I love your face

    Yesterday marked my husband's and my third anniversary.  My, where has the time gone?  It was also the first time we left our baby with a non-family member to babysit... and a teenager at that!

   Matt and I went to a pretty fancy restaurant for dinner... and when I say pretty fancy I mean they had candles on the tables... that's pretty fancy for KF - never mind they had paper table cloths.  In between our appetizer and our main course (we never order apps... but it was our special day) a waitress brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers that apparently my husband had brought to the restaurant earlier that day... he's so thoughtful!  We dressed up and I even wore makeup!  There I was in a cute lil' black dress and across the restaurant were people in jeans and t-shirts. If there are candles on the table... you shouldn't wear your Nascar tshirt, people... at least make it the NFL - the Bears preferably. 

    The owner of the restaurant came over and was talking about love and that you should tell your spouse every day that you love them.  we do!! Like today when I was getting off the phone with my husband and I said "i love your face".
    After dinner we drove to this little un-known spot along our lake and watched the sunset... we reminisced for about 15 minutes before I was longing to get home to my baby. 

    Makenzie did well with the babysitter... but she does awesome with everyone, especially if they have shiny keys.  She's so her daddy's daughter. Sparkly things. Speaking of sparkly things... 2 more years until I get my bling wedding band.  I can't wait!
    

Do you RECALL when....

In the news in the last couple days there has been a report of recalled infant formula (my baby nurses by the way). I got to thinking about all the baby items lately that have been recalled. Like the cribs a couple months ago, or the baby slings (we were affected by that one) or the baby pain/fever reducer (got nailed with that one too). I was trying to think if I am just uber-sensitive to all these recalls and that’s why I am noticing them, or have there been recalls on baby products for years, but I never noticed, because I didn’t have to? What’s going on with all these? Is it cheap manufacturing? Why does it have to take a death of a child for something to be done? Is there not testing on these products before they are released for consumer consumption? It scares me to think I could un-knowingly be giving my child or allowing my child to interact with dangerous items. Is it just that there are soooo many new products for the little ones that were never available before? People used to put their baby to sleep in a dresser drawer, for goodness sake!


Part of me wonders if it just people blaming the product for something terrible that has happened? My case in point is the blame parents put on Pampers for their child’s bad diaper rash. Testing performed after these accusations state that there is NO FAULT of Pampers. Pampers took quite the heat on that one… it’s unfortunate that their image took a dip for something that wasn’t even their fault! Some babies do better with other diapers… it’s just the way it is. I can’t wear some make-up. I know that, it doesn’t make it the make-up manufacturer’s fault. It’s just the way MY body reacts to it. That’s probably why I don’t wear it at all. Not that you can just let your baby crawl around sans a diaper.

One thing as a new mom, I hear all the time is: “It was good enough for my kids” or something along those lines… and there is truth to that statement. My mom never thought twice about letting me eat from the same baby food jar two days in a row, however “they” (who are they anyways?) say that it’s not safe to let a child do that. When are “they” being too… protective? And when are they not being protective enough?

I guess as mothers or fathers, we need to make educated opinions on everything we are doing. Research the product yourself and make your own decision on what you think is right for your kids. By the way, my kid eats from the same jar of baby food two days in a row. If I can eat Chinese food from the same container two days in a row, my baby can eat squash or strained peas from the same jar too. My decision - my kid.

The answer is Lou Ferrigno - Makenzie's birth story

About 3 1/2 weeks prior to my due date, I started to experience nose bleeds, extremely swollen feet and I just didn’t feel right. I work for the fire district and was talking to one of our battalion chiefs about how I didn’t feel good. He suggested I call one of the ambulance crews to come over to my station and check my BP. I reluctantly did. The paramedics took one look at my “cankles” and knew something was up. They took my BP and it had sky rocketed. I called my OB and they made me come in right away. I refused to ride in the ambulance or fire truck that showed up that day – but the paramedics refused to let me drive myself – so the compromise was to let one of our paramedics take the keys to my car, put me in the passenger side and drive me to the clinic… needless to say we had a fire truck and a ambulance to escort us there. So much for not making a scene. Kinda hard to not notice, don’t you think?

