Last Sunday was beautiful and Sam’s been working so hard that he just wanted to get out and about that day.  We talked about going tot he park after Vienna’s nap, and decided on running out to get a pumpkin and carving it over at Mimi & Poppies house (we go there many Sunday evenings).  We went when they were only open for another 30 minutes, but we still found a pumpkin and got to look about a bit before heading over to my parents for pork chops. 

Have a Safe and Happy Fall Everyone!!

Yep, blast that Eve… I’m not sure what to assign to her sin and what not… but I’m going to go ahead and hypothesize that it wasn’t just the monthly stuff, it wasn’ t  just the horrible things that happen to your body when the Lord is growing that baby inside you, but  its also the worst part about having a new born around!  No, it’s not the lack of sleep, the constant nursing or the biting that always seems to signal “full” or even the messy diapers. No, it’s the spit up!
Diapers are gross, sure, but that’s just it, they are in a diaper,  not so tough to clean up, and rarely (well, semi-rarely) does it ever squish out. But Spit up!?!?  Spit up happens, and it happens A LOT!!  Sure it’s kind of predictable… but then again Ziva doesn’t seem to follow the rules.  Sure, when I’m burping her she does spit up a bit… but she takes FOREVER to burp, and even then she is a tricky one!  She’ll burp good and loud and strong, enough to make any man proud!!! Which would lead one to believe that they got the bubbles out…  but often, and i mean often, it’s five, ten, fifteen or however many minutes after she’s eaten that it begins… spitting like there’s no need for nourishment!  Today has been one such day… I reek, and I mean reek of spoiled milk. “Just change your clothes” … I hear it, you’re thinking it, and I’ve heard it!! HOWEVER, I’ve been spit up so many times today, and changed my outfits three times already and just put on the next fresh outfit (shirt AND PANTS I might add!), and already I’ve been spit up on!! It’s gross… really gross! And so much! I didn’t even know she ate that much!!!! Geeessshhhh…. At least I’m doing laundry today and can fit most of these outfits in still.
The poor baby has a cold, she’s sneezing like crazy, and when she spits up often it will come out her nose, so I know she’s miserable… and I do feel bad for her. Vienna also has a bad cold, at least Vienna can’t smell it!! But I’m sure I went to bed last night smelling of spit up as Ziva had spit up all down my back yesterday and I was too tired to take a shower… humm… maybe that’s why Sam’s wishing he had the cold! ha ha ha… anyway…  I’m sure the Lord originally wouldn’t have designed it to be yucky, so i guess that’s what got me thinking this must be part of the curse I’m going to run now so that the blue lighting doesn’t strike me dead! ha ha ah… this has been yet another rambling abstract post, brought to you by yours truly, Melissa “Ramble Bamble” Bible But today you can just call me Stinky!

No, I’m not a lush. No, I’m not a drinker. And no, I don’t have a problem with a taste of alcohol now and then in an appropriate situation. (The Lord did turn the water into wine after all… but I digress). I just do not understand why I can not purchase Pisang Ambon in the U.S.!!! I’m sooooo frustrated! I must have dreamed that you could get it here for some reason, because I totally thought I had seen it in the store at one time… so I shared, I shared the bottle I had (and had bought ten years ago!!) a lot this last summer (when I was expecting and couldn’t have any myself!! This bottle lasted me nearly ten years because I drink it a table spoon at a time over ice… and I LOVE IT!!! But I can’t get it without leaving the states! It’s a Dutch product from my understanding… Made in Indonesia by a Dutch company I believe… idk.

Oh how I want to win the lotto so I can fly over seas for a vacation and pick up a bottle of this lovely stuff… Green Banana is what this is! It’s the tastes like candy, banana candy, only better… it’s not just banana, but that is the strongest flavor. Everyone I shared it with LOVED it (and yes, I’m careful who I share such things with)… but this is what I want for Christmas… just this… I don’t need anything, I’ve got so much, but right now I would love to be sipping on an ice cold table spoon of Pisang Ambon… I’m sure if I could import it somehow I could make a fortune just marketing this product! (even more if it weren’t actually alcoholic). It makes your banana bread tastier, gives Fruit Salad’s a zing you can’t believe and makes a MEAN milkshake. But I can’t share it with you L because I can’t get it here… so anyone, if you find a way to purchase this (legally please) in the U.S. let me know!!! Better yet, let Sam know! J

I am so glad that it’s all finally over!  Here’s hoping that the surgery was successful (which it seems it will be) and we only have to do one VCUG more and she will be “cleared” for this trouble.  Here’s how our experience at the hospital went.

