Welcome! Please, make yourself comfortable. Scroll to the bottom of
this page to learn more about how the website name originated.
And
now, the news...
Link to
Khristian's blog
Khristian's Current Age: 0
November
18, 2008 - SWEET!!!
My cousin, Micah... you know, the one who told me to backup my files before I
started messing with code in the first place... he had been trying to figure out
what was wrong with my code and still had a copy of that page, complete with all
my missing news bits!!
November
12, 2008 - Found an archive of my main page, so was able to get all of the links on the
side bar back ... but I'm still out the whole pregnancy & delivery story.
I've learned, over the past 2 months that I've been back at work after having
Khris, there are just absolutely not enough hours in a day... I get up at
4:50am, and my day starts, by the time I get home at 5:30pm I'm exhausted and
still have an entire days worth of house stuff to tackle, but that has to wait
until at least 8:30 every night, provided Khris goes to sleep shortly after his
last bottle. It's just amazing that I can't remember what I used to do
with my time after work!!
November
6, 2008
- Well, shoot. I did mention that I was working on revamping my web page,
right? Seems that in the process, even after my cousin, Micah, told me to
back up my page before I started messing with adding code and making other
modifications ... really long, irritating story made slightly shorter ... I
don't know what I saved, but it wasn't my main page! I'm not going to give
up on messing with code ... I'm just not going to mess with the main page again
(for now)!
Sad thing is ... I can't really remember what all I had on my home page.
I know I had the story of my pregnancy & pictures of ultra sounds & Khris's
birth announcement ... hmmm, well, BLEH. Good news is that I had a copy of
a really old version of my main page, from back in 2004 that I was able to use
to get things back to some kind of 'normal'.
Got a bit of happy news to share with everyone. I had a doctor's
appointment on 10/31 with the thyroid guy. He's messing with my dosage
again, but said that my thyroid cancer is well under control, as is my diabetes
(looks like that was only gestational!)
November
03, 2008 - I decided to create a blog for Khristian and over time
I'll be redoing this web page as well.
Click this link to
view Khristian's new blog!
October
13, 2008 - It is incredible how much faster the hours seem to fly by
once a baby enters your life. I always kind of thought that people were
exaggerating ... but no, they were completely serious! Khristian is just over
11 weeks old, sleeping (for the most part) through the night and I absolutely
can not imagine my life without him. I've even learned to laugh it off when he
spits up all over me just before I have to leave for work (it had to happen 3
times before I decided that I should wake him up to eat BEFORE I take my shower
in the morning).
Since he is almost 3 months old now, I thought it would be fun to
publish a couple 'comparison' pictures:
7-25-08 8-25-08 9-25-08
At his 2 month well baby check-up he weighed in at 16lbs 9oz & was
24.5 inches long!
Love & hugs y'all,
August 12,
2008 - WOW, so much has happened since my last entry... My
obstetrician decided that the safest thing for both me and the baby was for be
to be induced, so I checked into the hospital on Thursday, July 24 & the
hospital staff got the ball rolling ... so to speak. First they gave me a
treatment of something that helps the cervix to soften & dilation to start...
during the entire event, my blood sugar was checked every 4 hours, then every 2
hours & after dinner they had to put me on an insulin drip & tested my blood
sugar every hour ... I swear, my fingers are only just starting to heal!!
ANYWAY, nothing had really progressed by early evening, so they started Pitocin
& around 11:00 that night, just before Scott arrived back at the hospital the
doctor decided that she needed to break my waters... shortly after, I decided
that I really needed to have the epidural ... and that was an experience!!
First, it hurt like hell, but on top of that it only worked to numb the right
side of my body ... I could still feel everything on the left side. About an
hour later the anesthesiologist came back and gave me a stronger dose,
but after 20 minutes there was no effect ... so he had to remove and replace the
catheter ... didn't hurt as much, but still not pleasant. On the entertaining
side, because my right side had been double dosed, I couldn't feel ANYTHING, no
pressure, nothing, on my right side! I was able to rest, but after a day of
being hooked to monitors, drips and other machines, the doctor came in and told
me that the prolonged labor was too stressful on the baby, his heart rate was
fluctuating to much and I wasn't any further dialated by Friday morning, even
after having my water broken... so, it was a good thing I had asked for the
epidural since little Khristian had to be born C-section.
What they didn't mention is that his head was 15 inches & the cord
was around his neck twice.
He is a beautiful, healthy baby ... and Scott & I are exhausted!!!
