One year ago today...

One year ago today, I went in for one of the three weekly visits I had to put up with in addition to being put on bedrest (not too much bedrest going on if I have to travewl 45 min each way to see the doc's!). This one was my weekly ultrasound where they would measure Pres' growth to make sure my heart medication wasn't slowing anything down. Pete always came with me to these visits because we were forever hearing bad news about his stomach growth, my high heart rate...and so on. These high risk OB's need some serious work on what they share and what they don't share. If any of them are reading...NEVER TELL A HORMONAL PREGNANT WOMAN WHAT YOU THINK COULD GO WRONG!!!!!
















I was scheduled with my favorite ultrasound tech (yes, I knew them all by name as I had one weekly for 4 months!) so I was excited. She was the one who in the middle of one of the my first scary ultrasound burst out with "Who has the funky feet?!" It was so funny because we could see the baby's feet, and that they were Pete's! I remember sitting there laughing and being so thankful that this wonderful woman helped us laugh through this terrible time! She started off her normal upbeat self, but then got VERY quiet. Her facial expressions changed and she had what I learned to call "the look" one her face and quickly recorded something and took it to the doctor. I really didn't think too much at the time because each week felt like I was receiving doomsday news. Pete didn't seem too concerned either as he was used to office doom and gloom himself. In fact, I remember him complaining about how much he didn't want to go back to work that day. Little did he know, he was about to get his wish! She came back in quietly and preceded to finish the ultrasound. I was beginning to get a little concerned, but then again this usually meant that I would have to go into yet another room and have a vaginal ultrasound (not too much fun, nope nothing nice to say about that!). This too was starting to become normal to me, so I just shrugged it off and enjoyed the view of my son on the screen. After the ultrasound, we were ushered into the sitting area where we would get a briefing from the doctor about where we were at with the baby. This one started off the same as most. The doctor asking me how I was feeling and how the medication was effecting me. Nothing suspicious there. He then asked if I was ready to have the baby. I answered yes, I mean who wouldn't in my place. Bedrest; heart problems; stress of something going wrong; high risk OB and regular OB; cardiologist. Pregnancy was a big amusement park for me. NOT! He then chatted with Pete about the Army for a minute or two (Pete had come from his unit and was in his uniform), and then just transitioned from that to, "you need to go to the hospital ASAP, don't worry, we are just concerned about the fact that you've lost most of your amniotic fluid."




That statement through me for a loop. We were prepared for all kinds of horrible things, but that had not even been a concern at all. Pete and I just looked at each other like we needed confirmation of what we had just heard. From what we knew, they wanted me to hold out as long as possible in order to give Pres more time to grow, now they are telling me three weeks early that it's time to go?! Right then and there I sent Chrissy a text. She has a way of making me feel better and once I tell her something, I know it's real. After that, everything seemed to be moving very fast. I wasn't expecting this, so I didn't have any of my things with me. Pete and I decided to both head home (against doc orders!) and get ready. I hate to be rushed, and I wasn't going to go into the hospital without the things I wanted with me. I arrived home and got ready. I made sure I had my release form from the cardiologist and Pete and I headed to the hospital.


