The Blessing of Uriah

Uriah was blessed on the 7th of March. I've been meaning to update the blog with what was said during the blessing but I have been busy with three kids! Finally, I find Riah in bed asleep and two girls in bed. The stars have aligned!

Uriah was blessed with strength, knowledge of Heavenly Father's love for him, help with obtaining his education. He will have health sufficient for his needs. He will have a desire to serve Heavenly Father and people will follow his example. He will understand the plan of salvation better than most. He will be delighted to serve a mission for the church, which will be an unusual mission, not standard to most missionaries. When he returns, he will meet someone to marry in the temple and will have a righteous posterity, and will have many blessings that only he will notice.

And, of course, now the baby's crying!

Blessing Day

I'll update a little later with more of the details of the blessing, but I wanted to share some pictures of my adorable little man and our family right away!

The birth of Uriah Gregory

Wednesday I had a midwife appointment and was so tired of all the prodromal labor. We realized at the appointment why my body was having such a hard time starting labor. His hands were up by his head, making it near impossible to descend much farther down in my pelvis. My midwife was able to kind of push him up, move his hands out of the way one by one, and get him back down there. She stripped my membranes (I was 5 cm when I left) and gave me instructions to go walk around before getting in the car and driving off, while keeping my hands down by where his head was to keep his little hands from going back down so he could settle in head-down. I was supposed to use wide strides. It was very awkward to walk around in public like this.

Apparently, what we did that night did the trick. Around 12:15, I felt my first real contraction. You know, the kind that make your toes curl. Not just crampy or tightness, which all my previous contractions had been. After 15 minutes, I had had three of them and Dave told me that I needed to page the midwife. I did, and told her these ones were different, and she said that we needed to go up to the birth center. I called my sister Leslie, who came over to stay the night with my kids. Since I was laughing and joking between contractions, she was not convinced I was actually in labor. To be honest, I wasn't completely convinced I was in labor, either.

We left and told the midwife we'd meet her up at the birth center. On the way up, the contractions continued to intensify and started getting closer together. We got to the birth center almost exactly at the same time as our midwife, around 2 am. She unlocked the door and let us choose a room, and started filling the tub for us. I got into "birth mode" and changed out of my clothes into my swimming suit. I was in there maybe 10 minutes when the contractions went from me being able to talk between them, joking and laughing, to having to recover from each contraction with another contraction beginning again almost immediately. The pressure was getting intense. Then my water broke in the birth tub. Dave went out to tell the midwife my water broke (she was getting set up with her assistant out of the room- and her assistant had just gotten there maybe about 10 minutes prior to my water breaking) and then I had even more pressure on my perineum!

It only took about 5-10 more minutes before I started feeling "pushy." And, oh my goodness, I have never experienced such an urge to push as I did with this baby. I literally couldn't stop pushing. I was on hands and knees in the birth tub, and his head came out. The midwife ordered me out of the tub because his cord was wrapped around his neck three times and they had to get it untangled. I leaned up against the bed, standing, with both midwives and DH behind me, working on the cord. I said, "He's coming! I can't stop it!" and baby boy shot out into Dave's hand! His other hand was holding cord! He was born at 2:52 am.

The midwife told me this was the longest cord she had ever seen. It was about four feet long. Though Dave would describe it as even longer, and he's probably a better judge of that considering I had just given birth when I saw it. Not only was it wrapped around his neck three times, it was also under BOTH arms, criss-crossing in the back.

After a few seconds, he let out a nice little cry to let us know he was okay. We weighed him a bit later, and he weighed in at 9 lb 1/2 oz, and is 22 inches long. I escaped without needing any perennial repair! I'm pretty happy about that considering how fast he came out!

This whole pregnancy, I've had a strong feeling this labor was going to go by quickly. I still can't believe how fast it all happened! Just over 2 1/2 hours from first real contraction until he was born. WOW! I can hardly believe it. My family does have a history of very fast 3rd labors... my mother, a 3rd child, was born in the hallway of the hospital during the era of twilight sleep- no medications for my grandma because it happened so quickly! I am also a 3rd child, and was born in the labor room after my dad ran frantically down the halls trying to find a doctor to deliver me.

