Where I'm From

A few weeks ago, Mama Kat @ Mama's Losin' It  posted this template as one of her weekly writing prompts. The exercise originates from a poem by George Ella Lyon and you may have seen others doing this as well.  It was a really fun exercise to do and brought to mind some wonderful memories of growing up. I may do another version soon using more recent references - everything below is drawn from my childhood. Where I'm From I am from the Fountain City Duck Pond, from RC Cola and Moon Pies.

    I am from Dogwood Trails and the Smoky Mountains.

I am from the house at the bottom of the hill, from wood paneling, leather “farty” couches, unfiltered Camels and Old Spice.

I am from homemade pickles and “puttin’ up beans”, strong but small women, from Karen and Lily Mae and Sandy Gaye.

I am from watching Grandpa play solitaire for hours after dinner was cleared, he always let me chime in when I saw a move. The dishwasher being used to store cookies and other sweets and never being used to wash dishes – dishes should be washed by hand.

From “don’t you sass me”, "go get me a switch", and “people in hell want ice water”.

From Saturdays spent in head to toe orange, bonfires, tailgating, and singing Rocky Top so many times you lose your voice. I am from “I Bleed Orange”,”Orange You a Vol?” and “Touchdooooooown Tennesseeeeeee”!

I'm from the valley, the rolling hills, and the desert. From Smoky Mtn. Market hot dogs, fried potatoes, and pinto beans & cornbread.

From my aunts big red prom dress that I was always in awe of (she looked like a red cupcake),the time my mom almost sliced her arm off shucking corn, and who could forget when I rolled out the side of the camper when I was just a few months old.

I am from quilts, afghans, and embroidered pillowcases in hope chests, albums upon albums of baby pictures, and who knows what all's hidden up in Grandma's attic.

My colors are Blush & Bashful

Or as M'Lynn would say: Pink & Pink ; )

Here's a little lookie-loo at the festivities from Sassy's 1st Birthday Bash.

Delicious cupcakes I made all by myself!

Paint Chip Garland made by me. Name Plaque-y thing & "Birthday Girl" sign made by Aunt Donna.

The sweets table

A Little Cake Eatin' Action:

And some additional cuteness for your viewing pleasure

Wordless Wednesday - All I wanted was a nice family photo...

or "This is why I should always be the one taking the pictures, not IN them"

After all that waiting...

Apparently, my scheduled post didn't schedule itself...oops! So let's get back to Sassy's birth story:

At 8am the next morning, the doctor came in to see how I was doing. This wasn't my doctor but one of the others from the practice that I happened to dislike based on a bad office visit experience a few weeks before but that's a whole other story. I had been having contractions all night (so they tell me, I didn't feel anything) they checked the whole "dilation situation", nada, nothing, zilch. Sassy was content in her 'oven' kicking the crap outta me. They amped up the Pitocin again and said they'd be back in a few hours to check again.

Fast forward to around 11:30, they come in check me again and nothings doing. The contractions were, according to the little screen, getting stronger but I was still not feeling anything. The doctor then suggested that if I wanted an epidural that this would be a good time because they were going to see what they could do to get me dilating...whatever that means.

The anesthesiologist came in wearing an orange TN do-rag so we were fast friends. Thank goodness we had things to chat about while he was back there stabbing me in the back because Mr. Pickles face when he saw the needle was less than comforting. After the epidural was in my BP dropped to insanely low levels and then and there my claims to a vomit-free pregnancy ended.

After my BP stabilized to acceptable levels, the doctor came in to explain what they were wanted to do. I don't remember the specifics now but it involved a balloon, several more hours, only a slight chance of success, and a sharp refusal from me to let them "try" it. So the decision was made to do a c-section.

At 12:32pm on Friday, September 23, 2010. Sassy made her grand debut. She weighed exactly 7 pounds and was 18 1/4 inches long.

She had a lot of fluid in her lungs and was swept off to the NICU before I even got to hold her. The nurse did let me see her but this was as close as we got.

After they finished me up and got me into recovery, I sent Mr. Pickles to check on Sassy. After what seemed like forever, he came back and delivered the news. She was on oxygen and would be staying in the level 2 nursery for up to 10 days. My baby was hours old and I still hadn't got to hold her. To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I was still hooked up to the magnesium drip and had a hole in my belly so I couldn't even be taken to the nursery to see her until the next day.

The pediatrician working the nursery came in the next morning with good news, at midnight see had been taken off the oxygen and the fluid was clearing from her tiny little lungs. She was still on antibiotics and fluids to clear out the effects of the magnesium.

 It would still be several more days before they'd even consider letting her go home. I spent the next 8 days in the hospital, sitting in the nursery with her every moment that I could. When I wasn't with her, I was crying my eyes out. I wanted my baby and they wouldn't let me have her. Looking back now, I know that we were lucky; she wasn't the sickest baby there and she left the hospital with a clean bill of health. But in that moment, seeing other moms leave the hospital with their babies, seeing the "healthy" babies that the moms sent to the nursery so they could "get some rest" (that will always be a seriously sore issue with me now) all I could feel was "they won't let me have my baby".

On October 3, we finally got to bring Sassy home and I finally got to stop crying and get some sleep.

