5 years ago

 In May 2008, for Mother's Day, I got my first motorcycle. I was so happy that I was able to get my first bike. We practiced in the COC parking lot. We worked on my shifting, braking, and turning.

 David was preparing me for the MSF class(motorcycle safety course) and making sure I was comfortable on the bike. We practiced having me riding the bike whenever we had some time. I took my permit test and was cleared to drive the roads. But I wasn't able to take the Freeways or Drive at night according to the laws of the permit. David was trying to get me comfortable with driving canyons and was sending me up soledad and connecting back to Sierra high way. I was getting better each time I drove the road. Since I was doing so good, David had me run an errand for him. I was asked to mail out a package for him at the UPS distribution. The only way I could get there, since I can't drive the freeways, was to take Sand Canyon to Little Tijuana over the Mountain. I made it safely to the Distribution and mailed out the package. I called David when I got there and when I left. As I was riding home, I was coming down the Sand canyon side of the mountain and tragedy struck.

6/12/2008

 I rode of the side of the road, hit the dirt, I was high sided off the bike (thrown over the left side of the bike) and I slide down the street on my back. I was in a lot of pain. When I got to my bike it was laying it's right side in the dirt on the side of the road. I tried to lift my bike back up since it was leaking gas from my full tank but I just couldn't from the pain i was in. I did start to cry since I was all alone in the side of the road with no one to help me pick up the bike. To my luck, a biker riding bye stopped and helped me move my bike and stayed until I got a hold of David. Once the other biker knew I had help coming, I said Thank you, he rode away. I laid down on the side of the mountain and waited for David to drive up to me. (I could hear him coming as he drove up the canyon) Once he got to me I was put in the car while he assessed the damage to the bike. He had to do a little work to get the bike into gear so he could ride it home while I drove the car down the mountain. Once home we assessed the damage to myself. I called into work and we went to urgent care to get my wounds cleaned and x-rays done.

This is my bike after the accident. I bent the handle bars, broke the foot peg off, broke the turn signal off and damaged the whole left side of the bike. I wasn't able to ride the bike for several months because I had to recover from a separated left shoulder and broken left thumb. I believe I got back on the bike in early December and found out I was pregnant with Kaitlynn at the end of December. This required another absence from the bike. I had to wait till she was born and then wait till I was healed from the c-section before getting back on the bike. I do have to admit that it did take me some time to get comfortable turning again in the canyons. I would get flash backs to the crash every time I had to turn to the left. I just took my time and went slow until I worked through that fear.

The bike continued to be my transportation to work and back for the next four years. I had the opportunity to ride my bike in the rain which wasn't fun. I got some upgrades done to the bike and was really enjoying the bike. AND then......

 7/29/12

I was coming home from work, going up sand canyon from sierra high way. A road I had been driving for many years, I was pushed wide on the last turn going up the hill and layed the bike down in the dirt. This time I slide on my belly in the dirt. I called David, who was currently in class, to inform him that I had just crashed. David asked if I was okay and asked me to check the bike. We then decided to have me ride the bike home, which i couldn't shift out of first because the shifter was smashed to the side of the bike, and David would leave class and meet me at home.

 This is how my legs looked when I got home. I even tried to clean my legs by myself. Once i composed myself, I got dressed and walked across the street to the neighbors. My friend Sophia was babysitting Andrew and Kaitlynn, I tried to be strong and not show pain to the kids. Sophia knew something was up and insisted on me telling her. I stayed at her house until I heard David drive up and asked if she could keep the kids for a little bit longer. I slipped out of her house and back home. David checked out my wounds and we cleaned them again.

 We wrapped them up with gauze and medicine. The next day, i went to work. I couldn't bend my leg so my walking was really slow. Some time after the crash, i ended up going to the Drs because my left thigh just wasn't getting better. I took six weeks off of work to let my leg heal. To this day, I still have numbness and some pain in that spot. Know one can explain to me why.

