And isn't it IRONIC, Don't Ya Think?

So, for many of you, you know the crazy "Julie" story.  But for those of you that only know bits, pieces, or not even that much...here goes!

I married my Canadian hockey playing husband right after graduating from University of Louisville.  We met in October, we fell in love at first sight, we crossed the US/Canadian Border what seemed like a billion times, (enough to get the attention of the border officers), got engaged on Valentine's Day, and I walked down the aisle at the end of September 1994, less that a year after meeting.  This sounds a bit fast, but we "needed" to be together all the time, and there wasn't another way because of immigrations.  And it all worked out in the end :)  But the crazy started when I found out about a year after getting married I was pregnant!  Everyone was super excited, and we even flew up to Canada to tell Bill's parents in person we were having a baby.  Except one little problem, that baby about 3 weeks later ended in a miscarriage :(  The doctor said that often things just don't match up as they are supposed to genetically and there was nothing to worry about.

Now, endure the next 5 years of infertility treatments, to no avail! Then miraculously we find out in Jan. of 2000, I am pregnant with my soon to be Lily girl! Pregnancy goes off without a hitch, picture perfect to be exact.  I taught group fitness, water aerobics, and played golf the whole time...including 18 holes the day before she was born!! She was perfect in every way, and our everything!  So imagine my surprise when she was 9 months old to find out after 5 years of infertility before her, I was pregnant!!! But...enter the crazy again! I lost the baby at 9 weeks, and was crushed.  I just figured since my pregnancy with Lily was so perfect that the miscarriage thing wouldn't happen again, WRONG!!! This time though, my body didn't recognize the baby wasn't alive anymore, so I had to have a procedure to help with the process.  We decided to give things a break, and not try for a while. Oh, and sidebar let me add in, my "plan" was to have all 3 of my children before I was 25.  Since I was 28 when I finally had Lily, that plan was blown, and the newest miscarriage further delayed my 3 kids plan.  Fear of infertility crept back into my mind, as it was a year later that we finally got pregnant again!!! YEAH!!! Except, yup, you guessed it, miscarriage again, this time at 13 weeks.  Everything is fine, then wait, no heartbeat, everything is not so fine.  And if you are keeping track, yes we are up to 3 miscarriages, the one before Lily and now 2 more.  Suddenly, our problem wasn't infertility anymore, but sustaining the pregnancy.  Why??? Doctor says, well sometimes things just don't match up as they are supposed to (heard that one before)...we do genetic testing on 5% of the population, and of that 5% only 1% will truly have any problems.  OK we said, after all she was the doctor, right?

Time goes by, not trying and not preventing...guess what?  We are pregnant once again, 5th pregnancy just to keep you on track.  We were in a new part of town, so new doctor.  We go to see her, and she is ultra on guard about our situation and history of miscarriage.  But even that didn't help, baby never formed beyond a yolk sac, and as usual my body didn't recognize the baby was already in the arms of Jesus...so I had to have another procedure to help my body out.  But instead of everything going smooth, within a few days my temperature spiked and my white count dropped very low, so into the hospital I go for 10 days!  Not so good when your doctor comes in and past me on the leg to tell me they don't know what is going on, but this is very serious.  They pumped me full of so many strong antibiotics my IV vein hardened, and they drew blood every hour to check my white count.  They call in infectious disease, hematology, and every other specialist they could get a hold of, I think!  Turns out, they didn't really pinpoint why my white count was so low, but with genetic testing they did find out I have a blood clotting disorder called MTHFR for short.  This was the culprit for the miscarriages, as my blood is so thick that the baby doesn't get the nourishment via the placenta to allow it to grow and develop as it should, and the result is the loss of another precious angel.  MTHFR has to do with the homocysteine levels which control the folic acid maintained in the body, and since I have a genetic mutation at both locations, it creates pregnancy havoc to say the least.  Now knowing this, we decide as a family, since we already have Lily and I would have to give myself blood thinner injections every day during pregnancy to try and sustain a pregnancy...we would just accept our family is me, Bill and Lily.  And we were OK with this and grew quite comfortable.  The pain of not having another baby subsided, and I no longer felt a jab every time I attended a baby shower, had to go to the OBGYN and sit in a waiting room full of pregnant ladies, or saw cute little baby clothes.  God had healed that part of my heart, and I prayed I would rather not get pregnant at all than have to go through another loss.

