Lessons from Paradise and an Update

I apologize to all of my loyal followers, but Foster and I took a much needed weekend away to paradise. We went to my parent's farm. Some of you must think we are crazy to think a ninety acre farm is paradise, but those of you who have been there most likely agree with us. The farm is the most amazing place on earth. It is located between No-Mans-Land and Middle-of-Nowhere. When you start seeing nothing but cows and cornfields, keep driving another 30 minutes and you will eventually reach my parent's piece of heaven. I grew up on this farm and learned life lessons that only farms can teach you:

1. NO TRESPASSING: Don't ride your horse in woods and fields if you do not know the people who live there, because you could soon find yourself being chased by an armed man on a four wheeler.

2. NO SKINNY DIPPING: I learned this lesson through my sister. While horseback riding, she came across a pond on a local property. Her friend and her decided since it was hot, they would go swimming. They grounded their horses, took off all but their skivvies, and went for a dip. While they were swimming, the horses decided to take off. Bug and her friend took off full speed after their horses with only their underwear on, leaving their clothes back by the pond. A highway patrolman noticed the clothes by the pond, picked them up, and brought them to my parent's house after finding Bug's ID in her pocket. Imagine the horror that went through my mind when I opened the door to find a patrolman on the front stoop with noting but my sister's clothes in his hand. Every horror story ran through my head, I thought for sure that she had been raped and kidnapped.
About two hours later, Bug came clip clopping up the driveway on her horse with no clothes on. When they had caught the horses, the girls had gone back to the pond to collect their things and head home, only to find their clothes missing. So, they had to ride 5 miles almost naked. I have never been so relieved in my life, but all I could do was crack up. It was the funniest scene, or a scene out of a men's magazine, to see my scantily clad sister riding horseback.

3. VIDEO GAMES AND TV ARE OVERRATED: We never had to be entertained by TV or video games, because there was so much to do. Horses, hide and go seek in the dark, dogs, cats, friends, you get the idea.

4.If you throw a party, DON"T GET CAUGHT: I have thrown a few parties at my parent's house, but have not gotten caught. My sister, on the other hand, made one big mistake after one of her parties. I helped throw the party, and gave her advice on how to hide the evidence. I helped her clean up the mess the next morning, and told her to make sure to get rid of all the trash. She found a dumpster in the local town and decided to throw the trash bags in there. Unfortunately, and disgustingly, the owner of the dumpster noticed the extra trash, opened the bags, and came across some mail with my parent's name and address on them. The lady called my parents and demanded they pay the fifty dollar disposal fee since they decided to put their trash in her dumpster. Needless to say, Bug was busted, and as her punishment, she had to pay the fifty dollar dumpster fee.

5. BE CAREFUL WITH FIREWORKS AND EXPLOSIVES: New Years Eve 2008 Foster was ecstatic about setting off the fireworks at midnight. We had picked up a whole arsenal on our way back from a New York ski vacation. After everyone kissed in the new year, Foster, my dad, Ky and myself went out into the field and set up the fireworks. The first one Foster set off flew into the air and was a big beautiful pompom of color. However, when he went to set off the second one, he noticed the base of the firing tube had broken off. He thought he could solve the problem by shoving the tube into the ground. He placed a firework with two booms into the tube, and lit the fuse. The first of the two went off, but only went about ten feet in the air. When it exploded, the sparks made an umbrella that encircled Ky, my dad, Foster and me. The force of the firework knocked the tube out of the ground. Foster realized the tube was aiming right towards Ky, so kicked it. Instead of shooting into the air, the firework zoomed into the field and set something on fire. Foster sprinted out into the field to put out the fire, and in the process, tripped over the electric fence that was unnoticeable in the dark, and shocked himself.

My mom said she watched the entire scene from the front porch and thought she was going to lose her entire family to the hand of a crazy chemist playing with fireworks.

