The Newest Jackson

I should have posted something while we were in the hospital, but I guess I forgot I had a blogg. We finally had our little girl on Tuesday (5/8) Her name is Phoebe Veralyn Jackson. She was born at 4:09pm and was 5 lbs 14 oz., 19" long. Everything went really smoothly for both baby and mommy.

I was blessed with an OBGYN that, like me, prefers the convenience of a scheduled delivery as opposed to being woken up in the middle of the night with a surprise, so I was able to be induced a little less than a week prior to my due date. Worked out really great for me because one of my biggest fears was the possibility of going into labor naturally, having to try to get a hold of Ben at work, wait 45 mins. for him to come home only to have to drive for another hour to get to the hospital. I've heard too many delivery on the freeway nightmare stories, so I appreciated being induced a little early.

I headed into the hospital at 11:00am. After about 20 minutes of admissions and paperwork, I was given the iv of petosin. Maybe a half hour later, Dr. Tanner came in to break my water. This may be (probably is) more than anyone wants to know, but I thought it was kind of interesting. They usually use a thin hooked device to break waters. I was induced with both of my boys, and that's how it was done, with no problem. This time it just wasn't happening, and he ended up having to use a scalpel, and that even took some effort.

We just hung out for an hour or so. I think I watched some "Swamp People". I was feeling quite a bit of pain, so I asked for the epidural pretty early. That was Ben's favorite part. I kind of wish that there were a mirror or something behind me, so I could see what was going on because it sounds pretty cool. I'm sure it would hurt a lot more if I saw it though. I could tell that things weren't going normal with this epidural because it was taking a pretty long time, and I could feel several "pops", and I think there is usually only one. When I thought that it was finished, the doctor administering it said nervously, "Sometimes when you get an epidural, the needle hits a pocket of fat or a blood vessel and has to be redone. It looks like I've hit a blood vessel, so I'll have to redo it. The good news is about 75% of it is okay, so this shouldn't take long". I didn't really care because I couldn't really feel it anyway, but Ben said that when he put the catheter in, blood started spurting out of my back like I sprung a leak. I think I would have liked to see that.

It wasn't too long before, even with the epidural, the contractions got pretty painful. This was a new experience for me because I really felt almost nothing at all with the boys. The nurse came in to check me, and in less than an hour I'd gone from a 2 1/2 to a 9 1/2. This was about a seven hour process with the boys. The nurse had me do a practice push, and when I did, baby's heartrate dropped drastically, so she told me to stop pushing. She suspected the cord may be around the neck a little bit, but she was fine as long as I wasn't pushing, and I was on oxygen. Dr. Tanner came down and must have fixed the problem right away because he had me start pushing again. After the second push, he told me to look down. I said "gross" and told him that I didn't want to see anything, and he again, a little annoyed, told me to look down. I looked down, and he was holding a baby. Weird. Two pushes. I didn't even know that she was out. She was so little, tiny headed, and didn't look anything like the boys. I think that Dr. Tanner may have just smuggled a baby in with him, and I'm actually still pregnant.

Luckily, we started seeing some of Miles in her mouth and some of me in her nose and a whole lot of Conan in her mannerisms, so I'm pretty sure she's ours. She's just so tiny! And her head is not a giant globe (I suspect the reason for the quick delivery). Everything looked good with her, and we got to spend most of the two days in the hospital with her in the room. With the exception of the regular blood sugar testing (that returned to normal by the time we were discharged), and a couple of hours I asked them to take her to the nursery, so I could sleep, she was always with us. Good practice for real life.

Now, we're home and trying to get adjusted to life with 3 kids. The boys love her, but we have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't accidentally jump on her while she's laying on the bed or to avoid Conan trying to carry her by her head. I think this will be our challenge. I'm glad that they like her and aren't too jealous as of yet.

P.S. This is a very old post that I just never actually posted. Sorry. I will try to be more diligent. Also, remember when looking at that lovely family picture that I had just birthed out a baby. Certainly not my lovliest picture, but those babies sure are cute.

Miles had his annual cardiology appointment today. I didn't have too many concerns. This year hasn't been terribly eventful, well not too much out of the usual anyway. He still has asthma exacerbation's all the time, and he still typically gets pneumonia one or more times a month, but that was all going on prior to his last visit. And in the past year, he's only been hospitalized once (I think).

