If you are looking for stilletto recommendations, you are in the wrong place. I need to be able to run after my kids without falling on my face. Want to know your smartphone's metapix? Sorry. I only write about whether it can survive 5 minutes in the hands of my kids.
While Valentines’s Day is loaded with sweets, it reminds me of some sweet moments in my life. Meeting my husband, getting married, giving birth to my children, and the everyday little moments I have with my kids – the first smile from my baby or a hug from my toddler.
One of my sweet memories, however, was the day I found out I was having a girl. It has almost been a year since my baby gender reveal party, but I still remember the moment as if it was yesterday. Even though I chronicled my party here and here, my baby gender reveal party was a pink and blue theme: pink and blue plates and cups, pink and blue drinks, and, of course, pink and blue candy. I had a big bowl of pink and blue Hershey M&Ms, and another bowl filled with Hershey’s chocolates and Hershey’s kisses, to fit the theme, so people could nosh before their baby gender guess. To this day, when I see this picture, it reminds me of a sweet moment in time before the big reveal.
What about you? What is your sweetest memory? (And if you would like to see my post on a great Hershey’s Kiss Recipe, click here!)
…………………………………………………………….
Image Credit: My own and Hershey’s (used with permission.) Disclosure: I was not compensated for this review. I did receive two bags of Hershey’s Kisses. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
It has been a week since my surgery and it has been….interesting.
The pain was to be expected, but there were other things that I didn’t expect.
First, I haven’t slept in a bed. While it may look comfortable, after the sixth night, it loses its appeal. So I am not sleeping well and I am uncomfortable, and that combo makes me really cranky.
Speaking of cranky, adding to my pain and sleepless nights, I’m swelled up like a balloon. I feel like I am nine months pregnant in the middle of a heat wave in July in Arizona.
Third, I cannot walk upright, as my son joyfully demonstrates. Which means, in addition to my abdominals, my back hurts. Trying to help my back, I started to squat-walk to take pressure off of it, which means my quads hurt. If you have followed that progression, my whole body is on fire.
Fourth, I try not to gag when taking my medications and vitamins, which I have to do five times a day.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to be where I am right now, but at the moment I am one cranky Mom. It will get better, I know. I can only dream about it as I watch informercials at 3am from my make shift chair, looking at my cankles, while gagging on my pain medication.
Umbilical Hernia, Ventral Hernia, Diastasis Recti and more.
I am now in recovery from abdominal surgery, and it was pretty bad in there, my friends.
The night before the surgery, I was afraid that something would go wrong. There was a lot of build up to this moment, which means I had a lot of time to think. (Not a good thing in my case.) When I tucked my son in the night before the surgery, I wondered if it would be for the last time. When I kissed my baby girl’s cheek, I savored her baby smell. As I gathered my belongings the morning of the surgery, I took a picture of my kids with me. As we drove away, I looked back at the house hoping I would see it again. My Mom, who was going to take care of the kiddos, gave me a hug and said that if I was uncomfortable, don’t do it, but I said in response, “I have to do this.”
Yet, I still had fears.
When I saw the doctor for the surgery preparations, he mumbled “Wow” about three times when he was marking me up for the surgery. I remember, jokingly, telling to the nurse that it is never a good sign when the doctor is shocked. He hadn’t seen me in a couple of months, so he was stunned again. I have to say, it was at that very moment, that the fears went away and a feeling of confidence over came me, and I knew I was definitely doing the right thing.
The surgery took 6 hours. The doctor and operating nurse informed my family that it was worse than they had expected. The umbilical hernia and a ventral hernia were bigger and the abdominal separation was greater. They reconstructed my abdomen and, after being extended for so long, they removed the excess skin once my torso was back together again. I did manage to get a belly button back (yay!), but my tattoo is gone (sniff). I won’t go into to many more details, but I am not joking when I say they pulled off a miracle and I am so grateful. Not only to be ‘put back’ together, but to be alive and well, to spend another day hugging my kids and giving them kisses.
As a result of the severity, my recovery is going to be a bit longer than expected, and the pain is going to be greater. But you know what? I don’t care. I am fixed. I am alive. I am going to feel better in a matter of weeks. There is a sense of hope and a renewal that I haven’t felt in a long, long time.
It was a tough decision, even though it was the right one for me, because as soon as I walked into the surgery, I knew that it meant we would not be having any more children. It is hard to make such a definitive decision just seven months after having Baby G. I would have preferred the option of choice, of flexibility, of the right to change my mind a year from now or three years from now. But I knew that my condition was such that I might not be able to have a safe pregnancy, and that sometimes, life makes the decisions for you. I could curse the world, be angry, be resentful, but I have two beautiful children. I need to be grateful for what I have and enjoy the children I do have. While the face of a future baby fades from my head, and my heart, it allows for more love and devotion to the children that I have now.
Here I am, 24 hours later, feet up and trying to avoid the vicodin. Despite the fact I am only Tylenol, I learned that sending an email, when still under the after affects of the anesthesia, like the one I sent to Kelly at Tiny Sophisticate, is not the best idea. Between the drugs and the iPhone auto correct, it was a…ummm…an interesting email. Probably like this blog post.
So what will my next blog post be about? Relinquishing control and asking for help; two areas that are not my forte at all…
As you can imagine, things have been crazy over here. As a Mom, there is a lot to do when you are going to be laid up for a few days. I could have a whole other post about how most Dads don’t have to worry about surgery preparation, but that is for another day.
Knowing I am going to be pretty lethargic for two days, and with limited mobility for at least a week, I have been on overdrive. While I have people staying with me to help with the kids for a few days (because I won’t even be able to lift my seven month old), it means more people for which to plan around. I will have six people in the house vs. four. That means more food to buy, stocking up on paper supplies and towels, doing laundry, making things accessible, making lists, notifying teachers, making meals, and planning meals.
The biggest stress factor is knowing that there will be others in your house that don’t know your routine or the little nuances: the baby-proofed cabinets, that you need to jiggle the toilet in the upstairs bathroom, that the pants for your three year old are on the right and not the left because the ones on the left are too short and you haven’t had a chance to consign them yet. It is also anticipating the needs of others. For example, I drink one cup of coffee a day, if that. While the Keurig works well for me, my Dad drinks several cups a day and so does my Mom. So out comes the more economical coffee maker (and the coffee, and the coffee filters, and the cups…)
I know I have forgotten a lot of things. Despite my planning, I’m sure I’ll be sound asleep when someone will wake me up looking for toilet paper. In addition to the household supplies and routines, I have also been busy making sure some of my legal affairs are in order. While I hope everything goes well on the day of my surgery, and in the days to follow, you never know. So I want my husband and kids to know how much I love them….and what is my password to my Facebook account.
I laughed at the pre-surgery handbook. It said that in the week leading up to the surgery, I need to make sure to get plenty of rest. Seriously? <Snort> I wish. The coolest thing about this whole mess is that I am going to be under anthestia for six hours. It will be the best sleep I have gotten in months.
All in all, the flurry is no different compared to frenzy that is vacation preparation….minus the suitcases, TSA employees and margaritas on a beach. But after the surgery, I am hoping for some time to be able to catch up on my favorite HGTV shows and not having to clean up after the dogs. That, my friends, is truly a vacation.
