Disney Day 1

Once again we chose to stay at Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Although this year there was a surprise for Cara, they had newly redecorated guest rooms called Royal Guest rooms with Princess themes, designed by Princess Tiana and her friends. They upgraded the beds to 2 queen beds instead of 2 double beds.

It was in the 80's so an evening swim was in order.  Cara was modeling her new Minnie Mouse swimsuit, flip flops and sunglasses!

Cara and Daddy enjoying the pool.  They even went down the water slide in the big pool. This beached whale preggo Momma enjoyed floating and being weightless in the pool!

Everywhere you looked the details left by the princesses were amazing, here Princess Jasmine left Genie lamps for the faucets.

The headboards lit up with a firework display!

Our day included a nonstop airline flight from Indy to Orlando.  We hopped on the magical express and headed to the hotel.  We had a light lunch in the resort food court and inspected our rooms.  My scooter which we reserved had been delivered to the hotel and was ready for my use.  Everyone agreed that the least amount of activity for me would ensure a better trip for everyone, so as silly as I felt in the scooter it made for much better conditions for me.   So armed with my scooter we hopped on a boat to Downtown Disney and went to the World of Disney (the biggest Disney store there is), and then ended up at Planet Hollywood for our dinner reservation.  After dinner we went back to the resort, had a quick swim and headed to bed since we had a big day on Wednesday!

Pregnancy Complication

Since I use this blog as a journal of our life and plan to print it out as a book someday I needed to mention a major turning point in this pregnancy.  My pregnancy has been going well, baby has been active and seems to be growing like a weed.   On Sunday March 18th while I was at work I started having bad lower quadrant pain.  It was pretty bad from 10pm to 11pm but then seemed to let up so I thought I would just call my OB that week and check in.   I knew our trip to Disney was just a week away and didn't want it to be anything serious because I did not want our trip jeopardized.

About 1am the pain became unbearable, I could not stand up straight and had tears in my eyes to handle the pain.  I called the OB on call and was told to go to Women's to get checked out.  My coworkers called my husband while I was talking to the OB to let them know something was wrong.  Then two of my coworkers drove me over to Women's and I was put in a triage room and attached to a fetal monitor, had an IV started and some labs were drawn.  I think the resident there and my nurse were downplaying my symptoms because it was not common to have ovarian pain like I was describing.  I was having some contractions on the fetal monitor but was also very dehydrated so they were giving me a bolus of IV fluids. Scott called my parents and my dad rushed over to stay with Cara so Scott could be with me.

After a few hours in triage they admitted me to a room on the high risk unit to continue to monitor the baby and planned to do an ultrasound with maternal fetal medicine specialist in the am.  I didn't get much sleep despite the pain medicine they were giving me in my IV.  In doing the ultrasound they found what they think is a dermoid tumor on L ovary about the size of a tennis ball that was causing my ovary to twist and is a very painful condition.  I was told they usually operate and remove the tumors when they find them but since I was 28 weeks pregnant that was not an option because it could trigger preterm labor.

Scott went home in the afternoon to pick up some things since they said I would stay another night and to get Cara off the bus to tell her what was going on.  Cara was scared and very unsure when she saw me in the hospital.   My sister in law had come first thing in the morning when I called her and my in-laws came from Ft Wayne in the afternoon so they could stay at our house and help with Cara and help me when I was released.   Cara was an absolute mess when it came to saying goodbye and my heart broke and ached for her.  I cried again when I had to tell her goodnight over the telephone.

I stayed in the hospital another 26 hours or so after the ultrasound to make sure my pain was controlled and to monitor the baby.  For one hour 3 times a day they placed me on the fetal monitor to check for contractions and the baby was doing splendid.  So they sent me home with a prescription for pain pills and told me to try to resume normal activity because I did not really need any restrictions if my body could tolerate activity.

I had another pain issue the next day just trying to be normal at home, doing laundry, emptying the dishwasher etc.  So I called my OB who released me from work for the rest of the week.  I explained that I had a trip to Disney planned and really wanted to go, pain or no pain.  So armed with my pain pills and a copy of my medical records from my OB we were given permission to go but if I had any symptoms I just needed to go to hotel and rest and not push myself.

Cara drew this on the dry erase board at the hospital so everytime I looked at it I could think of her.  She wrote I love you and you love me too.  And then on the picture of her she wrote " I am sad".  It made me teary eyed every time I saw it but I loved having it to look at all night!

