Hanging on to the dog by the tail – That pretty much describes how things have been going for us recently. We have always been told that we should have a 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year plan. Well that is all well and good, but with all that has happened recently we are lucky to plan our next meal let alone a year in advance. From the moment when I pulled in the driveway to see my lovely wife holding a onsey to signal that she passed her pregnancy test my world has been turned on its ear. I always knew it would after the children arrived, but I never suspected it would happen this far in advance. Now that I think about it, it started when we went back to see Dr. Kaufman for our 1st sonogram. Again, another moment I will never forget when he nonchalantly looked at Julie’s HCG level prior to the sono and quipped about there only being one baby on board. Then when he was examining her he again just laid it out there…well I have been wrong before. This immediately made me sit up in my chair and pay a little closer attention. I asked what he meant by that and he quickly pointed out our two little ones.
Life is an emotional roller coaster – Another cliché that is applicable here is this has been an emotional roller coaster. Like I previously mentioned the high was when we learned we were pregnant and the low of lows was when our original OB predicted that our dear “baby A” wouldn’t survive another month. Little did he know Bennett or Adalyn is a fighter and didn’t subscribe to his theory.
Learn something new every day – With that being said let me tell you this has been an extremely educational experience. I am a firm believer that you should learn from every experience you have in life and let me tell you friends I have learned my share. I have learned how to read a sonogram. When we first started out it all looked like snow on a TV with bad reception. Now I can tell you how to find other than gross anatomy, the lungs, heart, bladder, kidneys, and chord (if they turn the color on). I am pretty sure that I can run a sonogram machine with as much accuracy as most sonographers. With exception of Dr. Tabor they all have to fish around to find what they are looking for. After our first appointment with him I called him the baby whisperer. He put the probe on Julie and didn’t have to move it to find the lungs, kidneys, and bladder of baby A. Him finding those organs was the point when we started finding our hope again. Now that we are settled in our new home I have learned a few more things. I can now read a heart tones monitor and can interpret fetal heart tones, and discern when Julie is having a contraction, irritability or just has to pee. I have learned how to insulate a room with pillows, blankets, mattress pads. How to level a “bed” with building scraps. I can also now do a head to toe assessment including reflexes. One of the most important things that has been reinforced is that having a strong reliable circle of family and friends is imperative to get through something like this. You all can’t imagine how much it means to us to have your thoughts, prayers, visits, food, care support and love throughout this ordeal.
Ok time to administer evening meds, observe heart tones, dry some hair, and get some shut eye.
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