Three Little Piggies

On August 2nd, I got a phone call from Robs' partner telling me that the babies were on their way.  I could hear Robs in the background working on her computer, so I figured there was no reason to worry.  Robs had undergone IVF and had two eggs implanted, thinking one would take, like when they had their first.  Only, they got one heck of a surprise.  Not only did both eggs take, but one had split.  Instead of one baby, they were getting a set of identical twins and a singlet.

The triplets were at the 31-week mark, just a week shy of their goal, but Robs sounded in good spirits and was trying to finish up a project for work before they wheeled her into the OR for her C-section.

I didn't hear from Mandy the rest of the day and started to get worried.  The docs had been able to identify some issues via ultrasound with a couple of the babies and I started thinking the worst.

I finally got to talk to Mandy on Saturday, the day after the babies were born, and found out that they were all alive, but that Robs had started to bleed out during her C-section and was currently in the ICU.  I headed down to Denver to meet the babies and make sure my Robs was okay.

Since I don't have blog names for the babies, I'm going to continue to refer to them by their ultrasound names, Babies A, B, and C.

Baby A was born first, at 1:26 pm and was perfectly healthy, for being a 31-week old multiple.  She was tiny, but the biggest of the three, at 3 lb 6 oz and 16 inches.

Three weeks old, with Mommy Robs

Baby B was born immediately after her identical twin, Baby A, at 1:26 pm.  She was 3 lb 5 oz and 15 3/4". They had been watching Baby B carefully on ultrasound because her heart seemed to be shifted to the left.  Turns out, she only has one lung.  She spent 8 days on a vent and had a chest tube, but is now only on oxygen and doing well.

Three weeks old, with Mommy Robs

Baby C had it rough.  She was born at 1:27 without pulse or respirations. She was only 2 lb 6 oz and 15".  The docs resuscitated her, but basically told Robs and Mandy that she wasn't going to live through the night.  Mandy doesn't come across as deeply religious, but she is, and she had faith that Baby C was going to make it.  By the time I talked to her on Saturday, not only was Baby C alive, but she was doing well.  I got to the NICU with Mandy just as they were extubating Baby C.  No more vent!  The NICU nurse told us that sometimes the babies "just need a minute" to make the transition and that's what Baby C needed.

24 hours old with Mommy Mandy

3 weeks with Mommy Robs

After getting to meet the girls, I went to see my Robs.  It was very hard to see someone so vibrant laying in ICU, pale as a ghost.  Mandy told me Robs actually had some color compared to the day before. All I could think was "wow".  I can't imagine how scared Mandy had to have been the day before, watching her partner bleed out and being told that her baby wasn't going to live through the night.  I'm glad Mandy's best friends were there with her, and that Robs' parents were there for Robs.  I felt incredibly guilty for not leaving work when Mandy called me, but with Robs being so incredibly healthy (other than being pregnant with triplets), I figured I would just be in the way.

The last three weeks have been rough, but the girls are now doing well and the NICU nurses are doing their best to let Robs and Mandy still have their "firsts" with the girls, such as their first baths.

It's going to be amazing to watch these little ones grow up.

It's Been A Minute, Hasn't It?

I don't know when I lost control of my time.  Seems like it was just June and here it is the middle of August.  How the hell does that happen?

I owe a book review (it really was a good book and deserves a good review).  Okay, two, actually.  My bestie had triplets and my niece" falled off" of Ranger (his words, not mine).  And I finished my book, but am losing my mind trying to format it.

I swear, I'm going to get back on track, because I have the most beautiful baby girls to introduce you to and an orthopedist story that no one will believe.

Maybe tomorrow :)

What a Day!

I'm not sure if I mean that in a good way, or a bad way.

This morning, I did my thing at the Outdoor Show and felt *eh* about it until I watched the video, then I realized it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was.  So that was good.

Then I ran off to Denver to see Robs and the babies (!) - all three of them.  I tried calling Nebalee on my way to Denver, but didn't get an answer.  However, when I pulled into the hospital parking lot, I get a text from Nebalee saying she was almost to the hospital.  I was perplexed, as I don't recall telling her that Robs had had the babies, but, hell, I might have.

And then a series of confusing texts followed:

N: We are almost at the hospital.

GD: What hospital?

N: Longmont (this was confusing to me because Robs is in Denver, not Longmont.  That's when I started to get a hint that we were not talking about the same thing.)

N:  Looks like probably surgery. (Surgery?  WTF is she talking about?)

N: I'm barely hanging on.  

GD: What? (I'm totally thinking something happened to Mom - sorry Mom, but you ARE bionic and sometimes things happen to make you more bionic.)

N:  Sorry thought you called because Mom called you.  Your timing was exactly on.  (Whew, Mom wasn't hurt, but WTH happened to Bill?)

GD:  So. What the hell happened?

Turns out Asset took a dive off of Ranger this afternoon and got banged up pretty badly, resulting in a broken arm and a whole lot of skin missing from her face.  Luckily, she had a riding helmet on and Autobot had insisted that it be adjusted to fit her just before she climbed on Ranger.



No one knows what caused Ranger to jump, and it apparently wasn't a big jump, but it was enough for her to lose her balance and make her acquaintance with the ground with a little help from our friend gravity.

She's hanging in there (so is Nebalee), but it's going to be tough to keep her still for the next couple of days.  Still and Asset do not get along.

Tomorrow's my defensive pistol match.  Let's hope it's a much less exciting day.

Someone Pinch Me

Holy cow, the last week has been ... odd.

But in a totally good way.

I went back to work on Monday and was told by the big boss that once I got settled in he needed to talk to me.  Now, we've had some "re-arranging" of the campus, so I was a bit worried.  He laughed and told me it wasn't a bad thing.  And it wasn't.  It wasn't excellent, like a promotion or a big fat raise, but it wasn't bad.

We're finally going to be able to start being in charge of our own advertising, instead of being told how to do it, and my boss wanted me to do a videotaped interview about our upcoming Family 9Health Fair.  I was up for it.  And then he told me it would be the next day.  Wow.  That was fast.  Good thing I'm passionate about the 9HealthFair.  On Tuesday, I met the interviewer and the camera man and we pulled off the interview in one take.  We had five minutes allotted for time and our one-take interview was 5:02.  'Bout as good as you can get.

The next day (Wednesday), I got a Facebook message from someone I'd met at a blogger roundtable, asking if I would be interested in doing a presentation on guns at the upcoming Great Outdoors Show.  No brainer.  Of course I was interested.  I contacted her and we set up a time for me to do a radio interview on Thursday to run on Friday.

The interview was fun and was conducted by a D.J. who is also a shooter, which put me at ease right away.  I think we spent more time talking "off the record" than we did on.  I also found out today that I'll be taking the stage on Saturday right before RJ and Jay Paul from The Swamp People.  How crazy is that?

I'll have a ton of people in the audience for my talk, but I know they'll be saving their seats for RJ and Jay Paul.  It's all good, though, because they're gonna have to hear what I have to say about shooting.  So it's really a win-win for me.

On top of it all, I got a phone call from Estes' Other Mother and the mares are already at CSU.  The baby horse planting will happen tomorrow.

And ON TOP OF THAT, I'm still working on my book and hope to have it out by the middle of August.  Whew. 

AAAAANNNNNDDDDDD...my non-Parrothead husband bought me tickets to go see Jimmy Buffett in October.  I can't tell you how much that means to me.  It's a hell of a culture shock for a non-Parrothead to attend a Buffett concert.

When did I step into the Twilight Zone?