My labor and delivery

My contractions got even stronger and were about 2 mins apart so the dr said come on to the hospital. Well when I got there at 8:38 pm I was only 1cm dilated. So she said she would come check me in a few hrs to see if I progressed. Well two hrs later I was only 2cm. Normally they would send women home for this but since I had good strong contractions and it was my second labor, they admitted me. Finally I was able to get up and walk the floor. I had to walk for atleast an hour at a time before getting back in bed. I kept feeling stronger contractions and I felt more pressure in my inner thighs. So I went to my room and got the nurse to call my dr in. Dr checked me and after just an hour of walking I was 4cm. So she sent me walking some more. Well I walked for hours and things began to slow down. So I was given an IV with pitocin and was offered pain meds. I declined cause my goal was to go natural. I started to have back pain from a car accident yrs ago so my dr gave me a little nubain , it was such a small dose that I didn't notice a change in the back pain. Finally I was 7cm and my water hadn't broken. My dr asked me if she could rupture it and I declined. I wanted to walk a little more first so I walked for another hour. She checked me again and I was still at 7cm so I let her break my water. Soon as she did things went very quick. She left to check on a patient after setting up the table. Well she was gone about 5mins and I felt the urge to push so I pushed my call button. The nurse came in and said "you were just 7 breathe though it and don't push. I doubt you're 10 already". So I made her get my dr to come in. Well I was indeed 10 cm and just started pushing while my dr was changing gloves. After one good push his head was halfway out. His heart rate started to decline so she gave me oxygen and said let's hurry and get this baby out. Well another push and his head and shoulder was out. My dr said reach down and pull your baby the rest of the way out so at 9:23 am july 30,2008 my baby was born. That was the best feeling ever. I didn't care that he was bloody and gooey. I put him right on my stomach until my hubby cut the cord. The nurse was nice enough to let him lay with me while she did his apgar. He scored 9 on the first one. While I delivered the placenta I handed him over for his second apgar and he got another 9. I was so happy to see my baby was healthy after all I went through to bring him into the world. He weighed 7lbs 15.6 ozs and was 22 inches long. My labor was longer with him than my first born but I'm glad that I got to do it natural though. I just kept myself relaxed and focused on breathing the whole time. If any of you are pregnant right now don't think you have to go natural. If you need meds take them, it doesn't make you any less of a woman. I just went natural because I did it with my first and I have a fear of epidurals. I'm a nurse myself and I hate needles. Maybe by getting poked so much in nursing school lol. But its your birth so do it how you want to. Make a birth plan and make your dr and the staff stick to it. After all it is your body and your baby. Thanks for reading,
Patrice
PS if you have a birth story that you want to share or a pregnancy or ttc story, I would love to hear it. Just send me a comment with the direct link to the blog post of just simply comment to this post and tell me all about it.

