pregnancy | The Angel Forever

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Sharing some bloggy love

Posted on February 7, 2008 5:50 pm by TheAngelForever

Heather over at OMSH is having a giveaway for some amazing art by Allison Strine Designs over at Etsy. What she is asking people to do is spread some bloggy love for people out in the blogosphere. Here is what she said:

By midnight (CST) on February 8th, you must spread some love yourself. I want you to write a loving, uplifting, encouraging, generous, complimentary post about one, two, three, four, or however many you like, of your favorite bloggers.

Put some thought in it – not just a blogroll, m’kay? Let your adoration ring! Pssst…No extra points for it being me – this is a drawing, not a contest.

Right before my Blogoversary (last week) I actually posted a bunch of thank you blurbs to people out there that have encouraged me to blog (OMSH was actually one of those people). It was sort of similar to what she is asking here, but still I will challenge myself to expand on what I previously wrote.

In that entry I casually mentioned Renee. Renee is one of the May07 Mommy bloggers that I met online while pregnant last year with JSL. Renee has a blog called Life With My Special K’s. I do not believe that Renee knows how much she assisted me back in early December of 2006. Two days before my 30th birthday my OB called me after work. I knew something was not right when I saw the number on the caller ID. He was telling me the results of a blood test that I had taken. The test came back that I had a higher risk of my baby being born with Downs Syndrome. I was beyond depressed. This news ruined my birthday and left me feeling ill. I did not know what to do. I turned to my mommy group where Renee saved the day.

How did she do this? Well, Renee had actually had the opposite result with the same pathetic test. Her result came back within normal range and her third beautiful child Kennedy was born three years ago with Downs Syndrome. Renee coached me to look at all different medical websites about the so called test and how useless it is, sent me to Downs Syndrome groups, and spent hours online chatting with me. She also helped me to realize that I had to know what was going on with my baby. I did not want to wait until the baby was born. I opted to have an amnio so that I could prepare for whatever my baby may or may not have. We were blessed with a happy and healthy little boy, but thanks to Renee I knew that Downs Syndrome was not a curse.

Renee is such a strong woman who continues to amaze me day after day. While we were pregnant last year Renee’s daughter Kennedy was diagnosed with leukemia. Soon after that (I think I am getting the sequence correct) she was told that she had gestational diabetes. Renee worked through this while keeping her family going. She changed her diet, stayed with Kennedy during all of the pre-chemotherapy tests/hospital stays, and got ready for her forth child. Then when her son was born in May she arranged to have him stay with her at the hospital while Kennedy was treated.

Renee has such strength and courage. In addition to being the mother of four beautiful children (Her Special K’s), Renee is a loving wife to one of our military heroes. Her husband was just deployed for another tour of duty in Afghanistan. He will be gone for 18 months (except when he joins the family for a Make A Wish trip to Disney this spring) and I know that Renee will keep her family going. She is a brave, strong woman who is a real role model.

Please stop by and say hello to Renee. This is a summary that she wrote on her blog:

Welcome to my blog where I take on day to day life with my four amazing children: Kassidy, Kameron, Kennedy and Keeghan, and a husband in the military. Join us as we face issues with Down syndrome, Leukemia, Deployments, and every day life with 4 young kids! You’ll be in for the ride of your life!

Thank you again Renee for all that you do :)

Categories:
interesting pregnancy web fun

Birthstory carnival by MamaLady

Posted on November 13, 2007 4:30 pm by TheAngelForever

This past Friday, MamaLady hosted a Carnival of Birth Stories. Since I was away over the weekend I finally linked up to my stories today.

I remember with both pregnancies being glued to my mommy groups to see when the next baby was born and to read their birthing experience. Each one is so different and beautiful to hear.

Here are my birth posts:

JSL’s birth story – posted May 18, 2007

NHL’s birth story – posted on his 4th birthday August 17, 2007

So those are the stories of how my little guys came into the world.

Categories:
my boys pregnancy web fun

Message to Uncle I and Aunt M

Posted on September 5, 2007 4:05 pm by TheAngelForever

Below is a message that NHL made for Uncle I and Aunt M. It’s important to know that these are the same words that I heard EVERY day of my pregnancy upon NHL’s arrival home (especially once I was showing).

