The Wedding

Kat's dad got married this weekend.  As close as we have been over the last several years we were all invited to the ceremony and party afterwords.  Sugar was knowing that Kat would want her there.  When we loaded to car to head to the reception I was reminded that the reception had a Mardi Gras theme and that etouffee was being served.  Sounds like a perfect party BUT it then occurs to me that etoufee is often made with shrimp or crawfish.  Sugar can not be the same room as either of these fish.  She is just way too allergic.  J and went inside the reception all and checked it out.  We found that it would not be safe for her.  I hated having to pull her away.  She so wanted to spend the time with Kat and Kat's family.  I was so proud of Sugar.  She was devastated and yet agreed to leave with me.  She was respectful and obedient   She is so responsible with this very difficult allergy.      

Sugar w/Adorable and Beautiful on my side of table

Beautiful

Adorable eating the table

I love these three girls and I was very happy to have had the time with them!

Mimi's Knee

Mimi was scheduled to have second knee surgery last week.  The plan was to send Goobers and Sugar to help.  As it turned out there is something up in Mimi's heart so the surgery was postponed.  The girls went up anyway because mom wanted to have the time with them. I will want all my helpers home for the birth of the twins and their arrival home.  So depending on when mom's surgery is scheduled we will try to get someone to help her.  Right now Sugar and Goobers are just playing.  I am jealous, I would love that time with my mom.

 This was Sugar's first flight.  I thought she might be a little nervous but she wasn't.  She did have Goobers with her and Goobers is an old professional when it comes to flying.

 So here is my group shot.  Pooker at college and Goobers and Sugar with Mimi in St. Louis and the rest of the bunch gathered around the computer to talk to them.  One thing that amazed me is that my kiddos are friends.  They fight but they love each other.  Even when separated by miles and life, they still spend time together.  I love Skype!

Please continue to pray for my mom.  Mimi will be having her surgery after the heart issues are worked out.  Both the heart and knee are keeping us all a little worried.  Mimi is going to enjoy two of her granddaughters over the next two weeks while also seeing various doctors.  While they have fun the rest of us can pray for Mimi's health, her heart and her knee.

The Pattern Continues - Week 21.2

Girl-Girl-Boy-Girl-Girl-Boy-Girl-Girl-Boy . . . you remember these pattern problems from 1st grade math.  What should come next?  Girl and then Girl!  That is exactly what  God is sending, two girls.  M and M will be two more beautiful Girls to add to our family.  If a later ultrasound sees something different, we will let you know.

This is a shot of the tops of heads.  They were both heads up and neither were lower than the other.  It was hard to determine a Baby A and a Baby B.  So for today Baby A was on the right and Baby B is on my left. The visit was a good one, and yet I left with many butterflies back.  I will be seeing a specialist on Tuesday.  The doctor made that decision while making notes on the placenta and the blood flow.  I don't think he noted anything bad just concern over the shared placenta.  We know that we are having identical twins as this is clearly one placenta and not two fused together. Baby B was 10% larger than Baby A and we don't panic over the Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome until there is a 20% difference.  Yet it is a concern. 

 I am trying to let go of my fear for these two and enjoy the images of my cute little ladies.  Here is the little Lady on my right side (now known as Baby A).

 This is the young Lady on the Left side (now known as Baby B.)  Her sister's head is peeking in on the side. 

 I left kind of depressed because of the need to see the other doctor, but the good news is that means another ultrasound next week.  This will be very high tech as they examine each baby very closely and set some markers to look for.  The doctor wanted to see if we needed another course of action so he will confer with doctor number two, all while I get to peek again. 

What do you do as a family to celebrate knowing the sexes and needing to distract mom and dad, go register at "Baby's R Us"!

This was such a silly way to spend two hours and yet so much fun.  I made dad share the "gun" with the kiddos as we tagged items for our wish list in the store.  Not easy considering dad didn't want to share.  LOL I could not believe all of the strong opinions my kiddos have over strollers, high chairs and everything else. 

As we left J kept asking if I remembered the prices on stuff.  He admitted that it was now growing more and more real to him as to the financial changes two will make.  He did mention that going out with identical twin girls is a great way to end our baby fest.  I giggled because I have thought we were finished many times before.  I am getting old but God still might have another plan. 

