Surgery Update Sage's 19 Month Update

Little Miss Talk Alot (Above) Andy and Floyd (Below)

Before I get into everything with my surgery I just wanted to tell you about Sage's 19 month well baby visit and share a gabber jaw video of Sage (she is so takative) She still is only 20 pounds..lol...still not on the %ile chart, but she is in the 50th percentile for her height and head. And the doctor said she has huge feet, so it looks like she got the curse of the big feet like her mommy and my grandma and other members of my family..lol..and everything looks great! We finally got to meet Andy' baby Floyd last weekend. I didn't get any picture of them together, but here is one of him and Andy that Carol sent. He is SO cute and at 4 months he weighs probably 18-19 pounds, so almost as much as Sage at 19 months. He is going to be a big baby! He is so good and just sort of hangs out, I totally miss that age! They are going fishing in Nasselle for the week, so it was really good to see them while they passed through and Cait came down also, and Ashley too who has moved up to Seattle, so I got to see all of them who I haven't' seen in a while!!

So everything went fine with my surgery. Dr Sears had to bring in another surgeon to help her with my left ovary because if was embedded in my pelvis where there alot of nerve endings and blood vessesl, but while she was in there she looked at my right ovary and said it looked in good condition and thinks that it will hold up for many years so I don't have to have it removed and go into early menopause since that would be a disaster with my high blood pressure and the hormones I would have to take. I did have to get a shot of insulin because my blood sugar was too high and so we kept monitoring that, and also I had unusually low blood pressure 110/54 when my bottom number is usally in the 90's or 100's, so we are keeping a close eye on this now too.

The first day of surgery I was pretty out of it all day, and was in a lot of pain because the morphine push button just wasn't enough for my high tollerance. For some reason, even though never in my life have I liked vanilla yougurt and granola, I am now obsessed with it and have been eating a ton of it.

There wasn't without some drama. A few days before my surgery a man carrying 3 guns came into the ER and started shooting people before the secuity shot and took him out. While talking to my nurse she said that if I heard "Code Black" or "Code Gray" it was usually not good...black meaning threat with weapon, gray meaing threat with no weapon to nurses etc. So while I was in the hospital we had a code black on the 4th floor (I was on the 7th). We had a code red (fire) where they locked us in our room, and we had a code Grey on my floor at 2am and I could hear a guy screaming yelling and the nurses trying to contain him. It sounded like in the room right next to me and outside my hallway so I hid in my bathroom...

The good news is that so far the healing has been good. I have a little redness and brusing that the doctor thinks might be the start of an infection. I am able to get up and walk around some when my husband isn't yelling at me to get back to bed. As I said I am eating a ton of yogurt and granola. Thank goodness for my awesome parents who have been taking care of Sage. Jeramy as always has been GREAT! He is such a good husband and care taker. I am also so lucky to have such a supportive extended family of cousins and aunts and uncles on the otherside of the mountain and beyond, who I love so much and who I know love me. Emily is even going to come help take care of me...how lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazingly loving people who loves me and my family enough to drop everything and come to help us. But the cool thing is, she knows I would do the same in a heartbeat, because that is what family does! And I am so glad that we have such an amazing family!

Thank you again to everyone who prayed for my health and recovery! I appreciate the love so much and I know that is why I am doing so well now. So after this whole 6 to 8 week recovery, I should have a totally new, pain free life that I am anxiously anticipating!

Our Scores!!!!

So I am officially obsessed with finding deals at garage sales and such. This weekend was a steller weekend. I think I had $20 and some change and look at what I scored. I am not sure where we are going to put this tent/tunnel/teepee/tunnel thing but we were going to buy her one and I think full price they are like $70, and this was still in the box never opened. I also got a Chicco umbrella stroller for $2, a Chicco clip on highchair thing still in the box for $3, the playball pit with cover for outside for $2, a swimming floaty thing for 25 cents, a matching rug to go with her bed set for $1, a pair of Teva sandles for 25 cents, about 14 pajama sets and 2 really cute dresses, plus a ton of books and bowling pins. I also got Jeramy some camo pants and a camo bow cover so he wouldn't feel left out.

He went to the Oak Creek feeding station and then up in the woods where they hunt to go shed hunting, and even though he had to swim across a river he came home with some dandy's. They are hanging on our curtain rod in his "man room" Thank goodness we have 2 living rooms..lol. All in totall Jeff, Him and Brian got 10 elk sheds. Not bad for a days work!

