Happy Birthday Karyn

 Wishing my daughter Karyn a very Happy Birthday!

 Good Morning to everyone,

 It is 75 degrees this morning and we are supposed to get up to 89 degrees today. I didn't check the humidity levels but it will be sticky no doubt.

 So my lovely daughter was born on a Saturday. 2:49 pm. Isn't it amazing how we can remember details? She came into the world 5 weeks early and weighed in at 5 lbs and 2 oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. We brought her home in a Cabbage Patch Preemie doll dress.
 My mama was at the house with me and I had a very restless night.
  I had just got out of the hospital a few days before because I was trying to go into labor. It was a very stressful time. Our dog Buffy was also expecting and she crawled up under a house and her babies got hung up. She wouldn't let anyone near her. I called my father in law and he came over, my husband arrived about the same time.
 They got her out but she was dying. I begged them to save her, but my father in law guided me back into the house and I sat by the rocker crying and my mama cried with me and held me. They buried Buffy under one of her favorite trees. A few hours later I told my husband I needed to go to the hospital.
 They admitted me and I was in the hospital for 10 days fighting a serious kidney infection that I did not know I had. It was bad and was attacking my baby. I was finally released from the hospital and went home.
 The night before she was born I couldn't get comfortable.  I felt the need to get up and do something. Jonathan was 3 weeks shy of his first birthday. Mama had made breakfast for Jonathan and urged me to eat but I just couldn't. I went back to bed. My husband and I talked for a long time that morning and he would try and rub my back but it made it worse. He was on call and didn't know if he was going to work or not and I had this feeling and asked him to call in. After he agreed I got up but I couldn't sit still so I paced. Mama said I was making her a nervous wreck and to sit down. Finally around noon she said I think that your going into labor,
 I decided that I had better get a shower just in case. If they thought that I made them nervous they should have been on my end. They were making me nervous by jumping up every time I cringed.
 At 1:00 pm I knew I was in labor and scared. Too early, I kept thinking. The baby wasn't due until my moms Birthday July 31st. So I told them to be on the safe side we had better go. We got to the hospital a little after 2:00 pm and they once again tried to stop the labor. As they were taking me to a room, they wheeled another lady out. Her name was Julie and she just had her baby, a little girl.
 Now for a little back ground, there was a group of us that went to the same clinic. Imagine my surprise to find the entire group there delivering! All girls. I didn't know this at the time.
 My mama and husband were in the waiting room as they injected the medication to help stop my labor  and they called the neo-natal team. Karyn was born minutes later. She came with my water. My husband Robert didn't even have time to scrub up and dress. As he was getting ready a nurse told him that he had a daughter.
 They wheeled me almost immediately to the neo-natal and let me hold Karyn. She immediately tried to nurse and they told me to give it a try. She latched on and they finally had to take her because she was not letting loose.
 Back in my room I was surprised to see my room mate was a lady from the clinic. I didn't really know her other than to say hello. She didn't speak English but we communicated the best that we could and of course I ooohed and awwwed over her baby girl. She was just beautiful. A head of thick black hair and wide dark eyes that seemed to smile at me. She even let me hold her.
 At the time we were allowed to keep our babies with us, but since Karyn was so small they wouldn't let me have her in my room. That did not stop me. I took a shower and went straight to the Neo-Natal unit and stayed there until they kicked me out with Karyn nursing the entire time.
 My friend Julie stopped by and said... Did you know so and so is here too? Then we found out about another girl and soon there were like 8 of us congregating in my room with their babies except for mine.
 That night the doctor came in carrying Karyn in his arms and said, She is small but she is healthy. We are going to allow you to have her for awhile but she needs to be kept in the Neo-Natal for a while longer. He was amazed that she had latched on and just laughed at the way she was nursing as well as she was at just a few hours old.
 Well to make a long story short, they never did take her back. They said that she was needing as much of the mothers first milk as possible and I kept her with me until the next morning. While most of my friends were released to go home, I stayed an extra day. Robert stayed as long as he could but they kicked him out too the night before. During the night they called and he had to go back to work. I was so upset because I had no way home and my mom had Jonathan so my sister Sharon came and picked us up and I spent the night with her and her family. Early the next morning she took me and Karyn home.
 In a week Karyn had doubled her birth weight plus a couple of ounces. Of all of my kids Karyn and Nathan were the most aggressive with nursing. I had no problems at all with it. I had a great pump but Karyn wanted me and not the bottle. So who got the extra milk? Jonathan did.
And that is the Birthday Girl's birth story.

 Sometimes it is such a small world. My friend Julie named her little girl Carra Lynn. I named my baby Karyn Lynn. My room mate turned out to be a woman who's husband worked for the same man my husband did and we lived only a few miles from each other in the same town. She named her baby Marilu and she and Karyn are Best Friends even as of today.
 We all kept in touch for a long time. Julie and her family moved back to Arizona when Carra was about a year old. I am not sure about the rest of the group. Over time we all lost touch, but Karyn and Marilu have always had such a special bond and friendship.