In labor, still filling the tub.

20 minutes later, a baby!

A few hours later, right before heading home. I was a wee bit tired! Sweet little Riah always has his hands up by his face, just like when he was in the womb. Little stinker!

He's here!

Uriah Gregory

I went into labor around 12:15 this morning and after a very intense labor he was born at 2:52 am. Less than 3 hours from the very first contraction to his birth! 9 lb 0.5 oz 22 in long, 7 min pushing and only a tiny tear that doesn't require repair. Was going to be a waterbirth but the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck 3x and under each arm so I had to get out of the tub.

More details to come!

New Niece!

Dave's brother Tim's wife Julie had a baby tonight! Little baby Hailee was born around 5 or 5:30 and weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds. She is gorgeous with a full head of dark brown hair (the old wives' tale proved true this time- Julie had near constant heartburn the whole time). I am happy to report that everyone is healthy as well, and I've heard that baby is nursing like a champ. Yea!

Tonight we went to my niece Allison's birthday party and got the news that Hailee had arrived once we got there. We had lots of fun seeing family and friends, and at dusk when the park closed, we all headed off to Chris and Kelly's house (Allison's parents) and met Big Dave there, who had pictures of the new little beauty.

Dave's grandpa is having some health problems and can't live alone anymore, and Chris and Kelly were gracious enough to invite him to live with them. He was able to see the pictures of his newest great granddaughter when she was only a couple of hours old. I was really happy that he was able to see her pictures so soon after her birth. It was nice that we were all able to say hello to him, too.

Kelly was such a sweetheart and printed out a picture for Lacy to take to school tomorrow. This is "H" week at school, and Lacy's sharing day is tomorrow, so she is taking in a picture of baby Hailee to share with her class! She is so excited to share about her newest cousin!

My Kind is in Kindergarten

Today was the first day of Kindergarten! Lacy was so excited! She could hardly sleep last night because of all the excitement, and then she woke up at 7 on the dot this morning. Which means she fell asleep before 8 o'clock tonight.

Getting ready to go!
She found her seat in her classroom. She is excited to sit at the yellow table, because the yellow table has purple handled scissors.
But Rose was pretty upset to have her sister gone
Really, really upset. She cried all the way home. OK, actually she cried until Dave gave her some M&Ms (which she calls yum yums)
But she was excited to come pick her up at the end of her first day of kindergarten!
Lacy emerging triumphantly from her first day of kindergarten!
She had such a good time! She can't wait to go again tomorrow! Tomorrow she's riding the bus! I will be driving to the school and meeting her there to make sure she knows where to go, and on Wednesday, she'll go it alone! I'm a little bit nervous about that, actually. But I know she'll do great!

Weaned.

I'm an extended breastfeeder. I decided when I read my first breastfeeding book when I was pregnant, I would breastfeed my babies until at least age 2, per the World Health Organization's recommendation. Well, the second birthday came and went for both my girls, and I knew they weren't ready yet, so I continued on. Lacy weaned at 39 months, a little less than 2 years ago.

Rose is just under 39 months. And she hasn't nursed in three days. I gave her the choice last night and the night before. Tonight I didn't even offer. I did ask her vaguely if there was anything else that she needed before she went to bed. All she wanted was to read Wolf's Coming and get a drink of water. I tucked her into bed. Ten minutes later, she was asleep. I'm not going to offer to nurse her again. If she asks, I'm going to tell her that they're for the new baby. She'll probably have mostly forgotten about nursing by the time the baby comes in January, anyway. Sure, she'll always know what it is, but by January, with a new baby cousin coming a few months before, she'll associate it with babies, not with herself. Which is fine by me. I was ready to be done nursing her. I think that's the beauty of extended breastfeeding. When it's time to end the relationship, everybody's ready, which makes it easier to deal with. Plus, the gradual weaning means less engorgement (unless, like me, you're either nursing a younger sibling or pregnant again with a diminished milk supply).

