tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145897642024-03-07T14:31:51.268-04:00POP & SODAJennifer Lavinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06851778977350568726noreply@blogger.comBlogger691125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14589764.post-1193292723124883832014-04-10T21:01:00.003-04:002014-04-10T21:03:27.585-04:00The Labor Story, Part Three (just found this draft from 3 years ago)<div>
K, so like, a year and a half has passed :p I'm still determined to get this whole story down for posterity though, so here goes a bit more while Cooper pulls on the laptop screen.</div>
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So, the doctor comes back in and begins trying to insert the Foley catheter. Oh, my LORD, did it ever hurt. I think I was pretty close to screaming, maybe I did even scream because the charge nurse, Zack, asked if I wanted 'something for the pain'. I said that I most assuredly did but I naively thought that he was talking about a couple of Tylenol or something. Instead about a minute later I was, like, 'whoooooaaa'...they had stuck Stadol into my IV drip. Stadol is the AWEsome. I jokingly said 'can you get this stuff on the street?' and I think Paul and Zack thought I was serious...out of it...but serious. The Stadol took not only my pain away but also all my concern. 'Whatever' was my new motto. </div>
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So the doctor tried a couple of times and eventually got the Foley catheter inserted and began the inflation process. So at this point I still had all the old stuff attached to me PLUS two different catheters in...FUN! I don't remember anymore the length of time that this part took but it seems to me that this part of the procedure progressed fairly quickly. I was told to lie back on my left side since my BP was spiking quite often but at some point that wasn't enough and my pressure was getting dangerously high. As I was lying there feeling tremendous I all of a sudden heard Zach speaking loudly into his phone calling for help, he kept saying we have a 'decel' in Room Whatever. I was so out of it and so unconcerned that I distinctly remember thinking 'why are they so bloody concerned about a battery?' In my head I heard them saying 'D Cell'. Our room was immediately flooded with medical personnel who were talking low and moving quickly. In retrospect I can't believe I wasn't panicked but the Stadol was so. damn. good, people.</div>
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A few moments later the crisis seemed to have passed and there were a row of doctors and nurses etc. standing at the foot of my bed. A doctor introduced herself to me (even in my state I like to be polite and, well, be liked so when she told her name I told her that it was a beautiful name...I remember that clearly) and started talking very earnestly. She (all of the doctors from the practice that I had been attending for 33 weeks were in the process of delivering babies...it was a full moon...so I got a stranger) she told me that every time I had a contraction the baby's heartbeat was decelerating to a dangerously low level. She talked and talked but I was so drugged up it just seemed like babbling. Finally I said 'are you trying to tell me that I need a C-Section?'</div>
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</script></div>Jennifer Lavinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06851778977350568726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14589764.post-11952386685864920932010-05-30T14:45:00.007-04:002010-05-30T19:44:29.118-04:00The Labor Story - Part 2I've spent the last year reviewing the day of Cooper's birth in my head so that I could write it down accurately but it's starting to fade so I better get this down ASAP. Here's what happened:<br /><br />So, I was all settled into my lovely hospital room. I had a thing on one of my left hand fingers to monitor my blood oxygenation, and an IV in my left arm. My right arm had a blood pressure cuff that measured my pressure every 15 minutes. My belly had two bands around it; one to measure my contractions and one to measure the baby's heartbeat. I was uncomfortable. The contractions were coming fairly frequently and they said that they were relatively strong but I could not feel them.<br /><br />Before the IV was set up the nurse talked to me about what is going to be in it; it would be magnesium sulfate. She told me that this was absolutely necessary as my PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) had become full blown preeclampsia and the magnesium would prevent seizures. The nurse let me know, though, that the magnesium drip was not a pleasant business. It would make me feel strange and she told me that it often makes moms-to-be very, very angry (oh good!). Also, it has a tendency to make the baby not want to eat after it is born...this would turn out to be a big problem later, although fortunately we did not know it yet.