Karyn holding the blue striped bag. Marilu in yellow and red tank behind Karyn.

The two girls in the middle are my daughter Karyn and Marilu. This was taken in high school.

 Now on for other news....

 I have had some pain for the last few days. My last lab work showed I had blood in my urine. Well antibiotics were supposed to have been called in but some how was over looked. By late yesterday evening I was in tears. No amount of water was flushing this out. I had called the doctor earlier in the day and made an appointment but the only one that I could get was at 7:30 last night and there were travel issues so I called and canceled. Stubborn me. By 5:30 I was in terrible pain. To the point that I was thinking that perhaps I should go to the ER.
 At 6:30 I called Jonathan and said I need to go to the hospital.
 Jonathan was very upset with me. I had sent him a text earlier that said :Go ahead and take care of your dinner. I had plans to make a meal, but I just can't do it.  So when I called at 6:30 he and Karyn and Joe were out having dinner. They would not have gone out to dinner if they knew that I needed to go to the ER. So I got a lecture and I was already emotional and in pain and in tears and by the time I got off the phone I was really crying and not just from the pain but because Jonathan let me know in no uncertain terms that MY communication skills needed improvement.
 So I got snippy and told them to enjoy their dinner and I was sorry to have called. I didn't know that during my call a fight broke out with 4 women who were throwing things, and a glass was thrown across the room, hit a wall and shattered with the glass hitting  Jonathan and hitting Joe in the face and of course into all of their food. The police were called and they gave a statement but couldn't really give a description because it happened so fast and one party left and didn't even pay their bill. So my call came in the middle of all of that.
 So a half hour later here comes the kids. Karyn came in as I was making up my bed and took one look at me and said... "Why did you cancel your doctors appointment?" All of my reasons why made no sense to her and she said "Can you still get in?" I said that yeah it was a walk in evening hours and she gave me a choice. "Either I go to the walk in clinic and see who was on duty or I was going to the hospital."
 I said "No I am going to bed." She threatened me with Jon, Nathan and Joe. They would bodily carry me to the car because I was going whether I wanted to or not. So I got up and threw on some clothes and walked to the car. I didn't brush my teeth or hair. My hair was sticking every which way and the clothes that I put on came right out of the dirty laundry basket and I know that my breath would have downed a race horse but I didn't care.
  Joe met me half way and guided me to the car. Off we went and as luck would have it, the Physical Assistant traded places with another doctor and when I got there, my favorite nurse was on duty and handed me a urine cup and pointed to the bathroom. She already knew from my earlier call why I was coming in.
 I had fever..... I had chills and I was past grumpy. When she took my vitals she was worried as my blood pressure was sky high. Since I had my blood pressure medicine already she was very worried and so the doctor met me at the room. I didn't even have to wait. They sent in for a culture but said that there was enough bacteria and blood that he was ordering me antibiotics. I have to go back in tonight at 6:30.
 We left there and headed to Wal-Mart and got my prescription. I came home and ate a little dinner and took my medication and went straight to bed where I slept until 4:30 this morning. I am feeling a bit better, but not to the point that I want to run in circles. I can say that the burning and pain has lessened somewhat but it is still there.
 And add the fact that Karyn had to have oral surgery yesterday and was feeling terrible just added to my guilt. That was one of the reasons that I canceled my appointment. The other is that Jonathan cannot see well at night to drive. The other is that I didn't want to see the PA.
 Anyway I go back tonight and will see what is going on when I go back.

 While I was there I was telling my favorite Nurse..... Why did you leave and go to work for another doctor? I am stuck with this other bimbo and I can't stand her. Karyn was aghast. Mom you cannot be talking like this. It is not right, and I said Screw Right. I don't like her and my favorite nurse just cracked up. She was laughing so hard and agreeing with me by nodding her head.
 Come to find out she is still working for my doctor 3 days a week and that she worked the night shift as well. Ok... great... I told her everything that was going on with the other gal. She stopped laughing and asked if I made a complaint and I said, I sure did. It seems that this other woman has had several  small complaints that were valid and that I did the right thing and she charted everything that I said.
 Karyn on the other hand said... Mama that was not the professional way to handle that situation. I told Karyn, Listen honey I have had it up to my ears.
 My good nurse told Karyn that I did the right thing. This feedback, even negative feed back needed to be charted for my doctor because she was sure that my doctor was not getting all of this information. So Karyn was not so aggravated with me after talking to the good nurse.
 So now I know when to schedule my appointments so I don't have to deal with anyone else.

 And now I am off here to take my insulin and have some breakfast and I think that I am going to lay down and rest for a while..... Hugs to all and have a great day. BB