(and he's crying now, so I've got to run)
Love & hugs y'all,
July 13, 2008
- Hard to believe that there is just under 1 week left until our anticipated due
date. At my last appointment, July 11, the doctor said that my cervix was still
pretty high, but had definitely started to soften and drop from the appointment
before that, but no dilation yet. My next appointment is Thursday, July 17th
(my mom's birthday), at which time I'll be hooked up to a monitor for a 20 -30
minute non-stress test. The doctor said that as long as there was no stress on
either me or the baby, she's going to let me go over 40 weeks, but will start
monitoring me twice a week (every half week I guess) ... it's times like this
that make is very obvious to me that I am WAY to much of a planner!
Scott starts working the night shift tomorrow ... when he first
started working he worked nights & I was able to get used to that schedule, so
I'm sure I will get used to a similar schedule now ... but it will be really
different for at least the first couple weeks, especially if I go over my due
date! We talked about it for several weeks after he had been approached about
it at work and finally decided that, for now, it is actually a more practical
schedule for daycare. Scott will have Daddy bonding time during the day, we'll
only need day care for a couple hours every afternoon & then I will have Mommy
bonding time during the evening hours. I felt uncomfortable about it at first,
but we are not the first family in history to have opposite work schedules and
other families deal with it just fine, so we will too!
Well, my bag is packed and ready to go ... hopefully I'll have the
baby before my next update, but who really knows!
Love & hugs y'all,
June 27, 2008
- WOW, so much has happened since December of last year ... I have been busy
getting my home and life in general kind of changed around to get ready for what
is probably going to be the biggest change of my life. In November of 2007,
Scott and I were shocked & thrilled to learn that we're expecting!!! Seriously,
I had been told for nearly 10 years that it would be very difficult, not
impossible, but difficult for me to conceive without intervention and assistance
... so, here's the story:
After learning that the Thyroid cancer was undetectable and completely under
control, Scott and I started tentatively talking about starting a family. Scott
had very understandable concerns about my over all health, so he and I visited
with my gynecologist. Scott asked some very pointed questions about my weight,
age and 'pre-diabetes', as well as other more general questions about higher
risk pregnancies. Dr. Davis said that she was pleased that I had lost weight,
wasn't concerned about the age (other than 'the sooner, the better') and said
that as far as high risk pregnancies are concerned, Sioux Falls has some of the
best facilities in the nation. She gave us her blessing in September, reminding
us that being off the pill for at least 30 days before becoming pregnant would
greatly reduce the risk of miscarriage ... so I went off the pill and took a
deep breath.
I was prepared for months of trying, having gone down this path before nearly
20 years earlier, feeling like I was riding a horrible roller coaster - not
getting my period for almost 2 months, thinking that I was pregnant, only to
have my hopes dashed by a negative pregnancy test - and then go through it all
again a couple months later. I had shared all of this information with Scott,
so we were both prepared for a long wait. In October Dr. Davis had me to come
in for a 21 day progesterone test, if I remember correctly, this test can tell
the doctor whether ovulation occurred or not ... and the result of my test was
low indicating that I had not ovulated, so Dr. Davis prescribed a round of
Clomid to help me ovulate. I was to start it shortly after my period began in
November ... to give you an idea of just how much of a geek I am, I have a
spreadsheet of my cycle start dates for each month that spans back nearly 10
years, so I know what the average length of my cycles are, at least while I'm on
the pill.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 – I called Dr. Davis’s office &
talked to Dana. My average cycle length is 27.5 days (rounded up to 28), so my
period should have started 11/9/07, but hadn’t yet as of that morning
(11/13/07). This was day 32 of my cycle. Dana said I should wait a week to 10
days and take a pregnancy test (either Friday or Monday). Provera would be
prescribed if the test is negative (this would be taken for 5 days and then
withdrawal bleed would begin within a week of starting).
Monday, November 19, 2007 – day 38 of cycle - test results
were positive. Possible false positive given my age and PCOS, so waited for
call back from Dana.
11:45am ~ Dana called to let me know Dr. Davis wants to run 2 more labs – 1 to
check my progesterone number and another to check my hCG number. If the hCG is
to low, the lab work will have to be done again 48 hours later.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 – day 40 of cycle – Monica
called me with the lab results … we’re pregnant. My progesterone level
is now as 29.1 (up from 9.9 on 11/2/07) and my hCG number was 5383 (number
should double every other day). I had an appointment with Dr. Davis at 11:00am
on 12/03/07 (1st ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy is progressing
as expected). Seriously, I am a total geek because I did the math and
calculated that, dividing backward by 2 each time, my hCG number was 5383 on
11/19/07 so we conceived on 10/26/07…
Here is the very first ultrasound picture:
you can hardly see it, but the baby is between the two tiny little plus signs in
what looks like a circular hole on the left side of the picture....
