December Mobile Pics

Here are some pictures I took on my phone during the month of December:

Being silly with the "Mr Potato Head" parts

It was super cloudy over Pikes Peak when I left my ultrasound one afternoon and I love those kind of pictures so I took it

Zachary during speech. He is doing so well and learning new words each day!

Maggie loves to sleep on her back like this. We all find it super funny

The beautiful sunrise one morning on our way to the bus stop

Waiting for the bus. The sun poked through just as I took the picture.

Both were super tired after a fun filled afternoon at ITZ

Helping mommy "flush" her picc line - she sure is a big girl when she does this

Christmas 2012

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

From,

The Mackay Family

We love ITZ!!!

We were able to take the kids to ITZ last weekend for the last time this year. And as usual, they had a blast and cant wait to go back.

Eating a yummy and healthy lunch

What mom?? I'm eating!

Yummy broccoli

Allie actually played a few games this time and she did great.

I see you!

Having fun on one of the rides they have there

On the car ride

Daddy won the jackpot on this game - about 250 tickets! Ya daddy!!!

Allie showing Zachary how to play the "Popcorn" game

Having some fun time in the play area

Down the slide we go, weeeee!!!!

Zachary was following Allie everywhere and when Allie couldn't see him she'd ask "mommy wheres Zachary??" It was so cute

Ya cotton candy - (dang me and my cravings)

Enjoying the yummy treat and boy was it yummy!! Sure hit the spot :)

Preschool Christmas Party!!!

The cute little ornament Allie made at school - it smells like gingerbread

Allie had her school Christmas party today. I love going to her parties so I can see how she interacts with her friends and teacher. Its also fun to celebrate the holiday with her class.

Showing mommy her "treat" bag she decorated with stamps

The yummy treats

Treat time! Yum!!!

I love this cheesy smile :)

Opening the present from one of her classmates

Ah, its a cute little cuddly Christmas bear

Present from her teacher Mrs Ettleman

Its a Christmas book! Thanks Mrs Ettleman!!

Zach's 2 Year Check Up

We had to reschedule Zacharys 2 year check up because it was originally back for the beginning of November but he ended up going to Utah then so the next available date I could get him in was today (12/19) which is 2 months past his birthday but thats okay. He still got his shots: Hep A and Flu and he did great with them. As for his stats:

Weight: 21lbs 4oz
Height: 32in
Head: 46.8cm

The doctor said he wont be playing for any basketball team but other than still being on the small side he is doing great.

Half Way!!!

I am now 20 weeks which means I'm on the down slope of this pregnancy!!! Yippee!!!

Weight Gain:  Still down 8lbs my pre-pregnancy weight - currently 109lbs

Gender: Its a Girl!!!

Stretch Marks?: So far no

Belly Button in/out?: Still in :)

Movement?: Not super active but she does a good amount of kicking through out the day

Symptoms?: I'm still having morning sickness along with some major heart burn

Cravings?: Lemonade and fruits

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a BANANA

These two pictures below were taken at 19 weeks but still thought I'd add them :)

I was laying down and saw that baby was sticking out like "this" and since I had a pic of Zachary like this I would take one of Sydnee. Its pretty cool you can see her sicking out like that.

Allie giving her sister some sisterly love already 

The Process:

I have been asked by MANY people how the PICC line works and what the process is. So I thought I would do a post about it. Now I'm sorry if this grosses you out but this is my blog and I'm doing this for blogging reasons. P.S. this was when the PICC line was still in my right arm ;p I hope this makes sense, if not leave a comment with a question and I'll answer it as much as I can, But on to the process...

This is the drip kit the hooks up to the fluid bag and the PICC line itself

Once you hook up the drip kit thing you pinch off the line with the white tab indicated by the white arrow - that way once I add the fluids none go down the tube

Next I pump the tube thing -drip holder- with fluids (I forgot what the actual term is that the nurse used). All I do is squeeze the plastic thing where the arrow is pointing and once I release it fluids follow into it. I squeeze it about 2x to get the amount I want.

Next I FLUSH my PICC line tubing with Saline - I only flush it a little because I have to check for blood flow 

 

Here I am checking for blood flow, where the arrows are pointing is my blood coming back up through the tubing which is a good sign of no clotting :) So once I see this I finish the rest of the tube of Saline and....

This is usually the result of the rest of the flushing! I hate absolutely HATE the taste of the saline (as well as the Heparin)!!! Its so gross!

 

Then I open the "dial" that controls how fast the fluids go through me, all the way to OPEN - that way I can make sure all the air gets out of the line before I hook it up the the PICC line end. If I just hook it up without doing this I could get a air bubble and die :( So this way I am on the safe side of NOT dying LOL

Once the tubing is full of fluids I can connect the two pieces together - where the arrow is pointing

With everything done and ready to go, all I have to do is unclip the clip (where the arrow is pointing) so the fluids can start flowing



Here Is a pic of everything all done and in process or in motion (ignore the arrow please)

Here I am with my pal - my fluids ;p



Then all I do is go lay down on the couch and enjoy a show until I fall asleep - due to the anti nausea meds :)



Once I'm done with the bag of fluids I then have to flush it with a 10cc sering of Saline and then a 6cc of Heparin. The heparin is to help prevent clotting. And I do the saline and heparin flush every day!!! It sucks because I can taste it even though its not in my mouth but it works because I haven't had a clot yet so I'll keep doing it despite the nasty taste LOL

When I first started doing this on my own it would take 5 minutes or so, but now that I've been doing it for so long it usually take only 1-2 minutes. Sometimes I do it so fast I think "did I forget a step?" LOL!
Showering with the PICC line is a pain! I have to cover the area with a wash cloth and then I have to wrap it with Saran wrap, that way it stays dry (well the tape does at least). I have found that if I wash my hair first and then shower separately its easier but it takes a lot more time.

Can it get any worse for me???

So most of you know how I have the "contact dermatitis" at the moment - where I'm allergic to the tape they use to hold down my PICC line, well sometime over Saturday night I ended up scratching at my arm and ended up pulling out my PICC line (without knowing BTW). Now the tubing that sticks out of my arm is set to 4cm and when I saw it Sunday morning I thought crap!!! I thought I pulled it to like 15cm but when I saw my nurse on Monday morning she said I'd pulled it to 24cm (and the whole tubing length was about 33/35cm) so I pretty much pulled it out all they way. I ended up going to Ft Carson where my OB is to see what she wanted me to do with it since my nurse couldnt do anything with it without a dr note. So I ended up getting fluids done through an IV in the clinic - they had to poke me this time since they couldn't use the PICC line, first time being poked in 2 months (boo!!) and once the fluids where done I went and got my PICC line out. Now it was pretty funny when the guy went to take it out, he started to clean the area and the tubing just fell out of my arm, thats how I know I pretty much pulled it out myself (LOL).



This is what my RIGHT arm looks like as of right now - post PICC line

Anyways... I was able to get a new PICC line yesterday (12/12/12) and I am so grateful for it!!!

My new PICC line in the LEFT arm

Tuesday night into Wednesday morning I ended up throwing up almost every hour. It was a rough night for me and so I'm grateful that I'm able to be back on my fluids. It just shows me that I still need them and am not ready to be done with them - kind of sucks but I gotta do what I gotta do to stay healthy. I actually weighed myself today to see if I lost any weight from all the throwing up I did ... I am now 109lbs, Tuesday I was 111lbs, so I lost 2lbs :o( oh well. Hopefully now that I'm back on the fluids I'll start gaining again ;p Wish me luck!!!