Update on the Jernigans

So I realized I hadn't really done an update on what we have been doing lately, mostly because Sage is now walking and climbing and getting into everything, which doesn't leave me much time for a whole heck of a lot. She is probably 20 pounds now at 16 months and says so many words it is funny to hear her say "I didn't do it" and then expect me to wonder who did...lol..We are also trying to get her to eat adult food but she is SO picky, it seems all she wants are fries, hamburgers or pizza (wonder where she got that) But seriously she will only eat certain of the same food no fruits or vegis and I have tried it all over and over, she doesn't even like juice so if you have any suggestions. I can put all of her hair in a pony tail now as she has so much of it, but her dad still won't let me cut it and I agree, I don't think I want to deal with bangs, so we are letting her grow it out, for now she looks like she has the donald trump doo. She also FINALLY got a cousin on this side of the mountain when Andy and Carol welcomed baby Floyd Henry Holman into the world weighing 9 pounds 3 ounces and looking like his daddy. Since they live in the San Juan Islands, Carol was with Cait and when they got the call, Andy drove his own boat across to make it in time..lol..I only wish they lived closer. Well, when the sun decided to come out we headed out doors. We went to Prosser to visit and go to the father daughter dance and of course stop at the feeding station to see the elk. We took Sage to the zoo and North West Trek. Jeramy and his friend "Uncle Fro" bundled Sage up and put her in the pack and hiked up into the mountains looking for sheds, she loved it! For easter she got a little pink car that has a handle behind it so we've been going to the farmers market alot and getting our garden ready. Other than that we are just waiting for the sun to finally decide to stick around so we can start playing outside.

I have a bad addiction!

I think my mother and I have a horrible addiction. Clothes for Sage. I tried to take a picture of just one side of her closet, mind you the other side is just as packed. The big pile on the floor is of clothes that don't fit her anymore, and the boxes on top are the ones that I am saving for her and a huge box of shoes that are still too big for her. On the bottom of the closet there are bags of clothes that are still too big that there isn't room for in the closet. On the shelf are hats, socks, leggings, butt ruffles etc. The whole top row is jackets and vests. Plus she has 6 sets of draweres that are filled also. My mom and cousin Hettie went nuts and bought her like 15 new outfits the other day.

My newest addiction is shoes and hairbows. I can tie all of her hair into a high pony now so, following in the steps of my friend Sara who made her a ton of bows, I have been going crazy. You can see them hanging on the side of the closet. And of course shoes...this is just one of her drawers that is full of the shoes that fit her now. I just bought her like 5 new pairs of Robeez and See Kai Run shoes. Jeramy just comes in and shakes his head as fear flushes over his face at the thought of what the closet will look like in years to come. But he keeps saying, "at least I don't have it as bad as Chad with 3 girls." We will have to swap prom dresses with Chad's girls he says, and recycle wedding dresses.

I am willing to admit that I have a problem, there should seriously be a support group for people like me (and PS Halmoni I think you have a problem too). The sad thing is, I think I have a couple pairs of pants that fit me and 2 pairs of shoes...lol...at least my girl looks good!

Grey's

So first off, Sage is feeling a little better, thank you everyone for your comments. We slept in the rocking chair in her room all night, so Mom is a little cranky and exhausted. Jeramy will probably kill me for posting this picture, but I could not resist. This was about 2am and the only thing that would keep her from screaming was if we were rocking her in the rocking chair I slept in, playing Hawaiian music and making her bamboo windchime above the chair go. It was so cute and her first cold, I figured I should document it.

Well so I refreshed myself for the new Grey's next week...while I was watching they did a glimps of the new season and did anyone else hear Rose say she was carrying Derrick's baby? WHAT THE HELL...figures, I thought something like that might happen or he'd get hit by a bus going to tell Rose it was off....and then you see Meredith looking through the glass screaming NO. I know how previews are so I guess I am just assuming Rose is talking to Derrick but that is really going to suck!!! In all the weekly gossip magazines the writers have said that Meredth and Derrick will be together for good because they probably sensed that we were getting sick of the flip flopping. I am really uninterested in the lesbian relationship with Hahn and Callie as I really don't like them, so that leaves Dreamy and Christina without real storry lines (Meridith's sister too)...George is going to retatke the test, and I see him and the sister get together, does anyone think Dreamy and Christina will end up together, because after all this is Grey's anatomy so someone has to be sleeping with someone inside the hospital. When I was on bedrest at UW, I always joked that it was like Grey's Anatomy because it is a teaching hospital, so I would have like 8 doctors come in stick their head between my legs as I watched TV, and go over stuff, and they were fellows,chiefs, residents, attendants, interns etc. So when I would meet someone I was like, Oh so you are like Bailey...Well they better not disappoint us, because boy do they owe us for a crappy season last year!!!