The paperwork today asked if there were any new symptoms. I did have two. Over the past couple of months, Miles has been vomiting on a pretty regular basis, maybe 3 or 4 times a week, for no particular reason. He has had reflux issues in the past, but that was always preceded by coughing. Now, it's just out of the blue. Number two, there have been a few times, also in the past couple of months, where Miles has come to me complaining that he needed a treatment. There weren't any signs of respiratory distress, so I'd tell him no he didn't. You see, because Miles has been taking so much medicine for so long, he's actually likes it, so I thought he just "wanted" a treatment. After some insistence on his part, though, I'd take his oxygen levels and find them in the low to mid '80s. Very strange since there wasn't wheezing or retracting, so I was curious about that.

As I suspected, the appointment did go very well. Dr. Puchalski said that Miles's mitral valve sounded great. That is kind of the biggest concern of his problems. Last year, there was some worry that the reason for all of the respiratory problems and clouding in Miles's lungs was because of mitral valve stenosis. The mitral valve can become hardened and move as it should, and it can allow blood to pool in the chamber or leak into the lung. Even though, Dr. Puchalski couldn't hear anything that pointed in that direction, last year, he ordered an echo to check it out because a separate condition just seemed too unlikely. As he put it, lightening did strike twice, and the respiratory issues were not heart related. In fact, he thought that the mitral valve actually looked healthier than it had when Miles was first diagnosed, which is almost impossible, improvement, I mean. Anyway, mitral valve still sounded great.

He did hear some leaking from the aortic valve. The typical heart has a tricuspid aortic valve (with three leaflets). In many Shone's kids, the aortic valve is only bicuspid. This is the case with Miles. I believe it's a relatively common issue, and usually doesn't cause problems, but the valve can become narrow and restrict blood flow, or can become leaky, as is the case with Miles. It still isn't anything to cause too much worry at this point. It just has to monitored (with only a yearly check-up unless something worsens), but I was told that it would have to be monitored for the rest of his life. I'm not sure why, but I just thought it was a little funny that the doctor added that last part.

Dr. Puchalski did address my concerns, but really didn't have any super helpful answers. He seemed a little perplexed by both issues. He didn't think that the vomiting would have any relation to his heart problems, but he did think that it would be a good idea to visit a GI specialist since it is such a frequent problem. I didn't really think that this was a result of Shone's, but since I'm certainly not an expert, I'm going to bring up any weird thing that happens. I think that this could just be the result of genetics. Ben has a real issue with throwing up too, so the males in this family may just have very weak stomachs. Dr. Puchalski did suggest something that I found a little interesting though. He said that there is a disease (not a serious disease) where people just throw up a lot. He told me the name, and it was something super hilarious that sounds made up, but I can't remember it. That's part of the reason that he thought that it may be advantageous to see a GI specialist.

As far as the mysterious low oxygen levels go, Dr. Puchalski didn't have a real explanation for that either. He said that it was very strange for that to happen without obvious signs, but he also said that Miles compensates very well. We know that by the fact that he wasn't diagnosed with Shone's until he was one. It's usually diagnosed in utero. By the time he was diagnosed, his coarc was so bad, that it required surgery within weeks. I saw the portion of his aorta that was removed. There was even a pinhole left. The surgeon seemed a little shocked but also excited to show us what Miles had overcome. Without any major blood canal to his extremities, Miles still did not have any obvious symptoms. Most kids would have had swollen hands and feet and blue fingers and toes. Not Miles though. His lesser passageways must have taken control and compensated for the practically useless aorta. Pretty amazing how the body can do that. He did give some recommendations for additional things to watch for. He said that even if I was not seeing bluing around Miles's lips, to check the inside of his mouth. When oxygen levels are particularly low, the interior part of the lips will almost always blue. He also told me to be aware of the color of his lower nail beds. They will usually get a bluish tint as well.

Anyhow, I was assured that this, too, was strictly a respiratory issue, not a cardiac one. He told me that the only reason something like that would happen from a cardiac stance would be if blue blood was mixing with red blood, and right now, that is not happening. It's nice--well, kind of--to know definitively, that the respiratory problems are a separate issue. I say kind of because it would also be really nice to have an explanation because we still know that it's not all asthma. I suppose we'll just continue to see a million different doctors for a million different issues. Right now, Miles has his regular pediatrician, his cardiologist, his pulmonologist, his allergist, he sees a respiratory therapist pretty regularly (although it's not the same person each time), and now, I guess we get to add a GI specialist. You know, many Shone's patients also have neurology and ADHD problems, so maybe down the road, we'll get to add a few more.

