Thanks for your kind thoughts...any ideas on how to stop the milk?

Friends,
thanks for all your thoughts and prayers during this weird time for us. It is good to know during times such as these, that we are surrounded with a family of loving friends.
To all those moms out there who did nurse or who are nursing, I need your help. I can't nurse Evie anymore. Not now, not ever. The meds. I am on are meds. that will most likely be a something I will have to take for the duration of my life. Or at least until after menopause, since sometimes that alters the body chemistry. They are also very bad for baby.
subsequently, I had to stop feeding Evie cold turkey this weekend. She is doing much better now with the bottle, but I was "pumping and dumping," thinking the stop would only be temporary. It is not.
I'm curious if any of you have any advice as to how to do this? I don't want to pump and continue to make milk, but at the same time, I need to let out the pressure. Any ideas on the best way to go about this?
Thanks,
Steph

Update

Ok,
We went to the neurologist today. Diagnosed with severe migraine, Steph is now on a "cocktail" of three medications to try to stop the seizures and pain. She's actually on the same drugs that are prescribed for epilepsy; hopefully some relief will be found soon.
The doctor described what Steph has as a "neurological disorder," they are calling it migraine simply because there's no other word for it. Symptoms closer to epilepsy, the disorder Steph has is one where chemicals are released and begin to eat away at the lining of the brain, causing the lining to become inflamed. Left untreated, the lining becomes more and more inflamed leading to the irritation of the nerves subsequently causing severe pain, tremor and eventual seizure. Steph now has to take steroids for at least the next week to diminish the inflammation. She is also on an anti-convulsion meds indefinitely.
Because of the drugs she's on, Steph had to stop nursing Evie, not to begin again. This news was very traumatic for both Evie and Steph, but Evie has warmed up to the idea, now that she has realized that she can hold a bottle and look around at the same time.
It’s going to still take a while for Steph to feel better, but it seems we are at least on the right track.
Mike and Nancy will return home to Wenatchee this evening, and we are VERY thankful for their help these past days.

Still down.....

Stephanie has been having another rough day. We had a few episodes this morning but are currently stable. She had some weird reaction to Vicadin last night, but we did not catch it until this morning. Thank goodness for liquid Benadryl. However, we did get her appointment with the Neurologist moved up to 11:30 am tomorrow which hopefully will start to answer some questions and get us set on a better path.

Will update as more information is available.

Stephanie has lost computer privileges....

As you can see from the previous post, Steph has been on some serious medications. So here is a run down of the last few days.

Stephanie has not felt well since we returned from California 3 weeks ago. She has been to the Urgent Care who said she had a viral upper respirtory infection, but could not give her antibiotics because she was breastfeeding. Steph has had a headache since California.

Now lets look at this week. Thursday she was laying in bed and her legs started to tremor. This quickly moved to her arms and into the rest of her body. They would last for 30-60 seconds and we would have a few minutes in between. We managed to get her into the car and then Evelyn and accessories into the car. We were at Tacoma General for 6 hours after they gave her Delotted for headache pain that caused her to have a full blown seizure followed by Ativan, an anti-convulsion medicine which stopped the seizures. This same sequence happened a second time about two hours later. They sent her home an hour after the second full blown seizure and discharged here even though she started throwing up. There answer to this problem was some puke buckets and Zofrane.

Friday we went to Peninsula Family Medical who prescribed her a non-narcotic pain reliever that did not help at all. Mike and Nancy arrived on Friday evening a few hours before the next round of seizures started. Evelyn was asleep in bed (Mike and Nancy stayed with her) and Steph started having more seizures, which were worse than the first night. We consulted with Gig Harbor Urgent Care who recommended calling 9-1-1. We tried to get Steph up but could not make it out of bed, as she could not move her legs. So we called 9-1-1 and she went back to Tacoma General Emergency Room. We spent another 6 hours were they just gave her Ativan and did more blood work and a CT scan, all came back clean. Then they sent her back home.

We slept most of Saturday and had no seizures. Sunday came and her head was hurting so back that we made a trip to the Urgent Care so we could see if there was anything else that could be done. We went through the medications and they could only suggest Vicadin. Which brings us to the present. We are just trying to hold put until Wednesday when Steph has an appointment with Dr. Huddlestone, a Neurologist.

