Thou Shalt Not Be Boxed

Solid Food - whoo hoo!

James did so well with the liquid diet the past two days that they gave him real food for dinner tonight - fingers crossed!!!

Killing me

This just killed me. AND it got me to stop my FF-ing and rewind to watch the whole commercial. AND I got what product it was for. AND I now want to try their new flavor.

Wow. A successful broadcast TV commercial.

I knew I loved The Knot

Let the choir sing. The Knot has launched a baby website. Consolidated trendy registry. Hallelujah. The Nest Baby.

In the meantime, the nausea is BACK. Sadness, dites moi. It's not nearly as bad as it was before, but it's been back the past few days. And I am even more tired than I was in the beginning.

But I am more and more excited every day to meet the PERSON growing INSIDE ME.

Always with the extremes, those Hudsons

Over the past few days, my dad has continued his gradual but steady progress. He's still on the TPN and he's still only able to process clear liquids, but within that realm we've seen progress.

His primary care doc came in this morning and finally shared with him that 13% of acute pancreatitis end in death. That was to help illustrate that while his progress is painfully slow, it's still progress. His surgeon came in and told him that this is the worst case of pancreatitis he's ever seen. So lots of perspective for James today.

His mood is good, and he's enjoying many visitors and their conversation that keeps his mind off of his swollen belly. But he mostly wants to go home.

They think maybe he will go home late next week where he'll finish recovery before having his gall bladder removed.

That's the scoop!

James update

The neck thing wasn't nearly as grizzly as I'd feared. And he actually looks the best I've seen him look since he went in. Despite a rough night last night, his spirits today were great - wanting to play Boggle (thanks Paul and Suzanne!), doing Sudoku puzzles, checking out the Nintendo DS (thanks Glenda!) and shouting hello to fellow Dr.s as they passed his room. In other words, he was himself.

We're praying for a good night tonight, and for the swelling in his stomach to start going down with his second day of the TPN.

Whoo hoo!

SO GLAD with the Idol results! Not so much because this season is exciting at all, but more because she annoyed me almost as much as HRC, and this means I'm still alive in my Idol pool!

"Thanks to you, child, we's all free!" (major points for naming that quote. More for the next line).

American Idol

Why. Is. Brooke. Still. Around.

Well, you asked for it...

So, last weekend we bought an SUV. So, like, duh. I filled it up for the first time yesterday.

Ouch.

James report

I've always said that there should be a website to keep networks of people up to date when folks are in the hospital. I still hope to make millions off of that website some day. In the meantime, I suppose I'll start doing a daily update here. First, a catch up:

On Sunday night/Monday morning, my dad started having severe abdominal pain with vomiting etc. My mom took him to the emergency at Alton Memorial (where he does a good deal of his surgeries and has for years). The initial diagnosis was pancreatitis. The analogy we've been given for pancreatitis is that it's like a snake bite - you never know how an individual is going to react to it. Some are in the hospital for a few days, some for months.

Monday and part of Tuesday was tests tests tests. By late afternoon Tuesday, it was confirmed that it was indeed pancreatitis, and it was caused by gall stones. That the plan of action was to wait for the pancreatic swelling to go down, then do laproscopic gall bladder removal. We felt relieved on Tuesday, secure in the confirmed diagnosis, and hopeful that it was just a matter of days before his levels stabilized and he could finish recovery at home and have the surgery in a few weeks.

By Friday/Saturday, his levels had stabilized enough for them to put him on a liquid diet and remove the IV. My mom made sure he walked every couple hours. Unfortunately, his stomach didn't process the food well and the swelling remained. The IV was back on Sunday, and Monday morning they did a test to see if there was any blockage. Monday, his Dr's came to give the snake bite analogy above, and to tell him that at this point, we wait. They did have the bad news of suggesting a TPN (Total parenteral nutrition) which is administered through the neck. Not looking forward to seeing that.

So that's the latest. We're all concerned about keeping his spirits up. He's 64 and never been sick. Runs 5 miles a day and works until you pull him away. Being down for the count this long is just not going over well.

Week 16

Toward the end of week 15, I thought/hoped that I was rounding the corner into the land free of nausea, fatigue and general "bleah."

So wrong.

