MOPS and I

During the summer and in between hospital visits, I've been working with our local MOPS steering team, getting ready for the upcoming season. This years theme is Be You Bravely.

My responsibilities are in crafts and graphics (I know, big surprise) This year, we will have new hand painted tapestries hung with our MOPS mission and theme. You can see the one above I was working on in progress. It is pretty easy to make and you can trace your image using a magic sewing pen and acrylic paint.

In addition, this year, at each meeting, a extra special door prize will be given. In staying with our theme graphics, a hand crafted felt bird, made by me will be given away. They were a lot of fun to make and I am sure a few new ones will appear on the display branches later on :)

The Fair is Fair

After getting sprung from the Hospital, I was in very much the mood to change my scenery after seeing a patient board, phlebotomists, nurses, and a constantly chiming IV pump. So to the NY State Fair we went!

We hadn't visited the fair since Eliza was was around 4 months old, as we are usually down at the grandparents house. The weather couldn't have been nicer. No jackets were required and the only tears shed was over the horse barn having to close.

Eliza wasn't too sure of the Heffer

It is crazy to see just how big this Belgian draft horse is when its head isn't even all the way up and Eliza is on daddy's shoulders.

We fed the kids for dirt cheap with 1.50 hot dogs and 25 cent cups of chocolate milk. Lots of animals were met and petted while I reminisced about my high school days with FFA and raising my own livestock.

Maybe in a few years, they'll get to enjoy the kiddie rides together :) 

The Hospital... take 2

As promised, I did say I had a very good reason for the lack of posts since my last hospital stay.

You are looking at a fluoroscope image taken during my ERCP procedure.

One has to make the pain faces a little more interesting

  

After having my gallbladder removed, I thought I was in the clear in any further pain dept. 

Imagine my surprise when I had an episode of pain that felt like another attack! Another visit to the ER left me with not a whole lot of answers and no sleep that night, after having a CT scan and the doc saying it must have been some trapped gas from the surgery a week prior.

Fastforward a week later to having another episode of sudden pain while at a birthday party with the kids. I was determined to try and wait out the pain in the car so the kids and I could enjoy being out at the lake. The pain did die down, but I was left with a nagging low ache. Matt was gone for the weekend with a ministry commitment and I didn't feel like I was in enough pain to require him to return early.

This dull ache continued into church the next day, but I thought I wasn't watching my fats close enough.

***TMI ALERT***

At the end of the night, it was discovered after very bad abdominal pain that your poop can turn an off white color.

Matt....could you please go Google "White poop"

Another trip to the ER was in order. They did an ultrasound of my liver and a blood panel. Tests came back fine except for some elevated liver levels, which they prescribed an antibiotic with Zofran and more pain killers.

At this point, I thought I was finally on the road to healing and wasn't going to bother with making a follow up appointment with my surgeon. Matt gave me the stink eye and said yes you are.

That morning I loaded up the kids and was planning my day for after the appointment with a trip to the mall to return some clothing, a meal at Panera and maybe even a stop at Joann Fabric.

Boy, did my afternoon quickly change when the doctor didn't like my elevated levels and was wanting to admit me for further testing.

Another CT scan with barium found that my common bile duct which is normally 2 mm wide was now 8 mm. A gastroenterologist me with me and said that there must be a gallstone stuck and causing me all this pain and needed to be removed before more serious complications ensued. 

Top left is my odee. Bottom L is the stone in my small intestine. R is the scope

I was put under general anesthesia so they could put a scope down into my small intestine and shove a stent up the opening of the "odee" (shunt that lets the bile out for digestion) up into the bile duct and blow a small balloon to squeegee any stones lurking. There was NO WAY I would have passed the stone on my own as I guess I had the tiniest odee in his experience to deliver the stone though. Before going under, I insisted in them saving the stone for curiosity, but they just let it drop and let it pass through. So pictures were the next best thing to understand all that went on.

After getting out of recovery, I was starving as I had been under "nothing by mouth" orders for most of the time with a few clear liquids from time to time. I was pissed to find that I still had to wait another 6 hours until I could eat anything again. Thanks to my roommates daughter, who snuck me in some McDonalds contraband....it tasted heavenly!

Eliza's picture taking skills

Bedtime visits with story time

Nolan was ALL OVER my hospital room

This is the sorry looking plate of hospital food after they gave me a regular diet.

 I spent a total of 2 days in, but I really hope this is the end of my stays. If I am going to be away from my kids and husband...I rather be elsewhere!

All the Cool Kids

It's school time around these parts, and my Facebook feed is full of "first days" with cute kids posing with cute paper signs of what grade they are entering, future career aspirations, and cute back to school clothes. Summer has come and gone and even the leaves on the trees are starting to turn. Such a difference compared to San Diego county where the kids have been back in class for several weeks now and won't see the leaves change until closer to November.