1st Day Home with Momma

It was going to be an ordinary day…

On the morning of September 23, 2010, I woke up to what I thought was going to be “just another day”. I was finishing up my 1^st week of modified bed rest (I’d been given a diagnosis of Pre-E the week before), enjoying the doctor-ordered rest & relaxation and not spending a 45+ minute commute hoping I didn’t pee my pants even though I ‘went’ before I left. I had an 8am appointment for my 38 week check up so I’d gotten up, tossed some yummy ingredients in the crockpot for dinner, and headed to the doctor’s office.

I spent the first few minutes chatting with my favorite nurse while she checked all my vitals. I knew it couldn’t be good when after taking my blood pressure she took off the cuff and then put it back on to check again. After checking a second time, she removed the cuff and said she’d be right back. She returned with another nurse in tow, who proceeded to take my BP one more time. The nurses exchanged a look and left the room saying they’d “be right back” they didn’t come back though, the doctor came instead. My BP was way too high and she wanted to induce, immediately. My deodorant? It failed me. All the deodorant in the world wouldn’t have kept me from being the giant ball of sweat that I was that day. Up until that moment, I must have still not realized that I was actually going to have to expel this small person from my body at some point.

To make matters worse, this was the first appointment in a long time that Mr. Pickles didn’t go along. He was at work trying to tie up loose ends since we new the big day was coming soon and he would be out for a week. As the doctor is giving me instructions to head over to the hospital across the street, a thousand thoughts are running through my brain – the loudest being I can’t do this, I ask if I can go home first so that I can get my bag and meet my husband – no, you need to go right away. Thanks, that makes me feel  SO much better. I called my husband and in a panicked babble told him he needed to meet me a the hospital then went to the parking lot sat in my car and cried.

I should probably explain that from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified of the delivery aspect of having a baby. We went to a child-birth class and I cried for hours afterward convinced that there was no way I would ever be able to do that.  So being told out of the blue (in my mind at least) that we’re gonna make you have that baby, well that was a little traumatic for me. Judge all you want.

I managed to get myself across the street to the hospital, up to the labor & delivery floor, and the nurses took care of me from there. Poking me full of holes for an IV for Pitocin and magnesium to help lower my BP. And of course, hooked up to a plethora of machines to monitor every little bodily function that Sassy or I even thought about having.

Mr. Pickles arrived around 10:30 and at this point, I was starving. Did you notice when I described the beginning of this day that I didn’t mention breakfast? Yeah, I hadn’t had any yet. I thought I was going to be in & out of the doctor quickly and was planning an attack on the Dunkin’ Donuts down the street. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So the next time the nurse popped in to put the fetal monitors back in their proper place (Sassy’s super kicking kept knocking them out of place, she wasn’t a fan of being under surveillance) we asked if it was ok for Mr. Pickles to get me food. The nurse had to check with the doctor and came back to say that I could not eat. Whaaaat? I’m pregnant, I gotta eat…right? Guess not!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful: I was frustrated with being stuck in that super uncomfortable hospital bed, starving, bored (hospitals really should have free wi-fi), and terrified of the child-birthing that was going to happen one way or the other. Around 6pm my doctor came by checked all my machines, arm-raped me, and said that even after 8 hours of Pitocin I was not even the teensiest bit dilated so I would spend the remainder of the night hooked up to those machines filling me full of goo. Her partner would be in the next morning around 8am to see how I was doing and then we’d discuss further options if necessary.

I spent the entire night listening to what seemed like 100 other babies being born, one in particular with a great deal of screaming on the mother’s part – not exactly what my already frazzled nerves needed to hear but that was my problem not hers. But even after all the noise of babies being born all around us (not literally, I had a private room) Sassy must have been just as scared of being birthed as I was of having to birth her, she wasn’t budging, except to kick the monitors off my belly for the eleventy-fifth time.

Obviously, Sassy was eventually born. We’ll visit that event in celebration of Sassy’s first birthday…tomorrow!

T-Minus 2 days

Here's a look at my little Sassy girl at 2 months. So much attitude in such a tiny little person!

T-Minus 3 days and some projects

I've gotten no where in the cleaning department because I've been too busy brewing eleventy-thousand ideas for the birthday bash. Hopefully I'll have time to complete all these projects AND clean the house!

Aside from being a place to waste a huge amount of time, Pinterest is also a great place to fill my head with big ideas at the very last minute! Here's a preview of the things I'm hoping to finish (and not have turn out like crap, that's important!)

DIY Cupcake Stand - Mine is about half done and so far it's looking good. This one is probably the closest I found that uses the same "ingredients" as the one I'm making but rest assured, mine will be much more colorful!

Source: wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com via Julie on Pinterest

Paper Garland. I'm pretty sure that one day I'm going to be arrested at Lowe's for swiping all the paint samples. I asked the girl in the paint dept last night if there was a limit on how many I could take for free and she said I could take as many as I needed.

Source: etsy.com via Julie on Pinterest

A little high chair decor, perhaps?

Source: etsy.com via Julie on Pinterest

Lots of pink balloons for pictures are a must!

Source: flickr.com via Julie on Pinterest

And another little fun photo-op idea

Source: maciephoto.com via Julie on Pinterest

And of course, let's not forget a look back at Miss Sassy at 3 months.