What's Going On?

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12/18/05

Right now, I'm currently sick.  I hope you don't mind that I have snot running down my nose, my throat is sore and I sound like I have something doing the tango in my lungs, but I'm all good.  LOL 

The kids are over the moon, waiting for Christmas.  We are excited about it too.  I'll admit, they were rather spoiled this year, but it's alright.  We wanted this Christmas to be really fun for them.

My Dad is finally 100% recovered from his heart attack last year.  He's doing so much better and needing less and less doctor visits for follow up.  We couldn't be happier.

My Mom is planning on retiring in March 2006.  I personally can't wait for that to happen.  We see each other relatively often, but I'm just really happy about her spending more time with Dad.  This is going to be a great thing for all of us.

My sister has her house on the market and plans on moving to North Carolina with her husband. I'm dreading hearing the "we sold our house!" comment that will soon be coming, but I know that it will make them happy. 

Chris is still working and loving his job.  Things are really great between us.  We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary in November.  We weren't able to do too much, but I did finally realize my dream of eating at the "Blue Bayou" in Disneyland.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to eat there.  We had a fantastic time there (Disneyland sucked, there were way too many people) and the service, food were fantastic. 

As for me, I'm still a stay-at-home Mom and believe it or not, enjoying it.  The kids can be a handful at times, but they really are great kids.  I am very lucky.  I just celebrated my 15th month of being a non-smoker and Chris took me out to dinner to celebrate.  We had a nice time. 

I was lucky enough to be chosen by the Red Cross to have my story featured in all of their national magazines.  I have not been interviewed yet, but they did take some family photos of us to run with the story at a later date.  Here is the letter that I sent to the Red Cross:

In 1999, while pregnant with my first child, it was determined that I had HELLP syndrome, a potentially fatal complication with pregnancy that could take my life, as well as, the life of my unborn son. I was whisked into emergency surgery to give birth to my son to save both of our lives as my condition had worsened. During surgery, I was put under general anesthesia and given two pints of infused platelets as the condition of my pregnancy does not allow the blood to clot and platelets are needed to keep me from bleeding out during surgery. I was very lucky to successfully survive surgery due to the infusion of platelets that I received. After a lengthy NICU stay, my son, who was born at 29 weeks, lived as well and is a thriving 6 year old. In 2002, while pregnant with my second child, I unfortunately suffered the same fate and went into emergency surgery again to save my daughter, who was born at 33 weeks. Again, I received 2 pints of infused platelets to keep me from bleeding out on the table. This time, my situation was much more grave and despite the infusion of one pint, the bleeding would not stop...so they had to medi-vac up more platelets to keep me alive...AND IT WORKED! I'm living proof that blood donation SAVES LIVES and I am eternally grateful for the selfless donations that saved my life and gave me back to my family and children. My daughter survived her stay in the NICU and is a thriving 3 year old.

On the 1 year anniversary of my daughter's birth, I celebrated her birthday by giving back and gave my first donation of blood on May 31st, 2003. Come to find out, my blood is positive for CMV and I am giving back to numerous premature babies. Such an ironic twist! I have wanted to donate platelets, but every nurse begs me to keep donating my blood instead since CMV is so precious and needed....so I have, 5 times to date and I have encouraged 7 other people to donate with my inspiring story, all of which have, and numerous times to boot! I am so grateful for the Red Cross, which continues to inspire and preserve. Thank you!

Anyway, that made an impact on them.  I am very excited and hope to be interviewed soon

I am on the weight loss quest again.  I started a new blog to document what I've done so far called; Down With The Fat Girl. I have been doing well so far.  I still have 30 more pounds to lose to get to my initial goal, so wish me luck!