Oh, Just to Relax..........

Well, it all started about a week ago when I went to a skin care party hosted by one of dear friends, Sunny. We talked about the benefits of good skin care and pampering, you know, things girls should do. We pampered our faces and hands and left feeling all fragrant and girly. This caused me to ponder other good ways to relax and I started thinking.....maybe a bubble bath would do. Well fast forward a couple days to a Monday-an absolutely crazy Monday at work. I came home, achy and tired and decided, I don't have the time for a soaking bath, but I'll do a hot shower and go to bed. That night, I slept better than I had slept in several weeks, so I told my husband, I'm going to use that new*** bathtub tomorrow night and take a bubble bath and I'll bet that will help me sleep great, too. (Three asides here: ***the new bathtub was put in only 2 years ago when we had to completely remodel our master bath because of a leak in the shower; I am usually in too big of a hurry to take a bath, so I do showers; I've not been sleeping as well because I am thankfully pregnant). So quick recap, the brand new tub had been installed for 2 years, and I had never taken the opportunity to do a nice relaxing bubble bath. (This is important, it affects the relaxation factor a little later.)
So I gathered up all my bubble bath, essential oils, bath crystals, etc., stuff that I had been accumlating for a while, that I really just hadn't taken the time to use because I am usually a shower person. I started the water, got my extra towels , figured out a way to get down in this deep tub without falling and breaking myself and just got in. It was lovely. I could stretch all the way out and I was feeling so proud of myself. Then, I thought to myself, I'll turn on the jets and have real bubbles, that will make my back feel better and my legs feel better..... I pushed the button and nothing happened. I asked my husband to see if everything was plugged in and he checked it out, flipped switches that we had no idea what they were attached to, and to no avail, the jets just wouldn't come on. Oh well, I would not have my relaxation spoiled, I just thought we'd work on that another day, so I stretched back out and relaxed. I tried to slow my mind down, not think about work and other stresses and think happy thoughts. About 30 min later I was beginning to get chilled, so I thought I would just let some cold water out and run some new hot water in. I was enjoying this too much to get out this early! I ran some hot in, swirled it around and stretched back out. Then Lance comes upstairs to see how I'm enjoying my bath. I tell him its wonderful and he says, "Not trying to rush you or anything, but don't let the water go through the drain again because there is water pouring downstairs through the ceiling into the study. "(He said this very calmly-no stress in his voice-you would have to know my wonderful husband.) I, on the other hand, completely lost all the benefits of my recently aquired relaxed state and said "WHAT??!!??" To which he calmly replied, "Oh sweetie, don't worry about it, keep relaxing and enjoy your bath, just don't let the water out of the drain."
Well, as you might imagine, if you know me, I couldn't just stay in the tub when water was pouring through the ceiling below me! My first thought was, "What if I fall through the ceiling into the study?!" So I got out of the tub (which took skill, it is a deep jacuzzi-type tub, surrounded by tile, with a couple of steps). I went downstairs to see that water was bubbled up under the paint in the celing and dripping rather quickly into a garbage can and onto the couch. While I was stressing about it, Lance was reminding me that things could be much worse and that we had other bathtubs for me to relax in, so just don't worry, we'll get it fixed. He assured me that the people who put it in and did all the work would fix it.
I, on the other hand, was imagining this upcoming conversation with my interior decorator. "Hi, remember me? I know it has been two years since you remodeled our bathroom and completely redid everything, but I just used my jacuzzi tub for the first time last night and water poured through the ceiling, can you fix it?" Ugh! This is what I get for trying to relax!
I'll try to post pictures of the upcoming fix. As best as I can tell, they will have to tear out part of the ceiling in the study, and probably take the tub out including all the nice tile work. Lance thinks they may be able to go in from the ceiling in the study and find the leak and not take the tub out, who knows. I'll post pics of the befores and afters when I get some pictures taken.
It really could be worse, though......

New Arrival!!!

Lance & Baby Llama (So cute-both of them!)

Baby Llama next to Mamma Llama!

We had a wonderful surprise this afternoon. Lance went out to feed and then ran back to the house to tell me that we had a new addition in the barn. Our Mamma Llama had a new little boy llama who is yet to be named. He weighed 28.5 lbs and is just cute as can be!! I mentioned in my first post that we raised camelids. We raise alpacas and then have guard llamas to protect the alpacas against coyotes and other varmits. Enjoy the pictures of this little fella and stay tuned for more pictures. I'll try to add more about the alpacas soon.

Lessons Learned from the Crud!