I'm not sad about weaning her, but I am a little sad about the end of an era. How did my little Roo Roo go from this:


To this:


But soon, another little nursling will be added to our family, and a new era will begin.

Update on Dave

This morning, Dave wasn't any better than he was Saturday or Sunday (although, he was quite a bit more hydrated thanks to the 2000ml of IV fluid he got in the ER). None of the medications he got were working, and his joints were very painful and he could hardly stand to be touched. We knew he needed an evaluation by our family doctor.

Dave went in for an appointment this morning just before noon. He got a diagnosis (which I'm not going to name on my public blog because it's his illness and since we're talking GI tract illness, I'm leaving it up to him), an antibiotic, a non-narcotic but strong pain medication, plus he was instructed to double up on another medication he was prescribed. Considering how poorly he was feeling this morning, the turnaround he's had this evening is simply miraculous. He has truly turned the corner, and I think he's going to be better in time for our hot date on Wednesday (our 9th anniversary!).

I have a lot to be thankful for tonight.

Listening to Promptings

Dave got sick on Friday. Really sick. He tried to get a hold of our home teacher to give him a blessing of healing, but wasn't able to get through to him. About 10 o'clock on Friday night, we get a knock on our door. It's our home teacher, bringing us a bag of clothing from his sister-in-law. He felt a very strong prompting that he needed to bring the clothes over then. He was able to give Dave a blessing at that time, which was a huge comfort to us.

Dave knew, however, that his illness was more than just a run-of-the-mill virus. We lost our insurance in July, but thankfully Dave had enough hours banked to have insurance in August. So Saturday, August 1, we ended up taking him into the ER so he could get some fluids into his body- he was pretty dehydrated, despite his best efforts to hydrate his body. He just was unable to absorb any liquids at all. He ended up receiving two liters of fluid via IV, and then a couple 'scripts, and then we left for home. He still feels poorly. But the doctor said all tests came back negative, so it is probably just a GI tract virus, which should last about 72 hours. If Dave still feels this badly tomorrow, we will have him visit the family doctor in the morning. Hopefully his meds will start working and he can get feeling back to normal quickly.

Round up them kindergarteners

Today Lacy, Dave and I went to our local elementary school's Kindergarten Round Up event. It was a lot of fun, and my baby is now enrolled in Kindergarten! She got to ride a bus, do some crafts, see the classrooms, and meet other kids. We got to hear from the PTA, the Spanish Club leaders, the principal, and other school staff members. I always thought I'd homeschool, but I felt unprepared, and now after going to this event, I feel really comfortable with the school she'll be attending. I got a really good vibe from the principal and just the whole experience. The principal actually taught Lacy's cousin a few years back, which was really fun to find out.

I can't believe my baby's going to go to kindergarten. And she'll be one of the youngest ones there, since her birthday is 6 weeks before the cutoff.

Stupid me forgot her birth certificate and proof of address. I'll bring it in later this week. Lacy would really like to attend a BBQ on Friday that the school is holding. Maybe we'll do it then.

How did this happen? She isn't supposed to start Kindergarten so soon! She's my baby!

Allergic Reaction

Recently Dave was tested for food allergies. We already knew of some sensitivities that he has-- bananas, pumpkin, and walnuts, and milk. He has eliminated the first three from his diet, and milk he took out for 6 months and gradually put back in his diet. He can handle small amounts of dairy, but has trouble with plain milk. He thought he might have more food allergies related to his recently diagnosed Eosinophilic esophagitis. His test results came back positive for a wheat allergy and a banana allergy, but nothing else came up (I think the pumpkin and walnut allergies are oral allergy syndrome which wouldn't show up on a regular allergy test, and the milk is a sensitivity not a true allergy).

