Gary's Gallop

This morning, Afton, Neal and Blake all ran in Gary's Gallop, which is an annual 5k race held at Greenfield Park.  Now I don't remember the exact numbers, but Neal and Blake finished 4th and 5th I think (don't know which one was which).  Afton, who to my knowledge has never run a race before, finished in the middle of the pack.  I am so jealous of the fitness of my siblings!  Go Millers!

I, on the other hand, will never be able to physically run a 5k (due to actual medical issues with my lungs where I can't run more than 20 feet without feeling like I'm going to die).  At least I was athletic in high school, right...?

What I Learned: My siblings did very well at Gary's Gallop.

33-Week Appointment

Today I had my 33-week appointment with my midwife. I found out that based on my last ultrasound, the baby is in the 46th percentile for growth. I also found out that I've gained 21 pounds total this pregnancy, which is a little ahead of the pace I gained with Avery, but I also started out about 15 pounds lighter this time around, so I guess I needed to put on a little bit more weight for the fat and water :) The appointment went well and I continue to have a normal and boring pregnancy. Yay!

What I Learned: Baby #2 is growing just as he/she should; I've gained 21 pounds so far.

Avery is Awesome

Today Avery had his 18-month check up. He had to get one vaccine and then get his blood drawn to check his iron levels so that we can see if he has restless leg syndrome (see earlier post). I was not looking forward to the appointment, anticipating that Avery would, for obvious reasons, be very upset during and after the appointment.  During the appointment, I found out that Avery is somehow in the 75th percentile for height (which I'm sure will even out soon as both Jared and I are clearly not tall people) and in the 50th percentile for weight. After the basic check up was done, the doctor suggested we give Avery Zyrtec before bed to see if it helps with his RLS.

Then it was time for the vaccine. Now every time Avery has gotten a vaccine, he literally has not said a word, except when he got the MMR, but that one burns and apparently adults complain about how much it hurts, so that's understandable. For some reason, I just thought that because he was older, he would cry this time, but nope; he gave one little yelp of protest and that was it. The nurse was so shocked. Avery's a man! Haha. Then we went over to the lab for the blood draw where he was given a bag of animal crackers to distract him. He certainly protested and even cried during the blood draw but about 30 seconds after it was done, he was perfectly fine and eating his crackers.

There are so many things that Avery is awesome at (eating, getting shots, bath time, entertaining himself, etc). I just wish that sleep was one of them. Let's hope this Zyrtec works!

What I Learned: Avery is tall for his age; Avery is a trooper when it comes to getting shots and blood drawn.

Restless Legs

As you might already know from reading this blog, Avery is not the best sleeper. He never has been.  He is super restless when we put him to sleep for the night, wakes up often, and seems uncomfortable all the time, which makes him wake up more, etc. We are having a hard time getting him to stay asleep and to sleep on his own.  I have thought a few times that maybe he has Restless Leg Syndrome as I have it, and toss and turn all night like Avery does. My mom mentioned tonight that she thought he might have it as well, so we decided to do some more research to see if babies/children can actually have it.

After looking online, I am pretty certain that Avery has RLS, which would explain his sleep problems. He has all the signs and symptoms, especially the fact that when he's tired and trying to sleep, he scratches himself a lot, to the point of bleeding sometimes (which kids with RLS can do because they feel like they have things crawling on their skin). According to one Mayo Clinic study, 72% of children that have RLS have a mother who has it. Avery's 18-month appointment is coming up soon, so I plan on talking to his doctor about this and I hope to God that we can remedy this problem and help him to sleep better (especially before the baby comes). It seems like the number one way to treat it in kids is to give them iron supplements but I doubt Avery has low iron levels as he eats meat at about a 3:1 ratio of all other foods. I hope there is something he can take or something we can do to solve the problem so we can all sleep better (and I will finally know why he's had so many problems sleeping!).

What I Learned: Kids can have Restless Leg Syndrome, and it's possible that Avery has it.

Ultrasound

Today I had another appointment with my midwife and after much deliberation, I decided to tell her that I am starting to feel uncomfortable with the fact that I don't feel this baby move much at all. It's not that it's just less than what Avery moved. It's that it's rare that I feel the baby move at all. So we decided that it was best that I get another ultrasound, more to calm my fears than anything else, but since there was a slight chance that there could be something wrong, it was better to check to make sure that everything was okay.