 After this crash, we fixed what we could to get the bike to run and I got back on the bike. I rode the bike again everyday to and from work. I even rode the bike for the first four months of this surprise new baby. Since I've been out on Disability and not riding, David decided it would be a good time to sell my bike. David has been wanting to get me a new bike for some time now. SO we decided that now is the time to sell since I wont be riding a bike for the rest of this year and probably majority of next year. So David bought all new parts to make it looking good to sell.

 6/7/13

It was put up on Craigslist late Thursday night and my bike was sold by 3:30pm 6/7/13. I will miss my first bike but looking forward to what comes next.

A huge thanks!

Earlier this week, I had asked my Facebook friends to keep me in their thoughts and prayers. I had a couple friends comment that they would be happy to do me the favor.

I want to thank all those who stuck to that commitment because all your prayers helped. Today I got some great news. My OB dr called to let me know how his talk went with his pernealtoligist. After discussing what my risks are with this pregnancy with having APS, and my IUD in place, they feel good about moving forward. My OB dr is ok with having me under his care and having his pernealtoligist overseeing my care too. My lovenox was also approved! 

 I'm just happy to finally have a Dr to watch over us after all that has gone on these last few weeks.

Thanks to my friends and family! I'm not out of the Heath risks, I just got to a good point today. Still need all the thoughts and prayers till the end!

It's official

Well, I finally saw an OB yesterday. Got some of the labs taken care of and got a detailed ultrasound yesterday. They measured everything and also tried to get a gender. The interesting thing is, My IUD was found. The baby is perfectly healthy and going great. I was put on bed rest yesterday and I'm trying to take one day at a time. I also got news that I'm going to be receiving my Lovenox later this week. I just have to pick it up from the Dr office because my new medical group doesn't do home deliveries.

 

Baby's full arm and hands: left and right

Baby's head: looking through the skoal. Baby was laying face down and wouldn't flip over

Baby's full leg and foot: left and right

 

A loose tooth

Andrew has lost his third tooth today. Andrew has been playing with his tooth for a very long time. Andrew has strong roots so i takes a long time before his teeth get loose enough to pull. He is so excited that his tooth came out and can't wait to put it under his pillow so the tooth fairy can come. He wants to put it under his pillow right now. It's going to be a long day of saying "Tonight". When tonight comes, it'll be a very happy bedtime.

Totally Not in the Plans

 Where to start, where to start......
From February to April, my hours at work have been getting more demanding. We only have three employees that work in my department. Business is picking up and more demand was being placed on me. One of our employees decided to just stop working as hard. I was under a lot of stress and noticed that my hands would go numb. I was also trying to loss those last few pounds of weight before Summer hit. My only outlet to my building stress was running and exercising. I was doing a good job, but I started to notice that I was slowly gaining weight, not losing the weight. During the week of April 15th, this employee that wasn't working so hard decided that she would just quit before her planed retirement date in May. SO I went from 5 day of work to 6 days of work. Yeah more money! But from then on I was put on 6 days and working 40 plus hours. With my hands going numb and being a cake decorator I was starting to have a hard time doing my job. Not to mention, i had the worst lower back pain.

Jump forward to, April 26th I was doing some exercises before having to go to work and David told me that I was looking like I was 4 months pregnant. We brushed it off and I went to work. After I returned home late that night we started to discuss this topic again.

After an uneasy sleep that night, On April 27th,  I drove down to the store to buy a test. There is no way that this test could possibly be positive, I had the ParaGard IUD put in three years ago. I took the test around 10 am and it came out positive. POSITIVE!!!! Shock and fear hit me hard. I went into the kids room and told David. We sat in there for a while just talking and crying. We both were just beside ourselves. I even took another test to make sure. Maybe the first test was wrong. NOPE. I went to work, still shocked and then again Sunday the 28th.