We arrived and got a stern talking to from the nurse about not getting there faster. Oh, well, I wanted to change and shower and get myself ready to have my son on my own. I had a wonderful nurse who was used to high risk deliveries. She came right in and took charge. I had to have an epideral right away in order to keep my heart rate down. I wasn't too happy with this, but in this, I had no choice. It was this or a C-section. The epideral was painful and ended up being what is called a drip tap. It was extremely painful and paralyzed me on the whole left side of my body. They gave me something else to help with that pain and then enduced me. Pres wasn't ready to come out and decided to make me stay in the hospital a couple of days. The whole day and night were awful. I was uncomfortable, hooked up all around for my heart and Pres' heart, and had a constant beep in my ear when the machine said my heart rate was dangerous. I finally told the night nurse to turn it off, or I was going to turn it off myself! The next day I had a new nurse who was terrified of me being high risk. It really annoyed Pete, and I think he was glad when we got back the other nurse. My parents came up with me and my sweet dad stayed with me the whole time. I had no concept of time as I was just focusing on breathing steady and keeping my heart rate as low as possible. Something that night, I started to feel very wrong. I couldn't focus and felt sick to my stomach. I tried to tell Pete that I felt sick, but couldn't seem to get my mouth to work. Needless to say, I began to get sick and the next thing I know, there are people running in and out, crash carts being brought in and a lot of chaous. Sometime in the midst of this, my mom was called to the room. She was my second choice if someone had to choose if it would be me or the baby. I guess Pete had told the doctor that he just couldn't choose. I have all of these flashes of teary faces and worried expressions. Strangly, I felt like it was going to be okay. I tried to focus and do what I needed to do. I have no idea how long any of this was, I was in heart failure and really was out of it. I know when Pres came out only because at that same moment, I heard my doctor pause in complete amazement that my heart rate was compltely normal. I went from 234 to 75 in a matter of seconds and had no problems. It was amazing. I know that my heavenly Father was taking care of me in that moment. Thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes. I can still picture the faces of my mom and husband and I never want to see that fear in thier eyes again.

Pres had some circulation issues and they took him right away to be worked on. I didn't get to see him, but made Pete promise not to leave him until they placed him in my arms. I stayed in the birthing room being taken care of for some minor complications, and was soon on my way to a private room. Pete came in to see me for a couple of minutes and brought me some video of Pres from his cell phone (yeah technology!) I was able to clean up and anxiously await the arrival of my son!!!! They brought Pres in and were able to give me the good news that he would have no complications from his ordeal either!!! After months and months of worrying, Pete and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy.

God's sense of humor...

Having a child has really made me understand my heavenly Father so much more. I now am beginning to see His love, grace, and forgiveness for us in a whole new way. I can also see that He must have a great sense of humor. He has given Pete and I a son who is the COMPLETE opposite of the two of us. We are both laid back, and tend to just "go with the flow". Pres is very much a type A personality. He likes schedules and consistency and does not do well with change. HA! I have had to learn how to be on a schedule and to keep things the same. This has not been easy for me as I get bored very quickly and will decide on a whim that the couch must be moved to a new place. These types if changes do not go over well with my son, and for the past 6 months all of the furniture has stayed in the exact same place. I have had to take my restlessness out into the gardens, and these change on a regular basis. The upside to this is that my yard now looks fantastic from my constant attention.

I have a story to share that happened yesterday that sums up the differences between us. Yesterday all three of us were playing in Pres' room. We were having fun sitting there doing very little, but hanging out with each other. Pete and I decide to take Pres' foam ball and throw it at the fan to have it fly around the room. I think we were justifying this silliness with the fact that Pres would get a kick out of it. Well...not so much. He didn't even notice. He sort of gave us this look, crawled over to his book shelf, pulled out a book and began to flip through the pages. He was not interested in our juvenile game. He wanted to look at his books. I am only a little ashamed to admit that Pete and I continued on with our game. We had the ball flying all over the room-even on occasion landing on Pres who would pick up the ball, throw it away from himself, and continue reading. Pete and I just kept looking at each other and laughing at this little creature who is such a learning experience for us. I think the big joke in all of this is that Pres has already learned to ignore us!

That poor child is going to be SO embarrassed by the two of us. We will be the ones in flip-flops and a t-shirt, while our son will be in loafers and khakis. I think, in the end, this is all in God's plan. We will help Pres to chill out, and he in turn will gives us the structure that everyone needs.

Bronchitis and a birthday...