<br /><br />So, once all of this is set up a doctor came in to see us and discuss what she felt that we should do. Rather than starting a Pitocin drip (I can't remember why) she wants to give me this tiny quarter of a white pill and put it in between my lip and gum. She instructed me how to do it and says 'put it in like men put in their chew, you know?' I said that I didn't and Paul had to explain to her that I'm from Canada so it was true, I had never seen anyone use chew before (I have now...GROSS). I put the little pill in my mouth and the doctor checked all of my lines and drips and bands and then suggested that Paul and I try to sleep for a while. There was a couch that folded out next to the bed and Paul said that it was remarkably comfortable. The staff at the hospital were fantastic and they brought us all the bedding and everything else that we could possibly want so we got as cozy as we could and tried to sleep.<br /><br />Unfortunately, every 30 minutes or so I had to pee (since my IV was pumping massive quantities of liquid into me) and so I would have to wake Paul up and he would have to help me slide over to the bathroom with all of the contraptions stuck to me. After a couple of hours the doctor came back and checked me out - I was not dilated at all. She suggested that we repeat the whole procedure over again so I got another teeny pill and was told to try going to sleep again. By now my blood pressure was getting dangerously high, though, so I was also told to try and lie on my left side as much as possible. I could not imagine ever being more uncomfortable!<br /><br />Two hours of the same passed and the doctor checked me again and this time I was dilated a whole centimeter. My contractions were apparently coming regularly but I often couldn't feel them at all. We repeated this entire process again and found that I was two centimeters dilated...none of us were happy with this, it clearly wasn't working.<br /><br />Around this time, I believe it was, the doctor inserted a catheter into me. Have you ever had a catheter inserted? Good Lord it is painful. The doctor sat down with us and asked what we wanted to do since the little pills were not really working at all. She suggested that we begin a Pitocin drip but I was a bit stressed out. I was SO hungry and hadn't been allowed to eat or drink for around 12 hours now, also, not to be all TMI here but I had to poop and couldn't do it with all of the stuff attached to me. Finally, we came up with an idea. The doctor would take off all of my stuff and allow me 15 minutes to poop and take a quick shower. Then she would hook me back up only with the belly bands and blood pressure cuff so I could be a bit more comfortable while I ate a meal. She said that she would give me two hours after eating to relax and digest and then we would begin this business in earnest with the Pitocin drip.<br /><br />The doctor told us that she would be back in a bit to unhook me but a few minutes later she came back and said that she had another idea. She said that she wanted to use a technique that isn't used very often but that she felt would be helpful in this case. She was going to insert a Foley catheter. I wasn't excited about another catheter procedure since the other one was so awful but she felt that it was our best option so I agreed. She said that it worked like this: She inserts a balloon into me and it slowly inflates, as it inflates it mimics the pressure of the baby's head on my cervix (since the baby wasn't doing it's job!) which should cause me to dilate and efface...basically fooling my body into thinking that the baby was trying to come down.<br /><br />We did not know it at the time but this was going to be the beginning of the end...although in a very different way than we thought.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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He was utterly kind and wonderful and a TERRIFIC doctor.<br /><br />I had my ultrasound and blood draw and urine analysis and internal exam and then Dr. M. asked us to meet him in his office (which is what he does and was not ominous). We sat down and the doctor said 'what are you doing later tonight?' We knew what this mean - induction. I was not dilated at all and the baby had not dropped but he was an estimated 5 pounds 9 ounces and my blood pressure was sky high (I can't remember anymore how high...but scary). The doctor asked us a few questions and we asked a few back and I was scheduled to be induced at midnight that night. Dr. M. called to schedule the induction while we sat there and he used a lot of abbreviations that I didn't know but checked on the minute we got home. I was SGpositive (Strep G positive - not a big deal for mama, lots of people are Strep G positive, but a big deal for baby, I would need to be put on antibiotics to make sure that I didn't pass the virus on to Cooper), had PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension), and Cooper was SGA (small for gestational age).