My TTC journey

This is yet another hard post for me to write. My husband and I decided to try for another baby. So I went to the internet and started doing my research. The first time I got pregnant we didn't try it just happened. We weren't even planning a family at that point. So anyway I came across a website called fertility friend. I immediately joined and began to receive emails on TTC. I never knew there was so much involved. So I began to chart my periods and my temp and monitored my cervical mucus. Everytime I saw the increase in temp I got so excited and figured we would have success the first try. Well little did I know, it was going to be a journey. Our first try I got a negative pregnancy test result. So I started chatting with other women and learned some of their tricks. One suggested that I use ovulation predictor kits. So I sent my husband to the pharmacy and started right away. Well a few days later it showed that ovulation was near so we started having sex again. I think so much pressure was on us , we didn't wanna get another negative but we actually ended up missing my "O" day. So by this time I was hurt and crying everyday thinking something was wrong with me. Then my husband felt as if he was to blame and that he was letting me down. So we both agreed not to temp,chart or use the OPK's for a month. We were hoping that if we just had sex on a regular and didn't pay attention to any of this that we would finally get our positive hpt. Well that didn't happen and by this time I was totally depressed. I started chatting more with the women from fertility friend and listening to their stories. I felt bad because I was complaining about not getting pregnant after 3-4 months of trying and most of these women were trying for a year or longer. They were getting fertility treatments and still no success. I felt so guilty and selfish that I stopped talking about it for a while. Well finally two months later we got it right. I woke up feeling sick and had tender breasts and AF was very late. Several of the girls in the chatroom told me to go POAS and I'm like huh? I wasn't used to all of that lingo. So they said go pee on a stick. Well I did and I got a faint positive. So I decided that before telling hubby I would test the next day with FMU. Well I tested and it was a strong positive. I didn't know how I should react because I knew there were women in the chat room who got BFN's the same day. But they wanted to hear anyways so I shared a picture of my test. Well later that day I called to make a dr appt for prenatal care. I had my first appt and everything went well. Then a few days later morning sickness came with a vengeance. It was worse than my first pregnancy. I couldn't keep anything down,not even liquids. So I went to the dr and she told me that I had lost 4 lbs in just a few days. I began to panic by this point. So she placed me on a different prenatal vitamin called preemesis. Which has extra b6 and b12 and is supposed to help with morning sickness. So the dr wanted me to follow up in a week. Well during that week I was still throwing up everything I came in contact with. So when I went in I lost 6 more pounds. She decided to put me in the hospital and pump me full of vitamins and IV fluids for two days. I started to feel a little better. Well at my next appointment I lost 3 pounds. By this time I was taking phenergen and reglan with no success. So she decided to put me on a nutritional drink called boost. So I had to drink 3 a day in hopes that my body would absorb some of it and make me gain weight. It started off working good and I began to gain a pound or two a week to make up for what I lost. Then I started to back slide again. So she placed me a medication that's normally given to cancer patients to help them with nausea from chemo. Its called Zofran , though it was very expensive it really worked. So now I was on boost 3x/day and zofran twice a day. My dr put me on bedrest and said I was a high risk. At first I was upset about the bedrest thing. But eventually I got over it. I had to do it for my baby. Well it helped and I started gaining weight though it wasn't much. I gained about a pound or two a month. I felt it wasn't enough but the dr said as long as I didn't lose any, we wouldn't worry. Well I went for an Ultrasound and it showed the baby measured small. So she referred me to a dietician who I saw weekly. I had to literally eat all day and I was eating foods high in fat and protein. That began to make me sick so my dr decided taking zofran orally wasn't good enough. So I had a iv pump placed in my arm that was giving me zofran and b12. Yay finally success but I didn't get too excited cause each time I did something happened. Well I started having chest pain and shortness of breath. I knew I had heart problems but was symptom free for a few yrs. So I was sent to my cardiologist for a echocardiogram. It showed that the hole in my heart was leaking more blood then before. There was no way I could have surgery while pregnant. Instead I was placed on a king of hearts monitor. Its just a regular holter monitor but holters only monitor for up to 48 hrs. The king of hearts monitors for up to 4 months. So I wore this monitor and each time I felt chest pain or short of breath I had to push a button to record what happened. It monitors continuously but when you press the button it shows the control center you had an event and if its serious they call your dr right away. So when my monitor beeped that meant it was full. When this happened I had to call the control center and transmit my results. This was done by placing the phone directly over the monitor and it made a fax machine type sound until it was done. Well thank God I didn't have any major events. So my pregnancy progressed and things were fine for a while. As I neared 36wks my dr was worried that my baby was gonna be too big because there was no more room for him to grow. So she said at 38 wks she would probably induce me. Well on July 29 at 5:38 pm I started having contractions lasting 60 seconds and they were 4mins apart. My dr said call her right away when I was less than 5 apart cause since it was my second pregnancy she was worried I would labor quick. So here comes my birth story........... read the next post