The doctor said he was surprised with the banana allergy-- it's the worst he's ever seen in someone and when he took a look at the test results, the first thing he thought of was "wow, it's amazing he's alive." Well. I don't know about that, since banana is very easy to avoid and the only time he ever accidentally ingests it is when he gets careless with reading labels and buys a fruit drink that has banana in it. While he does have reactions to being in the presence of bananas, it's usually not that bad as long as he keeps his distance. Wheat, on the other hand, was not nearly as strong of an allergy, so at first we thought he'd be okay with our regular diet. Then he had a severe reaction to whole wheat pancakes followed by a snack of mac and cheese not too long after. His body completely rejected the food and he felt awful for hours after the fact. And we eliminated wheat from his diet immediately.

Today we visited with some friends who made a lovely dinner of corn spaghetti (the noodles actually tasted pretty darned good! I was surprised) and pie made from spelt flour, which was the best tasting pie crust I've ever eaten I must say (spelt+homemade lard=deliciousness). Well, in their house, they buy bananas, unlike us, and Rose saw them and went crazy! She must have a banana, right now. So I allowed her, since this was a treat she doesn't often get. I usually buy a small bunch and they are eaten in 2-3 days, being stored in a plastic bag the whole time so Dave doesn't accidentally come in contact with them. Later on, she grabbed another banana and took it to me to have me help her peel it. I was about across the room from Dave. This banana was pretty ripe, which Dave has a stronger reaction to, but I figured being 20 feet away he would have no problem. Within a couple minutes, he was choking and having a severe attack. He started wheezing after his body rejected his entire dinner. He was worried about a potential headache that often follows an attack like this, and told me this was the type of reaction he gets (minus the food rejection part) when he is in contact with perfume, which often ends in a headache for the rest of the day, with the longest lasting half the week. This makes sense, since he didn't actually come in contact with the banana, just the smell of it. Quickly, my friend Emily and I made the kids finish their bananas, took all the banana peels outside, and washed the table.

I'm still in shock how quickly the reaction happened and how severe it was. Dave thinks the reason the attack was so severe was because his body isn't used to fighting all the time anymore, since he's been without wheat for about a month now. The banana fumes just overloaded his system entirely and his body went into panic mode.

I guess I'm not ever going to buy bananas again, which is okay since I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and am trying to eat food more locally anyway.

Okay, maybe the occasional banana as a bribe to my kids at the grocery store. But that's it.

We're Going Wheat-Free

So, it's official. A couple days ago, Dave ate whole-wheat pancakes followed a short time later by mac and cheese, both of which are wheat-based meals. Dave has tested positive for wheat, but we weren't going to worry too much about the wheat allergy quite yet. But then, his body rejected everything and he felt sick for the rest of the day. So now, he's wheat-free, and the rest of us are gradually transitioning with him. I'm sure Rose will be disappointed to no longer get to eat her beloved mac and cheese, and Lacy will really miss quesadillas, but it is all for the best. If Dave has a wheat allergy, it is very possible that the girls do, too, or may have it sometime in the future. Especially considering they both have eczema.

Going wheat-free is tough. Most everything at the grocery store that is pre-packaged contains wheat. But that's not a big deal, because I cook mostly from scratch, anyway. But there are a few things we're going to have to do differently. For thickeners and gravies, I will have to use something other than flour. I've used tapioca flour before, but that was a little weird with the end result. I'm thinking maybe I'll try rice flour or potato flour next time instead. We'll have to start buying a different soy sauce, as the kind we currently get contains wheat. There are several brands that are what-free, however. We will no longer eat pasta, since most pasta is wheat-based, and the non-wheat pasta we've tried is disgusting. I may try corn and quinoa pasta to see if they're any better than the rice stuff we've had before (yuck!). Bread is questionable, because it is so delicious made from wheat, but we can have gluten (just not from wheat), so I'm going to have to look into that. Wheat makes the best bread because its gluten content is so high. I'm going to experiment with other grains to see what works best. Breakfast is going to have to change. I typically make a lot of pancakes, so I'll have to get a new recipe. I do make spelt muffins which are great, so that's one thing we'll still be able to eat! Woo hoo! I may make some tomorrow for breakfast, since I can. I often add pecans and dates to the recipe, and it is delicious.

