Archive | Lena

Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom: taking your baby to the hospital

At Lena’s 9-month check-up a few weeks ago, Dr. Josh thought he heard a heart murmur in Lena’s chest.  Since this was the second time he’d heard it, it deserved closer examination.  Both Elliott and I felt our own hearts skip a beat as we listened to Dr. Josh describe the recommended next step: getting an echocardiogram, or ultrasound of her heart.

The tiny 17-bed hospital on base doesn’t have a pediatric cardiologist, so we would have to go into “the big city” of Catania, for the ultrasound.  Just as he’d promised, we got a phone call in about a week to tell us that a van would be leaving from the base hospital with an Italian translator sometime the following week.  We could get a ride in the van and the Italian translator would facilitate the forms, tests, and proceedings at the Italian hospital in town.

Yesterday was the day.  I met Elliott on base and we boarded the van with another anxious family.  It’s hard to describe your emotions at that point.  You know your baby looks totally normal and happy, but within, inside, in the unseen knit-together places, there might be something wrong.  There might be a defect that will cause her great suffering in the future, or cause a cardiac malfunction while sleeping in the night, or require surgery in the States.  If it turned out her condition was serious enough that the hospital on base could not take care of her, Lena and I would be required to move back to the U.S.  Elliott might be left behind.  It happens rarely, but when children on base develop serious conditions such as juvenile diabetes or when babies are born who are too premature for the base hospital, families are divided for lengths of time due to the need for more intensive medical care.  We weren’t going on a picnic that day.  We were definitely probably way too freaked out, but… well, you know what was going through our minds.

The hospital in Catania did not look like a hospital, and we were grateful for the calm presence of the Italian woman with us.  We walked into the quiet halls of the hospital and into the Pediatric Cardiology wing (cardiologia pediatrica).  Thankfully they had an incredible playroom, and Lena went to town with all the toys.  The other girls in the van with us fell in love with Lena and the three of them played happily for about an hour while we waited for our turn.

Finally it was our turn.  We walked into the echo room and took off Lena’s shirt.  At this point I expected her to begin crying, and I’d been imaging how I could lay down on the table myself with her on top of me, or could lay her across my lap and nurse her simultaneously.

However, incredibly we did not have to do any of those things, because Lena was a jewel.  She was fascinated by the doctor, fascinated by the dark room, and completely and utterly fascinated by the ultrasound screen.  (There are advantages to not having a TV… because your baby will lie in rapt attention whenever she sees one!)  As the doctor began to move the ultrasound wand over little Lena’s chest, I remembered my two ultrasounds when I was pregnant with Lena and I could see her little form for the first time inside me.  Now she was lying on the table for her own ultrasound.  Things change quickly.

The exam didn’t take long because Lena lay so still and curious.  Que buona questa bambina! the doctor exclaimed towards the end.  How good this baby is!  We were proud.

And then the doctor said she was finished and turned to us.  The translator tried to translate everything for us as the doctor spoke, but she didn’t have to.  The words for the valves, atria, ventricles, and so on are pretty much the same in Italian as in English, and as a nurse and a veterinarian speaking to a doctor, we already spoke the same language.  We understood that the doctor saw nothing abnormal.  We understood that every atrium, every ventricle, every valve was functioning normally.  We understood that what Dr Josh heard was probably just the muscles on the valves making a little noise; that’s called a functional murmur.  We understood that her muscles would grow with her heart and she would grow out of this.  We understood that the doctor thought we had a beautiful little daughter and nothing to worry about.

Such gratefulness washed over us as we held each other’s hands and held our daughter tight on our way back to the playroom.  We don’t, we cannot, take any moment of true good health for granted.  It can be snatched away in a moment.  We are not invincible.  We are weak and we are blessed with God’s mercy.

After the test Lena and I were all smiles.  Later we drove home, and Lena read her peek-a-boo book from her grandparents (one of her current favorites!).  She took a long nap and woke up ready to play some more.  For another day.  We are so thankful.

9 :: in Italy, Lena, motherhood, my faith, thoughts

Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom: taking your baby to the hospital

At Lena’s 9-month check-up a few weeks ago, Dr. Josh thought he heard a heart murmur in Lena’s chest.  Since this was the second time he’d heard it, it deserved closer examination.  Both Elliott and I felt our own hearts skip a beat as we listened to Dr. Josh describe the recommended next step: getting an echocardiogram, or ultrasound of her heart.

The tiny 17-bed hospital on base doesn’t have a pediatric cardiologist, so we would have to go into “the big city” of Catania, for the ultrasound.  Just as he’d promised, we got a phone call in about a week to tell us that a van would be leaving from the base hospital with an Italian translator sometime the following week.  We could get a ride in the van and the Italian translator would facilitate the forms, tests, and proceedings at the Italian hospital in town.

Yesterday was the day.  I met Elliott on base and we boarded the van with another anxious family.  It’s hard to describe your emotions at that point.  You know your baby looks totally normal and happy, but within, inside, in the unseen knit-together places, there might be something wrong.  There might be a defect that will cause her great suffering in the future, or cause a cardiac malfunction while sleeping in the night, or require surgery in the States.  If it turned out her condition was serious enough that the hospital on base could not take care of her, Lena and I would be required to move back to the U.S.  Elliott might be left behind.  It happens rarely, but when children on base develop serious conditions such as juvenile diabetes or when babies are born who are too premature for the base hospital, families are divided for lengths of time due to the need for more intensive medical care.  We weren’t going on a picnic that day.  We were definitely probably way too freaked out, but… well, you know what was going through our minds.

The hospital in Catania did not look like a hospital, and we were grateful for the calm presence of the Italian woman with us.  We walked into the quiet halls of the hospital and into the Pediatric Cardiology wing (cardiologia pediatrica).  Thankfully they had an incredible playroom, and Lena went to town with all the toys.  The other girls in the van with us fell in love with Lena and the three of them played happily for about an hour while we waited for our turn.

