My mom just called to let me know that Deb is out of surgery proper (they’re keeping her under anesthesia a bit longer).  Here’s the update…

Praises
1. The surgery was to put a stint into the blood vessel to keep the blood away from the aneurysm, and they were successful in accomplishing that.  As I understand it, the stint will stabilize the blood vessel from the inside.  This is the first big step in the direction of successfully treating Deb’s problems.
2.  It would seem that the level of care Deb is getting at the hospital is exactly what is needed for this delicate situation.   Praise Jesus for quick decisions by the EMT, the first hospital, and Miami Valley.  It’s hard to believe this whole thing started at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

Prayer Requests (cont’d.)
1.  The next major problem facing Deb is the blood that leaked onto her brain from the aneurysm.  They will be watching her very closely for the next couple of days to make sure it dissipates without causing clots or pressure on her brain.  She has been put on a couple of medications to help towards that end.  Please pray that it will simply go away without further problem.
2.  There is no way of knowing what effect the general anesthesia or the various medications Deb is on will have on the baby.  Please keep praying that the little one would be totally protected from blood thinners, anesthesia or any negative reaction from Deb’s body.
3.  After they deal with getting the blood to dissipate, and assuming that all continues to improve, they will begin to assess possible damage to speech, movement or other body/brain functions.  The doctor did not seem to anticipate much lasting damage, but she may need some therapy before it’s all over.  Pray that she would recover with no lasting impact.
4.  Finally, the doctor told Chris that he expected Deb to be in the hospital at least two weeks.  That means that they’ll need to figure out a lot of details such as how to best care for the girls.  So please pray for wisdom.

Thank you all, so much, again.  It’s been a strange day, for sure.  But your prayers have been huge and effective.  I’ll keep you updated…

EDIT (2:00):  Deb went in to surgery about half an hour ago.  Now we wait…

My mom just called me.

Chris is now at Miami Valley with Deb.  Thankfully, their pastor from Grace in C-ville has pretty much been with Chris the entire time.  We’re very thankful for that since my mom and dad are keeping the girls occupied in C-ville. 

Deb is showing some good signs.  Her blood pressure is good, and she is responsive (though sedated).  She seems to have remembered the correct answers to all the questions they’ve asked her (her birthday, the girls’ names, the 3 words they told her to remember, etc.).  We are thankful for all of these things as well.

However, here’s the new prayer request.  They are still in the Trauma area of the ER, and the neurosurgeon they are working with has just told Chris that they need to do surgery as soon as they can get her in, so she should be in the OR within the hour.

The problem is in the front of her brain, and they’ve discovered that the aneurysm has another small aneurysm on it.  So they can’t really afford to wait.  In the surgery, they will try to relieve the “bubble” that is the big aneurysm, and if they can’t do that, they will try to bypass it completely.  Obviously, it’s a big, scary thing.

There is something else as well.  Debbie is just about 12 weeks pregnant.  They have a history of miscarriages, so only family really knew about this.  But given that she’s about to have major surgery, we figured it would be all right to share.  Please pray for this little life, too, that it would not be harmed in anyway by the anesthesia or the aneurysm or anything else going on right now.  We’d really, really like to see both of them come through this without harm.

We don’t know how long the surgery will take.  But please keep praying.  Thanks so much…you guys are awesome!

My mom called this morning at 6:00 am.

My sister-in-law, Debbie, was rushed to the hospital.  We don’t really know what’s going on.  My parents are watching their girls (ages 3 and 5 – almost 6).

Please pray for Deb, my brother Chris and the girls. 

Thanks

EDIT (8:15 am) – So here’s what we know.  Deb woke up this morning,
very early, screaming that her head hurt and then seemed to go into a
seizure.  Chris called the squad and my parents.  They took her to the
Xenia hospital by squad and my parents have the girls.



At the hospital, Deb became at least semi-coherent.  She did recognize
Chris, but had no idea why she was at the hospital.  They took blood
and did a CAT scan.  My mom just called me with the results.



It looks like Deb has an aneurysm in her brain.  It is still bleeding a
bit, and they are careflighting her to Miami Valley Hospital as I write this.  As I understand it, they will watch her closely for a couple of days to see if the bleeding will stop and also make plans for going in to fix it. 

That’s what I understand to be happening right now.  It’s obviously really scary, and my brother is pretty concerned (to put it mildly).  I will keep you updated as we find out more.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

On Saturday, Eric and I decided not to fritter the day away in our house, goofing on the computers.  We ended up having an all-day date.  And it was cheap!  Here’s the breakdown…

• Dropped off almost-due books at the library.  (Free!)
• Ate lunch at the Wendy’s/Tim Horton’s split restaurant (about $10).
• Saw a matinee (Get Smart) at the cheap movie theater ($2.50 total).
• Wandered around MicroCenter for a while.  Eric bought something for work (he’ll be reimbursed).  I bought a new Sudoku book on the bargain books table (about $4.00).
• Stopped at Graeters for ice cream (two coupons for free one-scoops).
• Got haircuts on our way home ($20 – I had $2 off coupons for these, too).

