Fancy Pants
I proudly announce, I have a finished object to report. Hot off the needles, even. You ready? Julie's pants are done. I treated myself to an evening on the couch sewing up the casing around the elastic and watching Netflix DVDs. I needed it after the day we had, but I'll get to that in a minute. Here are the pants:
Julie hasn't tried them on yet because she is fast asleep, and I am not quite crazy enough to wake her up even for freshly knitted pants. I'll get a picture tomorrow because I know she'll want to wear them. From what I can tell so far, I am thrilled with the way they turned out.
Now, on to my craptastic day. Really, I had a pretty good day, there were just about 30 minutes of not so fun, but it left me exhausted with a headache. We went to knitting group this morning, and we managed to show up almost an hour late, then contribute to some serious damage to a piece of antique furniture with a washable Crayola marker that only came partially out of the velour when we used an entire container of wet wipes to hide the evidence. Even so, a good time was had overall, and that was not the bad part of my day. We drove over to the mall and ate a little lunch at Potbelly, and that was also not a bad part of the day, not at all.
Then, we headed over to the pediatrician's office where we had a double appointment scheduled - Sophie's 6-month checkup, which is only a month late, and Julie's three-year checkup, which was right on time. I thought I was being all cool killing two birds with one stone, and for the most part it worked out well. Both girls are generally healthy and on track with their developmental skills, height and weight. I had a nice discussion about Julie's allergies with the doctor, and she offered to test Julie for Celiac and also run some more allergy blood tests to see if maybe she is starting to outgrow them. I took her up on that in a heart beat, since the allergist completely poo-pooed me when I asked for the Celiac test, even though Julie tested negative for a wheat allergy but definitely has a reaction when she eats it. The doctor had a very civilized discussion about our vaccination plan with me, and we agreed to shots for both Julie and Sophie. Can you start to guess where the not-so-great part of my day came in?
The nurse tried to do Julie's blood draw first, and of course I got to help hold her down (gently, with a big hug basically), and of course she did not like it one bit. Especially when the first arm didn't work out after several pokes and quite a bit of prodding. They had about five vials to fill, and didn't even get one out of the first arm. The nurse went and got a different nurse, who tried the other arm and got it to work right away, along with much screaming and tears from Julie, who I was still hugging and trying to distract with some songs while trying not to cry myself. It didn't help that there was a third nurse in the room the whole time doing nothing but saying the incredibly wrong things to Julie in what, I'm sure was a well-intended attempt to distract her. It also didn't help that Sophie was sitting in her car seat this whole time crying because she was mostly naked and overtired and wanted to be held. After the blood draw, then they had to stick her in the leg with another needle. Poor Julie. She got lots of band-aids and stickers and treats this afternoon, let me tell you. I think if she had asked for a pony I would have said "what color?"
I barely got Julie calmed down and they were ready to give Sophie her shots. Sophie who was still upset with me, Sophie my normally-sunny little chub. So then both girls were crying, and I had to get them both calmed down and dressed, and they always say "Take as much time as you need" when you know they want you out of there asap so they can use the room again, but I took a good fifteen minutes or so, and we ended up spending almost two and a half hours in the doctors office in all. Talk about draining.
Ending on a bright note, here is Sophie covered in rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She's still not super into eating solids, but she does enjoy grabbing the spoons and chewing on the wash cloths.
Julie hasn't tried them on yet because she is fast asleep, and I am not quite crazy enough to wake her up even for freshly knitted pants. I'll get a picture tomorrow because I know she'll want to wear them. From what I can tell so far, I am thrilled with the way they turned out.
Now, on to my craptastic day. Really, I had a pretty good day, there were just about 30 minutes of not so fun, but it left me exhausted with a headache. We went to knitting group this morning, and we managed to show up almost an hour late, then contribute to some serious damage to a piece of antique furniture with a washable Crayola marker that only came partially out of the velour when we used an entire container of wet wipes to hide the evidence. Even so, a good time was had overall, and that was not the bad part of my day. We drove over to the mall and ate a little lunch at Potbelly, and that was also not a bad part of the day, not at all.
Then, we headed over to the pediatrician's office where we had a double appointment scheduled - Sophie's 6-month checkup, which is only a month late, and Julie's three-year checkup, which was right on time. I thought I was being all cool killing two birds with one stone, and for the most part it worked out well. Both girls are generally healthy and on track with their developmental skills, height and weight. I had a nice discussion about Julie's allergies with the doctor, and she offered to test Julie for Celiac and also run some more allergy blood tests to see if maybe she is starting to outgrow them. I took her up on that in a heart beat, since the allergist completely poo-pooed me when I asked for the Celiac test, even though Julie tested negative for a wheat allergy but definitely has a reaction when she eats it. The doctor had a very civilized discussion about our vaccination plan with me, and we agreed to shots for both Julie and Sophie. Can you start to guess where the not-so-great part of my day came in?
