Joe's Surgery

This is what I did for the next few days.

Sorry if it grosses you out.

This picture is clearly b4 the surgery.

On December 1st I had my third neck operation. All other methods of treatment had failed to alleviate the pain and other symptoms my herniated disc had been causing. After consulting with two different doctors, it was prayerfully determined that surgery was the next best option.

We left for El Paso, TX at 6:15AM. We arrived at Sierra Medical Center at about 8AM. Ashley and my Dad were both there to offer their support. Shortly after we arrived, they took me into the back where I changed into my "sexy" hospital garb, had my vitals checked, and all that stuff. After a few minutes, they escorted Ashley and Dad to the back. After a few more questions and starting an IV, they moved us to the surgery waiting room.

That's when I starting getting nervous. I sort of got a little scared and angry. "Why me?" "Not again!", I asked. As they were wheeling me into the elevator, it occurred to me that Jesus suffered and died for us. He never did anything wrong. He did it because He loves us. Remembering that brought me comfort.

They wheeled us into the upstairs waiting room. Stall number three. I can remember eavesdropping as patients in adjacent stalls spoke with their respective doctors and asked questions. A couple of nurses were asking me more of the same questions. Then they pulled some white compression stockings on my legs to prevent blood clots. After that, they strapped on a pair of blue boot-like compression socks that inflated-and-deflated- to prevent blood clots.
I watched as patient-after-patient was wheeled to their respective operating room, and to an unknown fate. I just sat and watched.

As it turns out, my doctor was on-call, responding to another hospital. Apparently an unlucky guy took a digger off a bridge, and was in need of some serious work.
The doctor arrived at about half past noon. He met my Dad, then touched-base with Ashley and I- "It was go time!"

They put an anti-nausea sticker behind my left ear and gave me a dose of some "feel good meds". The last thing I remember was waving "bye" to Ashley and my Dad as I rounded the corner of the nurse's station. I remember hearing a male nurse offering reassuring words to my Dad, "Will take good care of him, Sir".

I awoke to the sound of Spanish. Bi-lingual myself, in my loopy state I tried to communicated to the voices, but I'm not sure if the words ever left my lips.

I suffered a herniated disc to my C6-c7, which is just below me C5-C6 fusion. The herniation was repaired by removing the herniated disc, along with some bone chips, and replacing the defective disc an artificial disc. In addition, they removed some of the hardware from the second surgery.

After surgery I was sore to say the least. But in comparison with the previous two operations I had, it was the best post-op experience to date. My Dad stood watch, then made his way back to the "Land of Enchantment", to take care of my autistic brother. Meanwhile, my Mother was at our house tendering to our "little angels".
Ashley slept in a nasty old hide-a-bed. She was my tender nurse. After staying the night, we were permitted to leave.

Since then, I have experienced a daily improvement to my condition. Teddie and Merci (Ashley's mom and sister) stayed with us for a few days and were a big help during the transition home. It is going to take some time to get used to my new neck. I will need to make some permanent changes to my lifestyle to ensure that this surgery will be my last...well at least...for a long time.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Sophie is 3!!!!

Today is my sweet little girls birthday. It is amazing how time flies! I remember the day I had her like it was yesterday. I went into labor at 1:30 am and had her at 7:30 pm. It was a long labor but it went by so fast. I remember when she came out she was screaming and crying. The Dr.s immediately handed her to my while Joe cut the umbilical cord. She instantly stopped crying. I thought she stopped breathing, but she was just calm because she knew she was in her mothers arms and that she was safe there. It brought tears to my eyes as it still does now. I hope that she may always feel safe in my arms and in my presence. I love my little wild girl. She is very stubborn, determined and so very smart for her age. She is also very charismatic. If she sees someone up-set or crying she trys to comfort them even if it is a stranger on the street. I love how she brings peace to our home. When she hears Joe or I complaining she will say : "Suck it up Mommy" Or "Suck it up Daddy." When she says that it just makes us laugh and we realize she is right. She is a little fashionista and a little Mother. At times she can she can be hard to handle but she is my sweet little girl and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful to have her in my life. She truly is a wonderful little girl. Mommy loves you sweetie!

Here are a few of the things she loves right now:

Princesses

Playing dress-up- From sun up to sun down she is in her dress-up clothes. She has a chest full of them.

Dresses- Everyday she want to wear a dress whether its a Sunday dress or a princess dress. She is so girl but yet she loves to play rough. She reminds me of me at times. She already knows what matches and what doesn't. My little fashionista!

Apples- Everyday she has at least one! I guess she lives by the saying An apple a day keeps the Dr. away.

Garbies (Barbies)

Taking baths with her brothers

Jumping on the trampoline(which has been awhile since she broke her arm on one)

Having painted nails- I hate having my nail un-painted and she does too

Having her hair done- Whenever we are about to leave she says "You have to do my hair first!"