So until next week's ultrasound and visit with the specialist doctor I am going to rejoice in the knowledge of two precious "normal females".  They were very active and that is always a good sign.  We also decided that being identical twins with very thin membranes separating them unto separate cribs might be silly.  We plan to use one crib.  J and I also agreed on bedding for our little ones, which means I get to spend the next few weeks changing our school room into a baby room/office. 

Here the crowd is trying out different rocking chairs.  We missed Pooker's opinions but college calls. 

Dad couldn't help to get in on the act but only after telling everyone to pretend to be mom,  apparently that means falling asleep when sitting down.

So here we are:  Princess, Pickle M & M, and I.  My belly just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  The good news is that my blood pressure is great and the doctor thinks it is good news that I am now gaining weight, just 4 pounds, but he was happy I wasn't still loosing. 

And here I am at Week 21.3 wearing one of my new fun twin shirts.  It says "Marco" under one baby and "Polo" under the other.

Bagel Update - hard cast off

We went to the doctor this week. Bagel was planning what kind of cast she wanted this time. We brought Possible with us so she could see the office people that she grew to love over the summer. The visit started with Mr. Nick removing the old cast. Bagel was brave and sat very still. Then got very nervous.

She didn't want to look at her arm and was afraid to move it at the elbow. She sat very very still until after her x-ray. She was thrilled to learn that is was healing really well.

'Bagel was a tad upset that she wasn't going to need another cast.

The doctor opted for a brace. It can be removed and cleaned. She is allowed to take it off to shower as well. That will help in keeping Bagel clean. The problem was the limited color choices. She had big dreams and now the colors were limited.

I love the brace she picked. It will a very colorful choice to wear with her white First Holy Communion dress next week. Got to love it. Her arm is healing and it will be a beautiful day even with the colorful cast.

Bagel's Bear Surprise

Bagel got a surprise in the mail the other day from Nanny and Gramps.  They had a special Build a Bear made.  The included broken bones on the bear to make sure that Bagel would smile.  It worked.  It really did make her feel loved and special.  At night when the pain is worse she just hugs her bear.

Thanks Nanny for always making the kiddos feel better when they are in pain.  It is amazing that even though you are so far away you still know what to do to make them feel loved.

Bagel arm update!

I have been so worried about Bagel.  Her breaks were very bad.  My fear was that they were not set as perfectly as needed and that they would need to go back in surgery to fix the arm. 

She was getting nervous as we waited.  It was hard to get a good clean x-ray but I was very proud of Bagel.  She did everything she was told.  I was so relieved when the doctor saw the pictures.  "The arm was set perfectly, and we don't want to mess it up at all!" 

Possibles favorite person from the orthopedics office came in next.  Mr. Nick is the one that puts the casts on.  It was time for him to reset her arm in new cast without messing up how it it was set.  To do that they put her fingers in this contraptions and unwrapped her arm. 

Bagel was in full on panic mode at this point.  She didn't want to see her arm but she was trapped and had been told not to move too much.  Mr. Nick unwrapped and she started crying and breathing heavy.  Once I saw how good the arm looked I told her to just look at it.   She did and calmed instantly down.  She was going to be OK and we knew it right then and there.

Her favorite  color was picked she got her beautiful purple cast.

I forget how much comfort it is to know the doctors and trust them.  When we were in the emergency room they wanted to refer us to someone and I refused.  Because of Possible we actually knew a wonderful had/arm specialist.  I can't tell you how good it was to hear this doctor assure me that her arm looked great.   Whew!

This is when I need to thank the doctor and the staff from Sterling Ridge Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine.  Once again they have gone out of the way to help a daughter feel better and to assure mom and dad that our children are in the best of care.  Even this visit I was very impressed with everything.  Bagel started to cry when Mr. Nick unwrapped her arm  the  receptionist came over to help me calm her down.  Thanks to SROSM. 

Rough Thursday

I overslept last Thursday and woke up feeling a need to get moving. Some of the kiddos were up and running around and I figured I better hurry up to keep control of the household. J was flying home and we would need to retrieve him from the airport after school work and cleaning the house. As I was trying to dress complete chaos erupted in the household and it took me hours to figure out what was happening.  Someone had fallen down and hurt an arm but I was not understanding what everyone was yelling and crying about as I stood there with my towel wrapped around me. In my moment of clarity I decided to recruit Pooker's help. She is working at becoming a nurse and often is very level headed about injuries. "Someone stop Pooker before she heads to visit UST. Ask her to help us."