Medication free ADHD treatments

Hello everyone here are some of my proven techniques for ADHD. One important thing I did was implement a behavior / reward system. People may not think it works but it really does. I created a daily chart and at the end of the day if his behavior warrants he is given a sticker on the chart. After 3 stickers in a row he gets to redeem them for a prize. Most of the prizes are small, like little toys or extra game time etc. But every 4th sticker in a row he gets a certificate. The certificate basically says congratulations for having good behavior. Getting these certificates really make him feel good about himself and it motivates him. So I decided to raise the bar. Throughout the day I use olympic gold medals(replica's of course). There is a bronze,silver and gold medal. He starts the day off on bronze and has to earn his way to gold. I do this because it teaches him to work really hard when he wants something. So as the day goes on and he stays on task with little or no redirection he moves up to the next medal and eventually reaching gold. When he has negative behaviors he goes down a medal(for example from silver to bronze). During this time I show him the list of rules and explain which one he broke and how he can make up for it. At the end of the week he earns a kids choice reward. Normally he will chose $1 or to go play a game of bowling. But whatever it is I make sure he gets it so he can see the pay off for positive behavior. Other things I do to help are using natural remedies per se. At night I give him a melatonin tablet and trust me it works wonders. It helps him relax and sleep well. Then when he wakes up he isn't hyperactive. I changed his diet and hive him more organic foods. Research has shown that some ADHD symptoms are result of lack of certain vitamins and minerals such as DHA,Zinc,Iron,Magnesium and many others. I will attach a file for you all to view called 3 steps to conquering ADHD. I am a member of the site and want to pass on the information to you. It tells you all about the drugs used for treatment, true stories from parents etc. Its very useful information and I hope you all find it helpful and pass it along to a friend. I also attached a link to IDEA which tells you all about getting an IEP for your child. It tells you your rights and your child's rights because schools normally won't tell you. Enjoy and thanks for visiting.
Patrice

here is the link for the educational rights(IDEA and section 504) http://www.help4adhd.org/en/education/rights

For some reason I couldnt attach the file for you to open to read the tips. I think its because it is a PDF file so if you are interested in viewing it send me a message with your email address and I can send it to you that way. If you know how I post it here please let me know. Thanks in advance and sorry it didn't work .

　