Back to the usual, blogging because of a hospital visit. This one wasn't the usual visit though.

Last night, Miles and I were downstairs watching Ben play his new video game (the new Uncharted game is really cool). Conan was already up in bed since it was probably close to 9:00pm. Ben started complaining that a couple of sunflower seeds he had eaten were giving him really bad heart burn. I thought it was really funny because he had literally only eaten maybe five seeds. Apparently, they give him heart burn though. He went upstairs to get some antacids, and Miles and I waited and waited for him to come back down. A few minutes later, from the basement, we could hear Ben vomiting violently in the bathroom upstairs. That lasted for a good ten minutes. Ben's always had a pretty weak stomach, so i didn't think too much of it, although it did last a lot longer than normally. A few minutes later, I heard some screaming, then Ben yelled for me. I ran upstairs and found him writhing on the floor in the entryway. I asked if he wanted to go to the hospital, and he told me to give him a half hour. He only lasted about 5 minutes though.

We all threw some clothes on since we'd already gotten ready for bed. I called Alex to see if I could drop the kids off, and he quickly answered that he was at the Gateway, but he was on the way home. He said that he would call as soon as he got home. I was so grateful that they were willing to take them even though they weren't at home....and especially because I didn't think about it at the time, but it was Jenn's birthday. Man, I'm a jerk. Anyway, I loaded the kids in the car, and Ben hobbled out. He was definitely in pain when we left, but he seemed okay enough to just take him to Urgent Care. As we drove down Main Street it just got worse and worse though. Every minute or so, he'd clench his chest and scream for about 30 seconds. It got to the point where he was instructing me to run red lights, and obviously, we went straight to the ER.

In all the chaos, I had set my phone down by my purse after talking to Alex and left it at the house. I was a little concerned because how was I supposed to arrange babies without being able to get a hold of him? Whoops! Luckily, I have great in-laws that didn't even go home before coming to the ER. Not long after taking the kids into the waiting area, I saw their van pull up in front of the doors. I don't even know how they got there so fast. Thank you so much Alex and Jenn! You guys are the best!

Not too much happened at the hospital. They gave him morphine, and that really seemed to calm Ben down (and make him a little silly). They did an EKG, x-ray, and a ct, along with blood work. Nothing showed anything terribly telling. I guess one of his kidneys is a little small, but that wouldn't have caused these problems. They narrowed it down to gall bladder problems and/or ulcers, but they ultimately sent us home and told us to come back if it came back. Not super helpful. Although, I'm very glad that it wasn't a heart issue, it would have been so nice to have some sort of answer.

Ben hasn't had any more of those "episodes" since we got back from the hospital, but he did say that he felt like his chest had been run over by a dump truck. Today, he followed up with his regular doctor. I stayed home with the kids, so I honestly don't know what happened. I was asleep when he got home, and he was asleep, and still is, when I woke up. I did gather that he was referred to a gi specialist, and he was given nexium. I'm pretty anxious for Ben to go to a specialist because I've thought that he has ulcers for a long time. I'd definitely like to get it all under control. Our family has enough medical issues as is.

Typically, I remember to write when Miles is sick, and although he is having a few problems today, I really just thought it was time for an update. It's been a good three months, and a lot has happened. Trying to fit everything in would take much longer than anyone would ever be willing to read, so I'll give the condensed version.

We were so excited that mid August marked not only the two year anniversary of Miles' OHS, but also marked a full year without being admitted to the hospital. That's not to say we didn't have our problems, and their were even ER visits, but we were able to basically control things "in house". Quite an accomplishment considering the previous year we averaged almost a stay a month. Unfortunately, our streak lasted only that year because within a couple of weeks, we were back at Primary. Miles had had a particularly bad asthma episode and being that it was either late or the weekend (it was a while ago, so I don't exactly remember), we visited the Instacare. Little was done there other than an x-ray that showed he probably had pneumonia. We were sent home for more treatments and with a prescription of zithromax. Things just seemed to get worse, so we made a second trip, this time to the Urgentcare later that night. They gave him a super-neb and a prescription for prednisone. The doctor told me that he really couldn't do anything more than I was already doing at home, so if things got any worse, he needed to go to the ER. Things seemed to improve though, so we didn't do anything else that night.

