but, more importantly, if the baby NEEDED that level of vitamin K in the system, wouldn’t it be there?  God doesn’t make mistakes, especially at that huge of a level (every baby born is ‘deficient’ according to the mainstream medical model).  I read someplace (but lost the source) that the excessive vit K can cause things to cross the brain/blood barrier that normally would not cross, which is why it is associated with an increased risk of leukemia in childhood. 

I am also not happy with the way they give vitamin K.  I could be wrong on this, but I seem to remember from my A&P that the vit K is produced by intestinal (or someplace in the digestive system) flora that is not present in a newborn.  Therefore, the amount of vit K in their system is preset by some sort of mechanism between the mother and child before birth.  So, if I get an appropriate amount of vit K before the birth, the baby should have all it needs to thrive.  Along the same line, since our body processes the vit K through the digestive system, why is being given as a shot and not orally as the standard?  Oral vit K is available, but I would have to get it out of pocket most likely.  I am not sure of the cost, so that might not be possible for us either.  (sucks being poor.  lol) 

About the Dr. situation:  The dr. currently slated to attend the birth is the same one I had issues with back at Zane’s appointment.  After some discussion (and the signing of waivers I am sure) he will “allow” me to forgo the Hep B shot at birth and “catch him up at his first week appointment”.  Well, that isn’t going to happen, but at least I can get her out of the hospital without the Hep B shot.  (I am not opposed to the Hep B shot for an older child, but it is stupid to give it to a newborn.  I have the Hep B vax from when I worked in hotels and did not have a reaction to it, but I was an adult, not 5 minutes or a week old, and my right foot weighed more than the baby will, and it is the same dosage).  On MDC somebody was looking for a Ped in Wichita.  Somebody recommended a Dr. P if they wanted to drive there.  Dr. P works out of the hospital I am delivering at.  When I looked him up, one of his ’special interests’ is breastfeeding/breastfeeding support.  A Dr. educated in breastfeeding.  That would be an improvement!  Evidently, the poster used to go to church with him and knew him personally as well as had him for a dr. when she lived in the area.  It sure sounds like he would be worth a try.  I will have to see if he is taking on new patients and if my plan covers him. 

Robert brought a bag of baby clothes over.  Zane got all excited and kept trying to put on the clothes.  When I explained that he was too big, he decided that dressing his Dora doll and teddy bears would have to suffice.

He did eventually find a onesie that had enough stretch to get over his head. 

Zach & Zane spent a good amount of time enjoying the leaves

(click to see larger)

This is one of my favorites, worth seeing larger

Let’s go throw them on Mommy now.

Christmas gifts

something you want
something you need
something to wear and
something to read

Well, not the news we were hoping for, but still good news.  First, they are moving the class Zach is teaching so that he can take a Computer Forensics (computer security) class he is interested in.  Second, we found out he might be given a second, 100 level class, which would make him eligible for 100% tuition break, which will help close the $2K deficit because they messed up his financial aid last semester (they should have given us $1K less and are making up for the mistake this semester).   Of course, it might mean the main amount of his financial aid is cut again because of the screwy rules.  Any amount we are able to get in a form other than loan is good though.  The class he might get would be a “this is a computer.  this is a mouse.”  type class, so they only stress would be trying to teach it in a way people can understand it, not fielding more complicated questions like the 440 class he is teaching now (and will still have next semester). 

In knitting projects:  Zane’s winter hat was finished a few days ago.  The mitten set is taking a bit longer.  I have never made mittens and had no idea how to go about doing so, which meant I had to follow a pattern.  The first attempt not only did not fit, but looked really goofy.  However, I learned a lot from doing so.  I made a bunch of adjustments and just tried on the first of the new mitten set.  It fit perfectly.  Like a glove even.   My skill at color changes is improving also, and the ribbing is much improved from what I have done in the past.  It is sort of cool to see your skill grow!

Zach was not offered the instructor position.  He was one of the last two candidates, and it went to his friend, John.  John has a masters in History and also finishing up his masters in Computer Science.  In fact, they are in a number of classes together and both respect each other a great deal. 

The door wasn’t slammed in his face, but it is closed for now.  We are very disappointed, but he still feels like he made a lot of valuable connections.  I guess we are back to the original plan.  They still want him as a Graduate Teacher for the class he has been in charge of for the last few semesters.  In fact, they are probably going to move the class to accommodate Zach so he can take a class that currently conflicts with the class they want him to teach. 

Zach is actually dealing better with the news than I am at this point.  Pregnancy is probably not helping much though.

You know, it is bad enough we live in a substandard school district (in my opinion).  It is even sadder when we are pretty much forced to home school to keep creationism out of our child’s science education because it is now slated to be taught in the public schools.  Creationism is fine in philosophy or literature class, although I honestly think it should only be taught in the home and at church, but has no place in the science classroom.  We are going to be the laughing stock of the world.  Fabulous.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051108160409990022

This afternoon all the neighbor kids were out.  For some reason, our porch was the gathering point.  There was a group of 4 or 5 girls in the 8 – 10 year old range with  a collection of stuffed toys who made a “house” defined by piles of leaves.  (it was so cool to see kids playing like kids…I loved it).  When they saw Zane playing with bubbles, they asked if they could join in.  I ran inside to grab my bubble ice cream cone collection and other various bubble things and all the kids blew bubbles (or made bubbles with the bubble mower toy from my brother).  Eventually, the twin boys from the next building came by (dad was getting mail) and we invited them to join us.  They are almost exactly a year older than Zane (within a few days) and it was actually sort of good for me to see them be a bit shy about joining in for a bit.  Made me realize that Zane isn’t the only kid that is slow to warm up.  It was fun. 

