FTW

[judecorp]

1. Jennie FTW!

Punk takes Prevacid which, on our craptacular insurance, is a Tier 3 medication - $45/month. sassywoman said that she had some Prevacid packets that she received by mistake (her daughter used the solutabs) and she would send them to me. But HOLY MOLY, there is nearly 3 entire months worth! Jennie just basically handed us $135. WOAH! <3 <3 <3 Thank you so much, Jennie!

2. Cosleeping FTW!

So the biggest issues with Punk's sleep are a) she gets restless and rolls over, which wakes her up and makes her upset, and b) once she's awake and upset, she realizes she is lonely. We had tried cosleeping in our bed several times but there were a lot of issues, including that there wasn't a good way to put it up against the wall, and the squishy fake memory foam made me nervous. So Jen and I moved the futon from the living room into Punk's room, and we keep her swaddled in the crib until around 11pm when we feed her, and then I get into the futon with her for the night. It's against the wall so I don't have to hold her, and if she starts to get restless I can lay a hand on her to chill her out instead of having her roll over, wake up, cry, and then having to get up and go into her room and settle her back down. I'm still waking up a couple of times a night but it's for a few seconds to stick my hand out and lay it on her, and that's a lot less dramatic.

Also, I folded our queen duvet from the guest room in half, so it covers half the futon. So Punk is in her sleep sack on a just-sheeted mattress and I get to snuggle up with a down comforter up to my chin. It's pretty win-win.

And, I should say, that after her 11pm feeding she slept until 5:40 straight the first morning, 6:36 the second morning, and 7:05 this morning. Aaaaah.

3. Townie Vet FTW!

I love our townie vet here. He is quick and easy, in and out. When I brought Daedalus and Ralph for their 3-year rabies shots (I don't really do annual checkups, sue me), he agreed that indoor cats don't need a lot of maintenance, stuck them with the rabies, didn't bat an eyelash when I said I didn't want the other shots or any annual checkups, and told me to come back in three years. The whole process with two cats took 15 minutes.

Well, Ralph has been, umm, ralphing a lot and I took her in yesterday. It took five minutes (he appreciates how high-strung Ralph is and doesn't bother with anything unnecessary), he said she probably had an upset stomach, gave her a couple of shots, stuffed her back in the carrier and sent us on our way. No waiting. In and out in 7 minutes with a little bottle of tummy pills for her.

And it's sooooo much cheaper than any other vet I've ever gone to. The office visit fee is $47! (And then you pay for shots, etc.) Very reasonable, and he's super nice, too.

Comments

[mollysummer72.livejournal.com]

OH, YAY. I think this will be the turn of a corner for ya'll

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I hope so! It seems to be working out. :)

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

Ralph is just doing it for attention! haha ;)

srsly, you don't know how hard it is to find a good vet. that sounds awesome!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Probably. You know how she is.

And yeah, I love my vet. I have had a lot of sucky vets.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I hope this means you are sleeping a bit better. That would be good news!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It has been better the last couple of days. My back needs to get used to sleeping on a hard futon again, but I'll take a sore back over no sleep any day!

[fleur.livejournal.com]

Excellent sleep solution! Go you!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It is awesome. I hope it stays awesome!

[rexlezard.livejournal.com]

Who's your vet? I had to take Simon to the vet last week, we went to the NoHo cat hospital. It was like $50, and they really didn't do much.

He's feeling better - he has some sort of urinary tract irritation, and I'm still on a mission to get a urine sample from him, to make sure it isn't an infection.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Easthampton Animal Hospital, Main Street Easthampton. It's down Rte 10 almost to the Southampton line. I ended up paying $105 yesterday - office visit, shot of antibiotics, shot of some stomach med, some stomach med pills. But he's just super nice and never pushes anything on me, which I love.

Poor little Simon. I hope he is doing better. My big cat Daedalus had FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease - crystals in his urine) and has been on prescription cat food ever since without another incident. I hope Simon is on the mend soon!