The nurse tried to do Julie's blood draw first, and of course I got to help hold her down (gently, with a big hug basically), and of course she did not like it one bit. Especially when the first arm didn't work out after several pokes and quite a bit of prodding. They had about five vials to fill, and didn't even get one out of the first arm. The nurse went and got a different nurse, who tried the other arm and got it to work right away, along with much screaming and tears from Julie, who I was still hugging and trying to distract with some songs while trying not to cry myself. It didn't help that there was a third nurse in the room the whole time doing nothing but saying the incredibly wrong things to Julie in what, I'm sure was a well-intended attempt to distract her. It also didn't help that Sophie was sitting in her car seat this whole time crying because she was mostly naked and overtired and wanted to be held. After the blood draw, then they had to stick her in the leg with another needle. Poor Julie. She got lots of band-aids and stickers and treats this afternoon, let me tell you. I think if she had asked for a pony I would have said "what color?"
I barely got Julie calmed down and they were ready to give Sophie her shots. Sophie who was still upset with me, Sophie my normally-sunny little chub. So then both girls were crying, and I had to get them both calmed down and dressed, and they always say "Take as much time as you need" when you know they want you out of there asap so they can use the room again, but I took a good fifteen minutes or so, and we ended up spending almost two and a half hours in the doctors office in all. Talk about draining.
Ending on a bright note, here is Sophie covered in rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She's still not super into eating solids, but she does enjoy grabbing the spoons and chewing on the wash cloths.
posted by Shelly Kang at 11:39 PM
12 Comments:
I've enjoyed your blog for a few weeks now, my munchkins are 8 mths and almost three (34 mths) and its SO nice to see someone getting some knitting done... qne Thanks for making me reconsider my "two for one" pediatirican apt. in Oct.
But my real comment... I have/had celiac (its gone away with my pregnancy with Gabriel) ANYHOW, my point is most of the stuff that we thought was food allergies when I was a kid and a young adult was celiac, and its a simple blood test - and its made a WORLD of difference (including the previously mentioned munchkin) I didn't realize how malnourished and generally ill I was until I eliminated gluten, and that seems to be the trickiest bit - gluten, not just wheat. good luck, and let me know if you need any ideas/answers, I've also worked with quite a few little ones with celiac (with my work hat on, as an infant development specialist)
Celeste
The pants look great. The pediatirican sounds quite traumatic. Good luck with the blood tests.
Ooooh, my big kids still hate shots and blooddraws - we still do the big hug too! Doctor appointments are stressful enough as it is. I remember scheduling pictures at Proex when the kids were 6 mos, 3 and 5. I thought I would just get the individuals done at one time plus a few of the 3 together. That wasn't the worse part - when I looked at the proofs I didn't find any that I really loved. I was ready to cry. I looked through them again - then started thinking about all the work it was to get them ready etc and looked through them again, heh, that one isn't so bad...the pictures will only be up for a short time before being taken again...I managed to find 1 of each kid I could live with plus 1 of them together...I haven't tried to pull off that feat again!
Hope the girls are feeling better today!
When my son was small we had (very briefly) a horrible pediatrician who would make me hold the baby down flat on the table while he got shots, even if the poor little thing was screaming and choking. Unfortunately, he was part of a group I liked otherwise, and you could not avoid getting him sometimes. I guess no one else wanted to take their kids to him, either! Luckily, James doesnt hold it against me now. ;-)
Congrats on finishing the pants - and I love your socks! Maybe today will balance out yesterday or perhaps your bad day saved someone else from a worse fate (a la Yarn Harlot)
I always had to nurse my baby right after her shots to get her to calm down, and I took the doctor up on the offer to "take as long as I need" in the room.
But then again, I only have the 1 child (so far). It would have been very difficult taking care of 2 screaming kids with multiple puncture wounds.
What a draining (in every sense of the word) day!
Shelly the pants are wonderful! I bet Julie will adore them. So sorry to hear about the terrible doctor visit!!
Drawing blood is a real talent. When you figure out which person has the touch, demand that person for your kids.
The real pros are often the technicians in the lab since they get lots more practice.
But the real key is finding the right vein. Perhaps Julie simply doesn't have a "good" vein in her arm. Search around; she must have one somewhere.
It might also work if Julie could see the nurse draw your blood so she knows what will happen.
I've not tested this theory on my own child (she's way too old now anyhow) but I have seen too many screaming kids in the lab when I've been in a blood test. There has to be a better way.
poor girls! I can't blame them for crying one bit (I'm needle-phobic!). In fact, I wouldn't have been able to do what you did, so props to you, as well.
I think it's a good thing Julie never asked for that pony lol.
*hugs*
Owies! I hope today and your weekend go smooth as possible (with two small ones. . .)
Very nice job on the Pants! It's also aways nice when you can get two through the same set! It's like a double bonus or something.
Reminds me of an MST3K quote from Joel: "Let's sing the praises of PANTS!"
Silly I know, but silly is a great way to start the weekend!
Oh, Shelly! I am so sorry about your rotten day - I hope today was better! The pants look great, though. Thank you for the advice on mine (for my daughter's doll - this is Tara, by the way.)
Now if I can just stop knitting mitered squares and get back to the doll pants...
Post a Comment
<< Home