Well, I've learned a few things over the last several days. Things you think someone with my medical background should know. But some of us are just stubborn, I guess, and maybe this was God's way of helping me be more compassionate, especially in this season of the year when all the flu viruses, RSV viruses and human rhinoviruses (among others) are floating around in the air seeking whom they may attack!
LESSON #1: A fever is a fever if the temperature is higher than what your body usually runs. In my medical training, I was taught (at a pretty reputable training institution) that a temperature is not a fever unless it is 100.5 or higher. That always sounded good to me. I'd have patients insist to me that their temps always ran low and if they had a 99 temp then it was a real fever. I would just kind of grin and think- I'm not going to fight this battle today and move on. Well this week, I've had the crud. For 3 nights I've run a fever, that by my previous standards was not really a fever. But let me tell you, I felt yucky, my head heart, my eyes burned and I was burning up all over, and that thermometer had the audacity to read only 100.1! If the average normal temp is 98.6 and a "real fever" is 100.5, then 1.9 degrees above normal is a real fever! My temp usually ran 96.9-97.2, so technically (in my new estimation) a 100.1 temp is a real fever. Just for the record, this will change my practice. If someone is just slightly hot, but they feel bad with it, it is probably a real fever! (On the flip side, some people run around 99 all the time, especially little bitty peeps, but I'll take that all into account.) It's always good to be learning new stuff......
LESSON #2: Pregnant women are more susceptible to catching things they normally wouldn't catch- beware! I'm a pediatrician. I see on average 30-40 kids a day. 75% of them are sick (maybe more in the winter time). It is not uncommon for me to have 3-4 rooms filled with kids with "real fevers" and all kinds of other symptoms all day long. I get coughed on, sneezed on, puked on, peed on, you name it, it happens. I rarely catch the crud, I may get 1-2 upper respiratory infections a year, they are usually mild and I rarely get a stomach bug that lasts more than a day or so. God has blessed me with a pretty strong immunity. But I had read (and just put it away somewhere in my brain) that a pregnant woman's immunity is decreased so as to not reject the baby. This causes her to be more susceptible to things she wouldn't be susceptible to. So Watch out and Germ-X you are my friend!!!
LESSON #3: Little kids are much tougher than we give them credit for!! Now this is not a new lesson for me. I'll tell parents this all the time. But I have been reminded of this over and over again over the last few days. There has been a recent push in the medical community to not use over the counter cold medicines in very young children because of reports of serious side effects and even overdoses in young children (especially babies) with over the counter meds. This has caused the FDA and well known pediatric societies to encourage practioners and families not to use thes meds especially in kids under 2 and now there are even big warnings on the medications that have been used safely (by many people) for many, many years. Certainly, because of these warnings, I've changed my practice and will not recommend the doseages of over the counter cold meds that I used to, especially in babies. My new mantra has been, "use a humidifier, frequent suction, nasal saline spray and tylenol". I felt like this was the safest, and still do. Having said that though, these little babies have to be just miserable since we can't give them much to help with their symptoms!!! Being thankfully pregnant, I've not been able to take many of the regular meds that I would take to help with the crud. Please know, I'm not complaining. It just made me realize how miserable the little peeps really feel, since they can't take many of these same meds (just because of their young ages) and it makes me hold them in even higher regard! I hope I've been as tough as they are.

AMAZING MIRACLE!!!!

6 week ultrasound-Length 0.38cm




8 week ultrasound-length 1.88cm




10 week ultrasound-length 3.71cm


As I mentioned in my opening blog entry, my husband and I are so excited to be expecting a child later this summer. This is something we've prayed about for a long time. We feel truly blessed that God has answered this prayer. We had a miscarriage about two years ago at around 7 weeks. We know that it was not a mistake and that there was a reason for that. Understandably, we have been somewhat nervous in these first few weeks, but also very thankful for each day that we have been able to experience this miracle. We'll be 11 weeks tomorrow and things are looking great so far. Because of the miscarriage last time, we've had frequent ultrasounds to check that things are going well, and so far they seem to be! While we have no guarantees, we are just so thankful that we've been able to see this miracle unfolding!!
Notice the transformation from rice grain to lima bean to baby!!!
Enjoy these pictures above and join us in praising God for this true miracle of His creation!!!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139: 13-16 (NIV)

Married to the Best One!!!

Wow!!! My precious husband surprised me with these beautiful flowers yesterday!! He did it just because. He sure knows how to make a girl feel special!!! He's a keeper!!!!! I am truly blessed to be married to the best one!!!!

New Blogging Adventure

First of all, it's probably best that you know that this is a brand new adventure for me. I have really never been much of a writer, or a journaler, but I'm feeling the need to chronicle the wonderful things going on in my life. I was first introduced to blogging when one of my patients told me to look at a blog and then follow a link on that blog to another blog. My very first question was...."Exactly what is a blog?". I even asked my husband, the computer guy, what is a blog.....He explained it in simple terms that I could understand, so I've been checking out blogs and thinking, maybe I could do that. I've always wanted to scrapbook, but I'm not that creative, and I can't cut straight (one of the many reasons that I'm not a surgeon), so this seemed like a good idea keep an account of things and make it look fairly neat. Also, friends and family can see it and follow along on their computers. Pretty cool idea!!

So, this will be an attempt to let you have a little window into what's going on here on the farm and with the fam. You'll find insights and info on our camelids(what's that you ask....just stay tuned), you'll be able to follow along on our miraculous journey into the world of parenthood (we've prayed for the opportunity for this journey for years and have been blessed to begin our first steps on this journey).

Check back often, or even subscribe to the blog and I'll add pictures and updates on our animals and our little peanut (affectionately called "Beanie Baby" by Granny Rhonda right now because he/she looks like a little lima bean). God is SO GOOD to us and we are so blessed to be able to share this with you.