Category Archives: My Life

The life before

Well, I think I am finally ready to give you all the details of the past 4 months of my life. They have been something out of a story book, unbelievable for sure.

Let’s start at the beginning. November 15th was my last day with volleyball. We had a meeting, turned in gear, and I went on my way, back to the life of mom, General Manager for Prep2Prep, wrestling wife and pregnant woman. 2 days later I started having contractions that just wouldn’t quit, so we made our first of many (Little did I know) trips to Labor and Delivery here at HaysMed. They checked me for awhile, baby was fine, so I was put on bed rest for the weekend.

2 weeks later, I woke up in excruciating pain on my left side. I have a cyst on my ovary on that side and thought it might be the cause of the problems. I left Chas and Cub to sleep and went to the ER, where they again sent me to Labor and Delivery. I stayed for a few hours, was given pain meds and told that it was round ligament pain. What a wimp I was!! I was so mad at myself, but trust me, the pain was furious.

My mom came in for the weekend and Monday night we went to look at Christmas lights. Cub had a great time, but when we got home, I was having severe contractions, and decided to head to bed in hopes they would calm down.

I woke up early the next day, feeling back to normal and excited for my 30 week ultrasound that morning. Chas, Cub and I loaded up for the hospital. The appointment seemed normal enough, but right at the end, the technician said that she couldn’t get a good measurement of my cervix and needed to try something different. Once she finally got the measurement she told us to go ahead and go upstairs to the doctor’s office because she was a little concerned that I had a short cervix.

After that is sort of a blur. I was told to go to Labor and Delivery again. They determined I was in pre-term labor and decided to give me magnesium to try to stop it. Within a few hours, I was told I was being sent to Wichita, because if the baby was born, HaysMed’s NICU couldn’t handle him that small… little did I know I wasn’t driving to Wichita. I was being taken by helicopter.

The flight lasted 51 minutes, of which I remember very little. I was very uncomfortable and having contractions. Once I got to Wesley, I went through the entire admissions process again, and for the next 6 days, I was stuck. Worst of all, I was told I wasn’t leaving Wichita until we hit 34 weeks, about a month away.

I stayed with my brother and his wife, who coincidentally had just moved to Wichita in September. It was the longest month ever, without my husband and Cub, but I made it somehow. I was given the all clear to head home 1 day early on December 31st to spend New Years Eve with my family.

The morning of the 31st I loaded up the car and off I went, stopping at Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich and a bottle of water. In the drive thru is where I had my first contraction that day. I was having well over 70 a day most days, so I wasn’t concerned but started timing them as I always did. I got about 30 mins down the road, and realized that my contractions were consistently 2:10 apart, and I knew I was in trouble.

After a LONG drive back to Hays, I attempted to get calmed down, but the contractions just kept coming. We went to the hospital at 6:15 that evening, and Oz Henley Thompson was born at 3:16am on January 1, 2018. I missed my tax deduction by 3 hours and 16 minutes.

After 17 days in the NICU, Ozzie came home to live with us, a perfect little ball of baby. He is such a good boy, and I am so excited I get to be his mommy.

After the excitement of the first few days of 2018, I am sure this is going to be a year to remember!

Expect the unexpected

20171205081331281The last month of my life has been a whirl wind.

Volleyball season ended mid-November, and it seemed like the let-down of the season allowed a flood of terrible pregnancy symptoms to attack me at every turn. Let’s go in chronological order, shall we?

Week 26– Volleyball Ends

27 & 3– Mid-morning contractions start, strong enough that I can’t talk through them. They are regular in their spacing, and Chas took me to the hospital about 1pm. He of course was preparing to leave for a tournament in Kearney, NE, that night. They checked me. I was dialated to 1, and they eventually let me go home but told me to spend the weekend in bed just taking it easy.