Baking with Mom- Every Sunday we bake tasty treats

Peanut butter and Jelly no crust

Macaroni and cheese

Pizza

grilled cheese

Ice cream

Her new play house Daddy built for her B-day

Picking on her brothers

Duke

Occasionally her Mommy

Her Daddy- She is such a Daddy's girl

New blog

For those of you who don't know, I created a new blog. It is something for me to do on long lonely nights. It is a homemaking blog. I remember homemaking tricks better than I remember anything else. I strive everyday to be a good homemaker. Here is a link to my new blog http://www.tricksandtipsofamother.blogspot.com/ Hope you enjoy it! :)

Halloween fun!

Last weekend was Halloween. We were able to spend it in Las Cruces. The Hubbs got the weekend off and it was SOOOO NICE to have a normal weekend. Its been almost 2 years since we have had a normal weekend! The plan was for the whole family to be the incredibles but that plan failed for two reasons #1 Joe said he would never wear spandex's (Can't blame the guy) and #2 Sophie changed her mind and decided she wanted to be a princess after I already had her costume made and after I almost had the twins customs made. The only reason I let her change her mind last minute is because I feel she is finally old enough to decide what she wants to be for Halloween and I wanted to give her that opportunity. She decided she wanted to be a princess. I wanted the kids costumes to coordinate in some way so I decided to make her Princess Peach and the twins Mario and Luigi. I love the fact that Chubbs loved her blond wig! I was afraid she wouldn't wear it. She rocked it all night. My kids are impossible to get good pictures of. The twins slept during the Picacho Wards Trunk or Treat. Here are a few pictures.

Cute pictures of the week

This is one of the firsts bath all 3 took together.
Mike and Matt with their Great Grandpa- Ted Brannan. This was taken on his 68th birthday.

This s how Matthew likes to sit.

Sophie and Daddy looked so cute Sunday morning I just had to take a picture.

Mike chillin like a villian! ;)

Better late than never!

I cant believe I never up-dated my blog on the birth of the twins. I feel so ashamed. Better late than never right? Well here it goes!

We went to stay in Cruces the day before Halloween because I already went into labor once and they had to stop it. I felt the time was getting close and I didn't want to be in a small town where they could do nothing to help me. So I decided I wanted to be closer to a hospital that could. Turns out they came early but not as soon as I thought they would thankfully. I was laying in the tub relaxing, just looking at my huge belly. I was watching it tense up. I then realized I was having contractions. They didn't hurt but I was having them. I decided to time them. 4 minutes apart! I couldn't believe it. I called Joe who was working grave yards. I told him he probably better come home and then we could go to the hospital. Joe then told me he wanted me to go now. I assured him I was fine. After I got off the phone with him I felt it would be wise for me to go. I called his parents house and asked if someone would take me. His sister Sara came. As she drove me to the hospital a kept acting as if my water broke. Poor thing! When we got there they told me they didn't have a wheel chair and asked if I could walk clear to the other side of the hospital to the elevator. I could barely walk. I was waddling like a penguin. I couldn't believe they asked that of me. I felt as if the babies were just about to drop right out of me! So I waited while someone came with a wheel chair to get me. They wheeled me up and had me get dressed in the a gown. The Dr. came and and checked me. She told me it was go time. I was fully effaced and already dilated. At my last appointment both babies were head down and things were looking that I was going to be able to have a natural birth. But once the Dr. checked me she told me both babies were now transversed (laying side-ways) :( I was looking forward to a natural birth and was very frightened to have a c-section. Thankfully they let me wait for my husband to finally get there. When he got there they gave him scrubs and took me to the operating. They were 34 weeks to the day. The Dr.s were certain they would need oxygen. I couldn't believe who many people where in the operating room. There was at least 10 people counting Joe and I. They came on November 17th, 2009 at 12:37 and 12:38 AM Michael being the oldest. Two healthy, beautiful, baby boys weighing in at 4.10 lbs and both 17 inches needing no oxygen. They need to stay in the hospital 3 extra days after I left so they could learn to regulate their body temperatures and they also had to stay under the bilirubin ligh . Those were the longest/hardest 3 days of my life. I was nursing and needed to nurse them every 3 hours. It took them an hour to eat beacuse they would fall asleep during feedings because even eating was a huge work out for my little small babies. Once I was done feeding I would go to my grandmas for about and hour and a half and then have to turn around and do it all over again. I am so thankful that I was able to have these two amazing little boys.

