Not So Full Of Gall

The surgery was a success.  I'm feeling much better than I expected to, though I am pretty damn sore from being cut into and inflated (yep, inflated...they have to kind of blow up the abdomen so that they can see where stuff is, and residual gas can cause pain in the abdomen and shoulder).  The worst part of it is that I can't lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, so I can't pick up the baby.  Feeding her has been a challenge...I usually lay down with her to nurse, but because of the incisions I've been putting some padding between us and she's not too happy about that, and she's not a huge fan of the boppy so feeding her while sitting up is tough.  Oh well, it's just for a few days. 

My sister came over to give us a hand yesterday and today, and Scott will be home with me through Friday (he's sailing on Saturday, but my Mom's coming over to stay with me). 

I got my mystery boxes from Primabead!  There's sooo much cool stuff!  Lots of cool pendants, and glass pearls, and other awesomeness.  I am so looking forward to making some cool stuff :)

Full of Gall

In the Crappy Pregnancy Lottery, I won the uber-jackpot.  Between the hyperemesis, inability to breath, crazy weight gain, and general discomfort with being pregnant, it pretty much sucked.  I had an incredibly easy delivery, and was elated to be done with all the crappyness.  And then the spasms started.  I thought it was a hiatal hernia, since my mom and grandmother both have one as a result of pregnancies, so I told my OB about them at my 6-week checkup.  She said, to my surprise, that it sounded more like gallstones, and that it was actually a relatively common side/aftereffect of pregnancy (I don't believe it's that common, or more people would know about it, and nobody that I've told has ever heard that before).  So I had an abdominal ultrasound, and yes, it was gallstones.  My General Practitioner advised that the best option these days is removal, since the other methods of dealing with them are a little outdated and ineffective (the pill therapy takes 2-3 years to have any effect, and if you ever stop the pills they'll come back, and the ultrasound therapy will break them up but it doesn't cure the underlying problem so they come back).  I didn't think I'd be able to have the surgery until at least May, since Scott's going on a boat race in late April and we decided that if we couldn't get an appointment within a week of my consult (last Thursday), I'd have to wait until May.  So I thought I had a couple of months to mentally prepare.  At the appointment, however, the scheduling nurse said there was an appointment on Tuesday, the 16th at 7:30am, and would I like it.  Holy cow.  So that means that I'm going in for surgery tomorrow morning, have to report at the hospital at 5am, the surgery's about 2 hours, it's an outpatient procedure so I'll be home tomorrow afternoon/evening, and the recovery time is just a few days. 

So...yay.

In other news, my friends Curtis and Rene got engaged this past weekend!  It was a very elaborate plan, involved several of their friends (including us, we got to film it!), and was a genuine surprise for Rene.  I am incredibly happy for both of them, and I cannot wait to watch them unite after such a long romance.  Congratulations, guys!

One more bit of news, I'm intending on making this a more "Liz's Creations"-centered blog, mostly so that I don't have to write one more blog, but nothing will be changing except that the content will center a tiny bit more toward what I'm working on, what I'm learning, and will occasionally have exclusive offers and perhaps a contest or giveaway once in awhile.

I probably won't be able to blog again until at least Thursday, maybe not until next week.  See you then!  (Well, not really "see" persay, but you get the idea...)

Gah!

I keep saying I'm going to blog every day, and it's on my daily to-do list (along with things like working out and other daily chores that I'll forget to do unless I write them down), and yet somehow I never can find the time during the day, and in the evening it's much more enjoyable to spend time with Scott instead of blogging, and so the cycle of blog neglect continues.  It's not that I've had any shortage of stuff to blog about, it's just that the blog isn't exactly my biggest priority, but with the "grand opening" of Liz's Creations that needs to change since I intend to turn this into a valuable networking tool.  A few things I've had on my mind:

1-I have a consult for my gallbladder surgery tomorrow.  I'm mildly freaked out, I always freak out a little before surgery (yes, I have had enough surgeries to say that), but I kind of know the drill so...yeah.  I'm looking forward to not having the spasms anymore. 

2-I need a new pediatrician for the baby.  I really liked her doctor at the start, but I'm finding out that everything's cool as long as Aurora fits into the cookie cutter.  As soon as she deviates from the 'normal' that the doctors have invented to make parents feel good, the doctor freaks out and then acts like I'm a bad parent for not going into hysterics over it.  She's the tiniest bit underweight, and the doctor wants me to take her to a nutritionist and possibly do bloodwork if she doesn't bring up her weight.  She didn't ask what my diet is like (Aurora was almost exclusively breastfed until 4 months, and diet effects breastmilk), wasn't concerned with family history (Scott's parents were both tiny kids, his mom barely broke 100 lbs. while she was pregnant, I didn't hit 100 lbs. until I was almost done with high school), and told me at her 4 month appointment that she wasn't ready for solids even though I thought she was (turns out she was wrong...so very wrong).  I went into the whole 'parenthood' journey knowing that I'm too damn stubborn (and dislike doctors too much) to blindly follow a pediatricians advice, but what irritates me the most is being treated like I'm a bad mom because of that (by her and her nursing staff), and I won't put up with it anymore.

3-On a happier note, I've started Liz's Creations in earnest.  Scott and I had our taxes done, and the return will cover a good portion of my start-up costs, and it'll more than cover the costs for my opening inventory which is really what I need to focus on first.  That does, however, mean that I'll have to keep up with fashion better, something that I've never really followed very fanatically.  Well, at all.  I'm excited, and scared, and totally thrilled at the prospect of starting something potentially awesome.

4-If you're a jewelry-maker, you may already know about this, but it's freakin' cool and I love it and I'm going to share it here.  I found an ad for Lima Beads in a magazine, and it's quickly become one of my favorite beading sites.  They've got what they call "The Big Green Bead Machine", and it has a list of deals on their overstock, and the prices drop every 5 minutes until they sell out or expire.  And it's all kinds of stuff, findings, gemstones, beads, charms, everything.  Here's a link: http://www.limabeads.com/store/content/BeadMachine

Well, I think that's it for now, have a great day!