Thursday night we read the “scrap book” that the hospital gave us… all about surgery and what happens to us and the people we’d see and such. It was really a great little booklet.  We played “surgery” and Vienna used a plastic cup to put everyone in the house to sleep. We were hoping this would help with the surgery day… we looked at all the pictures and she remembered getting an IV before and was asking if they were going to fix her owie at the hospital. I told her only after she was asleep and it wouldn’t really hurt.  We all actually got a decent nights sleep, despite the fact that my milk had dropped off the last two days (stress I’m sure) so Ziva had been feeding every two hours!!  I was able to pump and get her 5 oz and Sam fed that to her right before bed (thank you mom bible for raising such a helpful wonderful husband for me!! or do I thank the sisters for the training!?!  ha ha ha)

Friday we went to the hospital good and early. My mom came with us to help with Ziva so we could focus on Vienna.  Soooo helpful to have my mom there!!  We checked in at 9am, and very soon went back to Vienna’s room (which was really just a curtained off area in the pre-op room around the nurses station).  Vienna did great. With so many strangers coming in and out (thankfully they were all used to working with kids).  Her nurse Ms. Twila let her push the buttons on the blood pressure machine (Vienna hates it, she says it hurts her, and I don’t doubt it, cause it hurts me sometimes too).  We were hoping to not pre-sedate her with Versed because I thought I remembered my grandmother flipping out on it (It can sometimes make you get very upset and combative) and I heard of another mom who’s daughter (who had the same surgery) had a bad reaction to it.  I was afraid Vienna might too since I don’t do well on pain medications.  But she did fabulous.  She just acted a little sleepy and very drunk   She was a little rag doll and she spoke soooo slowly, if I wasn’t her mom I probably would have laughed like crazy, but it still isn’t fun to see your baby in this state either, though Sam and I did get a few laughs out of it. 

Taking her back to say good by was horrid.  Nothing worse than turning your baby over to someone else and walking away (At least the Lord doesn’t ask us to walk away right away when we turn our kids over to Him, he gives us a nice slow process!! Thanks!)  the waiting was horrible.  It was only about 35-45 minutes before the doctor came out to get us to tell us everything went well.  Vienna was still back in post-op/recovery and they’d call us when she started waking up. 

An hour passed… a nurse came over the nurses station speaker “can we have a ?!!??! for a two year old?” I have no idea what they asked for, but when they still didn’t come to get us to take us to Vienna I started getting very antsy!!  Finally Dr Duty (the Ped Urologist’s assistant dr) came by and he went to check on her, right about the time that the nurse came and took us back to the recovery room to get her.  As we went through the doors I could see Vienna’s crib and she was on her tummy trying to sit up screaming her head off for me. Ok, she was just crying and saying “mommy” but, I ran to her none the less!! What a horrible feeling!!  They let me pick her up to help calm her down and I just held her and cried as I prayed a thanks that she was ok   Poor Sam, I just made him stand there looking on… I probably should have shared more we walked her back to her “room” and had to wait for her to drink, eat and pee before we could leave. They gave her a Popsicle, and it was so funny, yet sad, watching her try to eat it… she loved it! But she had a hard time of it because she was still so groggy.

Soon they let us go home (she pee’d right away!) it took forever for them to come take out her IV!!  She did not like having that in!!  They gave us a prescription for children’s Tylenol with Codine, but we didn’t fill it right away. We were home be 2pm   she doesn’t seem to have any pain at all from the surgery, just a bit of a sore throat, and even that is minimal.  She’s not complained at all this afternoon after cold juice this morning.  So I think she’s very much mended    It is so traumatic on a parent, even when you know that the surgery is a “nothing” surgery.  Basically she’s getting  a shot near her bladder, that’s it! it’s just she has to be so still that they have to put her to sleep.  Sam confessed it was much more traumatic for him than he expected, I actually didn’t feel as traumatized as I expected, so that was good cause he didn’t have to worry so much about me while he was stressing about Vienna!!  But we’re back to normal today!

This morning Vienna has already “earned” two candy corn for using the potty chair   So, it’s all good! I’m off to give her a bath!  We were all too tired to give her a bath last night.  She loves her baths thankfully, so it should be enjoyable (If Ziva will stay sleeping!! she’s still wanting to eat every two hours! but hopefully that will start to change as things come back to normal ) Happy day to you all!  Thanks for all who prayed for my little Vienna (and for all of us).

Vienna remembered she wanted to see the doggy before we left… she was still a bit groggy from the meds and couldn’t stand very well, but was upset that daddin’ made her hold his hand the whole time! the last photo is of her with her mask, that she is still playing with today as they let her take it home!