We will update as more happens. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Bryan

The Last two days

II ccan't really see straight, and the room is spinning, so plase forvie any and all spelling erros.
I have had a headache from these past few days. Thursday night, my headache progressed into some weird convulsions and Bryan rushed me to the hospital. Upon arrival, they gave me somethin to try to stop the convulsions, and instead I went into full-blown seizure. We ended up at the hospital all through the neight and returned hom around 6am, with no real answers.
We slept a few hours until noon, when I had a dr appt to meet with my GP. We arrived a few minutes late however, and the doc had already gone to lunch, so I saw a PA who was helpful. She gave me a new pain mediation for the haenous headache, and sent me home. I was to follow-up with my neurolgist, but they couldn't see m until next week.
Nancy and Mike drove over Friday afternoon to help us out, since I was completely out of it, and Bryan hadn't slept in 2 days. Shortly after they arrived, I started seizing again, only this time it was far more violent.
911 was called, and I was taken to the hospital via ambulance--a very embarassing
expere
ince. I was pretty out of it, however, so I don't really know what heppened next. All I know is that I'm back home againnnn, this time on anti-convulsent medication as well as pain meds. The room continues to spin, and Ihave no appetite, since I've been throwing up for the past 3 days.
Thank God for Nancy anc Mike who are helping with Evie. Bryan has gone to bed, who knows when he'll emerge.

Stop the Rocking, stop the rocking!

Ever have the feeling that you're trapped in a room that won't stop spinning? I am in that room today. I woke up feeling very nauseous, and the walls were moving. Or maybe I was moving. Not quite sure. All I know is that I am sitting here, fighting the urge to spew, and I am home alone, with a 4 month old. She is doing much better today, by the way. I had Bryan bring her to bed this am before he left for work, and she wanted none of that. So while I was laying on my side, trying desperately to keep my stomach inside my body, I did everything I could to entertain her. Today was the day she decided that being tickled is hilarious. I, in turn, decided that tickling her is hilarious, as she now has this great laugh deep from her belly, that when heard, makes my heart grow three times bigger.
We are now in the living room...she in her pack in play, kicking toys and making grunting noises, I on the couch, doing my impression of Meg Ryan in French Kiss, trying to keep from puking.
I bid you all a good day.

nablopomo

So I've already failed miserably. I'm an official member of nablpomo...aka national blog posting month. I'm supposed to blog every day for the month of november, but due to our trip to Spokane, I forgot to blog for several days.
I finally posted about our trip on Monday. And then yesterday, all I wrote was "don't forget to vote!"
wow...I need more material.

How about teething? Is that interesting to you people?

Evie is teething, and this morning was agony. Not like children starving in Africa agony, mind you. Just, my 4 month old won't stop screaming in pain, and there is nothing I can do to get her to settle down, agony. I rocked her. I walked her. She screamed and squirmed. I gave her a frozen teething ring. She flung it across the room. I have her a wet washcloth to suck on...she smacked it against my face and then flung it across the room. I laid her in her bed, she screamed violently until she was gasping for breath. I held her some more. She squirmed and smacked me in the face. I gave her Tylenol...she ate half and spit out the other half, resulting in bright pink stains all over the front of her clothes.

After 4 hours of crying, kvetching, arching and hitting, (Evie hitting me in the face, not the other way around) I finally got her down for a nap, I subsequently crashed myself. Slept so hard, I woke up with Portia laying next to me, her head on my lap...something that I would never allow if I were awake.

Of course, the napping only lasted an hour, and then back awake she was. She's been a little better this afternoon, but still, not a good time had by all.

Election Day

Don't forget to vote today!

Weekend Adventures

Since Bryan had to work the Seattle Auto show this weekend, Evie and I went to Spokane, via Wenatchee, so we could visit Auntie Sara, and Evie's cousin Skylend.
Leaving Thursday, we went to Wenatchee and visited Grandma Janet and Grandpa Dale. We then went to Nancy and Mike's to spend the night and enjoy a fabulous dinner. We then left Friday morning with Auntie Jonna and "Grandma" Nancy to go over to Spokaloo. We spent the afternoon at Auntie Sara's house, playing with Skylend and enjoying a Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. This was Auntie Sara's first turkey dinner, and it was delicious. Uncle Travis and Grandpa Wayne joined us for the festivities.
After dinner, we headed over to our hotel, where family-friend Carolyn Stuart stopped by, and met Evie for the first time.
Saturday morning, we got up and went to Lens Crafters, so I could get new prescription sunglasses, since mine broke and I can't drive without sunglasses, and I can't see without a prescription. We had lunch at Chilis and then headed back to Wenatchee. Sunday morning, Evie and I got up and headed back to the harbor.
It was a fun trip, but I'm pretty tuckered, since I drove three hours Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Evie is trying to get her schedule figured out, hopefully things will be back to normal soon.
While we were away, Bryan cleaned his office, which included the shredding and recycling of four boxes worth of old papers, etc. He also did some scouring of things (the bathtub, and sink) recently neglected by me, and painted the pine shelf in Evie's room so it now looks presentable. Thanks Bryan!