Feb 24
This blog comes to you live from Girl’s Weekend!
(Well, ok…great plans…it’s now 3 days after girls weekend.)
Welcome to the lobby of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Can you say FANTASTIC?
Just look at the architecture of this place.
It’s modern, almost futuristic, definitely fun, and gorgeous!
Check out this little slide show. Read more
I first saw pieces of furniture covered in vintage afghans at an antique store in Minneapolis, MN called Hunt and Gather Antiques.
(If you haven’t been there…GO! It’s wonderful! They have absolutely EVERYTHING you could want and more!)
The afghan covered furniture pieces were fantastic! I knew I had to try it! Read more
I don’t think I’ve written this story before.
I guess if I have you’ll just have to bear with me one more time.
Today is my birthday.
Age is just a number, right? Well, I’m 49 today.
In my mind I’m in my 30’s.
My body wants to double that number…lol!
I do enjoy the freedom that age brings…the ‘Oh, what the hell!’ moments…the ‘I don’t care what others think’ moments…the ‘I choose to surround myself with caring, loving, supportive people’ moments…the ‘Life is short, eat the damn Caramello Candy Bar’ moments. (I’ve had a few too many of those moments lately.)
But I digress…
Miss Samantha was set to be born during the 3rd week of November, 22 years ago.
This gorgeous smushy faced little girl had other plans. (OK, in reality, my body had other plans, but it’s more fun to think of her wanting OUT!)
There was bed rest…there was more bed rest…and then there was 2 weeks in the hospital on bed rest.
Fun it was not, however, there are blessings that come from every situation…and what a blessing she has been.
A not so fun part of those two weeks was when she decided to completely turn around inside me (obviously) and go breech. This was just a few days before she was born.
Let’s use a Sophia Petrillo saying (from Golden Girls): ‘Picture this’: An almost 7 pound baby completely turning around inside a mother’s stomach (ok…technically womb).
It looked like I had an alien trying to break out.
It was DISGUSTING!
And not particularly comfortable, mind you, either.
Thankfully (for her delivery…not so thankfully for the fun experience), she turned back around before she decided to make her entrance to the world.
A cute part of the story is how the Doctor came in one day to discuss when I could be taken off the Tributaline (a lovely medication that you get put on to stop the contractions…imagine having to lay in bed while taking a medication that makes your body feel like you’ve just drank a couple 5 hour energy drinks).
Anyywayyyy….I digress again…
I had this wonderful older gentleman as my Doctor, and he came to tell me I could go off the medication as of 12:01 a.m. on November 15th.
I looked him in the eye and asked if I could go off the meds one day early, since the 14th was/is my birthday and I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present than to possibly have my baby that day.
At first he said no…but I argued a bit by reminding him that with the first ultrasound they wobbled between two different days as her due date.
He hesitated, looked me in the eye, and said “Don’t tell ANYONE I’m doing this, but ok”.
Standing behind him was his nurse, who was now wide-eyed and shaking her head. As he left the room, she quick stopped by my bed and whispered “He NEVER does that!”
I wish I could take you back to that moment to actually witness it. It was just such a sweet, funny, heart-warming moment. He was such a sweet but serious Doctor. God love him.
Well, the rest of the story…
I was taken off the meds at 12:01 a.m.
I was in labor by 5:45 a.m.
Samantha was born by 10:15 a.m.
Bing, Bam, Boom.
Best…Birthday…Present…EVER.
A sweet, adorable, albeit slimy, baby girl.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
*****************************
I love you baby girl.
You may be 22 now, graduating from college with honors, an amazing Artist, incredibly smart, and drop-dead gorgeous…
but you’ll always be my baby girl.
And my best birthday present ever.
Love,
Mom
(Patty O)
I love summertime here in Northern Minnesota!
Sunshine after a long winter, beautiful open lakes, sunrises and sunsets that glow the most beautiful colors. There’s fishing, camping, hiking…the Dorothy Molter Museum, the International Wolf Center, the North American Bear Center…wonderful restaurants, fabulous shopping, and amazing spas. There’s bird-watching, loon-calling, and amazing Northern Lights picture-taking. But one weekly event stands above all others…
The Farmers and Artists Market Read more
My daughter Sam is in the Studio Arts program in college and this is one of her recent creations. Isn’t it AMAZING!?!
Little did she know that when she gave it to me it was incredibly significant to what I was going through.
I’d been having some health issues and the doctors had decided that I needed a stress-echocardiogram to look for heart damage and a brain/inner ear MRI to look for a tumor. Needless to say we didn’t want to tell the kids until we had definite answers…positive or negative.
I was scared to death.
I cried as I showed my husband the print and he nodded, knowing just what I was thinking.
He accompanied me to the tests and the doctor visits after, thank God, because I was a mess. I’d always been the caregiver – dealing with doctors on behalf of parents, kids, other loved ones, and friends. But this…this was about me, and I knew I couldn’t do it alone.
Once we received the news that everything was good, we felt like a huge weight was lifted. We didn’t have all the answers we needed, but we sure had some fantastic negative results!
We did receive one answer (to the loud hum, aka tinnitus, and hearing and off-balance issues I was having): Meniere’s Syndrome in my left ear. It’s a health issue diagnosed by elimination…meaning there’s no one test that can diagnose it. It brings with it random episodes of Vertigo, a feeling of being off-balance, and sometimes permanent hearing loss. My hearing loss is permanent, but only moderate/severe to mild (I can’t hear low sounds but I can hear high-pitched sounds). It can be progressive but doesn’t cause full hearing loss, and it doesn’t usually affect the other ear. A hearing aid should help, which I hope to get this week. So if you see me walking around a store and I’m wobbly, remember I’m not drunk, it’s just the Meniere’s!
I’ve learned one thing from all this: if you have tinnitus in just one ear – get to an ENT or Audiologist right away! I’d been having the loud hum off and on for probably a year, but just figured ‘everyone gets tinnitus, don’t they?’. Wrong answer.
My other health issues will have to wait until April when we go to the Mayo Clinic for some specialized testing. In the meantime I’m just hanging out…writing a little, getting myself a new look (see the new profile photo), and reading a lot of books…and once in a while watching those crazy babies who sit and snuggle with me!
Life is good…I don’t have heart disease or a brain tumor!
Patty O
ps…Back to Sam’s art…now we can relax and have her print as a reminder of just how blessed we are. It will soon be framed and in a place of honor on our wall.
pps…Notice I didn’t say an empty head. I have too many friends that would have far too much fun with that. 🙂
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