 

The Dr. made me do a non-stress test (NST) to make sure the baby was moving, which she was. I also had to have my blood drawn to make sure that I wasn’t preeclamptic – which they told me that if it came back positive they would take the baby NOW – luckily it was negative. They also put me on bed rest, now mind you one thing I talked about with the Dr. when we first got pregnant was that I DID NOT want to go on bed rest! He assured me that it has to be pretty serious for him to take someone out of their daily routine… so remembering this conversation all those months ago scared me pretty good. Now what was I going to do? I had saved up enough sick and vacation time at work to take a total of 7 weeks off after the baby was born… and 3.5 weeks left to go in my pregnancy meant that I would be burning half of what I had saved. I was so disappointed. They upped my BP meds – a lot! So I laid around at home for a week doing nothing but watching TV and other pointless things to keep me entertained. A week later I went back for my weekly OB check and my BP had gone down! YAY! I was released back to work on the condition I take it easy. It was also determined that they were going to induce labor at 39 weeks… wooooo hoooo baby was going to come a week early!!! They asked that I go to the hospital at 7 pm on 12/6/2009 to get everything started.

The night of 12/6/2009 my parents and both my best friends drove into town. We met for dinner. I was sooooooo incredibly anxious and barely ate anything! After dinner it was time to drive to the hospital to be induced. Matt took the long way and we drove thru our favorite part of town to look at the Christmas lights. They were gorgeous. It was snowing and there was defiantly magic in the air. We got to the hospital and because my feet were still very swollen I was wearing flip flops… in about 2 inches of snow, but it felt great considering I was hot from being 9 months pregnant! We got settled in our room and we saw that our view was of the lake and a big white-lighted Christmas tree… it added to the excitement. The nurses came in and basically got prepped for the Cervidil for a few hours. They finally put the Cervidil in around 9... I was really confused as to what was going to happen...I didn’t realize NOTHING was going to happen until morning when they would give me Pitocin. We invited a couple of our friends up to talk with us and pass the time... they ended up going to their hotel around 10 and thus started a miserable - but not the most miserable night of my stay. The nurse was a bit of a B... and kept coming into my room to check my vitals all night - ok I know this is her job and all... but is it really necessary to wake both me and Matt up every time... perhaps when you come into the room you could gently shut the door and not let it slam itself closed... so annoying! Matt was really mad!

The following morning I got my day nurse - who is my next door neighbor Julee! Dr finally gave the go-ahead for the Pitocin at 9 with instructions to up the dose every 20 minutes. so at first the contractions were not a big deal... kinda like ohhh what’s that? kind of sensation. The room started to fill up with our friends and family - which was great until the contractions got a little heavier that evening... By evening when everyone was talking about eating I was ready to eat a damn Yak! and didn’t think it was fair they had brought in cookies, chips etc... I was a little grumpy as it was that we hadn’t moved much - I was a whopping 1 cm - sooo annoying! Then they told me I had to have oxygen which scared the crap outta me - how come nobody said that was a possibility?! What the hell does that mean!? I was so scared!!! Then later that night at about 9 pm the Dr. came in and was pretty much in awe that I wasn’t progressing - he even said I was on the strongest dose of Pitocin he has ever given without someone pushing! and I was barely a 2!!! He even grabbed my insides and pulled them forward - talk about hurting - I felt like I was giving birth backwards!!! He decided to change out the Pitocin bag - in case the drug makers screwed up my bag. At about 10 I started to have some pretty big contractions and was moaning my way thru them.