The few pictures I took of the kids on the porch didn’t really turn out, but I got a few shots of Zane trying to follow the oldest girl up a tree, then going back to climb again later.  He actually got a few branches higher, but I spotted him for safety when he got a little higher. 

Local people – Watch KAKE channel 10 tonight.  Robert is being interviewed about the e-bay auction.  It will presumably be on at 10pm since they are going to interview him at 7:30 tonight.

I was in a hurry to get the ultrasound pictures up, so I only posted briefly about the car breakdown.  I want to go back and talk a bit about the day from Zane’s perspective.

For Zane, it was still a pretty great day.  When the car was in the cornfield and Zach was changing the tire, I took Zane for a walk around the field.  They had recently harvested, so there were discarded corn cobs, husks, and stalks all over the place.  We talked about corn, I showed him that the corn came off the cob and explained how corn grew in the husks on the stalks.  He went around putting corn cobs in the husks and trying to get them to hang on the stalks again.  So cute!  We also found some purple “flowers” (my dad would call them weeds) and other neat things along the way. 

Once the spare was on the car, we got back in and got on the road.  We only made it half a mile at the most, but it allowed us to pull over on a gravel road, just off the blacktop, where we weren’t so hidden.  We needed to be visible for anybody to realize we were there and we weren’t just farmers checking out our field.  After a good long time with the hood up, somebody finally stopped and asked if we could use either help or a phone.  We thanked them profusely and called my parents to tell them where we were.  They were just about to go out looking for us, but would have been bringing the trailer in the assumption that it was the serpentine belt that went out.  That would have used a lot more gas and taken longer, so it was good that we were able to call them. 

When we knew help was on the way, but it would take a bit of time, we decided to go on a walk down the gravel road to the bridge and tree about a half mile up the road.  It was flat and open, so we could see the car, and my folks would be able to see us if they made it before we made it back.  (which did happen…the walk took considerably longer than planned).  Zane loved the walk.  He picked up clods of dirt and particular rocks and threw them to see them scatter.  He walked along the little ridges made in the wake of a grader.  He wandered a bit into the weeds at the edge of the road.  When we got to the tree he gleefully picked up leaves.  I commented that there were a lot of leaves from the tree.  He confirmed, saying “the leaves all fall down”.  We counted the 3 reflectors on the post of the bridge, then turned around to go back to the car.  The car sure looked a lot farther away from the tree than the tree did from the car. lol.  We wandered back in much the same manner.  We weren’t quite half of the way back when we saw the truck driving up.  Zach sped up, but I kept with Zane.  When Zane realized it was Grandpa and Grandma he sped up quite a bit. 

Dad & Zach messed with the car, and Mom met us part of the way back.  I went back to the pick up to sit down and get some water and Mom took Zane on a walk through the ditch, then the wheat field next to the road.  It had tiny shoots of wheat just peeking out of the ground.  Mom told me later that she showed him the wheat and he tried some, saying “yummy”, then gagging slightly.  Sort of a mixed review.  (the gagging probably had more to do with the texture…wheat has just a bit of a rough texture, sort of like a cat tongue, so it can get caught in your throat a bit if you don’t chew really well).  They made up a song and ran around in circles through the field.  I had the unique experience of hearing Dad and Zach as they unhappily dealt with the tire and the difficulty of dealing with the soft ground, while watching pure joy out in the distance with my Mom and Son.  It was sort of odd.

The drive back to the farm was very slow.  They moved the flatish donut spare to the back and one of the back tires to the front since it was a front wheel drive.  Dad rode with Zach and I went with Mom in the pick-up truck following them.  If they went between 0-12 mph, the wheel sort of wobbled on the rim, but when they went 20-25mph, it smoothed out.  Anything over 25mph and it started bouncing.  So, 20mph it was.  We got to the farm just as it was getting dark.  If I would have had a camera in the truck I would have taken a picture of the tracks they left as they were getting up to 20mph….curvy and wobbly.  Suprisingly, the tire wasn’t even all that hot when we got home, which means they actually were hitting rubber most of the way and not rim.  That is good, but it really didn’t matter a lot.  The valve stem was broken on the tire, so it is a goner anyway.  If we would have destroyed the rims on that tire, it really wouldn’t matter much.

Again, Zach & Dad worked on the car.  Zach came in to eat for a bit, then went back out to Dad.  After eating, Zane and Grandma played ‘golf’ (hitting the golf balls around randomly with the little toy golf set she has for him), then playing in the sandbox for a bit, then a walk in the night air.  When it got too cold, they came back inside.  Zane nibbled a bit more, played with a kaleidoscope mom got him (singing “twinkle twinkle little star while seeing the shapes change), played with Shelby (black lab), played with the touch lamp, and had fun with the flashlights for a while. 

Later, Grandpa showed Zane how to work the ice and water dispenser in the fridge.  Zane then spent a good while carrying water from the fridge to the sink.  lol.  He ended up wet (surprise, surprise) and we had to put his shirt in the dryer before we went home.  As we were gathering everything to leave, Zane got to the water again, making himself wet once again.  We ended up putting Zane in one of Steve’s old t-shirts that was laying around so he had something dry to go home in. 

Zane barely made it to the blacktop before falling asleep.  He was singing “Are you sleeping”  (in French) and mid-sentence, he was out.  He picked the song back up just after we turned off the highway and were a few blocks from home.  Short trip for him.