<br /><br />We walked out of that office in a daze. We couldn't quite wrap our minds around what was going on. As we walked to the car we each pulled out our cell phones and called our respective jobs and mothers. Then I determined that since we were not going to have alone time for quite a while I wanted to go to Olive Garden for lunch. We did and I had apricot chicken and angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce and it was very good!<br /><br />After we got home I did some frantic hospital bag packing, arranged to take the dogs to a boarding kennel, tidied the house, made phone calls and then took a nap. While I did that Paul The Procrastinator went to the fire station and got help installing the car seat correctly. Fortunately I had preregistered for the hospital already so that was done. After all of that was said and done we took some pictures of my pregnant belly and then at around 10:30 we headed for the hospital.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvU7ukqLA7N06XYOOQVDwvwmRwlmrWD7pFOGyysPPmq57ONm2fQ8vjXAB4PcTEmIwfCdsca6XGRU_U6Drv7AoQGzUqlFws1_jvSj_axn7i_e6hlPomsuMCWpArBPjzIdGsi_Crg/s1600/9+Months+Preggers.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406262806061894610" style="WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMvU7ukqLA7N06XYOOQVDwvwmRwlmrWD7pFOGyysPPmq57ONm2fQ8vjXAB4PcTEmIwfCdsca6XGRU_U6Drv7AoQGzUqlFws1_jvSj_axn7i_e6hlPomsuMCWpArBPjzIdGsi_Crg/s320/9+Months+Preggers.jpg" border="0" /></a> I will spare you the pics in a sports bra so you do not have to see the approximately 40 stretch marks across my belly. Thanks Coopie!<br /><br />We got the the hospital at around 11:30 and were told that we could wait in the 'family room'. We didn't expect the wait to be long but it was INTERMINABLE and we didn't get called in until after 1:30 am as I recall. In the meantime we had to listen to other people's obnoxious family members and, the television was set to FOX STINKIN' NEWS which caused me to become apoplectic with rage about every 15 minutes or so and start storming around the room leaving what was probably a palpable trail of ANNOYANCE in my wake. No one should have to sit in a room at 1 in the morning waiting to have a child and be stuck listening to Bill O'Reilly. Lord help me.<br /><br />Eventually I was called in but Paul was told he had to wait. We thought that was odd but it turned out that they needed to ask me all sorts of questions like 'are you afraid to spend time alone with your husband' and 'are you afraid to go home after this with your husband'. I indicated that I was not and then had to answer about another hundred questions, give blood and pee, get into my gown, get a blood pressure cuff attached to my arm, an IV into the other arm and get the monitors attached to my belly. Finally another nurse came into our (very nice) room and announced that Paul was going to come in whether we were ready or not because he was about to knock down the door. I was really touched by that and Paul was in near panic mode when he finally got to come in because nobody had explained to him why he was not allowed in for the beginning. But, now we were settled in, had met our nurses and were ready to go.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOvIl9vfV7cH2HSIHcaxgCUnWYG-wD1l5u5TiD0jYa8PFGO9yEJBoE6ReWOYZK5jyZAENNQkhM28t8AvFs5EHSLARZl2MzhLM2v3RQH1cPT8hQ7WP_1PtBETn4_dc7XFhlpIEFg/s1600/Waiting.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406267811726414658" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 255px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOvIl9vfV7cH2HSIHcaxgCUnWYG-wD1l5u5TiD0jYa8PFGO9yEJBoE6ReWOYZK5jyZAENNQkhM28t8AvFs5EHSLARZl2MzhLM2v3RQH1cPT8hQ7WP_1PtBETn4_dc7XFhlpIEFg/s320/Waiting.jpg" border="0" /></a> Wow, that's unattractive. Toward the middle of my pregnancy the hormones kicked in and gave me GORGEOUS, smooth, perfect skin for a few months. Then in the last month or two new hormones kicked in that made my rosacea F-L-A-R-E like you would not believe. Oh, wait, you would, you can see it right there! And it is still just as bad now that the baby is 5+ months old! Whee!