Fibroid

The fibroid is out.  FINALLY!  :)  Here's the picture the doctor took of it.  Sorry if this grosses some of you out.  I'll post it small for those of you who are totally NOT interested in seeing it.  For those who are curious, like me, you can click on it and it will open a bigger version.  I  emailed a copy of it to my mom, who is a nurse and has a curious nature like I do and she texted me, "Wow! Mia's friend is big."  I responded, "Yeah, I feel like we need to give it a name and a propper burrial."  Too bad oncology has it.  I guess they are suppose to take some photos too, so we'll see how those turn out and if I get to see them or not.  There's a ruler along the bottom that shows that it was 6 inches / or 13 cm.  Schnikeys! 

I guess it DOES deserve a name for being so robust and for keeping Mia company for 9 months in-utero.  I remember putting my hand on it and being able to feel a strong heart-beat-like pulse of the blood beating through it.  Kinda creepy.  Thankfully, this fibroid does NOT seem to contain the hair and teeth my husband was hoping for (apparently some fibroids do - ick).

Introducing: Herman.

Sorry, I couln't make the photo any smaller, for those of you who are squeemish about such things.

I'm feeling like I got run over by a trian, cut in half, had a beater mix through my insides and then got hit in the back of the head by a 4x6.  I feel very bruised and battered inside for now.  The doctor said today that days three through five can be the worst, but promised me that it WOULD get better after that.  Luckily the nausea from a little earlier has passed without any surgery wrenching heaves.  Thank goodness!  Off to take another little nap to shore up some strenght before it's time to try and eat again and take some pain meds.

Survived!

I survived my second c-section surgery, though alas, this one did not have the end result of a beautiful child as my last one did.  I even got the doctor to take a picture of my fibroid for me.  Score!  She was out of the office today, but I'll get to see it (and her) tomorrow.  Cool beans!

I thought I'd upload a few quick photos (no, not of the fibroid, of my hospital visit) from today and yesterday, while I wait for my new pill version of pain meds (no more IV) which are overdue and I'm HURTING from overdoing it a little today.

Luckily for me I have a great surgeon and not only did she do a great job, but I got to keep my uterus!  Bonus!  :)  There was a slight risk that if they couldn't get the bleeding to stop that they might have to remove it.  Luckily, all went well and I have a newly fibroid-less uterus that is nicely stitched back together.

See my subtle yellow "FALL RISK" bracelet.  I got that BEFORE I even went into surgery.  They must have heard about my "weak ankles".  Oh wait, THAT bracelet was because of all the fantastic pain medicine they were going to give me during and after surgery.

Oh yeah... that's what I'm talking about!  Why are there three of you and why are your faces inverted?  Did I mention that morphine and I don't mix real well.  Yeah, it is super duper trippy and I think I should probably never EVER have it again.

A friend from church watched Mia for us for two days.  Thank you Amy!!!  It was so hard being away from Mia for that long!!!  Thankfully Zeus took pity on me and brought her up to the hospital for a quick visit tonight so I could get my fix.  She got to meet my night nurse who's name is Angelita, so close to hers, and we even ventured down a floor to the NICU and got to see some of the wonderful ladies who took care of our little family 6 1/2 months ago when Mia was brand new.  Those five days seem so long ago.  She was so teeny and new and now we have a fabulous, determined, much larger, teething 6 1/2 month old.  Wowza!

Mia and I getting our "snuggle on".  She tried to pretend that she didn't remember me, but I wasn't buying that garbage!

...Chilling on mama's hospital bed while mama was overdoing it and walking around a little too much...

...and eating one of her favorite, most delicious books - 'Bubbles, Bubbles'...

My heavenly Angelita nurse just showed up with two Vicodin.  Hopefully all of my little morphine friends from last night will be far away and will allow me to get some peaceful, uninterrupted, non-crazy dreaming sleep tonight.

Wish me well!

Under the Knife

It's my turn to go under the knife now.  Mia has a free pass on this one, thank goodness.  Tomorrow morning we drop Mia off at a friend's house for the day and head to the hospital that I had Mia at to finally remove that darn fibroid of mine. 

We have to be at the hospital at 6 am, so it's going to be an early morning.  They take me back at 7:30 am to start the procedure.  Basically, I'm getting a bigger and more intricate c-section type of surgery and when they remove the fibroid from the top of my uterus and put it (the uterus) back together, they'll tuck it back in and hopefully that will be that.  The sadness of it is that I have to go through that all again and but this time without the reward of a beautiful little baby.  Sadness!

For those of you who know my inquisitive nature, I really want to see this cantaloupe size growth that I feel when I lay on my stomach and that I can feel in my belly when I lay on my back.  Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, I'll be out cold as they take it out.  I asked my doctor if I could see it afterwards and maybe even see what it looks like on the inside of it.  She gave me the strangest look.  She said that they have to send it to oncology, but she could take a picture of it with her cell phone to show me if I wanted.  :)  Yay.  I'm kinda sad I can't see that sucker in person and poke and prod it, turn it this way and that, and see first-hand what's been hanging out in there over the last year.  Que ser a ser a. 

Wish me luck!

6 months old!!!

Our baby girl is 6 months old, and you know what that means...