So, we got to spend the entire day together as a couple, and we spent (not counting the haircuts which were more necessity than part of the date) less than $20.  Lovely!

Saturday evening I watched the first half of the Buckeye game, but decided there was no great need for me to watch them play that badly and went to bed about 10:00. 

Sunday, after church, we sort of hung out at home.  Then the wind picked up.  Our electricity kept flickering just enough to keep restarting clocks, computers, and other electrical devices.  So we mostly spent the day resetting clocks and finding non-electrical ways to amuse ourselves.  I talked to my mom for a bit (she was having trouble keeping my dad off the roof…he wanted to fix the blowing shingles rightthisminute.  She was afraid he’d blow off the two-story roof!).  We read books.  I knitted a bit. 

Thankfully, my laptop was not harmed by the flickering power (yay for battery backup), so we turned off the other computers and played on it a bit.  And finally, the wind died down enough that Eric was willing to turn the television on (power outages are very unhealthy for the type of TV we have).  Of course, there was not much on last night worth watching, but we managed to occupy ourselves for a couple of hours.  And then we went to bed!

So, overall, a very good weekend.  I was sure we’d lose our two young, unhealthy maple trees in the backyard, but they seem to have survived just fine.  Maybe they’re healthier than we thought…  And hopefully, those without power will not have to wait the 5-7 days that AEP thought it might take to get everyone back up and running!

Anyway…Happy Monday!

Sorry for the delay yesterday.  Between lunch with some friends and Eric’s early arrival home, I didn’t get back on the computer except to see what questions everyone had posed.  And you guys asked some questions I had to think about, so I couldn’t answer them right away.  BUT…here are some of the answers…

What is your belly’s circumference?
My belly’s circumference is just over 40 inches at the belly button.

What do you most look forward to as a mom?
This was hard.  I haven’t actually gotten to thinking of myself in that way yet.  But, other than not having two babies INSIDE me, I’m most looking forward to little people recognizing me as their mom.  Not necessarily calling me “mom” but knowing that when they see me, they’ll know that I’m the one they wanted.

Crazy baby advice?
Since about 10 of my friends had babies in the last year, most of the advice I’ve gotten has been pretty practical and helpful.  And they all give advice with a “but this may be different for you” caveat attached, so that’s good, too.   The strangest “advice” is probably when people start offering baby name suggestions…which leads me to Trisha’s question.

Baby Names?
My list of “rules” for naming babies begins with these:

• Avoid any name that begins with “H” – Some suggestions have included Heidi Hogue (think Wilson, the neighbor on Home Improvement) and Hubert Hogue (Eric’s grandfather’s name).   See the problem?
• Avoid names of Eric’s former girlfriends, which would include Heidi, Andrea, and Megan.
• Avoid any rhyming names for twins: Larry/Mary, Ann/Dan, or Karen/Darren.
• Avoid pairs of names that are boy/girl variations of the same name:  Andrew/Andrea, Frances/Francis, Paul/Paula, Patrick/Patricia, etc.
• Avoid cutesy pairs of twin names from baby name lists: Taylor/Tyler, Jayden/Jordan, Christian/Christopher, or Ella/Emma.
• And finally, no “famous” twin pairs: Luke/Leia, Jack/Jill, etc.

Funny story about this topic, though.  Yesterday, naming the twins came up again, and I asked Eric if he was still leaning towards the two names we’d talked about the most.  His reply:  “You mean ________ (boy’s name)?  And what were we saying for a girl?”   Um…I think we’d better keep thinking on the girl’s name…

Childhood punishments/rewards?
The last question was Maren’s about what I got punished for as child.  This was a particularly hard one because I was very much a goody-two-shoes (just ask any of the Edlunds or Gail or Beki).  Frankly, my brother tended to get in trouble, and I would just avoid whatever he had done to get there.  But I did get in trouble from about age 8-10 for losing mittens, hats and scarves.  I went through those so fast it made my mom mad.  Eventually, I learned to stop telling her, unless she asked, that I couldn’t find one of my mittens!

I’m still thinking about the rewards part…maybe I’ll add that later.

Okay, that’s it for today.  At least I had something to blog about today!  Happy Friday!

I have nothing to blog about today.

Feel free to ask me random questions to give me something to blog about.

Otherwise, this is all you’re getting…unless I think of something myself later.  I’ll try to come up with something…

Happy Thursday!

• Today I got to sleep in.  Eric wanted to be at work early, so he was running about a half-hour ahead of schedule.  On those days, I do not feel obligated to get up to make his coffee/lunch.  So I got up about the time he normally leaves.  It felt good.

• On Monday afternoon, Eric brought home with him some baby gear that a lady he works with gave to us.  We now own a swing, a bouncy seat, and a baby bathtub.  I free stuff!

• I will be attending (as much as possible) a Tuesday morning ladies’ bible study this fall.  Yesterday morning was the Welcome day.  Of the studies available, the one on prayer and the Psalms seemed most appropriate.  So that’s the one I chose.  And it’s probably going to be a hard, but good one for me to do…I already know my prayer life is very, very sad. 