Meals that have worked for us since going wheat-free include stuffed green peppers, baked potato bar, and steak and fries (one of Dave's major comfort foods-- thank goodness he can still have that!). Our starches are mainly going to be potato and rice from now on. I'll have to start stocking up on rice for our food storage now instead of wheat. And we'll grow potatoes every year, too. They're a lot of fun to grow and they store really well. We still have a few pounds of blues left from last year (we harvested in October I think). I'll probably plant double or triple what we did last year.

Dave's disease in his throat, Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE), is an allergic reaction that was described to us as an asthma attack, but in the esophogus. Dave only tested positive to two allergins, wheat and bananas. We already knew he had an allergy to bananas, but we didn't know about the wheat. I think that an overload of wheat or bananas in his system causes the allergic reaction to occur, and by eliminating wheat he will be able to lead a relatively normal life, perhaps even enjoying some wheat-based meals on occasion once we've eliminated wheat from his diet completely for quite some time. I am so thankful for all the great resources out there for wheat- and gluten-free living, especially all the great pastry recipes! I love to bake, so I'll just have to learn to bake differently. Dave's cousin, Theresa, is gluten-free and is a baker, and has a blog full of lots of great ideas, information and recipes for gluten-free living. Another resource that I've found is Gluten-Free Girl, who not only has lots of recipes and info, but has lots of links to other gluten-free blogs and websites, too.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping at the co-op and I'm getting myself lots of little tiny bags of flour! I have a few already, but I'll be adding sorghum flour and potato starch to my collection, and probably some others, too. I already have xanthium gum, tapioca flour, potato flour, arrowroot flour, and some others, plus I have lots of rice and oat groats and a grinder, so I make my own rice and oat flour, and any other kind of flour that I need (I have a collection of different grains that I can grind into flour at any given time, including spelt, kamut (which I'm not sure if we can eat or not as it's pretty close to wheat, but a little different), quinoa, millet and a few others).

She fell asleep!

My Roozer fell asleep on her own, by herself tonight! I know, for most people, that is not a big deal for a 2 1/2 year old. But this doesn't happen very often in our house. I'm hoping to wean her soon, so it's nice to be on our way toward that goal. After the usual nursing, she was still awake, so I put her in bed with a sippy cup of water, and she fell asleep. Lacy wasn't even asleep yet, so they didn't distract each other! I'm hoping to move Lacy to the big bed in her room this summer, and Rose to the toddler bed at the same time, and move it from our room to the girls' room. It will be so weird to sleep all by ourselves after all these years.

In other news, Dave got his allergy test results back. He is allergic to bananas (duh!) and wheat. Nothing else came up positive. They said the banana allergy wasn't all that bad, probably because he has avoided bananas now for about 6 or 7 years (he used to eat them all the time, but it was waning when we got married and it soon turned into this allergy he now has). The wheat allergy is mild, but I don't know if it is an avoid gluten thing or an avoid wheat thing. I'm going to talk to him about what course of action to take tomorrow. I'm thinking possibly a short term elimination diet like we did with dairy when Lacy was a baby, avoiding wheat intirely and completely for several months, and then adding it back in in small doses, and not every day. We've been eating a ton of rice lately, so I'm sure we'll continue on that path.

What's wrong with Dave?

The symptoms: chest pain, double vision, nausea. Pain so severe he couldn't drive himself to the hospital and had to pull over and dial 911. He was taken by ambulance to the ER. Tests at the ER included blood tests, a chest x-ray, heart monitor, blood pressure monitor, oxygen saturation monitor, etc. No diagnosis. Just more questions. So frustrating! The ER doc couldn't pair up the double vision with the chest pain. It just didn't make any sense. Dave is scared because his paternal grandfather died in his 30s from a heart attack. We will be following up with a cardiologist to see if he can find anything else.

