5 years later!

Wowser! A lot of life has come and gone since my last post!

In the past 5 years we've had a son (a big surprise!), my dad had a major stroke that disabled him, we moved to a bigger city, I cut ties with my mother, and I started making and selling art and jewelery.

I will hit on each of those subjects in future posts, but for today I'll focus on the impetus for all the other changes...my son.

Sometime around Labor Day we took a vacation. We hadn't used any birth control methods since we were married 11 years prior.  Late September I began to feel awful. I assumed I had acquired the local stomach flu virus, as I was SURE I was infertile. 

This flu was horrible. I couldn't even lay down due to the nausea. I began to sleep in a recliner that was just steps from the bathroom. The only thing I could even try to keep down were freezer pops.  I had never felt so horrible in my entire life (and I had appendicitis and ovarian cysts in the past).

About week 2 of this plague, Mr. Kat Lady started to think outside the box. He suggested I may be pregnant. I laughed...and laughed...and laughed...and puked. I couldn't be pregnant after all this time!!!

I began to consider that I hadn't had my monthly this month (not immediately alarming, as I was irregular).  I reluctantly made a doctor's appointment.  I say reluctantly because just before the vacation I had seen my GP and he had warned me that because my TSH levels were balanced and I had recently lost weight, I may need to use birth control now.  Again, I laughed him off, as I was OBVIOUSLY infertile.

Nevertheless, I went to the lab, got my blood drawn, and made my way to the office upstairs. They called me back immediately.  The doctor knocked and walked in with a somewhat smug look on his face. He told me I was PREGNANT!!!! I must have looked exceptionally stunned, because he backed up and asked if I wanted to keep it. That snapped me into reality. OF COURSE I was keeping "it."

The next 9 months were a whirlwind of telling shocked people, dealing with severe morning sickness, and eventually bed rest until week 39, when it was time to evict him for both of our safety.

Come delivery day, I was confident in my birth plan (insert derisive laugh here), my doctor, and my birth coach's ability to help manage the pain/ I was not planning on delivering naturally with no pain meds. I may have even told the doc I wanted ALL the drugs.

24 hours of violent contractions, vomiting, and then decels in his heartbeat landed us in the OR for a C-Section.  And there he was, a furry little squirming bean.

The first months were rough, with me suffering a horrible case of PPD. Mr. Kat Lady was AMAZING and helped me get through it.  Whilst I was pregnant, my dad had suffered a massive stroke and eventually ended up moving in with us, which meant my mother moved in as well.  The added stress of my mother second guessing every parenting decision I made did NOT help my PPD.

When Ro was 10 months old we made a tough but necessary decision. We were moving to the city. Not the nearest city, we needed some space. We moved 400 miles away. I still contend this was the best decision we have ever made.

We ended up right around the corner from his godfather, who is amazing!!!! We celebrated his first, then his second, then his third birthdays here, and now we're looking down the barrel at number 4 and school is right around the corner. There will be MANY fun stories featuring my son coming up soon.

But for now,

Love and Life,
-Kat Lady