A mothers worst nightmare..... the diagnosis

This is very hard for me to write this so bare with me. My oldest who will be 8 very soon was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. His teachers kept complaining about him being impulsive , not staying in task etc. So they convinced us to get him evaluated. Well the teachers filled out a questionnaire for us to take with us. It was a scale with a list of behaviors and the occurrences of the behaviors. So we went for the evaluation and of course the doc said it was ADHD. I immediately questioned it because the diagnosis is based on questions answered by teachers. I felt the teachers could make things worse than they are just to get him diagnosed. I say this because they want kids to be on meds, this way they don't have to deal with them as much. He was on the verge of being kicked out of school for being hyper so against my better judgement I convinced my husband to agree to treatment. The doctor said counseling or behavior therapy was not an option. So he said meds was our only option. He went and explained the types of meds(stimulants and non stimulants) and the risks. I knew off top that Ritalin was not an option. So my husband and I agreed to try a non stimulant called Strattera. The side affects were scary but not as scary as the stimulant drugs. Some of them were death, heart attack, suicidal behavior in teens, depression and aggressiveness to name a few. We were told it would take a few days to show any signs of improvement in behavior. Well the whole time in the back of my head I'm saying " why am I doing this to my baby ? I'm such a bad mom" . So I literally watched over him like a hawk. I was terrified out of my mind. Well his behavior in school improved within a few days and he improved at home. But at home his behavior was mild compared to how it "supposedly" was in school. Well we continued to give him the meds for about 8 days. Suddenly, my son looked like he was literally dying right in front of my eyes. He stopped eating and drinking, seemed to have no energy, looked very pale. So I started freaking out more and really blamed myself. I felt that I let the school convince me to hurt my baby and put his life at risk. His symptoms lasted for days and he lost alot of weight. Immediately I stopped the meds but told my husband we would not tell the school. So weeks went by and the school said the meds are helping his behavior has been great. In my mind I am knowing he wasn't taking them and that they were out of his system. I kept this from them to prove a point when I fought them head to head about this. I knew all along they wanted him on meds . When they said his behavior was still great after we secretly took him off the meds, an alarm went off in my head. I was thinking hmm was his behavior really that bad to begin with or did they falsify the papers that I took to the evaluation. Because I knew the so called behaviors couldn't improve that drastically and stay that way especially once I took him off meds. So eventually I let the cat out the bag and told them how I felt they were treating my son unfairly. Immediately they said well if he's no longer on meds and has bad behavior he will be removed. My response was first off you don't call a child or their behavior bad because they will grow to have a complex. They should know this because teachers take Psychology class. Secondly I told them that I was calling the school board to report them because they refused to make accommodations for him. They are legally required by law to do so. So we had a few IEP meetings and I took documents showing what they had to do for my son. The teachers right in front of the principal said oh we refuse to do that, it's not necessary, I don't have enough time during the day to praise him or reward him a sticker every half hour. All of these suggestions were made by the school Psychiatrist and are proven to work with ADHD children. I used the system with him at home in hopes that if the school did it as well, he would be fine. Well I felt they did this out of retaliation because the next day he was sent home. They sent him home on an emergency removal for breaking an eraser in science class. He was not allowed to return for 24 hours. All of the teachers in the school, including teachers that were not even his own knew all about him. It's as if he had a bad rap. So when he returned to school he would come home sad and crying. He said all 3 of his teachers called him bad and moved his desk far away from the other students off in a corner. So I did what any parent would do, requested a meeting with the principal. What a total waste of time because she agreed with the teacher. She then told me that when my son misbehaved she would call me and allow me to come up there to her office to whip him with a belt. Now what school do you know that condones this? The doctor even told us not to whip him. This was way out of line for her to say. So I offered to come sit with him in the mornings since they said that's when his behavior is worse. They agreed for me to do it for a few days. Well during this time I observed kids doing things to my son and he was getting in trouble for it . I saw 4 children doing the things they said my son was doing and not being disciplined for it. These children were fighting, rolling around on the floor etc. So I'm thinking ok do these kids have ADHD , did the teachers tell their parents they need meds? So I brought this up to the principal and she said she no longer wanted me to sit in the class room anymore. The next day my son came home and said the principal told him that at lunch he has to stand next to her and eat because he talks too much. Its like the more I fought for my son and complained, the more they picked on him. I decided since I wasn't getting anywhere with them to call the school board. Well they set up a meeting with all the teachers and the school Psychiatrist and assistant superintendent was present. I kept a journal everyday of how they treated my son and shared it with the assistant super. Right away the principal got upset and said " this is in the past, must we talk about it? the purpose of this meeting is to come up with a plan for your son". Immediately I snapped back and said I have been trying with you people and have been getting no where. The assistant super was shocked by the evidence I presented to her and she apologized. She told the teachers that they had to comply with the IEP and praise his behavior often and she even offered for him to have like a tutor to come in daily to do his work with him on a one on one basis. He didn't have any learning issues at all, he actually tested higher than his whole class in every subject . But by this law or ordinance called IDEA and there's another one but I forgot the name. Anyway it says he was entitled for special seating close to the teacher, a special tutor etc. My thing is this why didn't the school offer me this before since they knew he was entitled to it? It took their boss to tell me this. Which really upset me cause the whole medication thing could have been avoided if they offered me this. So we put the new plan in writing and everyone had to sign off. Well things were getting even worse for my son. His teacher refused to let him in the class so he was made to sit in the principals office everyday. Kids would tease him calling him bad and making fun of him not being allowed in class. He was forced to stand on the wall at recess and watch his friends play. He didn't tell me this until the end of the week so it was no way to address it until Monday. Well my husband and I decided to sign him up for homeschooling. So that Monday we signed him up but had to wait two weeks for an orientation and for our application to be approved. During that time he had to attend school everyday or be counted as truant. So I had no choice but to let him go. I worried about my baby all day, praying and begging God to watch over him. I was pregnant with my youngest during this whole ordeal which lasted months and it caused me alot of stress. I literally cried when I dropped him off to school because it hurt me knowing what they were going to do to him. Finally I got a call saying he was approved and that someone cancelled for orientation so there was a spot open that next day. So my husband attended orientation since I couldn't and I felt a little relief. I explained to the lady in charge of the home school the urgency to get him withdrawn right away. She understood and felt bad for what my son had to go through. So she called me about an hour later saying we could pull him out immediately, god bless her for being so prompt. I called the school and told them I was on my way to pick up my son and to have all of his belongings packed and ready to go. The principal says " oh are you transferring him to another school? its sad to see him go (yeah right lady) . I said no we are homeschooling him so you all can no longer harass him and taunt him". So I went to pick him up and he said "mommy my teacher told me to hurry and pack my stuff and that I'm never coming back here again". She didn't even let him say goodbye to his classmates. My husband and I had to explain to him why why took him out of school . He didn't understand and still doesn't . The first few months all he said was he missed his friends and that he loved his teachers even though they didn't love him back. This brought me to tears knowing that my baby was suffering so much there but still loved the teachers. Its been a little over a year now since hes been home schooled. He still asks to go back and says he misses his friends but not as often. He was in first grade when we pulled him out and within 2 months he was moved up to second grade. The benefit of home school is you work at your own pace so he passed up all his classmates. He is doing so much better by being at home. He got good grades there but here he is learning more and having fun doing it. A month ago he started third grade( he should only be in 2ND) and we are preparing him for the proficiency tests that will be given in April. When I sit and think about it I feel we made the best decision for him at that time. True he misses out on socialization but he is better off. I was going to transfer him to another public school in our city but they are all in academic emergency so this is the best option. My son deserves the best education and so do the other children but its up to their parents to remove them. If the school is in academic emergency that means the kids are not learning what they need to learn and I refuse to let the system fail my child. He is very bright and intelligent. But when we relocate I may try him in school again but I'm not sure. With him doing so well I don't want to chance him back sliding. Far as his behavior at home he does what I expect a child to do at his age. Kids will be kids but he hasn't had any major issues with his behavior though. I thank you all in advance for reading and I hope if you have or know someone with a child who has ADHD or thinks they might have it please direct them here to my blog. I can answer questions and provide them with resources that most doctors or schools won't tell you. I even have some natural tips that are proven to work (wish I knew them then) , support groups etc so sprwad the word. Have a great day everyone,
Patrice