Now fast forward to the fall of 2009, and holy cow!!! I'm pregnant!!! First call was to hematologist because I knew my only hope of carrying this pregnancy full term was those shots, which I started right away.  Then looked for the best high risk doctor I could find, which was Dr. Marcello Pietrantoni in Louisville, KY.  He held  my hand through this unexpected and quite miraculous pregnancy.  Delivery was a bit sketchy due to the blood thinner shots, but a beautiful baby boy named Luke became a part of our family!  He had some issues early on, like the rare neurological disorder called benign peroxisomal torticollis, but all is well now, and he is a smartie patartie, and can run like the wind!  So, family done right?  Two was enough, and especially since I was 38 when Luke was born.  NOT!!!

Surprise!!! I found out two days before Christmas that despite my ripe old age of 41, and protection (go ahead and giggle) I am PREGNANT!!!  And now you know why I chose the title for today!  It is ironic, that my plan was to have 3 kids before I was 25, and God must have thought I said 45! LOL! I could have pushed over my husband with a feather, and he isn't a smallish kind of guy! My daughter and husband had been asking if we could have another baby since Luke was about 6 months old, and my answer was always a very loud and clear, NO!!! And of course, this all happened two months after I sold my baby crib, mattress, and change table.  I didn't keep any of my maternity clothes, or an infant car seat, or baby bath, bouncer, swing...why would I?  This time I'm keeping things forever, just as added insurance!  I have high school friends who have kids in college, have grandchildren, an empty nest, and here I am having a baby! In my defense, it wasn't my plan, but if anything... let my life be hope to anyone who has problems with infertility or miscarriage.  It ain't over till the fat lady sings!!! Can I get an AMEN!!!???

If you think about it, say a little prayer for this old lady who is all bruised up from the heparin injections, struggling to make it to the gym to keep the weight down, chasing a two year old around, and wondering what in the world just happened?  What else can I do but pray all goes smoothly, that my sweet baby is healthy, then smile and just move on :) Sure glad I didn't bother with that tummy tuck yet! LOL!!! I'm going to be watching cartoons until I'm a hundred years old!

Oh, and if you want to see my daughter, mom and dad as they find out about this pregnancy, check it out on the youtube section to the left.  It is pretty funny!

Monday Monday

 

There are parts of me that love Monday's, then there is that part which knows Monday means hurry up, pick up, clean up, straighten up, get busy, get organized, get a move on or else!!! Anyone else feel the same?  The part of me that likes Monday needs the routine, the schedule, the extra little push to crawl out from under the sluggish and fun weekend and pop into action with all that need attention after giving it a break on Sat. and Sunday.  I have a rule that I do not do housework on the weekend other than maybe a load of laundry or two, and I dust mop my kitty and doggie hair every day on the hardwood to keep the tumbleweeds down to a bare minimum!!! And of course it is back to school for everyone, which gives me a moment to myself to breathe...and pick up their messes ALL over the house!

Monday means get everyone to school on time, squeeze in the gym, make the all important list of things to do this week both personal and work related, and then commence to buckling down and getting things accomplished.  You know, take a glance at the calendar to see what appointments we have, check our milk and bread supply, think about what to fix for dinner this week, place grocery order (I love you Lowes Foods to Go), fold laundry left in dryer from weekend, and so on, and so forth, and it just never stops.  So, why in the world again do I like Monday??? What about all that appeals to me, you might ask?  Let me explain why weekends are great but Monday must come, why I need it, and why even though you may not be happy about its weekly return, you need it too!