...it's time for the infamous monthly photo shoot and "Mia facts" update!!!  :)

Mia Facts

At 6 months old, Mia:

• Measures 25 3/8 inches long which puts her in about the 30th percentile for length.
• Weighs in at a slight 13 pounds 7 ounces which puts her in about the 8th percentile for weight.
• Has a head circumference of just over 43 centimeters which puts her in about the 85th percentile.  The nurse joked that this could make it tough for her when she's trying to learn how to walk.  (No, I did not kill OR thump the nurse for making that comment about my sweet baby's noggin, as I was in the depths of despair over the thought of holding her for her immunizations.  Sadness!)
• Does NOT like immunization shots, but quiets down relatively quick after the initial pricks of pain.  She does, however, complain about it for a few minutes in her "complain voice" with an up and down cadence of  "aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa."
• Loves books and being read to.
• If she's crying and you put a book in front of her, she'll stop crying.
• Will reach out her arms to have you pick her up if you put your arms out towards her.
• Is getting really good at sitting up on her own, though we still put pillows around her for those times when she tips over.
• Loves to be bounced and sung to.
• Does NOT like the vacuum coming close to her.
• Can hold the "crawling position" if you put her in it, but eventually lowers herself down.
• Loves putting everything in her mouth.
• Has super fast hands that shoot out to grab whatever new thing she sees and has interest in.
• Can roll over from her stomach to her back and her back to her stomach.
• Sometimes gets upset when she rolls onto her stomach and gets "stuck", forgetting momentarily that she can indeed roll back over to her back.
• Is still not a fan of spoon feeding, fruits, vegetables, or rice cereal.
• Gets a huge smile on her face, kicks her legs excitedly and puts her arms up when you go in to get her from her bed.
• Knows and responds to her name.
• Is a pretty chill baby and doesn't really babble as much since surgery, but loves to look around and take it all in.
• Knows who mama and papa are and smiles when she sees us.
• Has a special bond with her papa and even sometimes lets out a giggle of pure joy when she sees him.
• Cuddles against your chest when she's tired and ready to go to sleep.
• Enjoys going for walks in her stroller and taking it all in.
• Is practically perfect in every way and is still the joy of our lives.

And now for the monthly photo shoot:

"...uh, MOM...don't look now...but I think there's something big and fuzzy next to me..."

 
"Whew!  Thankfully he seems somewhat friendly and approachable."

"As long as he doesn't interfere with me eating my toots, I'm good to go."

"Uh, mom... he seems to have followed me up into the chair..."

"Oh, it's just giraffe!  I like him!"

Snuggles!

"Oh, my!  What delicious looking toots you have!"
I can't believe how fast the time has flown.  Our baby girl is sitting up and getting ready to crawl - watch out world!  It seems like yesterday that she couldn't even hold her head up and now she's sitting up and looking around and taking it all in. 
Mia, you are so very precious!  I believe I was born for this - to be your mom and to have you as my child.  My heart is so full of love for you.  In fact, my heart overflows with love for you and occationally it spills out through my eyes and runs down my cheeks as I ponder how very much I love you, how much you mean to me, how BEYOND precious you are and what a very wonderful gift of love you are to your papa and me.  We love you sweetie - happy half birthday!

Christmas - part two :)

So after church, we headed to the nursing home to pick up Zeus's dad Agustin and bring him over to the house for a little bit.  Zeus cooked a light brunch for us and we had Zeus's dad tell us about the date and time and check all of our clocks (he's obsessed with clocks and watches).  We watched some Christmas themed shows that were on TV and then headed back to drop off Agustin at the nursing home before heading to Gus and Rebecca's (family friends) for Christmas dinner.  It was fun to hang out with and chat with them and eat some delicious food.  I made mini chocolate molten lava deserts like the one's at Chili's for our dessert and they were a huge hit.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of them! 

This is a larger version I'd made earlier in the month.  YUM!

A football game started while we were there and my x-football-player husband got sucked into it for a bit.  We ended up staying until about 7:30 pm when I reminded him we still needed to head home and open presents for Christmas.  :)  We headed home and FINALLY got around to opening presents at 8 pm Christmas Day.  No way that would  have worked when we were kids, but luckily Mia's only 6 months old this year and had no idea what she was missing out on.

Our little Christmas tree.

All lit up - I love it - wish we could keep it up all year.

Zeus wanted me to open my present first - he was really excited.  :)

Yay!  A sewing machine!!!  I'd really been wanting one lately but we couldn't really afford one.  Thank you Zeus and Santa and swinging hot deals on Craigslist!!!

Zeus got a battery-less crank lantern for camping and emergencies and camping - yay!  Santa and I are very practical, unfortunately for Zeus.

Luckily he REALLY loved what was in the envelope.

...coupons for some of his favorite things - toot rub, pedicure, baked items of choice, candlelit dinner of choice, shoulder rubs, etc.

Mia checking out her shiny presents.

Mia under the tree - if you look in the middle near the top, you can see the darling rocking horse ornament than my cousin Eric's wife Laura made for Mia - SO sweet!  She's starting a new tradition with Mia where she makes her a new handmade ornament every year.  We love you Laura!

Mia didn't really get the whole "present thing", but she sure had fun whapping and banging on the boxes.  :)

Reading one of her Christmas books.

She liked this one with the wrapping funky at the top.

Zeus's friends Marie and Troy sent Mia some DARLING clothes - you can kind of see them in the back right side - in this fun box.  :)  The best present EVER!!!

"Seriously mom?  You put me in the box?"

...and then it was back to normal...

...chilling in the exersaucer...

...and putting everything in her mouth (see her two bottom teeth in this one)...

...eating all her toes...

...and drooling like crazy!

"Okay mom, I've tasted all my toys and promptly tossed them to the floor, thus clearing off the tray.  Now what???"

"What do you mean, it's bedtime?!?!?"

...and to all a good night.  :)

Merry Christmas!