The next morning, I took him to his pediatrician, just for a follow up. He sounded so much better, so I was really surprised when his oxygen levels never exceeded 80, even after a few treatments. I think Dr. Ditty was pretty surprised too, thought his pulse/ox machine wasn't working, but a second gave readings just as bad. He looked at me and said, "I'm really sorry, but I really can't legally let you take him home this low. You're going to have to take him up the hill". Even though his office is connected to Mountain West Medical Center, he would never send me there. He just grabbed an oxygen tank from his closet, set it, hooked him up and told me to go straight to Primary.

I was surprised when after the car ride on over 2 liters of oxygen, his levels were still super low when read at PCMC. I was even more surprised when I was told that not only would Miles need to certainly stay for a few days, but that the doctors were debating on whether he'd stay in the medical unit or in the ICU. The only time he'd stayed in the ICU was right after his surgery.

Luckily, we avoided the ICU, but it did take three days before Miles was able to start being weened off of oxygen. His treatment was basically the same as in the past. And, like in the past, the exacerbation is still kind of unexplained. We've managed to stay out of the hospital since then, so I guess that's good though. Now, it's time to gear up for cold and flu season. I have a feeling it might be a tough one.

Well, that wasn't very condensed, now was it? I'll try to do better with the rest.

The week after Miles was released, we headed to Southern California with Rod, Cathy and Aubrey. It was our first time flying with the kids, and while they were really good, and it saved a lot of time, with a relatively short trip like CA, I think it was more hassle than just driving. We stayed in an amazing condo, thanks to Cathy and Marriott Resorts. It was nice to be able to stay together but still have our own room, and a kitchen was priceless. We spent the first couple of days with the animals at the San Diego Zoo and Sea World. I always love going to those places because we just don't have anything of that level here. Don't get me wrong. I do love Hogle Zoo, but we don't have a Sun Bear. The next three days were spent at my favorite place on the planet. Disneyland. It really is my favorite place, and I've been all over the world. It was so fun to see that Miles really did remember things from last year. This time he understood so much more and was so excited about everything. Conan even got excited by things. He was particularly fascinated by the big Buzz robot in Astro Blasters. We had so much fun at Disneyland that we're thinking that instead of a lot of toys and things, we're going to ask Santa to send us back to Disneyland in January. Our final vacation day we went to Universal Studios. It's been years (like 20) since I've been to Universal, so most of it was new to me. I did not remember them having so much. I know that I disappointed Ben because I am not a thrill ride person, so I skipped some of those. I loved the backlot tour though. So much cooler than I remembered it! And I thought that the Simpson's ride was really fun. It was too bad that Miles was about an inch and a half too short to ride it because he would have loved it. We're hoping that we can stretch him a little by January because he just missed out on some great rides at Disneyland too. Anyhow, it was an awesome trip, and having family there always makes it so much fun!

Because of the hospital stay and our vacation, Miles missed his first two weeks of Joy School. Luckily, we have really great neighbors that brought over a bunch of what he missed out on. I was super excited when some of the gals in the ward invited me to participate. I really wanted to Miles into some form of pre-school, mainly to get him around the other kids on a regular basis. It's been so much fun for Miles, and I just completed my first two classes. The first was on the letter "G". We based it on gardens and ghosts. The next lesson was the letter "H". I told the story of the little red hen and talked about helping, then we did some h is for Halloween activities. On Thursday, we had our Halloween party, and I think that all the kids had a lot of fun. The only complaint that I've had so far is that I have the worst child ever to wake up, and even though school isn't that early at 9:30, Miles always seems to pick those days to want to sleep in. Stinker.

Conan had a major milestone a couple of weeks ago. Literally, while I was in the process of complaining to my family about him not being able to walk, he walked across the cabin living room. I guess he showed me, eh? He's just gotten better since then. I have to say that he really doesn't have very good balance. He's very wobbly. It might have something to do with little tiny feet and legs and a great big fat body and head. He compensates very well though. Just when he's so slanted you think he's going to hit the floor, he wobbles in the other direction. It's very cute. Now that we've got the walking down, we need to work on the talking.

I've been busy the past week trying to figure out Festival of Trees. My mother pointed out that i have less than a month, and I'm getting a little frantic because I'm super disorganized. I think that my small tree and wreath are basically ready to assemble, and I have a relatively clear vision for them. my large tree is another story. After last year, I'm just not sure if this can measure up. It always seems to come together in the end though. I'm sure it will be great. Even if it's not, I know that it will sell because it's a Disney themed tree, and they always do.