29 & 3– Did not sleep a wink. Woke up to Cub screaming about 11:30pm, and proceeded to be up the rest of the night because of terrible pain in my left side. I honestly thought I might have kidney stones or an impacted bowel. It was terrible! Finally, after I got Cub back to sleep about 4, I ended up driving myself to the ER, where they immediately send me to Labor and Delivery. I was there till almost 10 am, and they sent me home, telling me I just had round ligament pain… I mean, honestly!!

29 & 6 – After going for a drive to look at Christmas lights, I came home to very strong contractions at about 2:30 mins apart. I proceeded to take Tylenol and Benadryl as I had been instructed to do, and went to bed, hoping to sleep it off.

Week 30– The reason my mom came was to see my 30 week ultrasound, scheduled for December 5th or the day I reached 30 weeks. She woke up with a stomach flu, and Chas, Cub and I proceeded to the hospital for my sonogram. After a few measurements, the radiologist told me that she was sending me upstairs to my doctor, because she was getting a shorter than normal measurement on my cervix. My doctor sent me back down to Labor and Delivery because of the fact that I had been having contractions. After another internal sonogram, it was determined that I was in pre-term labor. Due to the nature of Hay’s hospital only being a Level 3, I was quickly told that They were going to start me on magnesium to try to stop labor, give me steroids to try to develop baby’s lungs, and I was going to be choppered to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, where the NICU could care for the baby assuming I delivered.

I spent the next 6 days in the hospital, in and out of labor and delivery, but no baby. It was determined I could leave the hospital, but Hays Med would not take me back until I reached 34 weeks.

33 & 1– Here I sit, at my brother’s house in Wichita, writing this post. No baby yet, thank goodness, but without my husband and eldest son. I have 6 more days to wait it out until I can go back home to my own bed, my dogs, my cat, and my regular life. My Christmas plans were foiled. New Years is just another day, as I won’t get to kiss my love at midnight. I will, however, get to drive home to my family.

This has been one of the hardest months of my life, to top off the absolute worst year of my life. I am convinced that if I am still alive come January 1, 2018, I will undoubtedly be able to make it through just about anything. The best part of the last month is that we still do not have a little baby. He needs to stay in there and cook a few more weeks, so every day we get through is a good day for him.

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I continue to have contractions for a majority of most days, and I have eaten more Tums in the past 7 months than anyone in the world… It will all be worth it for a happy, healthy baby boy.

 

When your mind is running, your feet should be too

It’s 7:02 am, and I have already checked multiple things off my to-do list.

My day started at 4:46 am when I heard our bulldog, Milton’s claws hit the wood floor outside the bedroom. As many bulldogs do, Milton has a very sensitive stomach, and after cleaning up multiple “dog messes” the night before, I knew I needed to get ahead of him and make sure he went straight to the backyard. He did his business and quickly came back inside, but that didn’t mean we were going back to bed.

When I laid back down, I had three things running through my head: 1. I was still dreaming, or trying to remember what I was dreaming about prior to the rude dog awakening, 2. My to-do list, which after yesterday’s events just got a lot longer, and 3. The Moana soundtrack which still has yet to shut off (and honestly never seems too!). I should probably take you back to yesterday first, and explain #2.

3:00 pm Tuesday, my phone rings and on the other line is the Athletic Director from the university where my husband works. Long story short, I am now an interim volleyball coach for the Fort Hays Tigers. With 5 games from tomorrow through Saturday in Oklahoma, you can understand why this mama would have a to-do list a mile long.

From 5-7 am I wrote emails and navigated spreadsheets making sure that I had everything accomplished to seize the day. Cub, of course, was up at 6:20 am for milk, and I knew I had the length of that milky to get the rest of my morning chores done… It was gone by 6:36 am, and he was throwing his blankey at me shortly there after.

The entire time I sat at my laptop this morning, I just kept thinking, “I should be out running.” Fortunately I don’t feel bad about completing tasks as opposed to pounding the pavement. I was smart enough to schedule a workout a little later this morning with my friend Melanie, so good to go! I know I will feel a lot of relief after we get done with that between 9-10, and I can start taking on “volleyball stuff”.