Sunday night/Monday morning, my mom took my dad to the emergency room. It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that it was confirmed that he has acute pancreatitis, caused by gall stones. Sohe's in the hospital until the pancreatic swelling goes down, then they'll remove his gall bladder, hopefully laproscopically.

I say all that to say that I'm not unconvinced that my week of digestive hell was not somewhat caused by stress, or eerily sympathetic. All I know is that I didn't sleep at all Monday night. It was as though part of my intestine on my left side was in a knot, and every time my digestive system pulsed, it was like a KNIFE IN MY ABDOMEN. This went on, in lessening amounts thanks to a serious diet shift, milk of magnesia and some acupuncture, all week. It's still going on now, but mildly enough that I actually functioned like a person today.

One word. OW.

Month 4 bump shot

Coming clean

At just under the completion of my 14th week (which is technically still "week 13" in pregnancy talk), I'm coming clean, going 100% public, letting the world know that Cameron and I are expecting the newest Hollway in early October of this year.

We're extremely excited. We've narrowed down some names, but they won't be going public until Li'l Poop (that's the in utero name) makes his/her appearance. And on that front, it's not until around week 20 that you can find out the sex, and if we do, that will likely stay on the down-low as well. I know. We're such party poopers.

As of today, I'm feeling better than I did. I haven't been literally sick, but I've been pretty constantly nauseated for the past 8 weeks. The past few days have been a welcome change of pace. Here's hoping I'm in the 2nd trimester clear!

I'll be adding baby process related photos here on Facebook (you don't have to join to view them, but you should join b/c then I can keep up with you too :)).

Here are all the posts I've held back as "drafts" since January 30th :)

In other news, in February I accepted a part-time position as the General Manager of a new online regional new source currently called The St. Louis Platform, soon to be called The St. Louis Beacon (long story). It's a non-profit online start-up centered around the idea that content is king - what could be better?

I mean, besides creating life with the love of my life, what could be better than a non-profit online start-up centered around the idea that content is king? :)

And I'm soliciting the "Top 10 Things I Wish Someone Had Broken Down for Me" from all the mothers out there. From whether or not a fancy crib is worth it to the completely random trick you uncovered to fight swollen feet. Bring it on!

Month 3 bump shot

If one more person asks if I'm having twins...

It mooooves!

Second OB appointment today.

(click image to see larger version)

I didn't see it as well, but Cameron said it was bobbing its head. Wow. We heart the heart beat this time as well - 176.

I know this happens every day all the time all over the world, but it really never gets less fascinating.

Let my fave songs GO

This is apparently the week that "pop" stars ruin my favorite songs.

Exhibit #1: Rave-Symone, "Double Dutch Bus"
Many who know me are aware that "Double Dutch Bus" is one of my all time favorite songs. I have memories of finding the 45 in the back room at my grandmother's house (you know that room - dimly lit, closet so full of clothes it's impossible to actually ever go through said clothes, carpet from the beginning of time, etc.) and playing it over and over and over and over. Then I got old enough to comprehend the pure ridiculousness of the lyrics and appreciate it for the brilliance. Here's the original:

Last night on iTunes, I stumbled across THIS:

Why? WHY WHY WHY? And was that DONNIE OSMOND? DONNIE OSMOND has NO PLACE on the Double Dutch Bus. I can't even really put any more words towards this. The wrongness of it all is just inherent in its existence. Feh.

Exhibit #2: Ruben Studdard, "Celebrate Me Home"
I fell in love with the song growing up. I think it was channel 5 that used to use it at the holidays with montages of the news anchors and their families. Always made me cry! When away at college, I discovered the original, recording by, wait for it, KENNY LOGGINS. This is a random person's holiday slide show from 2006, but it's the best YouTube with the original song I could find:

As I just discovered on the American Idol boot-off show, Ruben Studdard has done a COVER of this song as the loser play-off theme. Now, I am one of the 5 people who own and occasionally play Ruben's debut album ("this, is a Jazzy Fizzle production"). I hadn't seen all the media hype about the announcement of this madness, so when I heard the opening strains of the song I got a little excited... Until it played, and it was LAME AS HELL. (Wasn't able to quickly locate a recording for posting here.)

Moral: Don't remake a kick-ass song unless you have SOMETHING TO ADD. I know. I'm wasting my breath.

Lame. Lame. Lame.