In this time, I find myself feeling a little left out. Many of Eliza's peers have started going to preschool. I don't ever remember going this early to any formal education in my young life. A daycare for sure, hosted at a private home while attending Children's World there after.

People seem a little surprised when they hear Eliza isn't going anywhere. With the cost of sending her and also having to be responsible for transportation...it isn't in our meager budget with only one car.

It's hard to not feel like we are letting our first born down in her earliest years of education.

She will be eligible for the public pre-k program next year that does provide busing. Something that will be a blessing and a curse in having to be home at certain times in getting her on and off the bus.

I've tried to spend a little time a few days a week giving her a mini lesson while Nolan naps.....but it is hard to be motivated and having to build resource materials on the fly.

In a perfect world, I would have a school corner with a desk and colorful posters on the wall of the abc's, a calendar of the months. We could have a felt board with lessons and velcro laminated cards to stick on. But instead, all we have is a dry erase board on the side of her art station and quickly drawn concepts. Colors, shapes and numbers up to 15 are on the mastered side of things, but the alphabet and sounds is a struggle with her speech delay.

So there you have it folks....my life is far from perfect or put together, but I enjoy having as place where I can be frank about life as a mother in this season of my life :)

I Haven't Died

Sorry folks for the sudden long lack of posts....

I've got a pretty good excuse and will explain it all after the holiday weekend.

You've Got a lot of Gall

The Geddes family must keep winning the hospital lottery, as it was my turn to visit. On a Wednesday morning at 4 am, I drove myself into the ER after 5 days of semi mysterious pain and visits with Dr. Google. I had some sort of idea as to what it could possibly very well be, but with throwing in my monthly, things were still a bit unknown.

It turns out, my gallbladder was not at all happy. Two years to this month of August, while carrying Nolan, I had a gallbladder attack. Surgery was not an option, so I was instructed to get it taken care of after the birth. Well, things and symptoms vanished and so I just went on my merry way with no issues, thinking my body had naturally taken care of business itself. While in the ER, they recommended sending me home with pain killer and doing a scheduled procedure later on. 

Ummmmm, no. 

After waiting all day with nothing to eat or drink, they took me down to surgery around 6 pm.

I woke to being coherent while they were transferring me from the surgical gurney to my room bed at 11 pm! Holy smokes!

.....and why do I feel like I wet the bed? (thank you for forgetting to catheter me before surgery) 

I guess the surgery took longer than expected as my gallbladder was HUGE. About the length of a mans hand spread and full of stones. This required incisions being larger than normal for laparoscopic, and I guess 14 or so staples. I never seem to luck out and just get sutures.

That night of recovery was the.worst.ever!

The Morphine was causing the massive migraine and despite Zofran, gave me wicked nausea.

"Lord, I can't take care of this myself. I know you are powerful to take these symptoms away....help me Jesus!"

Less than a minute later, I channel the Exorcist and vomit a green bile mixture clear down past my feet and hit the footboard of the bed. Be careful as to what you pray for! Even the nurses were impressed at my skill. Morphine was discontinued and I got to wait until 9 am for something else for pain.

Oh, did I mention that my roommate also laughed and shrieked in her sleep?

I stayed that day in hospital and discharged the following afternoon.

I am feeling very grateful for Matt's parents driving out to help take care of the kids so he could go to work, the visitors and meals that have been dropped by. I don't know what I would have done without this extra help for my family and I.

I pretty much have a free pass on anything house or childcare related activity until my post op appointment. Each day gets a little better...and so does my skills of picking things up with my toes (if only it worked with diaper changes)

RIP- Erin's Gallbladder 8/6/2014   

Keeping up with the Uteruses

After a very long day with the kids and excitement at the local hospital for hubby's sinus surgery, I landed on this blog posting from an Australian mommy.

Might I say...did it ever strike a chord with me, considering my own birth experiences. Even when Matt cringed at the pain of getting his IV started, I told him he could have an epidural instead ;)

I remember mourning my child birthing experience with Nolan for most of my 8 weeks of maternity leave. I was not happy to have failed to show any signs of impending labor for the second time around the block, requiring an induction. Even though I had kept in the back of my mind that a cesarean was always a possibility...I didn't think too much of it and felt like I still could give birth the traditional way again, despite a second induction experience.

I knew Pitocin all too well and the harder labor pains....Cervidil prep the night before...etc

What I didn't know was how horrible it would be to try and get an epidural in my spine and work effectively....

That my son would get stuck after 4 cm and stay that way for 5 hours until my OB had gone his highest ever on the Pitocin and left the decision up to me as far as to what Matt and I wanted to do...

But the biggest, was my OB standing up for me in the OR to the 3rd anesthesiologist who thought, "I can get this, just give me a sec...." (no I can not stay still during a contraction) which ended up with me being knocked out for the birth of my son and my husband absent from the OR.

