When I was in college my roommates and I had a weekly roommate
dinner. During that time we'd share our weekly highs & lows. For this post I'll start with some lows and end on highs.
Iris seems to have had an SVT episode last night. She's on medication that is supposed to keep them from happening, but it's possible that it's not working as well since she's gotten bigger and is on the low end of the dosage. Apparently it's possible to have SVT episodes that go by totally unnoticed by parents. But in Iris's case she screams at the top of her lungs and can't stop crying for the duration of the episode. This is what happened last night around 9:30. Evan and I were both asleep and she started wailing out of nowhere. We tried some Vegel maneuvers on her, which slow the heart down. I've seen her heart rate get up in the 220 range. When she sleeps she's averaging about 100 these days and when we finally were able to get a reading on her last night she was at 170. We don't know for sure that it was an SVT episode but it seems likely, mostly because there's nothing else that we can think of to explain it.
Yesterday morning we had an appointment with genetics. Her first round of genetic testing showed no abnormalities, which is a relief. However the geneticist suggested we get additional testing to see whether Iris has some other syndromes that would change her future care. The idea is that she might be more susceptible to aneurysms. I was dismayed to hear this...I want to believe that the worst is behind us, but I have the nagging suspicion that it is not and I frequently wonder whether Evan and I will outlive our daughter.
After we were done with the appointment, Iris and I walked [well, she sat in the stroller] across the Anschutz Medical Campus to get food at Udi's. I became very wistful when I saw all the people there taking breaks from their jobs. It's very difficult for me not to have any kind of professional life right now. Yes, I love spending time with Iris but the days can be very long and there's a constant feeling that I'm not spending enough time with her when I try to do other work.
Something that is both a high and a low: Evan has been working really, really hard. I think I write that in almost every post. Despite the diluvial rains he managed to stain our interior doors in the garage and finished installing the kitchen cabinets. I'm grateful that he has worked so hard on the house but he has worn himself out and had to come home early on Monday to take a nap and buy himself some meat to eat.
Now the highs.
We went to Costco this morning. That's not the high. The people in the Costco parking lot are the high. They are some of the best people in Denver. Every time I go [once a week] someone in the parking lot helps me. Today it was an older gentleman with a New York accent who said, "I'll take that cart for you. You've done enough work." Another high -- Evan and I took Iris out for breakfast this weekend. She did great and we thoroughly enjoyed our morning. Third, having a babysitter come to watch Iris is amazing. I was able to get a little work done on my dissertation and ended up going to get my hair cut. It's a bit shorter than I had wanted but it feels good to have short hair again.
Iris seems to have had an SVT episode last night. She's on medication that is supposed to keep them from happening, but it's possible that it's not working as well since she's gotten bigger and is on the low end of the dosage. Apparently it's possible to have SVT episodes that go by totally unnoticed by parents. But in Iris's case she screams at the top of her lungs and can't stop crying for the duration of the episode. This is what happened last night around 9:30. Evan and I were both asleep and she started wailing out of nowhere. We tried some Vegel maneuvers on her, which slow the heart down. I've seen her heart rate get up in the 220 range. When she sleeps she's averaging about 100 these days and when we finally were able to get a reading on her last night she was at 170. We don't know for sure that it was an SVT episode but it seems likely, mostly because there's nothing else that we can think of to explain it.
Yesterday morning we had an appointment with genetics. Her first round of genetic testing showed no abnormalities, which is a relief. However the geneticist suggested we get additional testing to see whether Iris has some other syndromes that would change her future care. The idea is that she might be more susceptible to aneurysms. I was dismayed to hear this...I want to believe that the worst is behind us, but I have the nagging suspicion that it is not and I frequently wonder whether Evan and I will outlive our daughter.
After we were done with the appointment, Iris and I walked [well, she sat in the stroller] across the Anschutz Medical Campus to get food at Udi's. I became very wistful when I saw all the people there taking breaks from their jobs. It's very difficult for me not to have any kind of professional life right now. Yes, I love spending time with Iris but the days can be very long and there's a constant feeling that I'm not spending enough time with her when I try to do other work.
Something that is both a high and a low: Evan has been working really, really hard. I think I write that in almost every post. Despite the diluvial rains he managed to stain our interior doors in the garage and finished installing the kitchen cabinets. I'm grateful that he has worked so hard on the house but he has worn himself out and had to come home early on Monday to take a nap and buy himself some meat to eat.
Now the highs.
We went to Costco this morning. That's not the high. The people in the Costco parking lot are the high. They are some of the best people in Denver. Every time I go [once a week] someone in the parking lot helps me. Today it was an older gentleman with a New York accent who said, "I'll take that cart for you. You've done enough work." Another high -- Evan and I took Iris out for breakfast this weekend. She did great and we thoroughly enjoyed our morning. Third, having a babysitter come to watch Iris is amazing. I was able to get a little work done on my dissertation and ended up going to get my hair cut. It's a bit shorter than I had wanted but it feels good to have short hair again.
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