On Monday the 29th, I Called my last High risk OB. They don't take my insurance anymore. Cried!!!
I then called my insurance group United Health care, trying to see if there is High risk OB in my group. I called the OB in my group to try to make an appointment, "I need to get a referral from my primary Dr after a confirmation of pregnancy by him." More Crying!!! Called Primary Dr, got appointment for Tuesday the 30th. I was on the phone talking to this person or that person trying to get things moving, while also keeping David informed via texting. David told me to call back my Primary and try to get in Today. I called back and was a little more pushy with some more crying to the urgency of the situation: "Might be 16 weeks and I have a blood clotting disorder that puts me at a high risk of dying". They asked if I could come in right now. (9:30 am) Of course, i said yes! I loaded Kaitlynn into the car, texted David, and drove to the appointment. David left school at Northridge and got Dropped off at the Dr office by a school friend, Tim. We talked with the Dr and expressed the urgency to him. My primary wasn't familiar with APS and we had to explain in to him. While listening he took some notes and stopped listening to the rest of our info once he heard Lupus. They took some blood for the pregnancy test and told us, we would get the results tomorrow. I also got a Dr note to be off of work while we figured out Dr appointments. Also, since I was already having some problems, IE: my blood was already thick, I shouldn't be working right now, let alone 6 days 48hrs.

Tuesday the 30th, I had to wait till 5pm, after two calls to the Dr office to get the answer I already knew. I was pregnant! My primary Dr had already called the director of my medical group and was working on the referral.

Wednesday the 1st,I called my Dr's office to get a name and number for my referral approval so I can make an appointment before the week ended. While waiting for my return phone calls, I was laying in bed resting. Kaitlynn was laying on my lap. She started speaking to her friend Anna. She was having a full conversation with her. I asked Kaitlynn where Anna was. Kaitlynn looks at me an informs me that Anna is in my belly. Kinda Freaky! The kids didn't know I was pregnant.

 It took Thursday and Friday of calling before I got an appointment with who I thought was an OB specialist for Tuesday May 7th. I asked for another Drs note to keep me off work for his appointment.

16 weeks pregnant!

May 7th, came and my appointment was at 10 am. David stayed home from school to go with me. We drove down to Valley Presbyterian hospital to see an OB Dr finally. NOPE, this Dr was a Perinatologist, she is a High risk OB consultant .The frustrating part, was that she was under the understanding that I had LUPUS because that was what she was told by my Primary Dr. I showed her my blood work from three years ago that shows proof that I have just APS. Not Lupus. The comforting part was that she understood what I had and the risk that I was in. She then said that we have two options but first we'll get an ultrasound to determine exactly how far along I am. The ultrasound Tech started the ultrasound and we knew right away that I was indeed 17 weeks pregnant. We were sent back into the Dr office to discuss our options. "WE now only have one option and that is to drive to Torrance to get my OB care. I am too high risk for a regular OB to take under their care now and my best bet it to go get help from a great High risk team in Torrance." We said OK, got a prescription for my Lovenox shots and she started to make her call to Torrance to get me an appointment ASAP. We left there feeling like 'we can do this'.

Drove to my work to turn in another  Dr note and to see how to get my Lovenox filled. Since I already went through this, four years ago, I already knew I couldn't get it from my regular pharmacy. This intailed some more phone calls to my union to get the information I needed to get it filled. I need it prescribed by an OB and sent into my Medical group for Authorization. (Frustrated again) Called the Specialist to let her know, got a call back to inform me I had an appointment Thursday in Torrance to get me registered in their system and then an OB appointment Friday.

Thursday, May 9th I drove down to Torrance for my appointment. Got there and hit a snag. Everyone was under the understanding that my HMO was a Medical HMO not a private HMO. I'm not able to see this OB group unless I get an authorization from my insurance or pay out of pocket. I held back the tears and got the Drs name and number and started walk back to my car. As I was walking back to my car, I left a message with my Primary Dr informing him of this info and my frustration. On my drive home, he returned my call and told me he would do everything and anything to make this happen. (Some good news) I then called the Specialists office and left a message to get my care info to my primary so he can start on the referral.

 Friday May 10th, called nothing had moved. By 4pm on the 10th, I had spoken to my Specialist and she got my two referrals moving. Great News! I then called my primary Dr to find out, he was on the phone with the medical Director trying to make this happen.

On May 12th, Mother's Day, during dinner with my parents and in-laws, I told them I was pregnant in a card! There was some shock, concern and excitement. WE then told them this journey and the end result that I am 18 weeks pregnant. They all were just shocked that I didn't know.