St. Patrick's Day!

Cyndi and I were so excited to realize that St Patricks Day was a Saturday this year and we were both off from work! We wish the parade would have been that morning but for some reason the city had the parade on Friday afternoon and I was sleeping during it!

But there was a celebration called Shamrock on the Circle that we decided to partake in!  We sat and listened to some Irish music while enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather that day!

Then we took a walk across the city to see the canal (they had added green dye to it on Friday)

Neat picture of the State building in the background

Cara and I at the canal

The spring weather made for a gorgeous day of walking!

And on our walk back we found a restaurant serving green beer and  Cyndi really wanted a green beer to celebrate the holiday, so Scott came down and met us for dinner at the Colts Grille.  It was fun to sit outside and people watch and enjoy the beautiful day!

Scott's Birthday

After enjoying a nice joint birthday dinner (my mom shares the same day) at Coopers Hawk we came back to our house for cake, ice cream and presents!  I surprised Scott with 40 presents for his 40th birthday!

Cara-always the big helper!!

Showing off all his loot!  Some were funny, some were practical and some were splurges!!

And all that opening exhausted him!  he fell asleep right on the floor while we were watching Survivor!

Happy Birthday!  Thank you for being a great husband, father, confidante, life partner, shoulder to cry on and most importantly by best friend!  I love you so much!!

Scott's Surprise Party

To say that Scott was not thrilled that he was turning the Big 4-0 is an understatement, so why not throw him a surprise party and invite friends we never get to see anymore and enjoy the occasion!

My sweet friend Dendra came over early to help with the party set-up.  Scott's Dad took him to an afternoon movie so we had less that 3 hours to get everything decorated and ready.  Thank goodness for my mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, Dendra and Cara to help me out.  I am so grateful!

The dessert island: cupcakes, cake pops and a cake decorated by Cara and my mom

The kitchen was ready to go!

Aunt Cyndi was in charge of decorations and she did a great job!

Coming in from the movie, what a surprise (well kind of, he had suspicions but was still super surprised at who was there and how far some traveled to celebrate with him)

His best buds from high school:  Noga, Rizzo, Dankert and the birthday boy!

Some of his former students came too

The cake decorated with love by Cara

Impromptu group shots

A champagne toast celebrated the birthday boy!

No trick candles, although I should have!

Reece enjoyed his dessert!  Saving some for later!

My brother Mike and sister in law Lisa gave Scott this IU calendar that each player autographed!  How cool!

Cara enjoyed doting on Baby Lia, who is hardly a baby anymore!

Cara insisted I was the Queen of the night if Daddy was the King Birthday Boy

Family shot!!

Happy Birthday Scott!  It was so fun celebrating your milestone birthday with friends from near and far!  It was worth every bit of stress is caused trying to keep it a surprise from you!!

Me and My Girl

Love!  She is my world!!

Jazz Band Performance in Brownsburg

Every year when Scott's jazz bands come to Brownsburg for the ISSMA contest we host the band at our house for dinner either before or after their performance. This year we had to decline in hosting due to Cara's surgery just 2 days prior!  But that didn't stop us from going over to the school to watch them!

Cara and Blackie!

Good job Rossville Jazz Orchestra!  Great performance!!

Cara's Surgery

Poor Cara had been battling an ear infection since the end of November. After 3 rounds of different oral antibiotics failed, and then 4 shots of antibiotics in her legs failed we saw an ENT to decide the next action. Our initial consult led us to waiting three more weeks to give the IM antibiotics a bit more time to help.  Three weeks later we found out that her ears were still infected and since her tonsils were huge they recommended we go ahead and do a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy too!  

Pre-op!  Waiting for our OR time and despite our smiles we were both very nervous.  We had lots of support with Grandma and Grandpa Fox and Grandma and Grandpa Abbott waiting with us (Daddy was there too, he took the picture)!

A child life specialist helped ease Cara's fears by letting her drive the Barbie Mustang to the OR.  I was afraid she would be scared and cry when it was time for them to take her, but she didn't even look back!

First popsicle post-op!  She did great.  The surgeon said both eardrums had pus in them that was suctioned out before putting ear tubes in and her adenoids on a 0-4 scale were a 4+ and her tonsils were a 3+.  So we are glad that surgery is finally over with and look forward to having a healthy girl again!