Horton the Elephant

Ok fine, I know I need to write the birth story, and I will.  But, I also feel extra "stupid" as of late.  Meaning, I can't seem to put coherent thoughts together, or remember how to say words half the time; and I feel like i'd have to really think in order to properly write Mayzies story.  Therefore, I'm doing what I always do...avoiding.  Oh, I'm soooo good at avoiding.  It's really one of my worst  best qualities for sure!

Anywho......a few weeks ago Jer wrapped up a little run in Seussicall the Musical as Horton the Elephant.  This is one of his dream roles, so check that one off the list.  Seussical really is a very cute show, easy to watch and fun.  They did a good job of it, and Jere of course was brilliant as the beloved elephant.

The kids had been talking for weeks about Daddy being the elephant and were really excited to go and see him in all his glory.  Though, truth be told, i think they were MORE excited to have a backstage tour and walk on the stage.  My kids get such a thrill out of the behind the scenes stuff.

On a Saturday afternoon I loaded my 2 kids and my highly pregnant self into the van and off we went for our adventure.  The venue was ridiculously far away, good thing I packed some snacks...sheesh!  On the upside, I have a friend who lives just around teh corner from the venue and I took the opportunity to visit her whilst in that neck of the Egyptian woods, ifyaknowwhatimsayin.

But, I digress.  I'm really here to just show you a few pics.  That's what we're all here for right?  Of course it is!

 Preshow...Maggie chose her most Seussically pants to wear.  And her pom pon headband really topped off the look.  I was just doing my part to fulfill the role of "elephant" wife. hehe

Very excited for the show to start.

After the show, so excited to see Daddy.

Maggie really "needed" to wear Daddy's ears.

And let's just talk for one second about how gorgeous my husbands eyes are.  Mmmmkay!

Meeting the fabulous "cat in the hat"

 Jer and Gertrude McFuzz.....more importantly let's discuss her awesome wig!  I LOVE it in all it's purple pom pon glory!  This girl was awesome!

I chose this pic because, well, look at Max, looking at her in all his adoration. He loves himself a pretty lady, that's for sure.

This character is Mayzie LeBird.  She truly is the inspiration behind our Mayzies name.  Quick story:

I went to the show on opening night and sat in practically the front row.  Mayzie was resting quietly in my belly, not doing much of anything.  UNTIL....the character of Mayzie came on the stage.  They said her name,a nd then she sang her signature song "amazing Mayzie" and my Mayzie seriously started moving and dancing like a madwoman.  She moved nonstop throughout the song.  As soon as Mayzie left the stage, my baby stopped moving.  When Mayzie returned later and sang again...my Mayzie got as busy as a mexican jumping bean in there again.  Up to that point we'd been undecided on her name.  I took this as a total sign that clearly she wanted Mayzie and that is what she got.  It was pretty cool.

Jere actually went to highschool with this girl.  Hasn't seen her since highschool until this show.  Small world we live in.

Getting thier onstage tour.  Standing at the top of the set. That's our little friend "yaya" who was also at the show that day.

This set included a twirly slide, AND a trampoline.  Talk about cool!  Frankly, all the kids cared about at ALL was getting to go down the slide, which never you fear, they did go down.....many times!

Even Horton got to go down the slide.

I always like an opportunity for our kids to see their Daddy in action.  Generally speaking Maggie does an excellent job of sitting through shows, while Max struggles.  For some reason, this, of alllll shows, the most kid friendly and cute, was the hardest time they've had.  Even Maggie wasn't good.  Don't know what was up with that.  Because trust me, it wasn't the show that was bad.  It really was so, so cute!  Which brings me to another quick story.

My bro. and sis in law took Maggie with them to watch the Easter Pageant whilst I was at my first hideous run in with the ER.  Anyway, apparently my bros. kids were being buttheads and acting awful throughout, totally frustrating their Mom.  She told me that Maggie was really great the whole time and did a great job.  While my niece and nephew were acting up, Maggie sat right next to Lana all prim and proper.  As she watched their behaviour, she looked up at Lana and said...."Normally I'm not very good at shows, but because I'm with you guys I need to be good."  To which Lana replied "I'm gonna tell your Mom and Dad you know EXACTLY what right and wrong is."  Seriously....that Maggie is a little devious one. On the upside, she's reallllllllly good for anyone and everyone else, so people like having her over to play or taking her places cause she's a dream. ....  FOR THEM!  UGH!