SO today, we are at a wait and see situation. We are hoping that by the time we see an OB dr we get our second Ultrasound and find out what we are having officially. We already looked during the measurements ultrasound while the tech was in the area trying to measure a leg and the baby's stomach. I wish I had asked for a picture of this surprise baby to show everyone and end this properly. Oh well! This will Do....

18 weeks pregnant!

My Due Date is October 15th but I will probably have this kid the end of September. I haven't gone till my due date. I had Andrew at 37 wks and Kaitlynn at 38 wks.

Happy Mothers's Day!

 Every year for Mother's Day, Andrew comes home with a gift for me. This year after he got home from school, Andrew decided to add some more artwork to my Mother's day card.

This years gift is the best so far! I think it's because Andrew is growing up into such a loving and nice Boy! It fits him so well!

A perfect day

 Yesterday we took the opportunity to go to the lake. This week is David's spring break and I had the day off. We asked my parents if they wanted to not go to work yesterday and go to the lake with us instead. They were able to find subs for themselves and they joined in on the fun.

 After setting up our camp on the shore, we all hit the lake for some fun. There was no one on the lake yesterday so we had the whole lake to ourselves. Perfect time to do some wake boarding. David went out first. The water was just a little cold at first jump in but you quickly warmed up.

 After a few runs and a few crashes, it was my turn to get out there.

 After some time around the lake, we went back to shore to blow up the tube that we bought. Instantly Andrew was in love and just didn't want to stop. Kaitlynn and Drew were first up to test out the tube. Kaitlynn got scared after a little while and we put her back on the boat. I then jumped in to take a turn with Andrew.

 While Andrew and I were out on the water, Kaitlynn took over the driving of the boat. She was doing fine until she tried to kill Andrew and I bye whipping the boat on a hard right turn.

 I got out and David jumped in with Andrew. Now Andrew was getting brave and letting go of the handles. David tried to show Drew that he can fall out but He just thought it was game. So David though both of them off the tube on a turn.

 We were done after that crash and went back to shore to eat lunch.

 The kids played for a bit in the water while we all relaxed. After some time we went back out to wakeboard some more. David and I both had our far shares of crashes. We didn't try to push ourselves to hard to not be too sore the next day. While driving around Kaitlynn took a nap. Must be nice to be so small to sleep with so much excitement going on.

 David and Andrew took another go at tubing again. But this time My dad accidently threw them out of the tube and David tried to make it a nice landing for Drew. This crash scared Drew a little more then the last but he still didn't want to stop.

We enjoyed out time at the lake. Looking forward to many more trips to the lake this summer. Thank you to my parents for taking off from work to go with us.

Spring Time In Mammoth

 Yesterday David and I took a trip to Mammoth for one last trip before the season ends. We got a buy one get one free ticket coupon that needed to be used before the end of the month and we just couldn't let it expire. :)

 On this trip we took it a little easier then the last time. We hit the snow boarding parks.

 David quickly started to get back into his usually jumps!

Me on the other had took it a little smaller. We had a very nice day and it was a much needed day from our busy lives. We got on the mountain at 9ish and were off at closing time at 4pm. Arrived home to sleeping children while I took a quick nap before having to go to work at 5am.

An easy Day!

 It had been a while since made a trip to Magic Mountain. On this day we found something new. Magic Mountain got a new bus system and you have to wait in line to get on the Tram to go to the gate.

 The tram is now is bus. Totally enclosed now, warmer/cooler depending on the day. A much better ride to the gate.

 Once inside we hit our usually route. Andrew and David waited 5 minutes to go on Ninja.

 While Kaitlynn and I waited at the exit.

 After Ninja we made our way around hitting, Jet stream, scrambler, and the Buccaneer. Then it was time to hit the kiddy area. Kaitlynn is tall enough to go on all the rides all bye her self. It is kinda nice that she can just go on the ride if I don't really want too.

We hit the park around Noon and were done, ready for lunch bye 2. It was nice reward after a good behavior week from Andrew at school. Also for David who has been studying and doing homework every weekend.