Wordless Wednesday: the weekend

Yea, I'm still alive. Sorta.

The blog remains on life support as I can barely figure out how to keep my head above water. There is not enough space to even share all that's been going on here.

I need to figure something out to shock this back to life. Or to decide to let it lie. It's just suppose to chronicle my kids growing up- their digital scrapbook. I'm not even getting that done! Oy to the vey!

Splashing around, looking for her floaties,

The Southern Mama...
who someday may find her organization, energy, self discipline, and will power again after she finally takes care of everyone and everything else.

My Baby is 8! (insert tears)

So,I've posted about 12 years ago (see below). And now, I shall post about 8 years ago. Yep. My kids are 4 years and 1 days apart.

I am a serious planner, see. I am also very, er, regular. Both births occurred in even and leap years. What does that have to do with anything? I have no idea. Just pointing it out. (Also, I wanted a GIRL this time and printed a calender to get one, from Web MD, as 2 friends had done and succeeded!)

Grayce was due on 3-31-2004, the same day as Gavin. So, everything was on the same time line as the first time. And the clothes I had left, all still worked. I was teaching only part-time (once or twice a week) by now and that was a good thing. I was sick for 25 weeks with her. I had been for 21 weeks or so with Gavin. And I worked everyday at the bank, not missing at all so as to save ALL the time for maternity leave. I was often green at my desk. So, this time I was more free to puke. I may be the only woman you've read about that weighed less at the end of pregnancy than before and delivered huge babies.

I had had carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand by now because it never left me after I had it with Gavin. We were concerned about my back too, but new I'd have to work through it. For the most part during it wasn't too bad. I was in the hospital twice for dehydration with her- I got very sick during December with the flu. This time I also had a new Dr., Dr. W. I was still seeing my other Dr. (two hours away) until I was pregnant because I liked him so much. But, my friend Julia suggested Dr. W, and you know what? He and Dr. H could be like clones of each other. For real. And at his office, you got an ultrasound every single visit. And they only charge you for 2. They rock. Since we are on the same timeline by the way, on November 11- I found out what they were both times, within an hour of each other. It was totally an accident too.

We discuss inducing, again, because I have been so sickly and well, scheduling is better. They did not think she was too big, but was probably 7 or so pounds. We make arrangements for 3-25-04, but this time in the afternoon, 4:30pm. Well, then OSU happened to be playing that night at 6:30 in the NCAA. Dr. W allows us to wait until AFTER the game to go in- my husband yells too much to watch a game in a hospital. Dr. forgets to tell nurses this. They start calling me to see where I am. Yadda, yadda. We get there about 9pm to start.

The night is progressing. Going a bit faster than last time. I get an epidural in the AM sometime. You guessed it, no workey. Re-dose. FAIL. I'm impossible. Curses and PAIN. My parents visit for a bit and decide to take Gavin to lunch. Sometime during that I decide I'm ready to deliver. LOTS OF PAIN. And at 1:35pm Grayce was born. Many less stitches. And you know why? Gavin's head=15, Grayce's head=13. Uh-huh. She did however outweigh him at 9lbs 1oz and was 21 inches. No one could believe it...she didn't look that big at all. Good thing she did come early! She looked a lot like her brother, but with very little strawberry blonde hair- of course. Cute as could be.

I got on the phone and called friends. They took Grayce away, her blood sugar was 24. I had no milk yet, so there wasn't a choice but to take her and give her sugar water, etc. She went to the NICU because it was so low. They couldn't get it to come up.

Meanwhile I have been whisked over to the post- partum room, and really have to go. The nurses help me to the bathroom. Where I almost pass out. Blood is covering me and the floor and them. I am hemorrhaging. And a lot. They get me back to bed, call the Dr. back 911, and start doing things. I don't remember a lot. I am beyond woozy. There is a lot of pushing on my stomach. They finally get things under control. I am so out of it, and I have to remember the NICU schedule. They have had to put an IV in her head, but finally get her sugar back up. We stay an extra day longer than usual. OSU plays to get in the final four in between. I send Joe home to watch. We win at the last minute, but I think we lost because I had to go back to the NICU. All is well.