Monday to just about everyone whether working, staying home working, retired, vacationing, or whatever you do for life...means the beginning of something new, the week.  How many times have you said, "I will start my diet on Monday, I will start exercising on Monday, I will begin reading that book on Monday, I will ..." you get the point.  Monday signifies the time we begin again, begin over, a new start, and even though it happens every week; it still helps us attempt to do things we have put off, ignored, and quite frankly don't want to do... but know we really just have to like it or not.  Now I am not saying we all do it with a spring in our step and whistling a happy little tune, but for the most part we suck it up and do.  Kind of like Nike says, Just do It!  Not because we like to, but because it is necessary for our existence.  Did I get up this morning all pumped up about scrubbing toilets, scooping dog poop in the back yard, matching up what felt like a thousand little bitty socks, and all those other "fun" chores?  Heck no!!! But are they all necessary? YUP!!! If I don't want to be embarrassed if I had a guest stop by and had pink mold or whatever that is that grows around the water line in the toilet bowl, or kids stepping in dog poop and then tracking it into the house, or my son not having socks when it is cold and his shoes could rub blisters without them?  Of course not, it has to be done, the weekend is over, and it is time to get back to business, work, or whatever you want to call it.  What else can you do but... Git-R-Done, then smile and just move on :)

Evolution of NYE from Childhood to Parenthood, and beyond :)

As a child, I remember the anticipation of getting to stay up till midnight to ring in the new year.  Staying up till midnight, what a thrill!!! Then high school, where you were hoping someone would invite you over so you didn't have to spend NYE with your parents, how lame is that?  Then college is where it really started to get good!

College live and NYE are notoriously a rocking good time, and the next day...not so fun with that headache and all :)  Everyone trying to figure out where the best place would be to ring in the new year?  A fraternity house, the local bar, a community event...and it all depended on where you knew that certain someone was planning to go, so you could be there too!!! Then college comes to an end and wedding bells chime, and the beginning of NYE as a married couple.

Now, NYE is almost the same as the college years in the beginning, but instead of wondering who you might want to kiss at midnight...that was set!!! No worries there, and being still young it was all about the party then too!  What to wear, and it needed to be dressy, maybe go to a country club party, or an exclusive hotel ballroom party, something more upscale...more sophisticated, or grown up :)

Then babies come along.  NYE, who cares, you just want to sleep!!! Especially since you don't get to on a regular basis.  You think to yourself, why in the world would anyone want to intentionally stay up late, drink and not feel good in the morning??? Then kids get a little older, and you decide maybe we can let them stay up till midnight, ring in the new year with sparkling grape juice, and they will sleep late tomorrow morning! Yeah right!!! Instead they wake up same old time and are crabby all day long...yet you continue to repeat this every year and take the punishment New Years Day like a trooper. After all, there is nothing sweeter than kissing those sweet little faces when the Ball drops in Time Square, and watching the confetti fall to the streets with noise makers going like wild!

Your kids get older, and now you are worried sick over what they are doing out on NYE, since you still remember what goes on :(  You pray for safety, and just hold your breathe until you hear the door open and know they are home safe!  By this time, you stay up to watch the ball drop, but it's kind of lost it's luster, and concerned parent paranoia has set in!  It is a new year, you are just getting older, and life is going at the rate of a runaway train, and you desperately want it to slow down if not stop!!! How could it be?

Kids are grown and gone! You have grandkids now, and you think you might stay awake to ring in the new year, but fall short by falling asleep on the couch or giving up and just going to bed.  Who cares it is a new year, death is at your door...you have a doctors appointment this week, and Wednesday is Senior Citizen discount day at the grocery store, and we might have snow flurries this week.

So this is my humorous look at the evolution of NYE, and well, for the most part, it is pretty true to life like it or not!!! What else can we do but smile and just move on...Happy New Year friends!!! no matter where you may fall in this evolutionary path of New Years Eve :)