Of course this had to happen the first week he's going to get a full 40 hours of work since July 2nd. Dave is planning on reporting to work tomorrow- they hired 6 guys out of the union hall, and Dave is the only one still on with the company. That's gotta say something great about my awesome hubby, especially since he's been sick every single day he's worked this week. What a great guy. Please keep him in your prayers.

UPDATE: We don't have any official answers, but Dave was talking to a friend whose daughter went through the exact same thing he went through. She was having anxiety attacks. Today Dave feels very sore, like he had a major workout yesterday after being out of shape for a long time. He's feeling slightly better, and I'm glad he has tomorrow off so he can release his stress. He's going back down hunting again, and it will do him well. If it is anxiety, it isn't a surprise to me because of the intense stress we've been under with the economy the way it is and very few jobs available in the union. We are trying our hardest to find secondary sources of income, including starting an online Etsy store so I can contribute financially as well. We will also be selling our truck most likely and possibly other things as well. It's good that we bought our "new" van for $250, because it gets between 16-20 mpg whereas the truck got 8-12! Big savings there.

I'll update more if we learn anything new. Hopefully it's just stress.

Well, there's good news and there's bad news...

Which would you like first? The bad news? That's what I always want to hear first.

Dave was providing service to some ward members today. The first act of service he was hauling a broke-down car on a U-Haul trailer to his new home. The U-Haul guy put the trailer on the truck, as company policy dictates.

Unfortunately, in his haste, the U-Haul guy didn't clamp down the trailer correctly, and it ended up causing quite a bit of damage to our truck. I will probably schedule an estimate tomorrow. U-Haul will cover all repair costs for us.

Here is the bulk of the damage. This is our truck's tailgate. There is other damage as well but I haven't edited out my license plate number from the picture yet so this is what I'm willing to post :)

The good news... DAVE IS WORKING TOMORROW!!! It's been way too long between jobs, the longest he's ever gone in the union. Thanks to a slow economy and lots of red tape, there are fewer projects going on this summer and it's taking a long time to get state approval for projects that actually are already awarded. It's a flagging job, which Dave hates, but it's a job, and we'll take it. We're so grateful our prayers were answered. Hopefully he'll be getting the more permanent Olympia job soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Rose's birthday

Rose has been two for more than a week now, so it's about time I updated you with birthday photos! Rose had a very nice birthday, despite her mom being out of it with allergies. It was a beautiful day, and we decided to enjoy the good weather and have the small family party (just us four) outside.


Rose didn't really "get it" that it was her birthday, and didn't understand how to open presents (I'm sure she'll learn before her 3rd birthday!). Dave had to help her with everything.

First thing she opened was the chair. Previously we had only one chair, which the girls fought over (and made compromises on) in the past. Lacy enjoyed helping Rose by getting her the presents she thought Rose should open next. Everything was a surprise for Lacy, too, which was half the fun!

OK, I lied. There was one gift that wasn't a surprise for Lacy. But she picked it out for Rose. It was a Barbie Mariposa coloring book with a box of 8 washable crayons. We should have picked Rose Art brand, but we went with Crayola. Darn! Didn't think of it until we were out of the store.

One of Rose's favorite gifts was the doll with the stroller I got her. She loves pushing a baby around in a stroller! We have several strollers that she likes to use, and it never hurts to have more!


She also loved the bubbles. I got her a no-spill bubble container, which is good since she recently dumped out two bottles of bubbles during an FHE activity of bubble blowing.

Since Rose's favorite color is yellow, and since she loves playing dress-ups, I couldn't pass up this cute Belle dress up dress.

Lacy thought that she should have been able to try it on first. She was shocked that we wouldn't let her wear it until Rose got to put it on and wear it for a while.

