Good bye Gerbil

The best part of our recent yard sale was that we were able to give away our gerbil. I hope he is happy in his new home. We got 2 gerbils a couple of years ago. One of the gerbils ate the head off of the other one. He was still friendly but my kids were done with him. The problem is I did not know how to get rid of him. I refused to take him outside and let him going. So we included the cage and food and gave it away. Pamela

Shopping for Formal dresses

Can I just tell you that shopping for formal dresses was not fun. It either showed my stomach fat or back fat. My friend went with me and asked if I felt like a princess. I said no because nothing fits. Finally at the third store I found a dress. I will show that dress to you the night of the formal. I even bought the necklace to go with it at the store at a great price. I found my shoes at Payless. It is hard to find shoes for my size 11 foot so I was thrilled when I found them. Now the day of the formal I will feel like a princess. In the morning I am getting a pedicure and manicure. In the afternoon I am getting my hair and make up done. Then it is time for the dress and to drop off the kids. I am actually hoping we have time to stop and get pictures taken some where. I am hoping to drop the kids off about 5pm and go get pictures taken in regular clothes and then in our formal wear before we actually go to the formal. Pamela

5 Question Friday

1. If you had c-section do you wish you would have had vaginal? Or vice versa? I have had 5 vaginal births and I am so glad. 2. If vaginal did you go drug free? With my first I had a epidural. I always planned on one but did not go to the hospital until 8.5 centimeters and was doing okay. The nurse fussed at me and said if I wanted one I have to get it NOW. I got it but it took forever because of the shape of my back. I have not gotten one since (but would if I need it, I just have quick labors). 3. Did you have any complications? With everyone, with the first he did not breathe at birth, second we lost at 24 weeks, third was fine but was told she was not viable at 8 weeks and would not make it to 28 weeks and then would be born with one kidney and downs. She was born with no health issues. My fourth was normal. My fifth was fine until my water broke at 26 weeks. I delivered her at 31 weeks. She tried to deliver hand first and had to be pushed back inside. 4. Who was in the delivery room with you? The first time my husband and friends Tammy and Debbie. Only my husband with the others. Honestly I would be okay doing it completely alone. 5. Did you document your labor and delivery? (Photos, videos, etc.) no, sadly. I wish we would have. 6. Pick the birth story of one of your children and tell us ALLLLLLLL about it! Hmmm, all of them are interesting. At 26 weeks I was laying in bed taking a nap when I felt my water break. Within seconds I convinced myself it was not my water and laid back down. A few minutes later I went to the bathroom and realized my water was definitely broke. My husband took me to the hospital. They assured me my water was not broke. That it was urine. I said HELLO 5 PREVIOUS BIRTHS. They sent me home (they called my dr and said it was just urine). That was a Saturday night. I stayed on the couch except for going the store for depends. Monday I called my doctor and he had me come in. He took one look and said “your water broke”. Then he started the ultrasound. He asked how my husband was going to handle this. Fine I said. Then he said the words that shook me to my core. He said “you do understand that you are not going home until you deliver this baby”. I then drove myself to the hospital (my DR does not know that). My husband met me. It took 2 hours to get a IV. I stayed in labor and delivery over night and then was moved to antipardem. The next morning I was taken down for a PICC line (the best invention ever). For the next 5 weeks I laid in that bed. I was allowed to use the potty chair next to my bed and go into the bathroom once a day. At 31 weeks I called the nurse in to say I was having contractions. They gave me meds to stop them. A couple of hours later I called them back to say it was having again. This time I had a weird nurse I had never had. She came in and hooked me up and said I was not having contractions. I explained that in my file it says my previous contractions did not register. I called my husband to come in just to be safe. Within a hour I knew this baby was coming. She came in and I demanded she check me because I was delivering this baby. She tried to refuse because you never want to touch that area of someone whose water has been broken that long. She checked and then said she did not know what was going on. She went to get a labor and delivery nurse. She checked me and said I was having a c-section. My husband saw this time. He hand was sticking out of my vagina. I kept telling her I was not having a c-section that she was coming NOW. I have the best doctor ever. He came to my room instead of the OR. The nurses kept telling her I was being prepped for a c-section. I said no I am having her now. They insisted on taking me down. He decided to check me himself (have I said he is the best doctor ever). He was able to manipulate her hand back up to where it needed to be. Then I delivered. All I saw was the NICU team rush out of the room with a blob. Nope, not the end of the story. I was loosing a ton of blood and my placenta would not come loose. They gave me something for pain but it did not kick in. It looked like a alien. We could see his hands in my stomach pulling and moving (he warned me I may need to go to the OR and this would be very painful). Once he was done the bleeding slowed ( a hour later I stopped bleeding and never bled again which was awesome). They asked me to get out of bed so they could clean the bed. By this time the meds had kicked in and I had loss a lot of blood. I was falling asleep when I felt a slap across the face. The nurse thought I had passed out. Oh so you thought the story was over. NOPE. The night I left the hospital was interesting. Remember I had not walked 5 feet in 5.5 weeks. The day I was released I went to a kids consignment sale and walked around. Walked from the parking lot through the hospital and into the NICU. So that night I went to the bathroom, only I fell into the wall on the way and thought that was weird. A few seconds later I collapsed on the floor. I yelled for my husband. It seemed weird because I did not have any pain. He said “honey, you have no muscle tone”. I took it slow the next few days. Pamela

Weight Loss Wednesday

My weight hit an all time low the day after my husband came home. It was 168, I was so excited then it stopped. I could not lose weight at all. I will say I was a little depressed that the scale was not moving. I decided that when my hero and I went away and then again on vacation I would just enjoy. I ate a ton, well honestly I did not eat a ton. But I ate high calorie foods. When we came home from vacation I had gained almost 4 pounds and honestly did not mind. I have slowly gone back to normal. This morning my weight was back to 168.8. I am thrilled to see a loss. Our formal is in 2 weeks so I better work hard for the next couple of weeks if I want to fit into my dress. I always wanted to do one of those pictures where you hold your old clothes in front of you and see what you have lost. This is me wearing a size 22 skirt, I think it would be more dramatic if I had a shirt that was more form fitting Pamela

Do you know your husband

My hero has been home over a month. I cannot believe it. I have to be honest and say things are going better than I expected. Not that I expected things to go poorly but I know it is always tough when they come home. This time I have tried hard to make time for us. I have made time for dating, time for snuggling, time for talking. And even more importantly I have made time to get to know my husband. I remind myself that some times we get so busy with life that we forget to talk about what our hopes and dreams are, what we want out of life. I would love to hear how you stay connected to your husband. Pamela