We go home on a Sunday afternoon. Tuesday Gavin has pre-school and we go to Walmart because we decide we need a bassinet afterall. I make it through, but am tired. My feet and hands start to swell- a lot. By Wednesday morning I cannot breathe when I lay down. I call in, and they tell me to go to the ER. I think I just am have anxiety or something. I call my sweet friend Julia, sobbing, and we take her Gavin. We have to take Grayce with us to the ER- we don't know how long it will be. I am taken back quickly. By blood count is down in the low 6's. It's suppose to be over 12 at minimum. The nurse doesn't even want me to get up to go to the bathroom- I was just in Walmart yesterday, I say. Cardiologists are called. I am admitted right away and taken up. Basically, I am in acute congestive heart failure. I get 2 blood transfusions. And a lot of heart tests, and a lot of meds to make me loose the water I am retaining like mad. I lose 25 pounds by the next morning of water. I stay till the next Sunday, having to pump milk and throw it out because of all the drugs. All in vain. Because you know what? Stomach trouble for Grayce too. But, this time- after a gazillion tests, assessments, and projectile throw-up AND poop-they figure out she is allergic to breast milk. 2% of the population. I'd rather have won the lottery, thankyouverymuch.

And, so after we figure that out and pay a lot of money for special milk for her- and buy this special cholic device that goes under the crib to make it like a car ride- she is the best sleeping baby ever. Thank goodness. But, I've gotten carpal tunnel severely in the right hand this time and have to have surgery when she is 7 months. Also, when I delivered her and what not- it ruptured the disc that Gavin bulged. By the time she was 13 months old, my left leg was numb and I walked with a limp. I had to have surgery when she was 15 months- or I would risk permanent damage. So. If you ever wanted to know why I only have two kids- there ya go!

Happy 8th Birthday to my Princess Grayce, who was worth it all!

My Gavin is 12!

Today is the boys birthday...each year I share the birth story, so he knows how much I love him, and how much he owes me :).


I was due with Gavin on 3-31-00. At one of my last appointments they thought he might be 9lbs already and we decided on inducing. My Dr. also had vacation planned to Hilton Head. He was leaving at 10am on 3-24. We scheduled the induction at 6:30am 3-23. Dr. H really liked to deliver all his patients himself, he was a great Dr.

I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel in my left hand. It hurt worse than anything. Likewise, I had already been in the hospital before in January for severe, crippling back pain because we would later find that Gavin bulged a disc in my back. I was already a mess before I got there.


Induction started, and SLOWLY went. SLOWLY. I needed pain meds for the carpal tunnel, not the contractions. We made it through the day talking to my co-workers from the bank, family coming in here and there, trying not to be bored. And more bored. Dr. H was hoping I did not make his wife mad and have him miss his plane, I was going so slow. They let me have red jello and ice chips. This would be bad later.


About dinner time things picked up and I got my first epidural. Fail. Then re-dosed. Fail. Then re-done completely about 11pm. Also, no workey. I was screaming bad things at all the friends who told me it was smooth sailing after the epidural. They were liars. It hurt bad. Probably because of my back injury they thought. Curses and puking.

Along about 1:30-2:00am I was feeling the pressure. Pushing commenced and I was hopeful the end was near. About 4:15am, I could not NOT push when they told me NOT to push, and they said that the Dr. was on the way and it would be a minute. I knew where he lived and I knew a minute was more like 10 at least. Curses. There was a lot of don't push and me saying, its not a choice you know. Finally at 4:34am on March 24, 2000 Gavin was born. And 100 stitches and a lot of red puke later, which I felt all of because remember, the epidural did not work- he looked just like his Dad and Grandpa. He weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21.5 inches long (and a 15in head!), with a ton of black hair. Dr. H didn't finish up with me till after 6am and I'm sure he was one tired man on his way to vacation.

Gavin Carter was chosen by his dad, mainly, out of the baby name book. Carter is a combo of my dad, Carl and Joe's dad Terry. He was so cute and sweet and NEVER slept. He had cholic horribly. He rarely slept consecutive hours. We tried everything under the sun. To this day I am not sure how we made it through. He sure had some cute chubby cheeks though.