August Rush

I just got done watching the movie August Rush and it got me to thinking and wondering about fate and destiny. Was it decided one day that someday Jeramy and I would meet, that we were destined to be together and go on a cruise where we would meet a little girl named Sage who would inspire the name of our daughter that we never knew we were going to have. Then I look at Sage in amazement that we created this beautiful miracle that looks so much like me, yet so much like her father depending on when you look at her, that you can't help but smile.

I am obsessed with boogers

Jeramy finally let me buy the electric snot sucker for mother's day, because before he kept saying he wasn't going to let me "suck his daughter's brains out" I must say that this is the best thing ever!! It even plays music, but Sage doesn't need it because she kind of likes it. Man this baby sucks boogers out that you can't even see that are clogging her up, and when she had a runny nose man I cleaned her right out. There is even a little holder for all of your boogers and snot!! This has become a huge obsession of mine! It is like a mission I am on, I even have a song "I'm gonna suck that snot right out of your head"

I heard a segment on the radio about things you never thought you'd say, but say now after having a baby. While, "I am obsessed with boogers" made the list, Jeramy and I were also discussing how "smell her butt" was never part of our vocabulary until we had a baby. It is funny how things change!

I must say that I deserve a "Stay at Home Mom's Gold Star" today because I not only spot cleaned the carpets, mopped (twice) did 4 loads of laundry, magic cleaned the counter tops and bleached the nasty yuck on the edge of the kitchen sink, I also located all of my husband's socks that were of all places behind the couch, in the book case, in the rose bush, under the bed, in the garage, and under couch cushions and washed them all (I am going to let him fold them). Anyone that knows me knows that I am NOT a cleaner, infact Jeramy is usually the one who cleans and does laundry, so this was a big accomplishment today! I even took stuff out for dinner and went to Lowes...twice! Did I mention this was all one handed? You moms out there know what I am talking about!

Send some other things you never thought you'd say until you became a mom my way!

Cheers!

My First Mother's Day

It is awesome being a mom! You get a whole day dedicated to you! Jeramy got me a new King bedset that I love and 3 new filter lenses for my SLR camera so I can take even more pictures! He even had a day planned at the horse track, but Sage has a cold so we decided to keep it mellow. My parents got me a digital picture frame for all of my massive amounts of pictures (she has 3 albums that hold 250 pictures each FULL and a scrapbook and a baby book). His parents got me a beautiful ring with her birthstone and diamonds in it. Oh ya and no poopy diapers either!!

Jeramy and I painted pots for our mom's and put Sage's foot prints on it and made one for me too, and then bought pretty flowers to put in them. I think we will make this a tradition as it was so much fun!

The best part of the weekend was when Andrea was over on Friday. We were all sitting in the living room and Sage started playing with this fishing pole bathtub toy. We were all sitting around and we noticed that Sage had grabbed ahold of the reel and was winding it around reeling in the fish. Jeramy was so proud and insists she is a fishing prodigy!

Being a Mom Rocks! Hope everyone out there had a great day too!

Deliver Me Part 2

I was watching the show Deliver Me again and got to thinking back on my delivery and my experiences. I tend to be a pretty nervous, anxious person so looking back I am somewhat amazed that I was able to remain so calm through out the whole experience. They said on the show tonight that women who had what I did can have up to a 15 percent mortality rate. Wow, I am really glad that nobody told me that when I was pregnant. I saw many moms come and go on the ante partem ward where I was there over the holidays which can cause more depression, but really that never hit me like it did the others. Andrea and my mom and dad got me a tree, and we had presents and I didn't have to holiday shop (which was a bonus). I was able to make alot of friends who were going through the same thing as me, and was surrounded by world class doctors, which was a blessing (some of which are pictured above). We knew at 28 weeks that I was most likely going to go early and that every day that I could squeeze out would be the best, so the fact that I was able to go 34.5 nearly 35 weeks was amazing. But now as you can tell from some of my blogs the anxiety as a parent has really set in, and I am assuming that this never goes away. I remember right after delivering Sage and hearing that she was fine I looked at the anestesiologist and saying, I am ready for my Valium now, which I think really helped me wait the 5 hours to see her after she was born. Man I wish I could do that now...lol...I've never really been a very religious person, I have always had the belief and faith, but now I truly believe in miracles, and her name is Sage.