At about 12:30 I finally asked for my epidural....they told me that there had been a stabbing and the anestiologist was in surgery with him - but that as soon as it was over they would have him come to my room. All the while I was being told to switch positions - every 20 minutes or so... but I was so uncomfortable that it was awful! then around 3 the nurse came in and took all the anestiologist stuff out of my room and told me that another patient would be getting her epidural before me since she was dilating better then I was... I was pissed - I felt like I had waited in line forever just to have someone cut in front of me... around 4 I asked where the hell my epidural was and the nurse told me that the Dr. was still in surgery with the stabbing guy - so that cut in line bitch still hadn’t had her epidural either!? I flat was sobbing - I could stop crying!!! My poor husband couldn’t do anything to help me calm down. He just rubbed my back and told me it was all going to be worth the wait!!!

Around 6:30 - 6 hours after I asked for my epidural the anestiologist finally came into my room. They had me bend over the pillow and told me I would have to breathe thru the contractions... ok fine.... but apparently not fine - the Dr was a complete ass and kept telling me I was doing it wrong and that I was breathing too hard - I am having a contraction you asshole - you try doing that - while bent over your huge ass stomach while someone pokes a foot long needle in your back. (Again, I was pretty damn grumpy) He finally gets the epidural in and I start to feel better – can’t even feel the contractions - thank GOD! I finally got some sleep and was woken up by my OB at around 9 (24 hours after starting labor) - he checked me and I was a 4! WOOO HOOO I had progressed... I was so excited until he told me that the baby isn’t going to be able to make it thru my pelvic bones. He said that mine are just too tight - ok great every girl wants to hear how tight they are - until they are trying to push a kid out! He said that we would be doing an emergency c-section in 20 minutes. (Thank goodness my parents were in the room - Matt too... but they were able to calm me the heck down!!!) A few seconds later (I am sure it was closer to the 20 minutes) I was being wheeled into the OR (which if you are lucky enough to never had surgery - is about 62 degrees of freezingness) the next thing I know Matt is sitting down next to me holding my hand and I can hear the surgery team talking about who was the actor that played the incredible hulk... seriously?! I told them I thought their music choice sucked and they could have at least played Christmas songs or Tenacious D (who if you do not know is Jack Black's very raunchy very funny band) Dr. laughed and said he liked Tenacious D - I knew I loved that man! Next thing I hear is my daughter's cry. HOLY CRAP!!! This just happened!!! They are all saying things like "Happy Birthday" "Whoa she is sooo little" "Look at that head" - They take her over to the warming bed - upside down by one foot!!! and start cleaning her etc, she takes one more cry and then nothing but little grunts and whimpers... I tell husband to move the F over he is blocking my view!! (Still grumpy?)

They call Matt over and he cuts her cord... he finally brings her to me and I go to touch her face (BIG MISTAKE) but my arms are now made of concrete and I punch my newborn in the face!!! She didn’t even cry! I give her kisses and tell her how much I love her - they tell Matt he can take her to the recovery room and I tell him nobody is to hold her before I get to! Next thing I know I cannot keep my eyes open and I am passed out!!! My daughter was born at 9:53 am on Tuesday December 8 2009.

I wake up as we are leaving the OR to head back to the recovery room and as I am wheeled in I see my mom and I immediately start crying - I am a mom now too!!! Matt finally brings my baby over too me and I really get to see just how little she is - 5 lbs 4 oz - how did this tiny child come out of me!? I am a big girl - and she is about the size of one of my boobs! ha!! And got my first glimpse at that cone head... poor thing! Also got to see just how cute she is!

The next couple days were ok - I wasn’t in a lot of pain but was very very tired. Makenzie kept me up around the clock. I was soooo ready to come home but little miss went and lost too much weight - so much we had to do a car seat challenge to make sure she could ride in a car seat and be able to breathe... when we finally passed the test Makenzie got weighed one last time and weighed in at 4 lbs 12 oz - she was just sooo little!

You can't have a testimony without a test...

Ok so I shared the condensed story of matt and I … and now it’s time to share the story of Makenzie… err at least the very very very beginning… when she was just a sparkle in her daddy’s eye.

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a mommy… I was the girly girl with all the dollies, I even took one of my cabbage patches with me on the first day of first grade.