As I finish this post, I am excited to conquer the day, and I know that I will work it all out as we progress through the next few weeks. And when volleyball season is all over, we will have a baby! Lots to do and lots to look forward to over the next few month… get ready!

Lend a helping hand

As I sit here this morning watching coverage of Hurricanes Irma and Jose, images of 9/11, and my son playing in the foreground, the fact that I am extremely lucky does not escape me. We are safe, dry, warm and happy here in Hays, Kansas. I have food to feed my pets and family. We have cars to get us where we need to go, and this warm cup of coffee makes for a great start to my day. Granted, this baby in my belly sure is making my stomach growl right now, but I plan to get up and take care of that in a few minutes.

My heart breaks for the people in Florida that are waking up to devastation. I have to remind myself that the people who dealt with Harvey two weeks ago continue to wake up and deal with it. These people will be stronger because of their resilience. While I know they don’t have much of a choice, I applaude them for pushing through what has to be one of the hardest times of their lives.

I have many friends in Florida, some that I know well, and some that don’t even know that they are friends of mine. That sounds weird. Let me clarify. We are social media friends. I enjoy seeing posts of their kids, adventures and business successes. We might not know each other personally, but I am rooting for them and thinking about them during this very hard time.

9/11 was one of the most defining days of my life, and not only because of the tragedy that struck that day. The sense of comradery that we felt as Americans was so comforting. After 16 years, I am still reminded of it every time I see the images of that day, and when tragedy strikes again, as with Harvey and Irma, I love seeing people in our country go out of their way to help their neighbors.

While I wish I could take off and go help clean up in these areas that are hardest hit, I know that in my current state, it is best for me to manage my family, love my little boy and baby-yet-to-be-born, and make sure that I teach them about the generosity of mankind in times of need. Whether it is donating funds, offering a helping hand, taking in displaced families, or just offering up your good thoughts and prayers, I hope that we can all put aside our differences over the next few weeks to give our best to those Americans that need it right now.

Lots to say, little time to say it

I feel like I have been thinking of a million things to blog about lately. The problem is getting the time to actually write them up. Finally tonight I decided to take my Big Brother watching time and use it to write for you all. Life is changing so dramatically lately, and it’s time I filled you in.

As I am sitting here typing this, my next little boy is kicking me like crazy. That’s right. Another little boy. I can’t even remember if I announced to you all that I was pregnant again, so if I didn’t, SURPRISE! February 13th there will be another wrestler joining Team Thompson. Because of everything that happened with Quinn, I had a special test done call a Q-Natal at week 10. Besides finding out that the baby is a boy, we also found out that the baby is genetically perfect… that sounds funny to say. What I really mean is that there are no genetic abnormalities like Quinn had. Great news for us!

Speaking of Quinn, my due date was last week. And to be honest with you, I didn’t think I would get as emotional as I did. It was a very hard day, and honestly I felt it the entire week. I know she’s watching over us and making sure Cub and his new brother are safe and sound.

I have been getting into a really great routine lately working out most mornings. My friend Melanie and I have running and walking together. She is 7 weeks post-delivery, and at week 14 of my pregnancy, it’s great to have someone to stay in shape with. I am sure it won’t last forever, as I get bigger and the weather gets chillier, but for the time being I am enjoying it so much! It’s great to have a little adult conversation, commiserate about “mom things” and of course get a good workout in. A Best Running Friend makes the nastiness that can be a hard workout a lot easier!

 

There is a season

The year 2017 has been filled with a lot of heartache, as far as I am concerned. As summer approaches, I continue to hope for better things on the horizon, and I think they are out there. We have had some interesting developments since my last post, so I decided I would take a few minutes to share them with you.