On 12/18/07 Scott & I went in for a 2nd ultrasound & got to
hear the baby's heart beat for the first time (180 BPM):
it's still hard to tell, but the baby is a bit bigger, again, in the circular
hole on the left side of the picture (a bit higher than the first one though)
between the two plus signs
On 1/3/08 we had a 3rd ultrasound and underwent a 1st
trimester screening. The results of the ultrasound and my blood work are
analyzed to determine over all risk for Downs Syndrome, as well as Trisomy 18.
The screening results were 'normal' - chances of Downs Syndrome were 1 in 570
(based on my age alone the chances were 1 in 39) - the chances of Trisomy 18
were 1 in 10,000 (based on my age alone the chances were 1 in 130) ... so the
doctors were comfortable that no further testing would need to be done.
You can kind of make out what looks like is probably a profile of the baby in
this ultrasound:
Oh yeah, then on 1/23/2008 Dr. Oppenheimer, my favorite
thyroid doctor took a look at my blood sugar numbers, which prompted him to make
a frantic call to Dr. Davis, shortly after which he took over my diabetic care
and put me on insulin. I have to say that since then I've continued taking
insulin, but only 1 shot just before the evening meal daily and I had met with a
nutritionist, so I've been able to keep my numbers under tight control.
2/15/08 we went in to have what is known as an anatomy
ultrasound, where they spend a LONG time taking pictures of the baby to make
sure everything is forming where it should be ... the only thing they couldn't
get a good picture of was the 4 chamber heart, so I had to go back again on
3/14/08 for more ultrasounds and they were able to get a really good view of the
4 chamber heart.
One of my co-workers decided that we needed to call the baby 'bubbles' after
seeing this ultrasound:
In May I started a 6 week childbirth class especially designed for pregnant
women 35 years and older. It was interesting, but I'm not sure that I learned
more from that class than I had from the books I had been reading before
starting the classes ... but it was still a good experience.
On 5/12/08, when I was just 30 weeks 2 days along the baby was measuring 3
weeks ahead, so Dr. Davis ordered another ultrasound to get a better idea of how
big the baby actually was, so on 5/27/08 I had another ultrasound and learned
that the baby weighed approximately 5lbs 4oz and was in the 75th percentile ...
still not positive what that meant, but Dr. Davis seemed happy with it.
However, she did order a 7th ultrasound to be done on 6/24/08.
On 6/24/08, my 7th ultrasound, this one at 36 weeks 3 days, the baby's weight
was up to 7lbs 9oz. Dr. Davis was concerned that the baby weighed so much
because of my gestational diabetes, but after reviewing the ultrasound results
she said that I just appear to be destine to have a bigger baby. She said that
babies of women with gestational diabetes normally have big tummy measurements,
but my baby has a big head ... just like Daddy (seriously, he can't find
sunglasses that fit his head without digging into his scalp)! I've seen
pictures of Tristan (Scott's oldest) as a baby, so it is entirely likely that
big heads run in Scott's side of the family.
That brings us up to today ... tomorrow will mark the start of week 37 and
several people noticed today that the baby appears to be starting to drop. I
think they are right because the pressure on my bladder increased while the
pressure on my lungs seems to have decreased, plus I can eat more in one meal
than I had been able to... plus I think I've been experiencing pre-labor
cramping ... I had been told that it would feel like menstrual cramps, but since
I've never really had menstrual cramps I had NO idea what to expect. Last
night, when I went to stand up but couldn't without pain (more uncomfortable
than actually painful), I surmised that must be what it was...
So, the nursery is ready ... but I'm not sure I am. I think I'll get my
hospital bag packed & ready to go ... and maybe practice putting the car seat in
... I suppose, ready or not, it won't be long now.
Love & hugs y'all,
December
4, 2007 - My aunt sent me a little story that just made me cry, it
touched me so that I knew I should share it!
This is one of the
kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but
there is a kind soul Working in the dead letter office of the
US postal service. Our 14
year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old
daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She
asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God
would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these
words:
" Dear God, Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday
and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have
her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes
to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see
her You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her. Love, Meredith."
We put the letter in an
envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We
put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front
of the envelope Because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter
all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the
post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I
told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a
package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an
unfamiliar hand. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called,
'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written
to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey &
Meredith and this note: "Dear Meredith, Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having
the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. Abbey isn't sick
anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays In your heart. Abbey
loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any
pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little
book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by. Thank you for the
beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it
to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send
my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I am
wherever there is love. "
Love & hugs y'all,
November
21, 2007 - My sister sent me a little story that just made me giggle,
so I thought I should share it!
A young man named John received a parrot as a
gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out
of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.
John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only
polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean
up" the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back.
John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. In desperation,
John threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly
there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the
freezer.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe
I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely
remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do
everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.