I remember asking myself, if the c-sec rate is so high, why am I reading about all the natural ones on social media? In the area that I live in, our medical resources are very limited, especially when it comes to duellas, water births and other pregnancy alternatives.

We as women, whether we have been aware of doing it intentionally...need to just shut our mouths about some things and think about the truly important things in our reproductive life. We need to stop adding to the maternal pressures placed upon us when it comes to this area. I remember thinking that my friends and/or FB contacts would think I was weak because I didn't try every other option, or become a pain to my OB and say "no" to common practices.

Never have I heard this before at a graduation ceremony

"This years valedictorian is Walter White, who by the way was born in water and mother had no medical interventions/pain relief, AND even had his umbilical cord cut until AFTER it had stopped pulsing..." 

Parenting does not come with a sash to be adorned with merit badges. There is no cash prize for enduring the most pain ever in labor because you put your foot down hard enough. In the case of my daughter, getting pain relief actually helped my body relax so I could let labor progress...and much faster I might add.

...Because every woman's body and labor experience is never the same, can't we just be as satisfied with a healthy baby to announce and not feel any less of a mother because of the method of entrance into the world? Think of how many more happy new mothers we'd have if we changed our words! Thoughts could be instead, directed to a new creation...and where on earth did the nurses put the instruction manual ;) There will be plenty of time to second guess your parenting choices and methods.

So can't we just hold off for a little bit?

***Please note, I am not putting any mothers down for doing any of these things or if they are right or wrong practices, as this is what they chose.I am happy to simply celebrate the new life, just not the glorifying/bragging of the mechanics of it on social media.

You Must be This Tall

Do you remember the movie with actor Tom Hanks who wanted to be BIG? He desperately wanted to go on a thrill ride while noticing a girl from class. If it wasn't bad enough that his parents were there embarassing him, he learns he came up too short to ride. He later finds a Zoltar fortune teller and makes a wish to be big.

We have now reached the age where a little girl may experience the thrill of amusement rides for the first time. At an annual event held by the Erie Canal, kiddie rides were an obvious draw to this excited three year old. So we decided to treat Eliza to a ride wristband.

Dragons, spaceships and motor cars took her up, down and around.

I think the giant wavy slide paid for itself in number of rides for the cost of the wrist band. She carried her sack and climbed all the way to the top. Her first words after each return at the bottom was "again again" as I had to reminder to wait her turn in line.

Despite the humid heat, she was a hardcore thrill seeker. Nolan spent most of the time sleeping in the wagon since it was smack dab in the middle of nap time.

Maybe some of this growing older stuff isn't so bad...

Kids just Don't Understand

This Youtube video got me a good laugh as I kept nodding to just about everything.

There is such a difference between married couples who don't have kids yet. From the topics of conversation and playing 'What's that Smell'...we have crossed into a whole new world. Or the fact that my 17 month old son has taken to giving me random hickies as of late. (No Pastor, we were NOT necking in church.)

We never knew just what we'd get excited about before kids came into the picture.

Examples:

>Marveling at the ginormous blow out....

>Impressed at the snot bubble they just blew....

>Wondering how on earth they managed to get food flung so far from the table....

>Calling our spouse over to the changing table to show how proud you are that you can tell what they had        for dinner the night before....

>Looking at buying a car and getting excited at how many car seats you could fit in the back and still have       room for a passenger...

>Being able to use the bathroom ALONE!
>Sitting down to eat and not having to think and request X number of high chairs/boosters.
>Transitioning your kids rear facing car seat to forward so you can finally recline your blasted seat back on     long road trips....

The list could go on and on and...well...forever.

Compare this to life without kids:

Going to a 10:45 pm movie, knowing you can sleep in well after 7 am the next morning...
Finally getting past a Candy Crush level you've been stuck on for weeks...
Sitting in church and enjoying the sermon while taking notes and highlighting scripture in your Bible...
Being able to watch trash TV at any time of the day and not fear about the language or content...
Enjoying an artisan pizza with exotic toppings...

I am not complaining about having kids. Quite the contrary. I do love my children very much, and they've made life a bit more exciting, patience building, humble, compassionate etc... It's just that my prayer life has gone a little further from praying for world salvation to asking Jesus to just help your baby poop/sleep through the night/stop biting you and everything else.

But...sometimes you just can't understand until you have a kid of your very own ;)

U Pick Blueberry Morning

The van was loaded up early that morning, and mommy scrambled to get both kids out the door in time, while of course forgetting her Canon DSLR at home. Sometimes, phone cameras do save the day. This was the first time I've been able to enjoy blueberry season, as the weekends are a bit crazy at this local farm, while weekdays in the mornings are manageable. Being a working mother had is sacrifices. 