C’est Moi

Categories:
family nhl pregnancy video

4 years ago tonight .. .

Posted on August 17, 2007 3:26 am by TheAngelForever

I was in the hospital in labor. At about 9:00 that Saturday night I was sitting on the couch reading the new Harry Potter book while Pretty Woman was on the television. JL was working on his website. I was half reading since I figured I had 2 more weeks to read before the baby was born. I guess NHL had other plans. I got up to stretch and felt a pop and a gush.

Yup, you guessed it…my water broke. JL said he’s never seen a pregnant woman run so fast.

I flew into the bathroom and he followed me there to see what was going on. He called the doctor’s number and they instructed us to head to the hospital. Once I got there I was only about 1 cm dilated and my water had indeed broken. My parents met us there and were so excited since it was the birth of their first grandchild. At about this time (11:00) everyone left and JL and I were told to walk around to see if it would help my contractions to come more regularly.

Unfortunately this did nothing so I was told to rest and see how things were in the morning before they did more. I opted for no medicine at that point.

In the morning they checked and I had made no progress. I was told I had to have pitocin since my water broke and the risk of infection increased with time. So silly me opted not to have an epiduralright away. BIG mistake that I didn’t make with JSL.

The pitocin was started at about 6:30 and by 10:00 I wanted the epidural. The contraction were horrid thanks to the medication making them worse. They finally found someone to come (another woman couldn’t have it anymore). Thanks to the epidural they were able to crank up the pitocin. Within 40 minutes to an hour I was finally progressing. 10 minutes after they checked me I felt pressure and the urge to push. They didn’t believe me, but looked. Sure enough I was 10 centimeters (from 3) dilated and ready to roll.

Little did I know, but the doctor didn’t think I would be able to push the baby out. I sure showed him. In less than an hour at 1:17 in the afternoon on August 17th NHL was born.

A look down memory lane:

Minutes after NHL was born.

Popeye NHL.

My favorite photo of the little guy with his tongue out.

Peacefull baby NHL.

NHL visits with Papa and Poppy Sol.

Uncle I meets NHL (My baby brother is going to be a daddy soon – Whoa!)

Nana gives NHL his first “bath.”

NHL is so TINY in his big crib.

Ah, the memories. Now my little NHL is a big boy and going to be 4 tomorrow. Here’s a photo of him now (please excuse the cookie face):

C’est Moi

Categories:
birthday nhl pregnancy

Post Surgery Update

Posted on June 29, 2007 12:46 pm by TheAngelForever

Wednesday I had the surgery at about 8:00 in the morning. The first few hours I bled a lot, but then it slowed down a ton. By 9:30 that night I had NOTHING! By noon yesterday there was still nothing and I ditched the diap. . . -er I mean pad for a panty liner for the first time since May 14th when I had JSL. Wow, it was so nice! Last night before bed there was a little break through spotting so I put a pad back on since I was too nervous. This morning still just a little streaky/spotting.

Yesterday afternoon the nurse from my OB’s office called to talk to me. She asked if I had done a Pap-Smear at the visit last week. I told her they tried it with the bleeding, but she was the one then that told me it likely wouldn’t be good. Well, she was right. It was a no-go. They had no cells to work with, so when I go back on the 11th I need to have that re-done. She then told me that she was trying to track down the pathology report from my surgery since Dr. J wanted it ASAP. She said the hospital didn’t have it. I reminded her that last Thursday I had that chunk taken with the other doctor and that should be done. So she said she would call me back when she knew something since I wanted to know as well. She was able to get the report from last Thursday and it was confirmed degenerated placental material.

That’s when I asked her a question about the use of post delivery uterine massage. She said they will usually do it right away. Well, here’s the deal. JL and my mother were there for both of my deliveries. With NHL the doctor that delivered him took a LONG time massaging me and then the nurses continued this for 24 hours after. With JSL another OB delivered and she stitched me up and took off. She NEVER massaged my abdomen and neither did the nurses at this hospital. Not sure if this would have made a difference, but I have a hard time believing that they wouldn’t have felt that massive piece that I passed Monday.

Oh well! On that note I am off to get JSL up to eat soon since I feel like I am going to explode. Today we are going to school for a computer class. It will be nice seeing some people and getting out for a little while.

C’est Moi