Never a dull moment

So, I had surgery yesterday.

Let's start at the beginning. While pregnant with Kitten, I had a couple of "attacks", which got much worse and more frequent after she was born. So naturally, I went to the doctor. She put me on Prilosec and sent me for an ultrasound, which did not show any gall stones or inflammation. So they said that sometimes heartburn presents as a gall bladder attack, and after the Prilosec, I didn't have any more attacks, so I thought I was cured.

Then a week or two before Meimei was born, I had another one. Now, I maybe hadn't been as diligent about taking my pills as I should have been, so I chalked it up to my own carelessness. Then I had one about a week after Meimei was born, still the same stuff, no worse, no better, but I had been taking my pills. Hmmm. Odd.

Then, Thursday night. Ow. I don't know if you have ever had a gall bladder attack, but dang. Not as painful as Meimei's birth (Kashka, you can tell your dad that when you hit a ten on the pain scale, you will actually not be able to form a sentence, just random swears and atheistic howls to Christ). So if that was a 10, this was probably an 8. I could answer questions with words if required, so that's now my new judge of the pain scale. It started at 9 Thursday night, slowed down at midnight, but picked up speed again at 1:30 Friday morning. It started getting really bad around 4 a.m. when I couldn't stop throwing up. And there was nothing left to throw up anymore. The kids were asleep, Ryan was finally getting some sleep (Kitten was ill and had been up half the night too), so I called my mom to take me to the ER. I figured they would just give me something and send me home.

The ER was typical - slow-moving. Once they got me in, the doc saw me and then I finally got some morphine. And some Zofran to stop the vomiting, which didn't really stop, but it took the edge off it for about a half hour each time. But the morphine was good. And they did x-rays and an ultrasound and then they admitted me to the hospital. I think they might have explained why, but I was on morphine. Why do they even bother talking to people on morphine?

I think when they moved me upstairs, the stone finally passed, because I wanted to vomit until then and didn't afterward. So then my surgery became "elective" because I was no longer in horrific pain, meaning I had to wait until all other surgeries were done before I could get in. I finally saw the surgeon at 9 Friday night and he said I would inevitably have another attack and that my gall bladder was inflamed, so I could have it out this weekend or I could come back in a week and do it. Better not to think too much, so I said now and they scheduled me in.

So I had surgery yesterday and had my gall bladder out. I'm home today and I'm a bit sore, but mostly ok.

You will never grow old, you will never die. But you must feed...

So the nursing seems to be going well. Except that Meimei keeps pushing off. She pushes off two or three times before she settles in to eat. What's up with that? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. And any other advice would be appreciated, from the pros in the audience (or from the non-milkers, if you would like to weigh in anyway). I have compiled a list of my issues for consideration:

The website said I should be feeding for half an hour at a time. I don't time it, I don't wear a watch or have immediate access to a clock from the couch, but I don't think I'm ever hitting that. Should I be timing it? Should I care, if the kid seems satisfied? Should I worry that sometimes I'm under, sometimes I'm over?

They said it was okay to feed on just one side at a time, as long as I start on the other side the next time. Will that affect my milk supply if that's happening now?

When is my milk supply fully established so I can stop worrying about it?

Will pizza and burgers really upset Meimei's stomach if I eat them? Or is she just gassy and fussy periodically because of the acid reflux, or because she is a baby and that's what they do?

And on a completely rhetorical note, why can't I get the kid to burp when she will burp if anyone else even picks her up?

And just for the record, I am not actually making a comparison between my beautiful new daughter and vampires.

Every time...

Why is it that everytime I fire up the computer, Meimei wakes up and needs to eat?

Kitten's huge vocabulary is slowly converting into English and we're starting to understand her. Sometimes we're not sure if we're making it up, or if she's actually saying what it sounds like she's saying. The other day, she made a grab at Meimei's nukkie, but stopped in midair, looked at me, said "no, no" and then added, "not mine, not mine." Hmmm. Now, I've been telling her the green one is "not yours," but is she advanced enough to convert "yours" into "mine"? Pants doesn't think so and doubts this is what she actually said. But I know what I heard.

I think Meimei has acid reflux too, and we are not waiting 8 weeks to medicate her this time. We waited too long with Kitten at the expense of sleep for 2 months (hers and mine).