It's Been A While

First, let me say thank you so much to everyone who has left comments and messages on my Zimbio account and on here. It seems that Murphy's Law has not yet left my life so getting on here to write has been next to impossible.

Just to give you all a run-down of what's been going on, a few weeks ago, my husband and I had to take Dare Devil for blood work which was a nightmare. He started getting A LOT of nose bleeds including one episode that happened while he was sleeping. I went in to get him in the morning and found him drenched in blood. His crib was a mess as well, it seriously looked like something out of a horror movie. Seeing as how my husband has a blood clotting disorder and went through bouts of serious nose bleeds when he was a kid, the doctor felt that we should get blood work done. Now I'd love to hear from any parents out there who have had to take their toddler for blood work because it was awful. I was so upset about the act of him getting blood drawn that I broke out in a rash all over my body. Thank God the ladies at the lab were quick with sticking him and collecting the tubes. After all of that though, I found out that the doctor had requested tests for general blood disorders but not for the disorder my husband has (which does run in the family by the way). He had spoken with a hematologist who gave us a list of precautions to take to avoid blood clots and offered to send DD back for more blood work. I said no and figured we'll wait until he's older. The blood work that was actually done came back normal which was a relief.

Remember the floods we had? Well about a month ago I found some wet papers on the floor of my home office which shares a wall with our laundry room. The more papers I went through, the worse the wetness along with mold, mildew and a God awful smell. Evidently water had come through the wall and half way across my office, soaking into the carpet and destroying a big bookcase. I spent about two weeks clearing out our office, throwing things away, salvaging what I could and cursing whatever hex has obviously been brought on my family. When all was said and done with this mess, my husband had to cut out a huge section of carpet that was ruined and throw out a large bookcase that had been a main source of storage. So my kitchen became a catch-all room and my living room became our dining room. We're still getting back to normal.

Remember the squirrels getting into the wall and roof? Well evidently one was a mother squirrel who had babies in my son's wall. My husband had started catching squirrels at night and then releasing them miles away from our home so they couldn't find their way back and from what I gather, one of the caught squirrels was this mother squirrel. I noticed a little baby squirrel roaming around my back porch one day and scooped it into a shoe box so I could set it free outside. Of course it can't be that easy though. No, this baby came back looking for me about twenty minutes later. After calling three separate wildlife rescue places and being told the charge for coming out to my house, I tried to just ignore the baby in hopes it would go away. Again, it can't be that easy. For two hours it sat inside my porch and cried! I finally felt so awful that I called a friend over for advice. After she handled the baby and I saw it wasn't out to gnaw anyone's face off, I decided to take care of it until it was old enough to fend for itself. I went out and bought puppy formula and began feeding it through a dropper. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that my husband was not exactly thrilled when he came home and found me harboring this evil little creature. That night, my husband left for a camping trip, not knowing he'd come home to four more baby squirrels. That's right, the next day I found the rest of them, peeking their little heads out from behind the siding outside my son's room. One by one they fell from up near the roof and began following me around. So I took them all in, making a nest out of some old towels and my son's old guinea pig cage. I'd go out every day and feed each one, then put them down for a nap. At night I'd check to make sure they were all ok then close the cage to keep out roaming neighborhood cats and other animals. Yes, it was quite a sight. They're getting so much bigger now and are eating on their own so we are going to take them away and set them free soon.

Things don't end there though, no way. I went for my usual twenty-week ultrasound and found out we're having a girl (yay!) but our happiness was dashed a week later when I received an upsetting phone call from my doctor. He told me that the tech found two cysts on the baby's brain. And basically it comes down to either the baby will be perfectly fine, or she'll have chromosomal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome or Edward's Syndrome but I needed to have more tests done before we'd know the risk. Waiting another three days for an ultrasound at the Antenatal Testing Unit (ATU) in the hospital felt like an eternity. I will write more about the experience in my pregnancy journal as it was a long appointment and there is a good bit to write. But basically the outcome was that the doctor wasn't positive that these marks are actually cysts. She wasn't positive that they aren't either. She offered the idea of having an amniocentesis done which is something my husband and I already discussed and decided against. So we were told our odds of there being a problem. The baby has a one in six-hundred and fifty chance of having Edward's and the chance for Down syndrome is even greater. The good news is that they saw no other sign indicating Edward's, the bad news is that we won't know for sure until the baby is born if there is a problem. Unfortunately with Edward's, most babies do not make it to term, they die in the womb. Those who survive usually die within the first couple of months of life. But I am going back to the ATU for another ultra long ultrasound in June and they'll look for any indicators of Edward's Syndrome. Other than that, the doctor told us to just put the possibilities of problems in the back of our heads and wait for the delivery. Of course that's easier said than done.

And after all of that, my kids and I were in a car accident two weeks ago. Coming home from my parents one night, we were plowed into by a woman claiming she never saw us. I have a van, she had a sports car and even though I saw her coming at me and slammed on my breaks (and leaned on my horn) she still hit us with enough force that she pushed us across the road almost into a parking lot. I jumped out once we stopped and unloaded on her for the shear fact that my kids were in the car. Once I was done flipping out, the reality of what had just happened set in and I started shaking pretty bad. There were a lot of people outside of a bar right in front of where it happened. They saw the whole thing and came running to check on me and my kids, they called the police for me, lent me a phone to call my husband, stayed with me until the police came and even brought out some candy for my kids. I was really glad they were there. I declined going to the hospital because we're there so much that they're about to give me a reserved parking spot. None of us were bleeding, nothing was broken. My kids being, well my kids, didn't even cry. In fact, Big Brother saw how upset I was and grabbed my hand telling me, "Mom, we're all ok. The accident could have been a lot worse. We're not hurt. Everything is going to be alright." He's the rational one obviously. So despite some aches and pains we're feeling much better now and my van is being repaired. That's going to take at least a week, wonderful.


So that's pretty much the rundown of my current situations and why I haven't been on here. But it is definitely therapeutic to come back and write. I wish I could keep my head together though. My brain is so foggy right now that I keep forgetting things. I feel like I'm in the early onset of Alzheimer's. I'm afraid my husband is going to commit me pretty soon if I can't get it together!

But again, thanks for keeping up with my blog (even if I didn't) and for all your comments and messages, it really does mean a lot to me!!