Something kind of special happened a couple of days ago. I got an email from one of the publicity heads for Festival of Trees asking permission to share our story in their advertising in the next coming weeks. It wasn't a very specific email, so I wondered if it was kind of a mass email, but I did give permission. I pretty immediately got a response that said that Miles story really touched her, and she was excited to share it. I thought that that was really neat. I still don't know what exactly it all means. I replied and told her that if she needed anything further (pictures, etc.) to let me know. I basically did that hoping I could get more info on what would be happening. I haven't heard back, but that was only last night, so we'll see. My guess is that they may refer to it in one of there radio interviews or something. I'd love to know though. I was curious why they wanted our story since I'm sure it's not the most interesting, but my sister made a good point. Miles is a success story. Doctor's at PCMC caught his problems in the nick of time and corrected what they could at that moment. He gets continued treatment at the hospital, but it really is a positive story.

I can hear my kids trying to murder each other, so I'd better stop for now. I'll try to be back before another few months pass.....hopefully for good news, so stay tuned.

I was on facebook this evening, and I just happened to click on the blog link for a high school friend. I thought it was a blog link anyway. It turns out that it was more of a carepage/journal of her son's fight with cancer. I haven't kept in touch with this friend in a meaningful way at all since high school, and I did not know that she had a child with cancer. I read a little bit, and I believe he was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 7. After excessive treatment, it was all but taken care of. Unfortunately, it later returned, but after more treatment, a routine mri showed it had disappeared. However, his last mri, earlier this month, showed it had come back really aggressively, and there is no treatment for it. Her little boy was put on hospice and given 1-2 months to live. I think it took me about a half hour to read the page long post because I was crying so hard.

Since Miles was diagnosed with CHD, we've known that there is that possibility that he wouldn't always be with us. Shone's kids do not have super great life expectancies. Thankfully, Miles' condition has not progressed (negatively) much at all since his initial OHS. For a Shone's baby, he is relatively healthy. Still, Ben and I have had a lot of talks that parents don't want to have, planning for what ifs and what thens. It's never been easy, but it's been manageable....at this point anyway. I can't imagine being told that my child has only a certain amount of time left to live. What would you do? I can't think of anything worse.

When I read my friend's post, she was happy. They had been in Legoland and Disneyland, I think a last big family trip. She didn't talk about her son's sickness or how much she was going to miss him. She just wrote about the fun time they were having and the silly things her little boy had done that day. I really admire her for her attitude and bravery. I know I couldn't do that. My heart goes out to her.

I am so grateful for my boys and for their health. When I hear things like that, it makes those little things like dumping out all of the toy bins or spraying Capri Suns all over the house seem pretty insignificant. I love my babies!

A Few Thoughts

I just had a thought, and I was planning on posting it on facebook, but then I had another thought, then another, and that's just too much. Plus, it's been several weeks since the last update, so this is probably the best channel for my thoughts.

First, I love that my sons' favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. In all honesty, it's a pretty stupid show, but it stars the "Fabulous Five", and there's no one else that I'd rather brainwash my children's minds. I adore Disney, especially the classic characters. I love that I can take (and have taken) my very young children to Disneyland, and they know who all the characters are and actually understand the rides. Ben and I were talking to Miles today about our upcoming vacation to Southern California, and Miles told us, without any reminders from us, what he was going to do at Disneyland. First, he'd go on Dumbo, a green Dumbo, then he'd shoot Zurg all by himself. He'd go through the hole on the calapitter (I'm pretty sure that means go through the watermelon tunnel on the Heimlich caterpillar ride). He wanted to fly on the boats and see Captain Hook and Mr. Smee and see Sully on the "Monshuhs" (Monsters Inc.) ride. I'm surprised that he remembers so much about Disneyland. The last time we went was about a year ago, and he was only 2 months past 2. Good memory. I'm so excited to take him back to all these fun things that he remembers. And I'm excited to see how Coney likes it now that he's old enough to have more of a reaction. Like Miles, he loves watching all of the Disney shows and gets especially smiley when he sees Mickey Mouse. It warms my heart (and probably freezes Ben's--just kidding, I know he secretly loves it too. Otherwise we wouldn't end up at Disneyland every year) to see my children developing the same love for all things Disney that I have. I owe so much happiness to Walt Disney.......even if Ben says he was a communist.