next up......... my pregnancy journals and birth story

A typical day in my shoes

As I said before my life is very hectic and you will get a taste of it right now. My oldest has ADHD and is home schooled and I have a very rambunctious toddler. I attend medical school and I work full time. My day starts at 6am and I'm in class from 8-4 mon thru fri. When I come in from school I do school assignments with my oldest and tend to the needs of my little guy. Then its time to cook dinner and head to work. I work 7pm -7am during the week. I wish I had more time with my kids but I'm doing the best I can to provide for them and better our lives. With my oldest having adhd things get very stressful. He has his days where he's not as hyperactive but more so he has days where I wanna pull my hair out. When he was in preschool I was approached by the principal about his behavior. The impulsiveness and not staying on task etc. Well we all agreed that he could grow out of it as he matured and got older. But we also agreed that if it didn't get better by age 6 he would be evaluated. Well they didn't get better,his behaviors worsened. Its painful seeing him like this. I often blame myself for this. I wonder if I could have done somethin to prevent it. I sometimes have to redirect him more than my two year old. I stay stressed out and its not good at all. All I do is work,attend school and tend to my family. Sometimes I wanna take a break and get away but i feel so guilty. So my only escape is to blog. My next post will be about the diagnosis and treatment.
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Some of my favorite products

I am a huge fan of fisher price, anything fisher price works for me. When I bottle fed my youngest I used playtex drop ins because they were BPA free,convenient and affordable. When it comes to diapers I started off using pampers brand but now I use Luvs. They absorb really well. Baby food I stand my Gerber. Both of my boys are gerber babies. Since my youngest is a toddler I use gerber graduates. They are very healthy and wholesome. His favorite is the cheese ravioli. But when it comes to juice I prefer juicy juice brand because its 100% juice. Check out these products for yourself, you will be glad you did. Also join business2blogger.com where businesses and bloggers play nicely. Follow this url www.business2blogger.com where you can get connected to business
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a little about me

Hello everyone , I am new to this whole mommy blogging thing so bare with me. I seen alot of mommy blogs and wanted to join in. I have two boys ages 8 and 2 and life with them is always interesting. They have totally different personalities. I will be posting my pregnancy journals and birth stories next along with some of the best products I have used for both of my children. My life is very hectic and you will soon see, but I manage to keep my sanity by blogging. I like to consider myself a pro when it comes to parenting. My oldest has ADHD and I have to home school him because of it. You will hear my views on treatment, vaccinations, you name it I will blog about it.