I think it is safe to say....Eliza is pretty safe from any child labor. And for what little she did pick for the family...fell to the ground as she stumbled, toppling her bucket. After that...she was a bit over picking. Nolan did more eating than picking...until he picked a green one. Then fighting with his sister seemed much more entertaining :/

My milk jug bucket was pretty handy as I would fill and then dump into the Easter basket pail that hung on the wagon handle. We picked close to 7 pounds, and at 1.98/lbs. it came to $13.20 for our morning out. Going with another friend and her mommy was nice company for the girls to play around the bushes.

                

The morning was finished with a stop at a park with friends. I swear...these kids could swing all day!

Girls will be Boys

After I had my boy, I wondered who would be the first to make a visit to the emergency department because of some silly stunt or pushing of physical boundaries.

Little did I know, our little girl would be channeling her daddy.

At three years old, daddy tripped and fell on a cannon while visiting the Military Academy-West Point. It earned him several stitches on the forehead.

Fast forward many years later...

She earned herself 3 stitches for not listening to mommy or daddy about not climbing on furniture and jumping off it. In her case, we believe she landed on a Duplo Lego block as they were the only hard pointed surface scattered all over the floor.

Eliza was a trooper for most of it, even letting them clean the wound 3 separate times for assessing the severity and topical numbing. Because of the sensitive cosmetic nature of the wound, using Dermabond would not work since the cut was shaped like the inner position of a Mercedes Benz logo.

Things were all fine and dandy until the Lidocaine was injected as the nursing assistant and I helped restrain her. Through out the sewing of sutures, I had to keep reminding her about how I would sew with thread to close up fabric pieces.  

At least we left in good spirits when she received a plush bunny wearing a purple dress. Now the next question is...will they let them take the sutures out next week?!

The life of a parent is NEVER dull.... 

From the Dungeness Cell Phone

Yay for not killing each other!

She could play a rock in any theater production

Um...I new we have weight epidemic....but

A nugget break for my own nuggets

Eliza giving Nolan "pink belly"

Grandparent PJs

Could these kids look any sadder looking into the park pool?

YOLO Momma Photography

Okay, I am really jumping off the boat and attempting to swim with the big fish as I get serious and try to push my talents into something that will help pay some bills!

https://www.facebook.com/yolomommaphoto?ref_type=bookmark

Ordered my business cards from Vista Print...Check!

Branded my business...Check!

Collected all my client images for promoting...Check!

Come find us on Facebook and like us to hear about seasonal specials!

Our 18 Month "Old Man"

The time keeps slipping away as our baby boy is growing into a little old man of 18 months. So I decided to play it up and take him to some train tracks for a photo session, as I am not sure what we'll do when year 2 comes in the dead of winter.

I'm rather tickled at how these turned out and how I've gotten a lot of milage out of those old garage sale suitcases. I was uncertain as to what and where we could get them done, aside from all the other shots taken in the backyard. Although, we did get a lot of stares from cars passing over the tracks...even thinking I was going to do some harm to him. I'd have to be blind and deaf to not know if a train was coming our way. "Nothing to see here...just a creative mom trying to change things up." And we timed the trains and shoot just perfectly as we reached the point of nuclear meltdown as I saw the ubiquitous single head light on the locomotive.

The hat was given from my mother and found at JCPenney. Bowtie onesie is from Old Navy.

Oops! Did I forget my underwear? Oh wait...I wear diapers :)

I take my hat off to you mom

The train left without me!

Being Paid to Exercise

Being a mother has totally changed my life.period.

I decided to go out for a bike ride on my own over one of the weekends. It occurred to me that I hadn't ridden a bike since before I was pregnant with Eliza and was doing it to get to work since Matt had our only car to head to work outside of town.

This means, it had been FOUR YEARS since my butt touched a bike seat.

Holy moly!

I've also recently picked up a new hobby. Whenever I am out and about and come across a trash can, I take a peek to see if there are any redemption value recyclables. Doesn't matter where...parking lots, the park, store trash cans etc.

Now when I do take a bike ride, I am sure to bring a backpack and I stop to pick up cans/bottles on the road or in public places. Thus far, I've picked up about 50 cents each ride.

I am a mother....nothing grosses me out now a days and I am not too proud to rummage through a trash can. If there was a dollar bill laying on the floor...would you pick it up?

Since starting this hobby in mid May, I've brought in almost $20 of pure profit. Much of this comes from water bottles, as you pay a deposit on them in this state. All those Lipton/Brisk ice tea bottles or juice are a tease as they are of no value. It almost feels like being a kid again, looking to earn an allowance. It gets me out of the house and has the sense of being on a treasure hunt, scanning the sides of roads for coins :)

I am amazed at just how much money is thrown in the can or ground. The monies collected goes to my own "fun money stash".Maybe I should invest it into a beach cruiser seat to ease my bicycle crotch burn ;)

What am I going to do when it snows?