Next, I think that Miles truly believes that Conan's stuffed Handy Manny doll is the real thing. He's been conversing with him all day and carrying him around on his shoulders. He made a bed for him at the foot of my bed tonight, complete with throw pillow from the living room couch and the blanket....off of me. I took it back while Miles was in the bathroom, thinking that he wouldn't care. When he came back in the room, he got very concerned, took the blanket back off of me, tucked Manny back in, and told me to be quiet because Manny was trying to sleep. Then, when he got into bed (because unfortunately, he still sleeps with us) he bumped Manny. Of course, he apologized to him profusely. What a silly boy. I appreciate his imagination.

Another thought, that really probably doesn't need to be vocalized, but I'll still do it. I love oatmeal! I really do. I've been trying to eat healthy and got kind of ornery when Ben picked up fried chicken and potato wedges for dinner. I don't have much in my fridge that is healthy that doesn't require a lot of preparation, so I settled for some oatmeal. It was so delicious, possibly the best I've ever experienced. I prefer Irish oatmeal. It's a little bit creamier while still maintaining the integrity of the individual oats. So good! I topped it with some pecan pieces, flax seed and a little honey. I think that the key was adding sufficient salt to the water. Mmmmm! I might have to have more for breakfast. That's all. I just love oatmeal.

Now a quick update of our recent goings on. Miles and Conan had their birthday party a couple weeks ago. They had a superhero party and even had a special guest appearance, Spiderman. Thank you so much, Spiderman! You were great. We're still recovering from the present overload. They got so many fun things for their birthdays. We're going to have to rotate some toys and donate some of the older ones because their little playroom just can't accommodate everything. I think that we're going to have to take a break from birthday presents next year. They got so many great things this year, that I think they'll stay busy for at least another year. I think that next year having all of their friends and family around will be more than enough gift. Don't worry. We'll still put some money in their 529s or take them on a little trip or something special.

Speaking of trips, Conan's and Mile's actually birth dates were spent on vacation at Redfish Lake in ID. It was so beautiful and relaxing! It was the greatest Christmas gift from Karri and Tam. They got a beautiful cabin right by the lake that we shared with them and Alex's family. The kids had so much fun spending the week at the beach with their cousins, and Ben and I enjoyed our late night games with the adults. I think I understand now why they all love Redfish so much. It really is one of the best places I've ever been.

We've had a rough couple weeks with the cars. Actually, we hit a deer on the way to Redfish, but surprisingly, it did practically nothing to our car, so that was the least of our worries. A little after we got home, the brakes on the Intrepid pretty much went out. We finally got them fixed today, and it turns out they were completely gone, so it was good we took it in. There's also all sorts of squealing going on when we turn the AC on, but apparently, it doesn't really matter and is super expensive to fix, so we'll live with it for now. My Mazda is doing the same thing, only it's overheating when I use the AC too, so that's awesome. Oh, and it had a flat tire when we got home too. Anyhow, both cars are kind of on their way out, mine more than Ben's. They both have over 100,000 miles on them, so they've lived good lives, but it's time to replace at least one. I finally convinced Ben that we needed a minivan. I know. I'm super cool. I'm just sick of having to climb over the seat to console crying babies. It would be much easier to just walk back, and sit in the empty seat next to them. And they extra room would be fantastic.

We went to Doug Smith Autoplex in American Fork today and were reminded of how horrific car shopping is. We had a salesman approach us before we were even out of our car. We looked at one minivan that really was a great deal, but instead of pilot seats, it had a smaller middle bench that had to be folded down to get to the back bench. I thought it was strange that the whole bench folded together because then you can't have a car seat on the middle bench. Isn't that what a minivan is for? For mom's with lots of babies and therefore lots of car seats. It just doesn't make any sense. The salesman even agreed that it probably wouldn't be the most convenient car for us because of that. Despite that pretty big downfall, Ben still took it for a little test drive (I think that actually happened before I discovered the seat handicap. Apparently, while on the test drive the salesman told Ben that his wife had just left him because he became a used car salesman. More than a little awkward. He tried for about an hour after the test drive to get us to agree to buy the minivan and would not take no for an answer, even though we flat out told him that we were not ready or interested in that vehicle. I don't know if he was just a weird guy or was trying to tug at our heartstrings or both, but he kept trying to guilt us into buying the car because he "needed to earn a living to put food on the table and shoes on his kid's feet". I guess I felt bad for the guy, but it made me want to buy a car from him even less. I'd rather just have someone who is all business. It was just too creepy.

