Our (Neurodiverse) Family

Kate is a busy little bee this year. She has preschool three times a week in the mornings and then a little reading class she goes to on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Wait Laura, she doesn't have a problem with reading, why is Kate in a reading class? Mostly because she is on her road to being a voracious reader (runs on both sides of the family) and she is anxious to learn more. Miss Penny testing Kate's reading Her reading class is at the Rippy Literacy Center in Lehi and it is FREE. I also know one of the women who works there--she was my mom's visiting teacher back in Houston and her son was in Young Men's with my younger brother. She actually tested Kate to see which class she should be in, and Kate basically blew her away. Now, we didn't do anything special that has caused Kate to be so good at reading, except read to her. I didn't realize until fairly recently that there are parents who don't read to their kids, which is shocking to me b...

In the weeks leading up to Kate's birth, after being officially diagnosed with cholestasis, I knew that it would be a while before I would have another baby. I was traumatized enough from the itching as it was, BUT I knew that I would have another baby someday. That feeling was prophetic on some counts. There is a 3 1/2 year age gap between Kate and Livia. Partly intentional, partly not. I had a miscarriage in between pregnancies.  When I became pregnant with Livia, people told me that maybe I wouldn't have cholestasis again and to try to focus on that instead of worrying when it would come back. Of course, I was realistic knowing my personal and family history. I just didn't think it would show up as early as it did. I had hoped that it would be more like Kate's pregnancy and I would only really suffer for the last couple of weeks and be done. No such luck, since it came back as soon as I hit my third trimester. Those were the longest nine weeks of my life.  ...

So...yeah I got my gallbladder out in July. Originally, I was supposed to have it out on July 15, but then my surgeon was going to be out of town that day, so it got moved to July 22. Don't worry, it wasn't a last minute change--I still had about a month before the surgery when it got rescheduled. It ended up working out really well--it was a holiday weekend so Stephan only had to take one day off of work. I was nervous about the surgery, even though everyone and their mom told me that it wasn't a big deal. Livia was sleeping so horribly up to my surgery that I joked that I would actually get to sleep during the surgery itself. I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 7:45 in the morning. My mom had flown up to help with the girls. She showed up around 7:15; I woke Livia up to nurse her; and then I handed her off to Grandma. Kate woke up after we left, but she was happy to see Grandma. Got to the hospital and went into the Outpatient Surgery Center. We signed in a...

Livia had her first birthday in September, and I still can't believe my baby is a year old. We didn't do anything too fancy--we tend to keep birthdays low-key around here. We invited Grandma over for dinner and cake and presents. We had a last minute panic looking for the lighter and never did find it, and then Livia got impatient to have her chocolate cake and started going after it while we were looking for the lighter. Oh well. She got some cute clothes, her first pair of shoes, and a few new toys. Oh, did I mention that she took her first steps a few days before she was 11 months old? Now she's toddling all over the place. She had her one-year checkup a few days later and got a clean bill of health. The doctor giggled over her too. Like her daddy and big sister, she's long and lean...and perfect :) Livia turning one is so very bittersweet to me. I love seeing her grow into her own little person, but I miss the baby-ness. I don't remem...

In honor of ICP Awareness Day. Even normal pregnancies are fraught with many emotions. There's the emotions surrounding the transition: excitement and nervousness. Then there are the emotions about going through pregnancy itself: Ee! I'm going to have a baby! Oh my gosh, you mean I have to go through nine months of THIS? This random thing is making me cry. The baby is kicking! It's so beautiful! Aggh, my life is over! You get the idea. When you find out that your pregnancy is high risk is another matter altogether.  I know for other high risk moms that there is a lot of anxiety and stress surrounding their pregnancies. Extra appointments; possibly lots of medication; worrying about the baby; worrying about their babies needing extra help when they come out; worrying about long-term ramifications to their babies and possibly themselves; etc. Now, I speak only of my own experience having a rare pregnancy-related disease here, but these are some of the emotio...

Physically: Zzzzzzzz....Livia has not been sleeping well. At all. We don't know why. Argh. But even when she does sleep well enough, I have insomnia. Grr.  Emotionally: Feeling slightly better...maybe? I haven't felt quite as foggy in the head despite my sleep deprivation. Maybe it's adrenaline.  Spiritually: Not doing so hot. I've been feeling empty and trying to fill the emptiness with really ridiculous things--maybe spending a little more than I should, too much internet time, trying to escape reality. I really need to do more meaningful things with what little free time I have.  Goals: take things a little bit at a time in all areas in my life. Stop with the all or nothing thinking.

I am an ICP Warrior. Two times over. What does that mean? I had Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (or simply, cholestasis) twice. ICP is a rare liver disorder (1 in 1000 pregnancies in the United States) where bile production is slowed down or stopped, causing bile salts to develop in the bloodstream. One of the most common symptoms of ICP is intense itching. Intense doesn't begin to describe just how miserable the itching is, at least for me. Imagine you have bug bites all over your body, and I mean every square inch. The itchiest kind. Then turn your skin inside out. That should give you a small idea of how bad it was. No, this itch cannot be helped with Benadryl (though it can help with sleeping for some). No, lotion will not help because it is not dry skin. Unless that lotion has menthol and/or lidocaine in it, then it will give some temporary relief. My favorite remedy was the Aloe Vera sunburn relief gel that has lidocaine and menthol in it. And no, I could not ...