Happy 12th birthday to my boy! I can hardly believe it!

So nice to be missed....

And it's doubly nice to be missed by a Hollywood actress.

Many of you might remember I struck up a tweetship with Yvette Brown, you know Shirley from Community. Well, that carried over into a Words with Friends-hip. Yes, she invites ME to play y'all.

So, during this hiatus of a month I'll call it, my WWF play has been lacking. I'm usually a 4 or 5 times a day player. The other day I logged on to see it'd been 5 whole days! Whoa! I was even shocked.

I played my turns with everyone, including both games I have going with Yvette. And do you know she messaged me, and said "well, welcome back you!" I about cried. Obviously, I'm overly emotional. But, still.

I love you too Shirley!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

You'll have to go over to theRHOK.com today to find my Valentine post! See you there.

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If...

It weren't for sorry luck, I'd have none at all.

All avenues of my life are suffering. Especially blogging. Even worse so, my house & my sanity!

Lawsy me, I'm not sure I'll ever regain normalcy. Especially not his month.

I've gotta get a new plan. A new something, or anything. And also, some Valium.

Peace out. I'm re-grouping and willing no more trauma or drama to come my way.


The Southern Mama

Flabbergasted: My baby girl is WHAT?

So, what if they told you your baby was obese (not just overweight mind you, OBESE!), and she looked like this:

Yah, so, what if she has some weird metabolic disease or worse? I'm freaking out. They've said her BP & cholesterol are elevated too. Talk about a complex at age 7!

This is my girl: how can this be? At least 8 hours of gymnastics and dance every week plus! She's not one to sit! Ever. Holy hell! Even when her elbow was broken in 2 places last month in a cast for 6 weeks she was still at gymnastics, she still ran about everyday, she still did 4x as many activities on our cruise than her brother- I mean exhausting climbing, water trampolining, and swimming that wore her dad out! Did we unknowingly given her bad genes!? This really is freaking me out. She's 7 and now I have to say, no you can't eat that!

On the other hand my son, a sixth grader- who still technically requires a car seat booster scores normal on those same medical charts-actually a bit above . What the hell people?!?

 I can't grasp this yet. Any ideas anyone? Thoughts?

Me? Flabbergasted.

The Southern Mama

Everywhere except here...

Boy, I feel I'm a slacker. This blog I started back before blogging was actually cool & all that- was suppose to serve as a scrapbook for my family & kids as the years went on. Half of it is even in print as a book! I used to love to use it to chronicle the kids and post photos. But now there's Facebook, twitter, instagram and all the other stuff I do. It's like I leave imprints and chronicle history all about the Internet. Everywhere but here.

If I was smart enough to figure it out and sell it- I'd make the opposite happen that happens now. See, when you blog, you can have it post everywhere else. Well, I want what I publish everywhere else to post to my blog. Anyone know how to help me make that happen? Don't you agree?!


The Southern Mama

The (Mom) Rules

Since Grayce is 7 this year, she has lots of questions about Christmas. At my house if you don't believe, you won't receive from the man in the red suit. At our house he brings the best gifts-so I'm sure this is why my 6th grader still plays along-never questioning a thing. We've never told him otherwise. My answer is always the same when Claus is questioned.

This year an Elf of the Shelf adopted us. Chuckie has been very helpful. I'll be keeping him around. Do they make a year round one? Because I need 365 care. If you've seen the Elf on the Shelf movie, our dynamic was quite the same. An older boy who pretended to care less and a girl who thought it was the coolest thing in the free world.

Then she started regularly asking me about elves, proclaiming it to be her life's ambition to become an elf, and asking me a million things about Santa in the car last night. I'm sure maybe when some parents get this they might give up the goods. But not me. I answered about every rule & question. Then when we got to "have you ever been to the North Pole", and I said, "no, why?" she then proceeded to ask me how I knew all this without ever having met Santa....

They're special mom rules, I explained. You have to memorize a lot of rules and information before becoming a mom.