• It was great to be out of the house for two hours at the Welcome thing-y yesterday.  It felt good to see people again!

• I have to get some groceries today.  And I’ll probably run to the library.  And do some regular chores.  And sit for a while.  Should be fun…

• I’m having trouble telling the difference between a uterine contraction (Braxton-Hicks) and the moment when both babies stretch at the same time.  Both feel vaguely the same (and not really comfortable).  I guess I’ll have to start really paying attention to see if I can figure it out.

Okay, I feel as if I’m just rambling right now.  So I should stop.  Happy Wednesday!

Well, I got tapped for this yesterday, but decided to keep it for today.  Thanks Nixie!

Here are the “rules”:
1. Link to the person who ‘tagged’ you!
2. Post the rules on your blog!
3. List 6 random facts about yourself!
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post!
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog!
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog!

Six Facts about Me:
1. I hate bananas.  Abhor them.  Will not eat them.  Have never liked them.  Find them appalling.  YUCK!

2. I have always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. 

3. I have no clear recollection of wanting, as a child, to be something specific when I grew up.  I guess that’s why, at 31, I still have no idea what to do when I grow up.  Or whether I will ever grow up!

4. The worst injury I ever had was that I broke my wrist (a “pencil” break) in a soccer game during my senior year of high school.  My second worst injury was cutting myself open on my Aunt Kathy‘s swingset as a little kid and having to get stitches in my armpit.

5. The longest books I have ever read (that I remember specifically) were The Sword of Shanara (fantasy) at 967 pages, the Hunchback of Notre Dame (unabridged…read the abridged version) at around 1000, Lonesome Dove (800+ pages), and my current read From Dawn to Decadence (also 800+ pages).  

6. I went for a hot air balloon ride years ago.  It was totally cool.  Everyone should do it once. 

Okay, the rules say I’m supposed to tag 6 others, but I’m just going to let anyone who wants to join in the fun.  So if you want to give 6 random facts about yourself…I’d love to hear them!

Happy Tuesday!

Friday – In the evening, we met my parents and grandparents for dinner at Bob Evans.  We chatted with them for a couple of hours before heading our separate directions.  As Eric and I were both pretty tired, we got to bed early. 

Saturday – I watched the OSU game (glad they finally showed up to play in the 3rd quarter!) and did laundry most of the day.  Eric did not have to go in to work.  He’d figured out a way they could watch the process remotely, so that’s what they did.  He did go out with his brother in the evening though.  They went out for dinner and to a MLS soccer game (the Crew won).  This is a bit humorous because my husband hates sports.  HATES them!  But he went and had a good time.  I stayed home.  I was a bit bummed to be alone again after spending all week alone, but I decided not to focus there.  I found a number of creative/productive things to do, and because there was NOTHING on television on Saturday night, I watched part of Mary Poppins until Eric got home.  And I survived!

Sunday – After church, we headed to C-ville for a family gathering.  My dad’s b-day was this weekend, so we all hung out for a while.  It was pretty nice to sit and chat, and my dad liked his gifts a lot.  Jason was a big hit. And, the nieces, whom I haven’t seen for a while, were quite amusing most of the day!

Other Stuff

• Please pray for my husband’s Grandma Powell.  She had to have a pacemaker (her heart rate was too slow) put in on Friday and will have to stay in the hospital until they get her medication working right.  They were hoping this would be just the weekend, but I haven’t heard yet.  She had “heart issues” a couple of years ago that resulted in 3 surgeries (two of which should have been unnecessary) and a long stay in the hospital with a staph-resistant bacterial infection.  But mostly, she’s just very, very easily depressed and discouraged.  So please pray for her attitude and encouragement.

So that’s all I can think of at this point in the morning.  Maybe I’ll add more later!

Happy Monday!

BABY UPDATE!  So I had my 24-week appointment this morning, so now I have something to tell you about.  Here’s the news (there’s not much):

• Both babies’ heartbeats and movements are normal and great.
• I have to do the glucose test at my next visit in four weeks. 
• My belly (see picture below) is measuring at 32 weeks.

And that’s about all!

END EDIT

I have no idea what to tell you about today.

Yesterday was mostly spent sitting.  I’m not sure if my body is going through another growth spurt or phase of some sort, but a lot of me hurt or felt uncomfortable or just not “right.”  So I sat on the couch or at my computer.  And I wore my support belt.  And I didn’t do the laundry or clean the bathrooms (both of which must be done soon!).  Dinner was reheated leftovers and was eaten on the couch. 

So that’s about the extent of my day, really.

This morning it is raining.  I didn’t know it was supposed to rain today at all.  But I’m glad because it saves me from having to water plants (another thing I didn’t do yesterday).

As for the weekend, tomorrow will be pretty low-key again.  Eric has to run into work for a bit, and in the evening, he’s going to a soccer game with his brother.  Maybe I’ll do laundry then.  Sunday after church is a family gathering in honor of my dad’s birthday.  I have a card for him, but I still need a small gift.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again.

And that’s about all there is in my boring little life to talk about…oh well!  Happy Friday!