6. ALWAYS ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THE TIGHTNESS OF A HORSES SADDLE: Three days before Foster deployed, we decided to go horseback riding. He had only been riding twice. I saddled up the horses, and we headed out into the fields. Foster wanted to race the horses, so he and our friend decided to race through the field. I was on my sister's schitzo horse, so I decided just to watch. They took off full speed, and as I was watching, I saw Foster slowly leaning to the right. His saddle was slowly slipping off, and there was nothing I could do about it. When he realized he was inevitably going to fall, he decided to give in, and fell off into a decent patch of grass.

I was terrified, because he could have gotten in big trouble if he hurt himself right before a deployment, and I felt completely responsible because I was the one who did not check the saddle girth one more time before heading out. Luckily, the only thing that was damaged in Foster's fall was his cell phone, and maybe a little bit of his pride.

These are just a few lessons Bug and I have learned living on a farm. Now as we are older, we enjoy our time horseback riding, lounging on the patio with cocktails, and napping on my mom's amazing leather couch.

The farm has quickly become one of Foster's favorite places to visit also. His favorite past time is hunting groundhogs. When he first visited my parent's place with me, we went target shooting, and Ky and Foster quickly built their own shooting range. Slowly but surely they started taking their passion to the fields. Rabbits and groundhogs don't stand a chance against these sharpshooters. Foster gets a rush each time he kills a groundhog, almost as if it proves he is a real man. If he is having a bad day, is stressed out, or just needs a pick-me-up, his day is fulfilled as soon as he gets his first kill.

Before you get bent out of shape, the groundhogs need to be taken care of. They are all over the fields, and if one of our horses breaks their leg in a groundhog hole, we would have to put the horse down. So, in my opinion, it is best to get rid of the pest than kill a horse I have had for 17 years.

When spending the night in paradise, we can lay out in the middle of the yard and see every star in the sky. It is amazing how clear and big the sky looks. I took it for granted for so many years, and now that I live in the city, I can't see the stars every night. When falling asleep, I leave the window open, because all of the spring peepers, crickets, frogs, owls, and raccoons make an amazing lullaby. And if the window is still open in the morning, I wake up to the musical talents of every bird in the state. It sounds like an aviary. I literally cannot sleep past 7 am because they are so loud.

Foster and I decided we needed to take a trip to paradise after all that we have been dealing with these past few weeks. My parents were out of state, and it was a perfect time for Foster and I to spend a little time together with no one else around. It was perfect!

Update:
I know some of you are wondering how the high risk doctor appointment went. I was referred to one of the top maternal fetal medicine doctors in Ohio, and quite possibly the US. He is the only doctor in the surrounding five states that can do a blood transfusion to a baby still in utero. To top it off, he has an amazing bed side manner. I was terrified that he would be cocky and cold because of his skills. Luckily, I was proven wrong. He is bound and determine to make sure Foster and I have happy healthy babies. In my last blog I informed you that my low risk OBGYN said she wanted us to wait until July to try and conceive again, but Dr. C told us it is no big deal to start now. He claims that since he will be my primary doctor for the next pregnancy, he will be monitoring me so closely, that the only thing we really have to worry about with a c-section is pre-term labor, and they plan on taking the next baby early anyway by c-section again. he says if we have to do weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests and nightly phone calls to put my mind at ease, then he is willing to do it. He is most concerned about my anxiety, and will do all he can to soothe it.

I have a MRI scheduled for Thursday to check out the shape of my uterus. We were told when I had the c-section I have a bicorinated uterus, in other words, it is heart-shaped. There are different levels of this condition, and Dr. C wants to know what he is dealing with, because it could change our plan of action through the pregnancy.

My last concern was having c-sections would limit how many children Foster and I can have. He says this is only partially true. It depends on how my body reacts to multiple c-sections. He said that he has preformed 7 c-sections on one woman. So, he sees no reason why i can't have 3-4 healthy children this way.
Keep Foster and me and our families in your prayers, and pray that we have a healthy bundle of joy in the future!