Well, that about covers it for now.  Someday, when I find my brain cells, I'll get back to this blogging business.  In the meantime, i think I'll eat another Reeses egg and stare at the wall.  It's about all I can handle.

Seuss and Sass,

Allyson

I've Got a"C"lot To Tell Ya!

This has been one seriously crazy ride....the pregnancy, the after pregnancy...OY! You guys....you won't believe the ridiculousness I've faced in the last 2 weeks.

Oh, don't worry, I will share the birth story of Miss Mayzie tomorrow.  I'm SWEARING it to you, that way I'm held accountable.

It begins at 4 a.m. Wednesday morning April 4th.  I had sent Mayzie to the nursery for the night because I wanted me some REAL sleep.  Well, as much sleep as one can get on a crappy hospital bed.  Anyway...4 a.m. and suddenly I'm rocked awake with raging gas pains (what, I'm here to be honest) and this major pain in my left calf and into my foot.  I just kept thinking....why does my leg hurt?  WHAT is that HURT in my leg?  It felt like this ache and OUCH and I couldn't move it very well.  So, when the nurse came in at 7 a.m. I told her: "I'm sure it's nothing, but my leg is realllllly hurting and I don't know why."  To her credit, she said we should definitely order a scan of my leg.  It took nearly the whole day, but finally at 2:00 they wheeled me off to do a scan/ultrasound.

The tech scanned away for awhile and then sent me on my way.  At this point I just wanted to go home.  I was losing my mind in the hospital and just wanted my house.  We had to wait until nearly 5:00 for the results, but finally, my hardworking nurse got the results and "NO CLOT."  Yay, that's what I wanted to hear.  Let's GO!

So, I went home, with this sore leg, limping and ready for the next phase of babydom.  But, I woke up on thursday in more pain.  The only way I could explain it to anyone was that it felt like someone had tied a tournaquet around my knee as tightly as they could and my leg from the knee down felt like it was going to explode.  You couldn't touch it without excruciating pain.  I could barely walk.  Something was obviously wrong, but I'm prideful and I do not like to believe that anything is really wrong with me.  But, people prevailed on me and made me call my Dr.'s office.  They said I needed to go into the ER.  Not believing them enough, i called my sweet neighbor that is a Labor and Delivery nurse, when i explained what was going on, she told me i definitely had something wrong and I HAD to go in.  I just cried, and cried.  The last place I EVER wanted to go was to the ER or back to the hospital. 

We left all the kids with Auntie Julie and off we went to Banner Desert ER.  To say it was an awful experience would be an understatement of the year.  The pain was at a level I've never experieneced.  I was just crying.  I couldn't sit, i couldn't stand, I just couldn't function, it hurt so bad.  They finally called me back, asked my symptoms, i explained everything.  The P.A. came in and said, "we just did a scan yesterday and there wasn't a clot."  I asked if perhaps they could have missed it.  Clearly something was wrong.  He assured me they couldn't have missed it and they were not going to look again.  He also said my leg wasn't swollen, so that meant I didn't have a clot either.  P.S.  My leg was TOTALLY swollen.  They then sent me to wait for "lab work."  We waited FOREVER and weren't even sure what we were waiting for.  We were waiting amongst crazy peopel, heroin addicts coming off the drug, swearing and yelling, some woman that who knows what was wrong with her.  They gave me a percoset, which all it did was make me itch and give me a good 5 minute nap.  Didn't touch the pain in my leg. 

Ok, so finally they took me back to triage, blew out two veins trying to put in an IV, for which they couldn't tell me WHY they were giving me an IV.  Took two mini vials of blood to check my potassium and electrolytes and then put a bag of fluid in the IV.  I asked why they were doing that, and again, they had no idea they said "just in case."  Then they came back and said, your labs are just fine.  The doctor never bothered to come in, only the P.A.  He came back, said I was ok.  I said, "so what you're saying is, I have a really big muscle cramp?"  He nodded yes, told me to ice it and heat it take motrin and get a massage.  So, we came home with no answers for my extreme pain.  I had Julie massage my leg for 1/2 hour that night and went to bed in just as much pain.

The pain continued to get worse and worse.  I literally got to a point that I could barely drag my leg around and walk.  I have a very high pain tolerance, but here I was popping 4000 mg of Tylenol a day and crying because it hurt so bad.

Sunday morning (Easter), I woke up and literally just laid in my bed, tears streaming down my face because I couldn't move.  I went to try and get up and could not put any weight on my leg at all.  It was just more than I could bare.  Jere was beside himself and insisted that we were going back to the ER.  Only a different ER, because clearly Desert didn't care.