Sophie broke her arm

Well our little monkey has broke her first bone before she was even 3. Hopefully this isn't a glimpse into our future with our kids. We were in Las Cruces for the Brannan family reunion. The day before the reunion started Sophie was jumping on Grandma and Papa Payne's trampoline. She was happily jumping on the trampoline as she usually does as Daddy and his friend who also is now Merci's wonderful boyfriend Heri were talking at the edge of the trampoline. They saw the whole thing unfold but it happened so fast that they couldn't do anything about it. Joe knew she broke it right away. She ran inside holding her, graved a shirt out of his suit case and tore it in half, graved a pencil box and made a sling. Sophie was in pain but she was also very strong. We then drove her to the hospital while Heri and Merci watched the twins. There they told us she was fine and that there wasn't a break. Joe didn't felt they were wrong and demanded that they looked again. Sure enough Daddy was right. She fractured her humerus bone just above her elbow. As can tell in the pictures Daddy looks like he was in more pain. He felt guilty that he wasn't able to catch her. Poor guy. Sophie was fine once they gave her morphine. The morphine made her talk and talk and talk! They couldn't but her in a cast right away because of the swelling. She waited 3 days for her pretty pink cast which was taken off on Thursday. They were just going to put her back in a sling but as soon as the Dr. took it off Sophie laid on the floor in a push-up position trying to see what she could now that her cast was off. It scared the Dr. that she was so active because it still has about 3 more weeks to heal, so he decided to put her in a soft cast. She is doing just fine using her left arm instead of her right. She has even found ways to still drag her brothers around using her left arm, bending over and using her chin! She is one tough cookie!

The boys!

I cant believe I haven't up-dated my blog since the twins were born. I feel so ashamed of myself! :( My boys are now 10 months old. They are crawling in every direction, cruising, always laughing at their silly sister, always smiling, and love to make fart sounds (typical boys). Two days ago Michael and Matthew said their first words other than Momma and Dadda. It was Amen. It was so cute we were saying a blessing on our food and everyone said Amen. Michael then said it. I was praising him and laughing and getting him to say it over and over. In the processes of praising him, Matthew then said it as if he was trying to show it wasn't a big deal and that he could do it too. I tried to record both of them saying it but Michael was the only one who would do it for the camera. They both usually say it every time we finish praying.

We decided to name Michael, Micheal because it means- "Who is like God." And Matthew after one of the apostles. We wanted to give our boys strong names with meanings in hope they would try to live up to their names. So far they are both off to a good start and it is my prayer that they continue to do so.

I am trying to get the video on here but I am having trouble doing so. :(

Potty training Mama

I potty trained Sophie at 22 months because there was no way I was going to have 3 in diapers! She was potty trained up until just a few weeks ago when she regressed. :( So now I am re-potty training her. She gets either a cheese stick or a chocolate chip when she uses the potty. Today she walked in on me while I was using the potty. As she heard me tinkle she said.... "Good job Mama, you get chocolate!" :)

Sophie is 2!

I decided to have Sophie's party a week early because I was afraid I would be in the hospital having the boys and I was right. Here are a few pictures of Sophie's and Grandma Kiki's birthday party. Also a picture of me pregnant with the twins at 34 weeks measuring in at 38. I look much bigger than 38 weeks, more like 68! Somehow I managed to gain only 34 pounds.

The Boys Are Here

Michael and Matthew are now 11 weeks. I am finally getting into the swing of things, so sorry it has taken me so long to blog about them. They were born by C-section on November 17th 2009 at 12:07 and 12:08. Michael is the oldest and Matthew is the baby of the family by a whole minute. :) Both boys were a whopping 4.10 lbs. They were born 6 weeks early.The doctors said they were a pretty good size. Michael was 17 inches and Matthew was 17 1/2. That night I was taking a bath and felt contractions 3-5 minutes apart. However, they were not strong and I was not concerned because they weren't painful and I questioned if they were even contractions or the boys boxing again. I decided I better text Joe who was at work an hour drive away. He told me to go to the hospital and he would meet me there.I told him I didn't want to go to the hospital and pay another $100 co-pay since I was just there the week before when they had to stop my labor. He told me I had to go. His sister took me to the hospital. Thankfully I obeyed my husband and went because as soon as they checked me in they examined me and told me that it was go time. Both boys were laying transversed (sideways.) As soon as Joe got to the hospital he gave me a quick blessing and then they took me back to the operating for the C-section. That was the scariest day I have ever had. I was shivering like a little scared Chihuahua. They boys were healthy needing 0 oxygen. The Dr. was very surprised they did so well. Since they were so early the needed to stay in the nursery. They stayed in there for six days. Those six days were very challenging. I am nursing the boys and I was in the nursery all day it seems. They ate every 3 hours from beginning time and it took at least an hour to nurse them usually 2. They were released from the hospital a few days before Thanksgiving and we were so thankful to have a two beautiful baby boys home with us.