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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She refused to go outside, and she didn't seem to have the energy to jump on and off the bed anymore. Every part of her screamed 'SICK'. Still, we hesitated to stop the medicine because we assumed that, although the medicine was clearly hard on her, part of her misery was the fungus in the first place and the pills were necessary.<br /><br />By Sunday night she wouldn't take her pill at all and it took fifteen minutes of Paul trying to shove the pill down her throat and then hold her mouth and nose closed until she managed to get it down. He was eventually successful but we were both sweating and near tears, Smeagol was freaking out and Waffles was trembling from head to toe. So, on Monday morning we did not give her her pill and we called the vet. The vet said, and I quote - 'STOP!' It turns out that her suffering was not at all normal and that these pills were really bad for her.<br /><br />It's Wednesday morning now and she is feeling much, much better but much to our chagrin that means that the only other way to get rid of the fungus is to continue giving her those godawful sulfur-lime dips once a week for another 4-6 weeks. Not only does she stink for a full week or more after the dip (and the smell makes me feel kind of sick, honestly) but the dips also cost quite a bit more than the pills. Also, Girldog has to stay at the vet for about 5 hours for the procedure so that means that we have to get up a bit early so Paul can drop her off and then I have to leave work for half an hour in the afternoon to pick her up and bring her home to her UTTERLY MISERABLE brother dog who is so depressed by this whole business that he's barely functional whenever Smeagol is gone.<br /><br />Whee!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLo3P5yCwZNB72nfzl240eGlsZwTcZxAtuNLs53UpzEMwjBvMKdB9BPwb62vLKOeE0xy4DMYwc_6hYIzqMou6brhLTiOEaiOYeY_42EPDx5sDzgpVKwdFEGq5CqB5EBAKeKOgxg/s1600-h/03-25-09_1854.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332730857050077122" style="WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLo3P5yCwZNB72nfzl240eGlsZwTcZxAtuNLs53UpzEMwjBvMKdB9BPwb62vLKOeE0xy4DMYwc_6hYIzqMou6brhLTiOEaiOYeY_42EPDx5sDzgpVKwdFEGq5CqB5EBAKeKOgxg/s320/03-25-09_1854.jpg" border="0" /></a> (Happy babies chewing side by side)<br /><br />I should also note, by way of provoking a little sympathy for myself (THAT'S a positive personality trait, huh?) that my renewal immigration paperwork is due next week, that I'm going to be unable to do anything this weekend because Smeagol is also getting spayed on Friday, that I'm still on weekly trips to the OB and that I'm 33 weeks today. I still haven't bought nearly everything we need for Baby Boy, the nursery is not ready, I haven't picked a pediatrician...and I'll stop with that before I wind up scanning my To-Do list so you all can see my stress level in bullet point form.<br /><br />On the plus side, I have new buddies! They're Canada Geese! I've tried four times to get a good picture of them but have not been successful yet, but I will eventually and then I will be sure to post it. I'm the last person to leave work every day so when I leave I always drive around the complex to check for any problems that may need to be addressed before I leave. We have a gorgeous little creek that curves around the buildings and so lately I've taken to stopping the car for a few minutes and enjoying the view before I head home to the next level of stress for the day. A few weeks ago I noticed a few Canada geese swimming on the creek and I had a lovely moment watching them float by. Since then the rest of the geese have moved on but there are two left. Each day they are in a new spot when I drive around; sometimes way up by the road, sometimes hiding behind the shed at the very back of the property, sometimes just getting ready to head back into the water and they're getting used to me now. At first when I would pull up near them they would waddle as quickly as they could back to their creek, but now they just turn their backs to me and continue on with their foraging.<br /><br />I love these geese with all of my heart and soul. I loved them first because they seemed so peaceful in the middle of my tense life. And of course I love them because they are a reminder of Canada - oh the deliriously wonderful sound sometime in the spring in Manitoba when you hear that telltale honking and you look up and see that 'V' of a flock of geese coming back home and you know that finally, finally the snow is going to melt and life can start again. The other day Paul got to see my geese for the first time and he pointed out the part that I love the very best and hadn't even thought of - there are only two and they are always together. Geese mate for life and I'm sure that these two are partners. I don't know why they chose to stay when all of the others are gone but I'm considering it my little gift. A moment of peace at then end of every day.