So...I am finally feeling better and have fully recovered. Last week I came down with a nasty case of bronchitis. I seem to get it once a year. This year, I recognized the signs early and went as soon as I could to get some antibiotics. As seems to be my luck, me getting sick came at the exact same time Pete would be gone. My poor hubby had to leave with me bending over the toilet having a violent reaction to my super strong antibiotics! That's a good-bye he certainly won't forget for a while!!!! Luckily for me, Pres seemed quite content hanging out on the bathroom floor. We spent almost all of last Saturday there.

Motherhood continues to bring me some of the most ridiculous moments. Never in a million years would vomiting be a funny situation for me, but add in a seven month old who is sucking on a hair brush and trying to stand up on the toilet I am bending over, and you definitely move in to the ridiculous category!!!!!

Below is a pic of me on Monday morning after Pete had come home. It was a ROUGH weekend, and I think my pale face (and Pete's old boxers) explains it more than I ever could!!!!



This weekend has gone much more smoothly! I am fully recovered (a couple of pounds lighter) and we had a great time hanging out at the mall shopping for my birthday! Pres is FINALLY over his hatred of the car, so these excursions are tons of fun. Pete had a blast while Pres flirted his way with every young sales associate as I was trying on clothes. I think I was cramping their style just a little bit! It's much easier to get your flirt on without your wife and mom there!!!!! Here's a shout out to the lonely men out there...get a baby with big blue eyes, and the women come by the dozens!!!! I had a great birthday so thank you my wonderful family!

7 months

I simply can’t believe that I have been a mom for 7 months! Those first few months were just awful. No one mentions how hard it is when they do nothing but sleep, cry, eat, cry, cry and cry. FINALLY we are past that- scratch that- HALLELUJAH we are past that! Having a colicky newborn is something I never want to do again! I have a neighbor whose daughter just had a baby. She told me about a phone call she received from her son-in-law a few days ago. He said to her “Mom, we had a fight and she told me that she just didn’t like me very much right now…is it bad that I feel the same way?” I just laughed and laughed when she told me that. I certainly understand that! No sleep, hormones, and a new workload wreak initial havoc on your relationship. Luckily, I was able to remind her that it does pass! I love my hubby now more than ever seeing him be such a great dad. Having said all of that, now we can get to the fun stuff…the second stage of babyhood…when they crawl and talk and eat food!!!!!

Pres has been crawling now for about three weeks. He has it down and is super fast! He makes sweeping an Olympic sport for me. I could win a medal for how fast I go in order to keep him from playing in my dirt pile! The cats are horrified at this new development. He’s rocked their worlds again and again. Just when they were getting used to him being there, he had to go and become mobile. He chases them all around the house. His favorite part seems to be cornering Weezy by the front door and then squealing at her. I love it, it keeps him entertained long enough for me to clean the kitchen!

Now that he has mastered crawling his next challenge seems to be trying to stand up. He pulls himself up on whatever he can-my leg, coffee table, toys and crib. We’ve had to lower the bed again b/c I was afraid he’d pull himself up and over onto the floor! This has lead to lots of falling and bumping of the head. A slow day is when he only has one red mark somewhere on his head! On a busy day, he could have two red cheeks and one on the back of his head. No serious bumps yet (thank God!). Poor thing doesn’t have any carpet to land on gently!

He is blabbering non-stop. He also has learned how to stick out his tongue and makes noises. This is really cute until it’s feeding time, and I end up with spinach in my hair (eeeewwwwwww!). No words yet- he’ll say mama and dada, but not directed at us. Pete and I think his first word will be kitty. If you ask him where the kitty is, he’ll go and hunt down the cats.

Not much else going on. Pete is doing his reserve time for the year right now. After that, who knows! Exciting and scary at the same time! I have my hopes though! I’m having a blast just being “mommy”!




He was being so fussy, that I put the bow on my head to make him laugh! It worked, but he wanted me to put it on his head next. This went back and forth like that for almost 30 minutes!





He gives his reflection kisses! I started that by kissing the baby in the mirror, and now I've created a monster! He'll kiss his reflection in any surface where he can see it!!!!



That is his "I'm going to make a mess" face!