Murphy's Law

So before I go into my rantings about how cruel the world is I thought I would share the latest Sage pictures. We took these pictures on a whim because she had her Daddy's favorite Led Zeppelin onesie on. I decided to do the silly back grounds. She is 3 and a half months in these.

Ok so to my grumblings. I woke up fully energized this morning to clean the house and get stuff done, then I got a phone call from my doctor's office that my post gestational diabeties test came back high, you know the one that for most people goes away after they have their baby except for the rare few that it turns into diabeties. Add that to the fact that we haven't been able to get my 4 (yes 4) different blood pressure medication dosages right so I am living with a constant migraine and I wonder why I even go to the doctor at all for these tests. I even told the lady taking my blood that I could pretty much guess what the results would be. Add that to the fact that when I went to go get the Miranea put in (for the second time) they couldn't do it because they didn't like my uterus (isn't that a line from the new movie Baby Mama?) AND there was another abnormality in one of my tests that I have to back in to get checked. Ughhh!! I just pray that my daughter doesn't end up with all of her mother's bad genes!~ Needless to say, the house is not getting cleaned today.

Deliver Me

So I have been watching a new series called Deliver Me on high risk pregnancy's. If I was still pregnant I would not want to watch it, but since I went through the high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, 2 weeks of hospital bed rest, a premature SGA (small for gestational age) baby, and 9 days in the NICU, in a weird way it gives me comfort to see that other people go through the same thing I went through, and every time I look at my chubby cheeked little girl I cry (as I am right now) to know how hard we both faught to get her here.

In retrospect, I guess I didn't really know the severity of what could have happened to both me and her. We did daily NST's while I was in the hospital and she was never really reactive on the trace so they would always do a BPP and she would always pass (movement, breathing and fluid). But I didn't really realize how tight of a rope we were walking between determining when it would be safer to get her here. Thank God that I had world class doctors watching after me. The day of delivery the doctor (who had never seen me before) decided we couldn't wait anymore and within a half an hour I was in the delivery room. Our family all had to rush up to Seattle from Olympia which is an hour drive, and this was our 3rd time we thought I might deliver. I thought I would be more nervous about delivery, but I was really really calm. All the doctor's joked with me that I knew so much about delivery and babies after my stay at the hospital that I could probably do it myself. After she was born and Jeramy told me that she was a girl, I didn't hear her cry before they took her to the NICU but the neonatolgists told me that she was fine. In recovery Jeramy brought me a video of her, but she was really jittery from my blood pressure medicine that it really scared me until I was able to hold her in my arms nearly 4 hours later. Having a baby in the NICU is really an immediate push into parenthood, and like Baby Boot Camp. Within hours of having a C-Section I was taking the elevator up to the NICU. You don't have time to sit back and relax and visit with family, instead you are learning about all of the charts and monitors. We were fortunate to have such a strong baby. She didn't need any feeding tubes or breathing tubes and didn't have any issues. She was one of the smallest babies they ever sent home (3 pounds 12 ounces) and every one was amazed at how well she was doing. But leaving behind her neighbors who had already been there for months and had months to go, or sitting in the waiting room during the nurses shift change with the other mom's whose babies were born at 23 weeks really gives you such a lesson in faith and strength.

Everyday I look at Sage, I thank the lord that she is here safe and sound. I remember telling Jeramy and my family what to do incase I didn't make it, so when I look at her chubby little cheeks I am amazed at her fighting spirit and that I brought her into this world despite all of the challenges that we faced. And God bless my husband who drove back and forth our house and the hospital with my endless list of comforts from home that I needed, and slept on the uncomfortable bed next to mine because I was scared for him to be too far away, and for being such an amazing father to our daughter. I will always remember him taking a syringe to get every last drop of collostrum that I was pumping and literally running it up to her. We are truly blessed!

Splish Splash Sage is Taking a Bath

These pictures crack me up. Lami is so protective of her "baby sister". Wherever Sage is Lami is looking after her. I love these pictures of Jeramy giving Sage a bath with Lami as his helper. We would always put her in these pajamas that had a puppy on it that looked just like Lami, we called them her Lami Jami's. It was a sad day when those got too small. Toby on the other hand could care less until Sage learns how to throw a ball. This is usually what he does if Sage is crying.