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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There is something about that dog that we adore so totally that it is actually sort of strange. He is so terribly sweet and sensitive to our moods that I frequently have to calm myself down in order to MAKE THE DOG FEEL BETTER.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqC1AQr7kvGTB5nfOA5FvK4WpQRgFl8B7vH71Yn1XV6NW2b5zyr6hz2KsZJ3SV5moOScIblLie7Q-mDnry9NtKYsrOrTaGKu61A1bUR_xLBcdFL8Apb9Secl7cjfBq1cP-eO1-A/s1600-h/03-18-09_1723.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332064673680096338" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqC1AQr7kvGTB5nfOA5FvK4WpQRgFl8B7vH71Yn1XV6NW2b5zyr6hz2KsZJ3SV5moOScIblLie7Q-mDnry9NtKYsrOrTaGKu61A1bUR_xLBcdFL8Apb9Secl7cjfBq1cP-eO1-A/s320/03-18-09_1723.jpg" border="0" /></a> (Mama's crying! It must be my fault! Maybe if I press my ears flat to my head I will be less noticeable.)</div><div><br />He still regularly (although slightly less regularly) destroys our belongings and yet we are still in love with the little idiot. He is also so smart that I can give him complex commands and he will follow them. The other day he had three toys downstairs (when they belong in a basket upstairs) and, rather than bending down, I told him to 'pick up his bunny and bring it upstairs'. He <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">snooted</span> through his three toys until he found the bunny, picked it up and brought it upstairs. I found that eerily intelligent and he does similar things all the time. His vocabulary is massive.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyHEChD8G9NDd_q6o7d0YW_cy2_LMXg_IBFMn2aTrjAKTR06XBqN78JJBhbxmxizqlJvNjlr88o1BRQoMv4uWvV32kQz-dc8qMdqRtFvRu4FkDoeo2oDoUq6nJgc3rQYJr4ftRQ/s1600-h/01-22-09_1141.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332064398838254738" style="WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyyHEChD8G9NDd_q6o7d0YW_cy2_LMXg_IBFMn2aTrjAKTR06XBqN78JJBhbxmxizqlJvNjlr88o1BRQoMv4uWvV32kQz-dc8qMdqRtFvRu4FkDoeo2oDoUq6nJgc3rQYJr4ftRQ/s320/01-22-09_1141.jpg" border="0" /></a> (Lying in the sun with one of his bunnies)<br /><br />And then there's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Smeagol</span>. I've written for around 3 1/2 years about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Smeagol's</span> health problems. She gets these random infections about every 6 to 16 weeks or so. It will start off as an irritation in her facial wrinkles and eventually spread to sores on her belly and swollen, irritated paws. We have seen at least four vets over the years and each one goes through the same routine: 'it's a food allergy, change her diet', 'its an environmental allergy, clean her off when you come back inside from walks, 'its a bacterial infection, here's some expensive medicine and cream', 'its random, all we can do is treat it each time it occurs'. We have gone through this cycle literally dozens of times and it is exhausting and expensive for us and miserable for little itch-face.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcydnaN2YSVCpuhVfbHyfIzv-gBL5mlfvmox-YC-7Z1Jvfqor0F2MlPZnfIFl_bbYV6-d4ic7Gs13odIMcAdYyb9zhbbKMzllKCr4jSNPJNtTOsOsF4zzP-JyfqNPcyJ3DkL4qWg/s1600-h/01-25-09_2305.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332065016019452338" style="WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcydnaN2YSVCpuhVfbHyfIzv-gBL5mlfvmox-YC-7Z1Jvfqor0F2MlPZnfIFl_bbYV6-d4ic7Gs13odIMcAdYyb9zhbbKMzllKCr4jSNPJNtTOsOsF4zzP-JyfqNPcyJ3DkL4qWg/s320/01-25-09_2305.jpg" border="0" /></a> (Papa, I thought you'd never come home. Is that really you?)<br /><br />The vet we started with here in Tennessee went through this as well in our first year with him but then he said something that I've been hoping to hear from a person doctor for myself for years - he said 'I'm frustrated and we are going to figure this out'. He contacted a veterinary dermatologist and said that if we agreed we were going to follow her timeline suggestion.