A month before Matt and I got married I quit birth control. My mom warned me against it saying it would be my luck I’d be knocked up on my wedding day… gasp! I wore white to my wedding! I was a virgin! (muahhahahahaaaaa!) but none the less I wanted my uterus primed and ready for our honeymoon… alas no pregnancy resulted before or during our honeymoon. No biggie… we’ve got time… besides it gave us the opportunity to be just the married couple for a while. By the time our first anniversary rolled around I knew my ovulation times, knew my temperature at any given hour, had it figured out exactly how many minutes it takes to get home for a … visit with my husband at lunch time. I felt desperate to get pregnant. I daydreamed about it constantly. I cried every month when that Bitch Aunt Flo would come visit. It was getting bad. Poor Matt would hug me and tell me everything would be ok. In the mean time we adopted our dog, Sunny... who we treated and still treat as our first child!

Every holiday thru out that year was miserable. I’d see the baby bibs that say “first 4th of July” “First Christmas” etc and it would kill me! I felt like everyone in the universe was sporting their cute baby belly… and because my work looks at the high school entrance I’d see the 14-15-16-17 year olds wearing their tight t-shirts with their cute belly buttons poking out signifying they were due any minute. I wanted to be those girls… only about 15 years older!

Matt finally agreed to see a doctor with me. Dr. Shirts, who I had worked for the first time I lived in KF, soon took on our case… making sure that we first tried on our own for a year. Duh! The first test was the sperm count… Matt’s test came back with like 900 billion sperm… He wasn’t the problem (and was super proud of himself!) – it was me! Although this was good news, because if it’s the boy there is little to none they can do… it was also maddening that the one thing that my girly parts were supposed to do, they weren’t. I felt like my uterus was holding a protest. Bitch.

I was put on clomid – a drug to ensure ovulation… I had always had a normal period… but Dr. was sure that this would be my cure-all. I was also peeing on a stick to tell me the exact ovulation day. Not exactly the stick I wanted to pee on… but when I was ovulating it would smile at me… literally. It was like my urine giving me the go –ahead to make a baby all via a plastic stick.

Still nothing. Dr. ordered me to have a dye test done where they shoot die in the tubes to make sure they were clean and free of any obstructions for our little swimmers… they were… that one cost about $3,000. Mind you none of our fertility treatments were covered under insurance… Makenzie cost us about 10 k and worth every penny. Donations gladly accepted. Thank you.

Finally Dr. Shirts decides that we should have an IUI done (intrauterine insemination) where they take matt’s swimmers and puts them directly in my womb. Dr. tells me I must have a hostile environment… picture uterus with pirate sword, fallopian tubes with num-chucks, etc… and that’s why I am not getting pregnant. So we agree and go in and have our first IUI done. I’m then held upside down (thanks for letting matt push the buttons) for a good 45 minutes! We leave the Dr. and head to Wal-Mart to purchase a baby outfit… we are thinking if we think positive we will get a positive. 2 weeks later that damn Aunt Flo comes. I am crushed.

We are ready to try again once I get my smiley face on the stick… but Dr. is out of town… another month comes and goes… no IUI.

Then in March we get another smiley and I call the Dr. He gets me in that AM. And we have another procedure done. Then he suggests that we do another IUI the next day… since you don’t know the exact hour of ovulation it happens in like a 36 hour period, we agree. The next am we go in and have round two done. . . and then we wait… two very long weeks.

The morning Aunt Flo was supposed to come, and hadn’t I decided to take a pregnancy test… now normally I waited a day or two, but decided that I wasn’t up for any more waiting. I peed on the test, set it aside and got dressed. Went back to the test and it read “pregnant” – now mind you I had peed on another brand of test a few months prior and it gave one of those two line business… and we saw two lines… we were soooo excited… and then I got my period. Dr’s test confirmed that I was never pregnant… but that it could have been a “chemical” pregnancy… whatever the hell that is. So I made sure I bought a test that had the actual word “pregnant” on the screen. I excitedly woke up my husband and told him we were pregnant, he insisted on seeing the test himself. We cried and hugged and took pictures! Dr’s blood pregnancy test confirmed that we were indeed with child!