Oh, and it's hard and takes awhile which is why you don't have kids till you're at least 25. (well, I was already embellishing)

Merry Christmas,
The Southern Mama

Merry Christmas...

and Happy New Year. I feel the need to blog this because I should. I think I'm ready- but chances are I probably forgot something. Anyone reading? If so, are you ready? Maybe I should have ordered someone the Perfect Meatloaf or Pajama Jeans.

Whoa

Where have I been? I have so much to catch up on over here. I can't believe I'm such a slacker. Really. A big ol slacker.

It's no secret the blogging bug left me a while back. My mojo is lost at the bottom of a pile of unfolded laundry 6ft tall.

When I do get my groove back, I need to update about my ailments, our great cruise to Cozumel, little miss and the broken arm, little mister, lack of pageantry, sports. The content is there. It's just my attitude. I've yet to find the right pill to fix this.

Until next time,
The Southern Mama

Yes. It really happened.

So, as you know we are super excited to cruise away next week to turquoise waters. But just to make things fun G & G sent us to the ER 3 times this past weekend. Yes. Three.

We had our first concussion ever by Gavin which occupied Friday-Sunday and 2 ER trips. Then, we had our first bone breakage ever Sunday, which kept us in Drs Sunday thru Monday. Lil G now sports a bright orange cast and I'm super glad I didn't sign her up for basketball!

Anyway, I've bought her a big plastic mitten which looks like you are checking a cow for pregnancy, and our turquoise water won't be a waste.

Last time we vacationed in the fall, hey, they both got pneumonia. No lie. It's like if it weren't for bad luck, we wouldn't have any!

But both kids are perking up and we're excited. Turkey on the way to Mexico is certainly the way to go!

Mrs. Southern

A Southern Halloween

Ninja Warrior and Cat Woman

Hadleigh the Gnome baby.

My nephew, the Avatar guy.

A fun candy filled night was had by all!

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What is Wrong with Me

I'm often sick lately. Ok, as my girl puts it: "you're always sick!" It's true. I've no control over it. It's from Hell.

What many people don't know is what I am sick with...well, I'm here now to share. What I have is gastroparesis.

"Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a medical condition consisting of a paresis (partial paralysis) of the stomach, resulting in food remaining in the stomach for a longer period of time than normal. Normally, the stomach contracts to move food down into the small intestine for digestion. The vagus nerve controls these contractions. Gastroparesis may occur when the vagus nerve is damaged and the muscles of the stomach and intestines do not work normally. Food then moves slowly or stops moving through the digestive tract."

Doesn't that sound fun?

Plus it's made worse by all the pain meds I have to take from my chronic back & shoulder pain and also from the car accident in June. Exciting, huh?

I no longer volunteer as I used to, I no longer do anything I used to, actually. I avoid social things often. I avoid shopping, I avoid anything that might leave me far from a bathroom and my meds. As you can imagine, it sucks. It's like being pregnant with horrific morning sickness-except there is never going to be an end.

What can happen? Well, here's a list...
Primary complications of gastroparesis include:

Fluctuations in blood glucose due to unpredictable digestion times-ooh this is SO fun. Not.

General malnutrition due to the symptoms of the disease (which frequently include vomiting and reduced appetite) as well as the dietary changes necessary to manage it

Severe fatigue and weight loss due to calorie deficit-well, unless you develop another fun complication like Cushing's disease, that is...

Intestinal obstruction due to the formation of bezoars (solid masses of undigested food)-not yet, but there's still time!

Bacterial infection due to overgrowth in undigested food: oh, yes. More than once!

There are no safe treatments. So basically I just hang out & suffer. Yes, I am woe is me lately. Because Woe is Me lately. I want my stinking life back.

I just wanted to put it down in black & white for people since its been on going for so so long and many just don't know. If you see me at CVS or Walgreens now, you'll know why I look like death warmed over.

Happy happy joy joy. Go ahead a judge me and my negative attitude. I don't care. But if you tick me off, I'm going to send you gastroparesis vibes. Then you try & barf and be happy. We'll see how it works out.

*end of educational rant*