Eventually, the girls put on Rose's new pajamas (she got two coordinating pairs), and we went inside to have cake and ice cream. Lacy picked out the cake from the store. I usually make cakes from scratch, but I have been feeling poorly with allergies lately so a lot of things have gone by the wayside. Rose didn't understand the concept of blowing out birthday candles, so she just sat there, staring blankly at the cake wondering what the heck those little pointy things were on fire. Dave "helped" her blow out the candles. Eventually.


We had a really fun, laid back day. We did the laid back thing with Lacy's second birthday as well, and I highly recommend it. Lacy wants a big birthday bash this year, and I'm not sure if I'm up for it! These low key family events are just so... easy!

Rose didn't get many presents, either, which was nice. My parents sent some money for Rose, so the gifts were from both them and from us. She ended up getting the coloring book and crayons, a shape sorting cube, the Belle dress, bubbles and a bubble bucket, two pairs of pajamas, a fold-up chair, and the doll with stroller. She didn't really need a lot, being the second girl, but I tried to get her a couple nice things that I knew she would love. And you know what? She plays with every single toy I got her, so it was successful!

An interesting tidbit: completely on accident, Rose wore the same dress Lacy wore on her 2nd birthday.

What's With Wednesday?

A short recap:

Two weeks ago Wednesday, Dave took the day off to be with me and the girls while the girls had surgery.

A week ago Wednesday, Dave went in to work but was sent home because he was sick.

Last night, our water main broke in our front yard, so Dave is taking as much time as he needs off until it is fixed. Another Wednesday, another day of not working. He's really hoping to get back to work before noonish so he can have half a day's pay at least, and it looks like it very well could happen.

So yesterday after Rose went to bed, I noticed that we had virtually no water pressure. I checked the other sink, and yup, same thing. So I told Dave, who got some shoes and went to check with the neighbors to see if they had pressure.

He didn't have to go far. In the front yard was a geyser shooting up about 3-4 feet high. He immediately gets to work, trying to find the right tools to turn off the water. He had to borrow tools and a shovel because one of ours is missing and the other clearly got run over. Dang! So he starts digging and finally finds the darned pipe at almost 11 o'clock, with the help of our friend Chris. It has about a 5 inch crack in it. I wonder how long it had been cracked like that! Our water bill last month was for over 1000 units more than the previous month, but we watered the garden a lot. I'm wondering if the pipe's been cracked for some time and we didn't notice last month because of all the watering of the lawn we did.

Well, I'm trying to look at the bright side. At least it wasn't geysering all night, with Dave waking up this morning to a muddy mess in the front yard. It was probably only shooting up water like that for a half hour or so. At least it happened on a Tuesday night, not a Thursday night, where Dave would have to miss overtime work.

Just when we start getting comfortable, something like this always happens.

Surgery Day

Yesterday was a stressful day for us, but it is over and done with and we are moving on! It all started at about 5:15 when Dave and I got up and started getting ready. It was nice for Dave to get to sleep in for once. We left the house at about 6 and arrived right before 6:30 at the surgery center. After checking in and agreeing to hand them over our first born if our insurance didn't cover the procedures, we waited to be called back. We went back just before 7. Both girls were weighed and measured-- Lacy was 41 inches tall and just over 31 pounds, and Rose was 35 inches tall and just under 26 pounds. They dosed up Rose with some medicine first to make her loopy. Then we changed the girls into matching hospital gowns. Lacy equated gown with marriage, so she got married and had babies about three times before she got the loopy medicine. She would lay down in a chair and say, "I'm having a birth." On one occasion, she noted that she was having her baby in a pool. Gotta indoctrinate 'em young, I say ;)

After talking to both doctors and both anesthesiologists, I felt fairly comfortable that the girls would be well taken care of. They took Rose back first, and promised to take good care of her. She clung to the nurse as they took her back. Poor baby. I was told that they gas them up and put them to sleep and then insert the IV, which is a policy I really appreciate. They put the IV in Rose's foot.