<br /><br />So, first he instructed us to bring <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Girldog</span> in one morning for a '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sulphurated</span> lime dip' (stinkiest substance known to man) to see if that would do anything. We agreed because we are amenable to anything and this was something that had never been done before so that made us feel hopeful. He then scraped bits of hair and skin off her paws and neck and put them in a '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">dermatophyte</span> test medium' (a little vial of orange goo) and told us he would watch it for 21 days and if it turned red it meant she had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">dermatophytes</span> so we could start treating that. This was also something that had never been done. This week he called to say that the medium had turned crazy, bright, cherry red (which it did, I saw it...it was actually really pretty, this bright red vial with little white streaks growing in it. Andrea, did you ever study <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">dermatophytes</span>?) so we needed to come by and pick up anti fungal medication.<br /><br />Last, but not least, in the timeline is to get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Smeagol</span> spayed which is going to happen on Friday. The vet and the dermatologist vet both seem to feel that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">unspayed</span> dogs, particularly as they age and particularly the pug breed are just slaves to their hormones and thus some of them become susceptible to every bacteria and fungus that enters their living area and are thus almost constantly tormented by infection and itching.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNa3B0IucqWXxg6JuS5sbPrJvMMiK-DYb1suf6kww2zhXavP46MqhhZYjEBcX9O9ifZSQBtOwakQOmtFPPi5pG8DN_1P580GSahLw-DfOxVfuQuDEfYg3nrx_dDU5bRk8Qaj9txQ/s1600-h/04-21-09_1827.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332065230594689650" style="WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNa3B0IucqWXxg6JuS5sbPrJvMMiK-DYb1suf6kww2zhXavP46MqhhZYjEBcX9O9ifZSQBtOwakQOmtFPPi5pG8DN_1P580GSahLw-DfOxVfuQuDEfYg3nrx_dDU5bRk8Qaj9txQ/s320/04-21-09_1827.jpg" border="0" /></a> (The black part is my leg...this is her way of letting me know she doesn't <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">feeeeeeeel</span> well)<br /><br />So, that is the plan. It is an expensive plan and a time-intensive plan and in some ways a dangerous plan but it is the best we can do. Fortunately veterinary treatments are individually quite cheap (the lime dip was $22, the pills for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">dermatophytes</span> were $14 for example) it's just the cost of all of these treatments added up over the months and years that makes me feel faint. But, at this point we felt that this had to come to a head. We are so utterly broke and I am freaking out trying to figure out how this month we are going to be able to pay normal expenses plus immigration fees plus spaying plus buying all the baby stuff that we still need but we are not prepared to give up our dogs unless it becomes absolutely, critically necessary. These are last ditch efforts here to get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Smeagol</span> better. If this program does not get her better I do not know what we will do because after Baby is here we will not have the time or money to try to help her constantly.<br /><br />When I went to pick up the pills yesterday I asked the vet if he thought that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">dermatophyte</span> infestation was what had been wrong with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Smeagol</span> all along and he said that in his opinion that and her need to be fixed was what was keeping her this way. He said 'in another month she is going to be a healthy, happy girl again'. That's what we're asking for.</div><div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlKgo3SPlpTG7gpFD4AMPNJBz34oq2LIj_CxYrTnklcjjl9ISycO9CY615J5te7HvrbaVf55wtIomGc-afx_2AwOGEtXkvpgsN0BFqtjpTOQfGEq5eKBrH0_WTR2eYWHOust0Sg/s1600-h/04-11-09_1410.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332066181263237970" style="WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWlKgo3SPlpTG7gpFD4AMPNJBz34oq2LIj_CxYrTnklcjjl9ISycO9CY615J5te7HvrbaVf55wtIomGc-afx_2AwOGEtXkvpgsN0BFqtjpTOQfGEq5eKBrH0_WTR2eYWHOust0Sg/s320/04-11-09_1410.jpg" border="0" /></a> (We have no couch, only a love seat, so the little bit of time that we spend in the living room is a little awkward. There is barely room for Paul and I on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">loveseat</span> but on this day both dogs were DETERMINED to be on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">loveseat</span> with us. First, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Smeagol</span> rearranged Papa into this very awkward sitting position so she could lie on his leg, then, not to be outdone, Waffles managed to find himself a position too. They would have been content like this for hours, but, needless to say, poor Paul was not.)<br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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