Sunday, August 16, 2009

Pregnancy Horror Stories

WHY WHY WHY do people like to tell pregnant women horror stories?

Recently a guy tells me this gem: When his sister-in-law was pregnant with her third child, she woke up and basically peed a ton of blood. They lived in a small town, so the ambulance barely got her to the hospital in time. Five more minutes and the kid would’ve been dead. She was not even close to the end of her pregnancy, so the kid spent SIX MONTHS in the NICU.

Then there are the people who like to tell me how I’m having too many kids and that their mom’s uterus FELL OUT while she was grocery shopping. Or that there was just a baby born without a brain. Or that I’m almost 38 and should get an amniocentesis (NEVER!) to check for “problems.”

Great. Thanks. Do you feel better now?

So I’m writing about it on this site and then I’m putting it out of my mind because I CHOOSE to think positively during this lifetime. Even when I was fully pregnant with Callie and passed that huge blood clot and the ambulance came and they were talking C-section and the ambulance people didn’t even check for a freaking heartbeat, I stayed calm, prayed and thought good thoughts and everything was FINE (no C-section!). To this day, my doctor still doesn’t know what that huge clot was.

There’s a woman in my Catholic homeschool group who thinks positive thinking is a bunch of New Age crap, but I say, “What does it hurt to think of good outcomes?” Isn’t prayer just a bunch of positive thoughts, after all?

*Don't forget: if you're a writer-type, come check me out at Writing Mommies today, where I'm talking about when an editor wants local quotes and sidebars ...

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Deanna Rose Farmstead


We took our first trip to Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park, Kansas at the end of July. There are animals, a garden, a pond, little tractors to race, a dairy barn, a playground and a waterground (water they can just play in on the ground). I assaulted someone to take this picture since I never seem to have any with my kids and myself!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Kickin' Back


I like testing the weight limit of stuff. Like strollers. This was taken when I was 7 months pregnant with Eva. We were at the park with nowhere for Preggie to sit, so I plunked my butt down in the stroller, hoping it would hold. It did.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

To Rich’s Family

Dear Rich’s Family (can’t use your last name because of kooky Internet predators these days, huh?),

I didn’t know Rich and probably only met him a couple of times when I was younger. But he is my dad’s cousin and was very important to my dad.

I want to tell you all how sorry I am that Rich has died of the horrible cancer. I can’t believe he was the same age as my own dad (they were born within days of each other in 1950; cousins). I don’t know what I would do without my own father, and I can’t imagine what you are all going through right now.

Vicki and Dave … to lose your brother at that age must be devastating. Please know that I am thinking of you. I truly believe Rich is in an awesome place right now … a place of total happiness and peace, no matter how he lived his life or whether or not he accepted Jesus into his life.

Gene and Kay … what must it be like to lose a child to something so lingering and unforgiving? I wish I had had the means to fly my own family, myself, and my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents to Florida for the memorial service. Someone is missing from our family now, and it hurts.

Take care of yourselves. We love you and wish you peace,

Kerrie and Family