Lacy went back about a half hour after Rose. They took her back in a red wagon. Dave and I went out to the waiting area to scarf down some food and wait for our kids to be done. At about 9, the dentist came out saying he had saved Rose's front tooth and capped three more besides. Dave went back to be with her in recovery while I waited. While I was waiting, Lacy's doctor came out to tell me that the procedure was successful, and that her adenoids were "huge." She also didn't have much fluid behind her ears, but he put in the tubes anyway. I'm a little annoyed at that part, since I didn't really want her to have tubes in the first place, but I'm saying that it had to have been necessary for her comfort otherwise he wouldn't have done it (I hope no one tries to argue that point with me especially since the surgeon is my bishop and I feel strongly that he wouldn't just do something "just because"). When Rose was transferred to another stage of recovery, I was invited back to join her and Dave (only one parent allowed per patient in the first stage of recovery). I held her close and snuggled the baby up. She looked so good, yet puffy. She was on an IV drip, which was taken out after she drank some juice.

Lacy came out after a while, and boy was she loud about it. We were told that she may come out aggressive, and that certainly proved to be true for her. I honestly think it had something to do with the Vicodin that they gave her, because she only has temper tantrums like that after she takes the Vicodin (because she's fighting it so much). She was kicking and screaming and so unpleasant, but she was very vulnerable and needy so I didn't blame her for having that attitude one bit. Rose was sleepy, so she went to Dave and I held Lacy, who absolutely refused to drink any water or juice, and wouldn't eat a Popsicle. That was one thing she needed to do to be released. We got all the discharge instructions and got permission from the surgeon to leave anyway.

The kids slept a lot on the way home and throughout the day. So much so in fact that Lacy didn't go to sleep last night until 12:30! Part of the problem was that we let her sleep in our bed, as a special treat for her hard day. I forgot how crowded four in a bed is. I'm glad that she's in her own bed tonight!

Even though Dave took the day off work, we still made money by selling some scrap metal to the recycling yard. Almost $70, so not as much as he would have made working, but heck it's something at least. We also resorted to bribes and force to get Lacy to take her medicine. Nice. I hate doing that to her. I'm officially not making her take Vicodin anymore because she hates it so, and it makes her miserable. She's taking Tylenol instead. As long as she doesn't complain about the pain, we're fine, I guess. I'll just dose her up every four hours on Tylenol tomorrow and stop that on Saturday and just give as needed, when she complains of pain. She is speaking with a squeaky voice but is otherwise feeling pretty darned good, and acting relatively normal. She even had a tea party outside this afternoon with her cousin and sister. I blogged about our day on my family's blog, complete with pictures.

I really hope Rose doesn't need the same surgery. And I really hope this stops Lacy's apnea problems. It was truly scary listening to her gasping for breath after not breathing for several seconds at a time. I would have to move her to help her breathe more comfortably, and that was while I was awake. I slept through most of it. I've been told that it is scary after the fact, because you don't know if they're breathing or not!

Anyway, we took a bunch of pictures to remember our big day yesterday!

Drugged Rose, before her costume change
Rose "before" photo
Girls in their gowns, waiting to be called back
Loopy Lacy going back for surgery
Rose "after" picture
Lacy recovering on the couch... she took much longer than Rose to come off the anesthesia

Tomorrow's the big day

We go in tomorrow for the girls' procedures. Rose's is first at 6:30, and Lacy's is at 6:55. That's check in time, and I'm assuming it will take much, much longer than that. I'll update you tomorrow with how it went.

Going under the knife

Both girls will be receiving General Anesthesia on May 14th. Rose will be having her teeth fixed, and Lacy will be having her tonsils and adenoids removed, and tubes in her ears. They are both going to go in to the same surgery center, so it will be a fun day for us. Dave will likely take the day off work, but if he can't for some reason, my sister Leslie has offered to help us out with the post-op stuff. We'll be eating a lot of ice cream and juice that day, I gather.