Diary of a HemoMom

Annual Meeting Fun

Hello again, friends! Please forgive my extended absence from the blogging world. I’ve been immensely busy these past few months and it has been difficult to set aside time to write. The good news is I’m back, and I’ve resolved to be better about maintaining this blog. There is so much that I want to update you on, but I think the best place to start is where I last connected with everyone – NHF’s Annual Meeting.

Tiffany's children at the Annual Meeting The boys couldn’t accompany us to Chicago because they had full schedules with school, basketball games, and church. They were less than enthused about being left behind for yet another conference, but they got over it quickly after we promised them they’d get to go to the Annual Meeting in Orlando this year. John, the girls, and I had the luxury of flying in a day early because I had a meeting to attend that day....

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The Morning Routine

I’m a heavy sleeper, so getting up early has always been a challenge for me. During my pre-kid days, I specifically sought out jobs and college classes with later start times just to work around this issue. To my dismay, John wasn’t a morning person, either. Most weeknights we would stay up late simply because we wanted to “hang out.” It felt oh-so-lovely to sleep in! Unfortunately, we lost the luxury of lazily starting our day at 11 a.m. a long time ago. Once we started having kids, we had to get ourselves some good old-fashioned 9-to-5 jobs.

John and I still stay up late, but these days it’s not by choice. Once all the kids have been put down for bed, we spend the rest of the evening cleaning up and preparing for the next day. I have to pack four day-bags. And don’t even get me started on how much stuff I pack for myself to get through the day! While I’m packing, John puts his suit together and irons my scrubs and the boys’ uniforms. Once everything is cleaned up and we’re...

Time sure flies! It has been several weeks since I posted a blog entry, but it’s taken me some time to adjust to life with four little ones in the house. Being a breastfeeding mother sometimes gives you little time to do anything else, but it’s oh-so-rewarding at the same time. Breast milk is digested so easily by my precious infant’s tummy that I was literally drained from all the round-the-clock nourishing I had to do. Couple that with three other kids to care for, and I’m sure you can see why I’ve been absent from the blog world.

The good news is I’m slowly starting to get back into the swing of things. I’m writing again, and I returned to work in June, just a few weeks before Noie turned 5 months old. I wish I could say I took extra time off for family leave, but I’d be lying. The truth is I only recently returned to work because I was still out on disability. The hormonal changes...

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Lemons Into Lemonade

The death of an infant is not only tragic, but also a very confusing experience for people to process. A minority of our family and friends were under the impression that losing Ethan would somehow hurt less because we didn’t have the opportunity to “get to know” him. Some of those conversations took place even before we were forced to withdraw care.

It’s not that people were being insensitive or cruel. I think they just didn’t know what else to say to make me feel better. It was a huge struggle not only for me, but for those around me. So, to some degree, I’m thankful they shared their thoughts, because it inspired me. The shock of his passing subsided, and people moved on with their lives, but it became my personal mission to find ways to honor my son’s memory.

The NICU staff assigned to our case was amazing. Their compassion made the experience of losing our baby...

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The Birthday Blues

Just in case you’re new to my blog, my daughter Annika (Niki) has severe factor VII deficiency. Although factor VII deficiency is said to be the most common of the rare bleeding disorders, I was told by a hematologist I met at the National Hemophilia Foundation’s 61st Annual Meeting that a deficiency as severe as Niki’s isn’t typically compatible with life. I must admit I agree with that logic, because I already lost a son to this disorder.

We had no family history of factor VII deficiency until Ethan was born. John and I already had two healthy boys, so learning of Ethan’s bleeding disorder was a complete shock to us. Ethan was diagnosed after he suffered a...

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The Littlest Lion Arrives

In case you missed it, I was miserable during the final weeks of my pregnancy. So, imagine my relief (and pain!) when I realized my baby girl was finally on her way. I wasn’t 100% sure I was in labor at first. My contractions were painful, but inconsistent. This should explain why I let John drive 45 minutes away so he could play a round of golf with his buddy. He was hesitant to go at first, but I was confident that I was just having Braxton Hicks contractions as usual.

I’ll spare you the gory details, but wouldn’t you know it—it became evident my contractions were the real thing just as John started to play his third hole of golf. I’m a pro at this birthing thing, but I was less than enthused when John implied he might as well finish all 18 holes. (Yes, really.)

Before I could react, John quickly...

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Holidays in the Hospital

Update: Our HemoMom blogger gave birth to a girl on January 24 at 3:44 am. Mom and baby are doing well. Anjali Noelle or "Noie" was 7 lbs, 8 oz, and 20.5 inches long at birth.

Keeping up with the demands of the holiday season was a tad more arduous than usual this year, since I was due to give birth very, very soon. Not only did my computer crash, but I was left with very little time to write in between juggling holiday engagements, demands at work (yes, I was still working full-time pre-baby), and, of course, tending to the kids.

For almost the entire month of December, all three kids took turns being sick. In addition to a minor inhibitor scare just before Christmas, Niki also ended 2010 with a bang. She developed a high fever—104 degrees, to be exact—and we had to rush her to the emergency room to make sure her port wasn’t...

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Bring on the Baby!

Update: Our HemoMom blogger gave birth to a girl on January 24 at 3:44 am. Mom and baby are doing well. Anjali Noelle or "Noie" was 7 lbs, 8 oz, and 20.5 inches long at birth.

Believe it or not, I had two jobs—worked 60 hours, seven days a week, to be exact—and attended school two or three nights a week during my pregnancies with Ethan and Niki. I didn’t have to be conscious of Family Medical and Leave Act (FMLA) hours back then, but both times I worked up until the day I gave birth. As a matter of fact, I started having my contractions at work, finished my shift and gave birth to Ethan early the next morning. (Yes, really!)

I remember being tired when I was...

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Let’s Talk About the Birds and Bees

Last spring I received my sex educator certification from San Francisco Sex Information (SFSI), a nonprofit organization that provides free, confidential, nonjudgmental sex information. SFSI is the only organization of its kind and answers questions from all around the world via switchboard and e-mail.

The organization provides invaluable information and appropriate referrals to people who may be too embarrassed to ask healthcare professionals or cannot locate legitimate information on the almighty Internet. SFSI’s training program covers reproduction, birth control, safer sex practices, HIV, STDs, gender identity and sexual identity. I am proud to be a SFSI-trained sex educator.

For a lot of people, the subject of sex is taboo. I understand why, but I believe our society should make a greater effort to provide comprehensive, nonjudgmental sex information to those who want it. Sure, the...

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My Sickly Self

I landed myself a trip to the emergency room a few days before we flew to the National Hemophilia Foundation’s (NHF’s) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, November 11–13. I had a severe allergic reaction that was bad enough for John to call 911. Oh, lucky me! I’m OK now, and the baby is OK, too, but I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to attend the conference. My allergist was leery about allowing me to fly after the scare, and my ultra-conservative ob/gyn strongly advised against the trip. But, I’m stubborn, and I went anyway. And actually, I’m glad I did—illness or not. I had a wonderful time despite feeling under the weather, and I wouldn’t have traded the benefits of those four days for the world.

I’m able to somewhat write nonchalantly about this experience because, unfortunately, I’ve become used to my condition. You see, I’ve had several brushes with death before. For the past eight years I’ve suffered...

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Diary of a HemoMom

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