Finally it was our turn.  We walked into the echo room and took off Lena’s shirt.  At this point I expected her to begin crying, and I’d been imaging how I could lay down on the table myself with her on top of me, or could lay her across my lap and nurse her simultaneously.

However, incredibly we did not have to do any of those things, because Lena was a jewel.  She was fascinated by the doctor, fascinated by the dark room, and completely and utterly fascinated by the ultrasound screen.  (There are advantages to not having a TV… because your baby will lie in rapt attention whenever she sees one!)  As the doctor began to move the ultrasound wand over little Lena’s chest, I remembered my two ultrasounds when I was pregnant with Lena and I could see her little form for the first time inside me.  Now she was lying on the table for her own ultrasound.  Things change quickly.

The exam didn’t take long because Lena lay so still and curious.  Que buona questa bambina! the doctor exclaimed towards the end.  How good this baby is!  We were proud.

And then the doctor said she was finished and turned to us.  The translator tried to translate everything for us as the doctor spoke, but she didn’t have to.  The words for the valves, atria, ventricles, and so on are pretty much the same in Italian as in English, and as a nurse and a veterinarian speaking to a doctor, we already spoke the same language.  We understood that the doctor saw nothing abnormal.  We understood that every atrium, every ventricle, every valve was functioning normally.  We understood that what Dr Josh heard was probably just the muscles on the valves making a little noise; that’s called a functional murmur.  We understood that her muscles would grow with her heart and she would grow out of this.  We understood that the doctor thought we had a beautiful little daughter and nothing to worry about.

Such gratefulness washed over us as we held each other’s hands and held our daughter tight on our way back to the playroom.  We don’t, we cannot, take any moment of true good health for granted.  It can be snatched away in a moment.  We are not invincible.  We are weak and we are blessed with God’s mercy.

After the test Lena and I were all smiles.  Later we drove home, and Lena read her peek-a-boo book from her grandparents (one of her current favorites!).  She took a long nap and woke up ready to play some more.  For another day.  We are so thankful.

8 :: in Italy, Lena, motherhood, my faith, thoughts

thank you + market run

Thank you all for your thoughts and emails after my last post.  I have been so encouraged to hear that many of you are feeling the same things, whether single or married, whether with kids or without, whether living close to home or abroad.  I guess my main point was that I am working, striving, struggling to find a new identity in a new stage of my life, and pretty much everybody has felt that way at some stage.  It was comforting to know that I’m writing to a group of friends who understand and can relate, rather than “sending this cosmic question out into the void.”*

So, friends, how’s your Groundhog Day going?  We just got back from taking little Lena for a test at a local hospital.  Her doctor was worried that she had a heart murmur.  Well, I’ll tell you the whole story tomorrow, but for now we are very grateful that her little heart seems to be a-ok.  I’ve stopped taking good health for granted for any of us.

For today, here are a couple of pictures I took after my run to the weekly market in town.  My friend Becca and I have been meeting up there each week and then often come back to my house for a cup of coffee and some quiet conversation.  This week Becca introduced me to her favorite butcher in the market, who sold me this bag of 8 eggs for 1 euro (about US$1.35).  Cheapest and freshest eggs I’ve ever had.

The butcher sold them to me in a paper bag, so I had to transfer them to an old egg carton when I got home.  The cheerful message on the bag made me smile.  Did something simple, like a message on a bag of eggs, brighten your day today?

*Can you name that movie?  It’s my fav!
2 :: in Italy, Lena, thoughts

thank you + market run

Thank you all for your thoughts and emails after my last post.  I have been so encouraged to hear that many of you are feeling the same things, whether single or married, whether with kids or without, whether living close to home or abroad.  I guess my main point was that I am working, striving, struggling to find a new identity in a new stage of my life, and pretty much everybody has felt that way at some stage.  It was comforting to know that I’m writing to a group of friends who understand and can relate, rather than “sending this cosmic question out into the void.”*

So, friends, how’s your Groundhog Day going?  We just got back from taking little Lena for a test at a local hospital.  Her doctor was worried that she had a heart murmur.  Well, I’ll tell you the whole story tomorrow, but for now we are very grateful that her little heart seems to be a-ok.  I’ve stopped taking good health for granted for any of us.

For today, here are a couple of pictures I took after my run to the weekly market in town.  My friend Becca and I have been meeting up there each week and then often come back to my house for a cup of coffee and some quiet conversation.  This week Becca introduced me to her favorite butcher in the market, who sold me this bag of 8 eggs for 1 euro (about US$1.35).  Cheapest and freshest eggs I’ve ever had.

The butcher sold them to me in a paper bag, so I had to transfer them to an old egg carton when I got home.  The cheerful message on the bag made me smile.  Did something simple, like a message on a bag of eggs, brighten your day today?

*Can you name that movie?  It’s my fav!
2 :: in Italy, Lena, thoughts

life lately

Like everyone out there, I love Instagram and the pretty things it can do to photos!  I am trying not to let it replace my “real” camera, for heaven knows I have a million things still to learn about photography and need all the practice I can get.  But when the big camera isn’t around, I love capturing little moments this way.

Here are a few photos of our lives this past month.

 Thursday playgroup at the park
& trying out our new breadmaker
 celebrating my Christmas present from Em and Jess: fabulous slippers!
& snacking on some cheese before seeing Dr Josh

playdate with Sam at our house  
& trying to “catch” the sheets as they dry Italian-style on our balcony
 flower power pants do a dance while watching the wash go ’round and ’round
&  in love with her new sippy cup
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4 :: in home sweet home, Lena

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