The next month was Easter so we decided to wait to tell our families until that date. We made Easter baskets with colorful eggs and one golden one… inside the golden egg… a pacifier. Everyone was soooo excited!! (If I can figure out how to add a video I will share my sister – in- law’s reaction!)

I had the BEST pregnancy, and loved every nauseating minute of it! Including the hatred of diesel, the love of cereal, and the baby’s hic-ups!!! I can’t wait to be pregnant again someday… wait… yes I can… I need at least 6 months of sleep before we even consider it again!!!

I will share Makenzie’s birth story in another blog… it deserves its own entry. Because, for what was easy during my pregnancy ,was made up for in the 3 days of labor.

hello. hi. aloha. hey. sup. yo.

Hello, is anyone out there?
*knock *knock
Hi! I'm Kim... Wife of Matt (will be 3 years in 12 days - lucky fella!) and mommy to Makenzie and Sunny (she's our shih tsu - and my dog-ter... say it quick folks...sounds like daughter doesn't it?) .... fasten your seatbelts people and enjoy the ride that is our life.

I can hardly believe our baby girl is 9 1/2 months old! Since I was such a slacker or just incredibly busy trying to run a house, work full time, and be a first time mom, I never made the effort to post on here... but you better believe I posted on Facebook... heck that takes about 4 seconds! I have four seconds. maybe 5.

So I'll give you the snapshot view of who we are, and how we came to be. so once I fill you in, I can move on to topics that are currently happening... consider this the prologue.

Matt and I met in July 200... um... hold on... 6 - sorry had to count backwards... I was living in Bend Oregon ... thats a whole 'nother story that really doesnt matter - except that I met my bestie during that time. Soo.... I came to Klamath for a bachlorette party (mind you I had lived here once before... again it seems like that was someone else's life... I think it might have been, now that I think about it.) Friday night was girls night and all of us went out partyin' while the boys watched the kiddos. Saturday night was the bachelor party while us girls watched the kids... turn about is fair play right? beside we needed to recover!

so at about 3 in the morning the boys come back to the house - I'd only met a few of them over the years but heard stories. I'm asleep on the couch - sans glasses and in my oh sooooo gorgeous pjs... no they didn't have feet, jerk! and I get woken by a bunch of drunkards - sheesh drunks! this way cute guy comes up to me and says "hey, hey you... are you single?" I tell him that I am and kinda ignore him... afterall he HAS to have beer goggles on... I look like crap! then he asks me what I am wearing under the blankets... ok perv go take a cold shower. He continues to flirt with me, but I soon fall back asleep ... I think right about the time he passes out.

The next morning he's still super sweet and flirting.... holy crap dude, are you still drunk!? I flirt back for a while, but then have to leave to drive back 2.5 hours home. someone gives drunk-boy my phone number and thru out the next week we are flirting via text and email constantly! Did I mention he was the minister for the upcoming wedding? Ordained on the internet... think Joey from Friends! so he uses the excuse that he needs help with writing the vows... I being in the wedding and caring very much for the bride and groom (notice: this is the truth: If I had a pee-pee I would have been thinking with it! - the guy is hot and funny!) agree and we are constantly in contact... oh I think I'm smitten! meow!

so the wedding happens... I walk down the aisle towards the man... and then take my place in line with all the other brides maids... damn I want to be a bride someday. that night he and I go for a walk to this field behind where the wedding happens and we share a bottle of Robert Mendovi... I think I was impressed until I went to Alberson's and saw that it was like 7.99! we also share a kiss... or two. Mind you the reception is happening and people can see we walk to the field... there is quite a bit of whopping and holloring... after all this is klamath falls... people do holla' here! we decide that night that we don't want to see anyone else... ever again.

2 months later he asks my dad for my hand, a month after that I moved in with him... meaning I left Bend and moved back to KF...

that new years eve matt proposed in that same field where we share that 7.99 bottle of Robert Mondovi. we were married 9 months later.