Somehow I got myself out to the car and we went to Gateway ER.  Oh.my.gosh!  It was SUCH a different experience.  It was beautiful, and we got right in and had private rooms and it was clean and people cared.  I was laying on a bed, a DOCTOR came in and asked me what was going on.  He looked at my leg for 1/2 a second and said, "is it that one, because it's swollen."  THANKS for seeing that doc.  He told me they needed to re do the scan; again...thanks for doing that.  No IV's, no unnecessary things, just listen to me and do what is needed.

I was taken for another ultrasound.  The tech really took her time and she spent A lot of time on one certain area by my knee.  I knew then that she had found something, even though she didn't say anything.

Awhile later, the Dr. came back in to my room and said "so that blood clot you didn't have that you DO have is causing this pain." 

Yep, I have a stupid blood clot in my left calf.  And, it hurts like a freaking banshee!  Thanks Banner Desert, you coulda killed me, I really appreciate that.   Bastard people!

They immediately gave me shots of Lovenox (like heparin) and then told me I would have to start taking coumadin.  I met with a social service person who set up my info to go to a coumadin clinic and sent in my prescriptions and just helped me sorta understand what was going on.  I felt relief at least knowing that there was a reason for the pain and that I was on the right track.  Then i felt extreme anger at the other ER for not even being willing to consider that they'd missed something.

It's been a very exhausting, difficult and interesting week.  Thank goodness for my Mom who has just put herself all up in my bidness.  She's been here to drive me to appointments, help with the kids, clean, do laundry or whatever.  In the shape I was in, the pain i was in, I literally could not have done it without her.  So much gratitude for her and for sweet friends willing to take the kids to play, do carpool and just help in any way.

Tuesday i had my first appt with the coumadin clinic.  The tech called me back and proceeded to tell me that I could expect to be on the medication for 6  - 9 months.  MONTHS!  I nearly fell off the chair, I was just NOT expecting that.  She then told me I would have to be on the shots for longer than expected and come to the clinic twice a week (it's really far from my house) for awhile while they got my numbers right. I asked when the pain would go away, she just shrugged and said "some people it's weeks, some months."  I wasn't prepared to hear that either.  I was ready for it to be gone THEN.   It was all a little overwhelming and I may have cried.  Mostly I was just confused.  WHAT was i s'posed to be doing...could I walk, move around, take care of my kids, do the workshop?  The poor girl didn't quite know what to do with me.  But they all seem to make it like it's not such a big deal.  I was like.....ummmm what about the clot, can it still break free.  She said "that is always a possibility."  NICE!

Anyway, this is long enough.  Just know, i'm giving myself shots twice a day until Monday at least.  Taking coumadin daily.  Having to pump because I am not allowed to nurse while on the shots.  That makes me saddest, because this was the first time that nursing was working and Mayzie was doing so well.  And, pumping sucks.  And, the best news is this....as of today my leg feels SO much better.  I can actually touch it, I can walk almost normally and I have hope that it will be better.

I know that clearly I needed to go through this experience to teach me to slow down.  To help me allow others to help me and realize that I'm not infallible.  And also to help Jere to help me more.  I have to believe there is a purpose for me to go through this.

Tomorrow....a birth story.

Clots and crying,

Allyson

INTRODUCING....Amazing Mayzie

So, remember that one time I was pregnant?  Yeah, me too.  It was rough.  But, luckily, my amazing little fetal invader decided to grace us with her presence on Tuesday April 3, 2012.

Without further ado, I'd like to introduce you all to:

 The "amazing" Mayzie Lies'l

Born at 8:53 a.m.

(this pic taken 20 min. after birth)

8 lb. 12 oz.

21 in.

PERFECTION

I will write her birth story soon, but for now....I just realllllly had to get that trash to treasure off of here and show pics of the adorable addition to our family.  We couldn't be more pleased and excited.  She's very calm and very sweet and so fun to snuggle.  Oh, and I SWEAR, that flower on her head isn't nearly as big as it appears.  It really doesn't cover her whole head.  But, it's still cute, no denying that.

Just a couple more obligatory pics of the preciousness.

I know, you're dying over my cute carseat cover aren't you?  I lurve it oh so much myself.  And Mayzie thought it was so posh.

So much to tell you.  Look for posts soon, I promise.

Sugar and spice,

Allyson