I  threw on the nearest clothes.  Not the best choice considering I grabbed long sleeves and jeans, it was over 100 degrees outside. I emerged from my bathroom to discover the chaos was at the same level with two more people added to the mix. Pooker returned inside with the next door neighbor Mr. KP to help us in this emergency. I deduced quickly that Bagel was the injured party because she was sitting on the couch with her arm in a sling and everyone else stood over her crying. I wasn't so sure we were headed to the ER like the crowd was yelling because I could see that her life was not in danger. She was breathing just fine and there was not any blood. "How about we call the doctor first," I offered while still trying to figure out what happened. Both Pooker and Mr. KP told me we were going to the ER. I figured I would trust them because they seamed much more alert than I felt at that moment.

I grabbed my bag and we headed out the door. In car I was alone with Bagel. Pooker was following in her car so she could pick up dad from the airport when needed and Mr. KP was sent home but promised to stay alert in case. Goobers was given the impossible task of calming the natives. Not sure how she did it, everyone was crying and I still couldn't understand why. This is when I learned what had happened. They were all running in the house. Apparently they race from front door to the back. Bagel ran and fell hitting her arm on the bottom rung of the stairs. I asked what she tripped on or who pushed and really this was just as simple misstep.

Bagel was in a lot of pain but asked an odd question. "Does Pooker love me as much as she loves her boyfriend?" I responded telling her that Pooker loved them both and that Bagel's health was very important. Pooker would always be there to take care of her when she needed her to." Later that afternoon it would become clear that Bagel really just misses having Pooker around all the time. She felt very loved having her sister with her in the ER.

We arrived and I was still wondering why we were there and not at the doctor's office. When the doctor came in the room Bagel lost it. She was scared to death and I couldn't figure out why. The doctor looked at her arm and asked me when she had last eaten. I knew that meant they were putting her under for some reason but I kept thinking "it is just an arm". It wasn't until Bagel calmed down and explained that she didn't want to die (her only other experience with the ER is her appendicitis). This was nothing; compared to that, I assured her. Her life was not in danger at all.

Then she wanted to know if the hospital would be able to make her arm look pretty again. I told her that wasn't an issue. Then I saw the arm for the first time. Oh My goodness!!!!  I about passed out it looked so bad. The pictures do not do it justice. Her arm was resting on the table for the ex-ray and then half way down the arm took a sharp turn up and over again with her wrist not resting but in mid air about one entire inch off of the table. It looked very deformed.

After reviewing the ex-ray and getting dad on the phone we went ahead with the procedure.  They started the IV and had Bagel fall asleep, she was still breathing on her own and I am told she wasn't under that far.  She would respond to the pain but not feel it and wouldn't remember.  Pooker stayed in the room, I didn't want to watch.  I waited until she was asleep and then walked away.

They pulled the bones straight and then set them.  Wrapping her arm in a huge splint to hold it still but to allow for the swelling that was coming.  It took hours for her to wake up all the way after the arm was set.

When she was first waking up she asked why we were in the water, and what kind of boat we were in.  Pooker and I were laughing so hard that we cried when we looked up to see what she was looking at.  Then she asked why they cut off her thumb because she couldn't see it.  Goofy kid. 

Pooker did not leave her side until we were getting ready to leave the hospital.  It was a long day for sure but I was so happy to see my oldest and youngest girls being so close to each other. 

  

This little one had many care takers when we arrived at home.  They had all seen the arm and were so grossed out by it.  They each told her how brave she was and how much they loved her.  It is not an everyday occurrence at our home but it was a wonderful thing to see. 

As Bagel got better she became more and more active. She kept bumping the arm and causing more pain.

I was happy when the smile came back a few days later. We were still unsure what the orthopedic doctor would say but at least the pain was going down and she was happy again.

Possible recovers from surgery

Possible is such a trooper.  Poor girl had surgery, and then got right up to be a part of the Confirmation weekend.  She kept strong and would go to practice for the Cudas even with a cast on.  She couldn't swim but still gave her all as a junior coach.  Her arm healed slowly and it wasn't pretty.  The good news is that it was healing. 

The pins were sticking out the back side.  The worst part was that they poked into her side, they were very sharp.  She would show everyone.  We all looked forward to the pins coming out . . .