He was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in
his behavior, when the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Love & hugs y'all,
November
16, 2007 - Ok - that was scary, sad, but way cool (to watch anyway).
Scott & I were both sitting downstair and could hear a really low helicopter.
Scott mused aloud that it might be landing in the field just to the west of us,
but then everything got really quite, like it does when something flies over
head and it suddenly gone. About 5 minutes later Scott went upstairs and
hollared down the stairs that he was right. "Intensive Air" (Sanford
Hospital's emergency helicopter) was basically in our back yard! We stood
outside, in silence, and watched it take off. I said a silent prayer for
the pilot, patient & passengers and I heard Scott whisper 'good luck'.
Medflight, Intensive Air, Careflight, Lifeflight ... whatever name it flies
under, it is an amazingly powerful sight.
Love & hugs y'all,
November
12, 2007 - I'm not even going to try to come up with an excuse for
not updating my website for over 3 months!
The PET/CT scan was 'interesting' (I say this because you lay on a tiny
board, get covered with a blanket and then strapped down to the board ... oh,
and the tube narrows so your shoulders are squished to your sides and you
absolutely can't move) and picks up everything from recent infections to actual
tumors. Dr. Oppenheimer was concerned, so sent me to Dr. Helvig, (ENT
surgeon). She reviewed the scans with me and concluded that what they were
interpreting as thyroid cancer was actually an infection/irritation of my
tonsils. She did find what could have been a small lump on the left side
of my neck, so took a quick biopsy of the lump. It hurt like crazy and
when her nurse called with the results it all made sense. Seems Dr. Helvig
pushed the needle into my salivary gland ... on the up side, there is no cancer
present in my salivary gland!! So, anyway, having really found nothing,
Dr. Helvig ordered an MRI with contrast (another 'interesting' scan, but I
wasn't strapped in and I could wear my sleep mask so I wasn't freaked out by how
close everything was). When the results came back, there was nothing
suspicious found.
All my worries and stresses over tumor markers & scans proved to be over very
little. Dr. Oppenheimer, on the other hand, is still worried... We
finally agreed that as far as I'm concerned, I'm fine - he worries to much,
enough for both of us. My tumor marker was back down to 1.2 (or something)
with the medication, so no more doctors or cancer talk until my next appointment
in January!!!
Mom came out to stay with us the week before our anniversary! I really
enjoyed her visit and hope she did as well. I even bought a new bed for
the cocoon room (3 dark blue walls and 1 dark gold wall, I can't call it the
Celestial room any more because I took out all the stars and moons).
Anyway, because of Scott's hours, and the fact that I snore, he sleeps in the
guest room during the week, so I wanted Mom to have a comfortable, though not as
calming, room to sleep in. We did some shopping, went up to Palisade State
Park, went out to dinner on by Saturday and Monday nights, weeded (ok, I watched
and dug out the raspberry and crab grass, Mom actually did most of the weeding).
The night before Halloween, Scott and Mom cleaned out two pumpkins & Scott
carved both of them. I can't stand the way that goo feels on my hands, so
I was thankful that Mom was willing to help Scott with that project! (We
had 50 trick-or-treat princesses, pirates, witches, vampires and assortment of
other characters stop by the house on Halloween night!)
This past Saturday I decided that I wanted a thermostat that worked.
The one that came with the house was not every efficient or effective because I
would set it at 72 and I'm come home to find the heater still running and the
house was close to 80 degrees! I love Home Depot and had two gift cards,
plus I had seen an advertisement that showed the kind I wanted. I wandered
around the store for what seemed like hours (in reality it was only about 15
minutes) when I finally decided to stop and ask where the thermostats were kept
... and it took me just as long to decide which kind I actually wanted.
Believe it or not, I removed the old thermostat and replaced it with the new
programmable, digital thermostat all by myself! And, it works!!!
Love & hugs y'all,
A name is a name is a name
Ahh, so you are wondering how I arrived at such a name? I guess Waterdaughter
is a bit peculiar at that... Perhaps it will help to start the story out with
you knowing that my family's surname is Waterman, and that Mom and Dad were
blessed with two daughters... Fast forward a bit... It's actually a rather
simple tale, but the moniker came to be one of my favorites. Our family was
together at a wedding reception, along with several of Dad's biker friends. One
of those friends was Rodney. Rodney could never remember which name belonged to
which of us two girls. That night, after about the fourth time of both of us
looking at him when he shouted "Hey, Waterman" I think he had grown a touch
frustrated - so, he decided that he could remember Waterdaughter #1 and
Waterdaughter #2. Lucky me, being the eldest, was dubbed Waterdaughter #1.
"I shall pass this way
but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any
kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way
again."
This
site has been visited 
times
plus all the times that it was hit before I lost my main page!!
rethguadretaW