I suppose it's about time for an update. It's been about a month and a half, and it's been a pretty busy month and a half.

A few weeks ago I had my nose surgery. For anyone who didn't read the last couple of posts, I did not get a nose job. I actually quite like my nose. No, I had a severely deviated septum corrected and my adenoids removed. My original purpose for doing this was to fix a bit of a snoring problem in hopes that Ben would be able to sleep better, but I thought it might also be nice to be able to sleep myself....and to be able to breathe through my nose. That is something that I have never been able to do. In fact, it wasn't until I was probably in 1st grade that I even knew you could breathe through your nose. I'd always wondered, "What if robbers came and tied me up and put duct tape over my mouth?" I would suffocate because I really couldn't breathe through my nose for more than a little while without probably passing out. (I also have to consciously think about breathing through my nose because it is not at all natural for me).

Anyhow, I had the surgery a few weeks ago. I knew that it would be painful, but I didn't think that it would be too big of a deal. Family took the kids for a few days because Ben was going to be working, and I was nervous about little babies being attracted to a big white bandage on my face. Ben really wanted me to find babysitters for the entire week, but I thought that was kind of ridiculous. I was kind of looking forward to a few days alone and had a list of all sorts of chores to do. I'm here to say that Ben was totally right. Not so much that the kids needed to be gone longer, but it was a much bigger deal than I expected. Ben ended up taking 3 days off work because I couldn't even get out of bed to get my medicine. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced, and I've given birth to two babies whose heads are off the charts. It was so miserable! Forget the soreness from the actual surgery. The biggest problem was blood constantly draining down my throat because my nose was all packed. Apparently, the human body cannot digest human blood, so there was some pretty awful vomiting. And since I was on some pretty strong pain meds, I wasn't so with it and ended ruining some bedding (blood vomit does not wash out).

I was encouraged by the thought of having the packing removed from my nose after four days. I had been told that things would improve 100% once it was gone. True, recovery was much easier once my nasal cavity was open. No one had said anything about how awful the removal would be. The four days with the packing in was terrible, but the 20 mins. I was in having the packing removed was as bad as those four days combined into 20 minutes. It probably wouldn't have been quite so bad if when the packing was pulled out my nose didn't turn on like a faucet. I couldn't see it all, but I felt it, and Ben said that he had never seen so much blood in his life. Since it was bleeding so profusely, Dr. Ventura used a suctioning tool like at the dentist to try to clear things out. He was suctioning my nose, so obviously I couldn't breathe through it. Meanwhile, more blood was dripping down my throat, making it difficult to breathe, so I ended up aspirating blood all over my doctor. I'm sure he appreciated that. It was a grizzly mess. A bit of advice, use hydrogen peroxide to get blood out of clothing and off skin.

Once it was all done, I really wasn't sure that it was worth it. Now, it's still a little sore, but I will say, I can breathe through my nose. I'm not sure what the snoring situation is, but I'm sleeping longer without waking up, and I feel like the entire inside of my nose is hollowed out. It's so open that it almost burns to breathe. Moral of the story: I think nose surgery works, but I would never recommend it unless you REALLY need it.

The sad part of the month was a week ago Friday when my Grandpa Ray passed away. My grandpa had had a difficult time ever since his car accident about 5 years ago. He never really recovered and things just got worse over time. It's hard to explain what an impact that accident made to anyone who did not know my grandparents prior to it. It was kind of like my grandpa aged 15 years overnight. Since the accident, my grandpa has had a lot of problems. He's been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers. A couple of months ago, he was put on in home hospice care. For weeks, he's basically been lying in bed, and about a week before he passed, we were told that he was pretty comatose. It's so sad to see someone deteriorate like that.

It's been neat, over the past week, and during the funeral to hear stories about my grandpa that I had not heard before. I knew that he had served in the Battle of Tarawa during WWII, but I don't think I really understood (and of course I still really don't) what he went through. He was the last known survivor of the battle and survived some really amazing circumstances. He's definitely a hero. I knew that he had received a Purple Heart for being wound during that battle, but I hadn't heard about his efforts to help save other soldiers that he didn't even know. I didn't know that his amphibious vehicle was even shown (actual footage) in a movie made about Tarawa. He's been honored a couple of times by the governor, and he definitely deserved it.

