Hi Suzie. It's a tough situation for you. I know in my case my husband wanted to share our babies with everyone! It was up to me to be the gatekeeper and he often did not approve. I even enacted a ban on Sunday visitors b/c it seemed his dad wanted to visit every week and I was in NO mood for that. I needed time to adjust and settle in with two babies. People just don't get it! The FIL also wanted their relatives from Scotland (4 of them) to stop by and see them two hours after their plane touched down. I said "No Way" at that time and relented a week later after the relatives showed no signs of illness! I'm really not paranoid or a germaphobe as some mothers might be thinking. I'm actually a student nurse and deal with germs every day. And I've seen babies in the NICU struggling to breathe. My girls recently had colds one is still waking herself up at least 5 times a night coughing. She even choked on her phlegm one evening to the point of turning purple (very frightening!). I know for a fact that the germs came from Grandma and Auntie at Xmas. They failed to tell us that they had colds b/c they wanted to see the babies (or else they just didn't think). It is just not worth it to subject these helpless babies to any germs if you can help it. If you have doctor's advice to keep people away, that is a great excuse. In fact, I made up an excuse like that for my SIL. I told her the pediatrician said not to expose them to children for at least a month. That was in order to keep the peace b/c she was very defensive that I would not let her children visit. Anyway, I ramble. :-) As for breastfeeding, I'm sorry that I don't have any advice for you there. My girls were given formula in the hospital while I pumped to establish my supply. Well, my milk production was just pathetic! I even rented the Medela Lactina Select from the hospital b/c I didn't think my "Pump in Style" was doing the trick. I never really put them to the breast (only a few times) b/c after bottle feeding each baby for 20 minutes each, I was lucky to get 1.5 hours sleep before the next feeding. Breastfeeding would have taken forever and I didn't need the additional worry of wondering if they were getting enough to eat. I know that a baby will do a better job of increasing milk production, but I just didn't have the energy for two! Have you contacted the La Leche League? My friend's baby was deemed a "lazy sucker" and she pumped for him the whole time. Ironically, she had TOO much milk and stopped because of it. She would pump 14oz in a sitting while I would pump 2oz! Some people are sooo fortunate in that area. Good Luck! I'm sorry that you are stressing over this. I completely understand. It is definitely not what you need right now. Is your husband on your side? If you feel so strongly against visitors (which you should with a preemie), you should be firm and go with your heart. Best Wishes! Amy

So a follow up... I didn't have Monkey tested in July like I was supposed to but he's been acting just fine. Yesterday I took him into the vet for a check up and I brought the lab results and asked the vet about them. The ALT from 12-2010 was 104 (100 maximum) and the Jan-2011 ALT was 112. That was the only liver enzyme that was high. The vet said it was just barely above and he only really worries when it's two or three times the maximum range. Monkey has also lost 3 pounds in the last year. I believe it's because I moved him from a free-freeding dry food diet to a strict canned food only diet so he's slimmed down. He was 17 pounds and now he's just under 14, which is good for his size. But between that and the ALT levels, the vet wanted to do another panel. He just called me with the results. Now, there are four affected liver enzymes (he didn't tell me specifically which ones) that are high, but he said they are just barely above normal. He also said that the blood was clumpy (he gave a more scientific word for it - can't remember the name, something that started with an h and ended in -sis, lol) and that there was some fat in it from eating so he thinks that may have caused some of the elevations instead of it being a true elevation. He's calling the lab to find out. I should say the other two blood tests last year also had a note about the clumpy blood and how it might affect the ALT levels. The thing is, Monkey didn't eat before he came in. He gets food at 6 am when I wake up, and then again when I get home. When I got home to take him to the vet, I didn't feed him beforehand. The vet did give him treats in the office but he said that wouldn't have affected it. So I don't know where this fat came from. I told the vet he didn't eat but he didn't seem that concerned. Oh, and the night before, Monkey got into a bag of those candy melts and ate some and threw it up. I brought the bag with me to show the dr. It's full of sugar and oils and milk derivatives and it's not something I would have dreamed he'd get into but I wonder if that had an affect. He's been snacking on a lot of bad foods as I've been making holiday treats (I don't give them to him but sometimes he'll snatch something I drip in the kitchen before I can get it). So what I'm taking away from this is that: 1. it might be a lab issue because of Monkey's blood and he might not have higher elevations at all 2. It's been a year between tests and his elevation is still just slightly high. I tend to think that active liver damage would be more progressed in a year, right? 3. There are three other high enzymes now but just slightly above and they may be inflated because of the blood 4. All other blood levels were fine and I did the full senior panel so they looked at everything He said he doesn't think it's anything to worry about but he recommended supplementing with milk thistle and samE just in case there's mild damage of some sort. I'm trying not to worry about it. All things considered, I think this is good news. Not the best possible news but much better than high numbers! Any thoughts?

My doctor recommended glucosamine sulphate, 3 long round ones a day which I've been doing for years, which was, I think, for knees or hips, but don't remember. He retired, next one moved, now on third one. Recently had some discomfort in shoulder when moving certain ways, but it has mostly cleared up. Some fingers have shifted sideways and some haven't been willing to move all the way closed for a long time. Recently as some are asked to do certain things there's discomfort, and some hurt when pressure comes on them. Potatoes are used nearly daily, and tomatoes frequently. I like using oranges and bananbananabananbananas as well - but claim they're much more costly, as they have those thick skins that few of us are willig to ingest, but consign to the pail of compost. (That banana up above, courtesy of the helpers here, sure has a thick skin! And when I write a word, then move the cursor elewhere before I hit "space" ... it disappears. Rats!). I need to spend some more time with my doctor on the aarartartharthrarthriarthritarthritiarthritis subject. (Removing unnecessary verbiage sure gets ... frustrating ... when I moved cursor to change a letter in the "frustrating" ... its disappearance gave me the opportunity to spell it correctly, that time! Ggrr--rr-r!!)! ole ... joyful ... forgot to hit "space" - again.

Excuse my ignorance but I knew nothing about quads until I fell and a day later they both burnt so bad it really scared me. Rest made it go away. Anyway, Kswl, at our age it's a natural aging process for our soft tissues to age with us and decrease in size, and also become firm Some get hit harder than others in the knees while some have good knees and bad shoulders which is me. Because of tile in the kitchen and UR there are many times I get on my hands and knees to scrub hard to get areas. Getting on my knees started to get harder so I put a thick towel under them & it worked like a charm. But I still had to hold onto something to pull myself up. I'm not obese either but I'm also not 30 anymore. It was last year when I decided to get a little stool low enough where I can sit and also scrub, or use it in the book nook instead of getting on my knees. I ordered a little one that I thought was the perfect height. I sat down in it and could not get up because it was too low. lol I knew it was more than my knees I needed to protect, and exercise wasn't going to fix the shrunken tissues in my quads either. I measured the height I needed which is 18", it's solid wood and comes in one piece. I keep it in the book nook. I have a good step stool with a handle if I need to stand on something.