So I went back in at 2:15 to get it and of course, the baby was moving for the entirety of the ultrasound. It was probably the longest I've ever felt the baby move! The ultrasound showed that the baby was perfectly healthy and normal, growing just as it should be with a normal heart rate. I am glad that I was worried for nothing and that everything is okay, but felt silly that the baby made me look like a liar to the ultrasound tech! Silly baby.

What I Learned: The baby is doing perfectly okay, despite its lack of movement. I am hoping this means that the baby is as docile outside of the womb as it is inside :) A calm, quiet baby that sleeps well would be wonderful! Haha.

Eye Doctor

I had my yearly eye appointment this morning and when I arrived, they asked me if my insurance was the same. While our insurance provider is still technically the same, Wells Fargo changed the plan they offer to employees, so our yearly eye exam is now covered under a separate vision plan instead of under our medical plan like it used to be. So I showed her the new card and they don't take the new vision plan! I have been going to this eye doctor since I moved to Wisconsin and am completely pissed off about this. I called the new insurance company to see if they possibly reimburse you for out-of-network providers. Ironically, the hold message kept repeating how this vision plan is the number one accepted plan amongst eye doctors in the nation. The lady told me that they reimburse you up to $55 for out of network exams. So I asked my eye doctor how much an eye exam cost and they said $170! WHAT?!?! Yeah, so now I have to find a new eye doctor and I am really pissed off about it.

America, I hate your stupid healthcare system.

What I learned: My eye doctor does not accept my "new" insurance.

Dentist

Today Jared and I went to the dentist. Ever since I turned 23, I have had cavities at every visit (of course, this coincided with me graduating from college and starting to eat really well instead of eating like crap and drinking mountain dew all the time, so it completely makes sense...). Jared on the other hand has never had a cavity his entire life. So I expected today to be told I had a few more, but by some miracle, I don't! No cavities! Jared didn't have any either. Yay.

What I learned: For the first time in 6 years, I don't have a single cavity.

The Odd Pains of Pregnancy

When I was pregnant with Avery, around the third trimester, I would occasionally get these weird sensations/pains in my butt (sorry if this is tmi...). It would feel like a nerve was being pinched combined with the need to pop or crack my hip. It is more uncomfortable than painful and has sharper pains when walking or if I move a certain way. Well I just started getting this again and it just seems so odd. I have never read anything about this specific kind of sensation. Well today in my weekly email from babycenter.com, it actually talked about it! It said this was called posterior pelvic pain:

Then there's what's known as posterior pelvic pain, which you may feel deep inside your buttocks (on one side or both) or in the back of your thighs. This pain can be triggered by activities such as walking, climbing stairs, getting in or out of a low chair, twisting, and lifting. Positions in which your hips are bent — such as when you're sitting in a chair and leaning forward — may make posterior pelvic pain worse.


 It's good to know this is a real thing as it's kinda hard to describe.

What I learned: The sensation I'm feeling in my butt is called posterior pelvic pain and is normal during pregnancy.

Burning Calories

Today I was reading an article on babycenter.com and they had a list of common household activities and how many calories each one burns. Everyone has seen these lists before showing how many calories you burn by vacuuming or doing laundry, but this list had something I found interesting and don't remember ever seeing before. It stated that you burn 216 calories per hour playing with a toddler, which means that I burn probably 1000 calories a day (an estimate...)! So now everyday when I feel bad that I don't spend any time exercising, I can remember that I actually exercised for hours by just playing with my son. How awesome is that?

What I learned: Playing with Avery burns over 200 calories per hour.

Ricky Gervais

Many of you have seen the British Office and are therefore familiar with Ricky Gervais. I would presume that if one were to describe him to someone who was unaware of his person, you might use terms that would reflect that he is a larger man, chubby perhaps. Well tonight I was watching TV and saw a commercial for the Golden Globes. Ricky Gervais is hosting again this year and to my surprise, he is skinny. I mean, I almost didn't recognize that it was him at first except that the voice was undeniably Ricky Gervais'. It's not that he was so large before that it was unbelievable that he lost maybe 25-30 pounds, it's just that he looked the same for so long and now he looks so...slim. After the commercial, my mom declared, "He was funnier when he was bigger." Haha. It probably just wasn't a very good commercial.

What I learned: Ricky Gervais lost weight.

Approved!