My uncle told another story about my grandpa when he was about 80, I think. My uncle saw that my grandpa was covered in some bruises and scratches and was concerned. My grandpa didn't want to tell my uncle what happened. My uncle thought that maybe my grandpa had fallen and wanted to take him to the doctors. Finally, my grandpa said that he had been at Mr. Mac to buy a suit. A kid had approached him with a knife and told him to give him his wallet. Obviously, my uncle was very concerned and wanted to call the police. My grandpa was super opposed to this, and my uncle didn't understand why he wouldn't want to call in the attack. After a while, my grandpa divulged that he had hurt the boy pretty badly, and he probably wouldn't be trying that again.

The service was very nice, and it was great to be with the entire family. Brian and Marinda were even able to fly in. It definitely was unfortunate circumstances, but I do love being with my extended family. I will miss my grandpa, but I'm very grateful for the knowledge that I have that we can all be together again. I'm also very grateful for the legacy that he left and for our family.

Aside from those major events, we have spent a lot of time trying to clean up the yard. We bought a large gazebo and are excited to get it up and get our outdoor dinette set under it, so we can start having barbecues and eating some meals outside. It's a large metal-framed gazebo with tenting and netting. It doesn't have a floor, so we just need to agree upon a base and figure a nice secure way to stake it down since the wind it so ridiculous out here. In the future, Ben (and I) would really like to put a shed in the backyard as well. We've looked at a few and have been pleasantly surprised at the installed pricing. That will probably be next year though. This year, we'll get the gazebo up, we've already fixed up the raised beds in the front yard and have desperately been trying to improve our lawn, we're hoping to get curbing poured, and I'd really like to have shutters put on the front of the house. We'll see how much we can get done.

I've also been working on planning a birthday party for the boys. It will by Miles' 3rd and Conan's 1st. Since Miles is getting a little older and has some friends now, we're going to invite some of his little friends. We'll see how that goes. We're going to have a superhero party, and it should be really fun. Miles is super excited about his Spiderman birthday cake, but I haven't figured out yet how to do a cake for Coney that doesn't have wheat or eggs in it. If you have a great idea, let me know. I think they'll be excited about the surprise guest (Spiderman) coming. We're postponing their birthday party a few weeks because we'll actually be out of town for their birthdays.

We're going to Redfish, Id with Ben's mom and brother's family in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. I've never been, but Ben's family is constantly talking about Redfish. I love the mountains, and I love lakes, and I love spending time with family, so it should be a perfect fit. It will be fun to see how Miles and Conan enjoy it. I was thinking of getting them (well at least Miles, I may have to find something a little more age appropriate for Coney) little kid fishing poles, so they would have something to open there on their birthdays.

Today, we are focusing on getting everyone healthy. The wind has really stirred up all sorts of weeds and grasses, and the pollen is really getting to the entire family. Actually, I take that back. i really haven't had allergies since my nose surgery. That's not to say I haven't had asthma. It's nice to not have the runny nose and itchy eyes though. We'll see how long it lasts. Miles, of course, it taking it the worst. He was really bad on Thursday and Friday last week, and we were really concerned about how he would be Saturday since that was my grandpa's funeral. Ben took him in to our new Instacare on Friday and was lucky enough to get an asthma specialist as his doctor. He treated him and recommended using Atrovent treatments in his nebulizer (in addition to the Atrovent inhaler he uses for maintenance). He also gave him a couple of doses of Dexamethazone, which I believe is basically a stronger form of Prednisone. Rather than taking it for a week or so like Prelone or Prednisolone, it's a one or two dose thing. It's nice, but it does have a negative side. All steroids make little kids act up a little bit, but this (and Decadron--which I think is basically the same thing) really affects Miles' behavior. It makes him super hyper, super emotional, super irrational, and kind of naughty. He gets really restless and aggressive when he's on this medication, so I apologize for his stinker-pottedness over the past couple of days. He's never a perfect child, but this really does make a huge difference.

I took him in to his pediatrician today, and despite his breathing sounding terrible, his lungs sound pretty clear, so it looks like he's on the mend. We're adding the Atrovent and Zyrtec to his regular regimen. Dr. Ditty recommended that I start Coney on Zyrtec as well. His poor little eyes and nose are all runny, so I'm sure the allergies are going to be super fun with him too. 'Tis the season, I suppose.

I think that pretty much covers things for now.