[oppendonnell.livejournal.com]

okay, don't mean to be stupid, but what does FTW stand for? Is it the opposite of WTF?

[caseylee.livejournal.com]

im so glad you asked! i was just about to!

[fleur.livejournal.com]

For The Win.

[childlight.livejournal.com]

I am kind of backwards on the shots. I got mine the distemper since it is easier to catch and skip the rabies.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

In MA, you have to vaccinate your pet against rabies. It's a law and theoretically you could get in trouble if you don't. My cats never leave the house, so their chance of distemper is really slim.

[tea-soaked.livejournal.com]

I love that you are all figuring out the sleep thing.

I love that your vet is cheap and good.

I love that you got 3 months worth of meds for little August.

Yay!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I love it, too! It's kind of nice to get real sleep. :) Sleep that's only broken by a two minute thing to stick your hand out and touch a baby is way better than sleep that is broken by getting out of bed, across the hall into the baby's room, pick baby up, rock baby, put baby back down, try to sneak away, get back into bed, try to fall asleep.

[tea-soaked.livejournal.com]

I bet she loves sleeping next to her mama!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I think so. I mean, it's easier for me to reach over and settle her than waiting for her to cry and then having to get out of bed and go to her room.

I like sleeping with her, though. I just wish the futon wasn't so awfully uncomfortable.

[tea-soaked.livejournal.com]

I find co-sleep in general to be uncomfortable. We did it for one month and that was all I could do.

[skatured.livejournal.com]

45$ a month? crazy That is one thing in favor of the peditrician we have -- she likes to help us save money. So we only had to pay $15 for a three month supply. :) I also think I like our insurance more after hearing about how some people have to pay a portion of the bill in having a baby.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, we tried a number of cheaper reflux meds (Tagamet and Prilosec, generic) that were $10 each but they didn't work for August. It just happens that our insurance kind of sucks. We could do the mail order and I think we would get three months for the price of two, but you never know with infant meds how long they will need them or if the dosage will change as they grow, so we never did it.

We had to pay $600 for having a baby. And $250 for prenatal care. Ouch.

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

YEA ... I'm so glad you will use the prevacid and save money! I meant to send it sooner but it's so hard to get to the PO. Joel finally sent it off for me!!!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh my god I am so in love with you right now. I had no idea you had so much! You are seriously saving my ass. Oh who am I kidding, I'll probably blow it all on more cloth diapers or something.

Do you want me to send you the postage money?

THANK YOU JOEL!!!

[midnights-sun12.livejournal.com]

that sure is a lot of win!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I know, right? :)

[yip95.livejournal.com]

Sleeping is definitely FTW. She's gonna be in big trouble with the Baby Union for letting you sleep so long...but that's not your problem.

I'm soooo glad you found a better sleeping arrangement that means MORE SLEEP FOR YOU. and, see, co-sleeping doesn't really seem to help zach sleep better. he's actually less squirmy in his hammock, usually. but if he had a little more space to himself, maybe he'd like it better. why can't babies all be the same???

zack's response:
ft2f f ffffffffg fg zgg aa m vbvs rf ssr srrrrrrrrrrf

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Dear Zack - thank you for writing to me! I know you are ticked off because August slept for a while. I do realize that you have been conspiring with her for quite some time.

I have a feeling that once A really gets this crawling thing down (she's rocking on all fours now) she'll probably be a crazier sleeper and I will have to reevaluate. But my #1 rule for baby sleep is By Whatever Means Necessary. So for now, futon in the room works.

I think A would do well in one of those hammocks. She likes to be snuggle and contained.

[lelumama.livejournal.com]

Caiti is mostly sleeping through the night now that sh'es weaned, and omg, it makes such a difference. I'm hoping Punk continues sleeping for you!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're getting some sleep! xo

[(Anonymous)]

We have prevacid too if you want it. It didn't work on Jamesen. Let me know...

Married Lesbian Mom

melissa.hazelton@obermayer.com