Today we got our official medicaid cards in the mail along with letters saying that our coverage was backdated to September 1st. I guess it's normal procedure when you apply for medicaid that they backdate it three months from when you applied. This is awesome news because we have a bill from Avery's ER visit in Montana (which is from the beginning of September) that was not covered at all by our insurance because we hadn't reached our ridiculous deductible yet. Now, medicaid will cover it as secondary insurance and we most likely won't have to pay anything! This also means that Avery's last two doctors visits (one for an ear infection: $226; one for the allergist: over $500) will also be covered now. I am so excited. I guess the only way for Americans to get health insurance that actually covers things is to get government insurance. Gasp! Oh yeah, and you have to be poor, too :)

What I learned: Avery and I qualified for medicaid, backdated to September.

Help at Last

After Jared received information a few weeks ago about his new health insurance options at work, we were annoyed to find out that to keep basically what we had before, the premium was going to go up $200 a month and the new family deductible would be $3000. Seeing as we are barely even breaking even every month now, this news was somewhat devastating. Who knows how on earth we will be able to afford this! There is a cheaper option that would keep our premium almost the same but  it is just a health savings account, meaning we're still paying everything out of pocket pretty much. So I broke down and applied for Medicaid. If we get it, we can choose the cheaper option and not have to worry about out of pocket costs because Medicaid would be billed as secondary and cover everything.

As I was online last night trying to check the status of my application, I realized the plethora of services available for people who are, to put it mildly, struggling. I realized we qualified for some other programs that will really help us out. I just now feel bad that I didn't look into it a year ago and we could have been getting this help for the past year! Oh well. Now I have to start the long process of applying to even more things, bringing documents in and interviewing to prove I'm not scamming the system. But man will it be worth it. Yay for being poor! Ok, maybe not.

What I learned: Wisconsin offers a lot of programs specifically for mothers and children, but also for families who are struggling.

Medical Exam

Jared and I decided to get more life insurance on me through his work just because it is so cheap compared to any other insurance I can get (apparently insurance companies think fibromyalgia has some effect on life expectancy making life insurance expensive to get for me). However, for spousal coverage, you still have to submit to a medical exam which involves a medical history questionnaire, a urine sample and a blood sample. A person comes to your house to do this an it's only supposed to take 30 minutes.

So the questionnaire asks probably a hundred questions about your medical history. I only had two of the things they ask about- asthma and fibromyalgia. For each medical condition you have, they ask about 20 more questions. In consequence, the medical exam took an hour instead. I can't even imagine how long it would take for someone who is even remotely more "sick" than me. I think I am generally a healthy person and it took so long to do the questionnaire. What about someone in their 60s who has had a few more medical problems? It would take hours to fill out that survey!

I guess I simultaneously felt less healthy than I really am (seeing as a medical history seemed so involved and took so long for me when I felt like I was healthy and it wouldn't take too long) and also thankful that I am not more unhealthy. There were also extensive questions about the medical history of my parents and siblings and I realized how healthy our family really is. Granted, we're all still relatively young, but still, we are so blessed to be in good health and not have any really bad health issues.

What I learned: My family is blessed with good health, despite me feeling momentarily like a "sick" patient when filling out a medical history :)

Health Insurance

I worked in an insurance billing office for over 7 years. I'd like to think I know a bit about insurance, how it's billed, how to read bills, how it's processed, how to appeal. etc. I also know that for someone who didn't work in insurance for 7 years, health insurance can be very confusing-the bills, denials, discounts, copays, deductibles, test codes-all of it to a non-trained eye looks like gibberish. On top of all of that, if someone believes they have been billed incorrectly or their claim was processed incorrectly, etc, it is even harder to figure out how to appeal.  There are various numbers to call, a lot of transferring between departments, different letters or forms you might have to fill out-I understand why a lot of people don't bother and just pay the bills they get.

Fortunately for me, my experience in insurance gives me confidence when dealing with claims.  Also fortunately for me, I have never had a huge issue with my insurance that warranted me having to do anything other than pay the bills I received. I have been very thankful for this.

However, now I do have a problem with a bill (regarding Avery's emergency room visit). So Jared and I called UHC and were surprised to find that the first person we talked to was helpful, knew the answers to our questions and promptly gave us the address to send an appeal to. Not only that, but we didn't even have to fill out a form, send copies of bills, nothing. Just a letter. It seemed too easy. So today I was finally getting around to mailing out this letter and noticed that the address to send appeals to online is different than the address that the guy at UHC gave us; one was the appeals office in Atlanta, the other in Salt Lake City. Knowing how long insurance companies can take when you send the right information to the right place, I decided to just send the letter to both addresses. And then, just to be safe, I attached a copy of our insurance card and a copy of all three bills we are appealing. I guess I decided that sending just a letter probably really was too good to be true.

What I learned: Never trust insurance companies.