Fact #1:
Cub got tubes in his ears about a month ago. A year ago, he was learning new words and talking like a champ. Once he started daycare in August, it was like he was a totally different kid. He (we) have constantly been sick since he started, and according to the ENT, all that build up created big problems for my little man. 4 weeks post-surgery, and I have a different kid. He can hear, is making new sounds daily, and is quickly turning from a baby into a big boy.

Fact #2:

Our baby was a girl. Chas and I had the opportunity to visit with a Geneticist a few weeks back and definitely got some reassurance that going forward with our family plan was the right thing to do. We also confirmed that our baby was a girl, which I knew all along anyway.

 

Fact #3:

Dealing with something like a miscarriage never goes away. It just takes different forms. Some days are fine, other days torture, and I constantly worry about the future, but it still only comes one day at a time. Cub quite often stares into space and will just start laughing hysterically, and I know it is Quinn making her presence known. Cub is so lucky to have a guardian angel like her.

Fact #4:

The work/life balance never gets easier. I am up at 5 am everyday because I get some of my best stuff done prior to the boys getting up at about 7 am. My “mom time” is probably the best part of my day in most cases, and its great to start the day with Cub and Chas knowing that I have already put in a few hours of uninterrupted work. Plus I get to watch the sun come up, drink my coffee and listen to the latest Adam Carolla Show podcast with no background noise. It really is marvelous. It does, however, make me worthless after about 6 pm. Once dinner is done, maybe we fit in a walk, and then I am ready to hit the hay.

With lots of summer events coming up, I am doing my best to stay organized and keep everyone on track. I would like to do a fall half marathon, so that is something to look forward to. I hope you all have a great start to the summer!

365 New Days, 365 New Chances

A few weeks ago, I redid the bathroom off our kitchen. By redo, I mean I gave it a fresh coat of paint, changed out the shower arm and shower head, added a new towel hook and hand towel bar, and patched some holes for the previous owner’s mistakes. Oh, and I also replaced the outlets and light switches, of which there were way too many for a bathroom that is barely 12 square feet.

Anyway, I bought a sign to hang in the new bathroom that says, “365 new days, 365 new chances.” I love the sign, because it reminds me that no matter how bad the previous day was, I can change the day to come. Obviously no two days are alike, and this could not have been more true this morning.

I woke up to a 21 month old heel kicking my hip bone. This is what I call a rude awakening. (Insert ba-dum-bum here). After yelling for the pain to stop, I scooped him up and put him on the floor where he proceeded to swipe everything single thing off my night stand. Fine, I’ll get up….

Upon standing and taking a step, I literally fell over in pain. The inside of my right ankle felt like it had a knife sticking out of it. The usual “walk it off” did not help, so I hobbled around until I finally went to get dressed and pulled out my trusty KT Tape. I’m telling you, it is glue for the body. The best stuff ever created! I hopped on Google, figured out what the pain probably was, then went to YouTube to see how to KT Tape the shit out of it. Pain gone. Crisis averted.

My point in telling this story is that life is sort of like a long run. There are minutes where you think you can’t make it any farther, and then there are times when you are coasting and think you can go on forever. Every day, every mile, is a new chance to get better, change, move forward. This is hard to remind yourself of some days, and I have had a few of those days lately. We all have them sometimes.

Now excuse me while I go get my son out of the bathroom sink, because apparently that is a place we like to climb to and hang out now… Keep Moving Forward!

Crock Pot Pot Roast

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Ok, this is my new favorite recipe, and it couldn’t be easier! Moms, get ready, because you are going to love this.

Crock Pot Pot Roast

1.5-2 lb. Beef Roast
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 packet Onion Soup Mix

Ready for this? Just dump it all in the crock pot and set on high for 4 hrs. or low for 6-8 hrs. That’s it!

I like to serve mine with polenta and a veggie, like peas, but you could have it with roasted veggies or baked potatoes. Just about anything will work. And the leftovers are just as good if not better than the original dinner.

Enjoy!

 

A new season is upon us

And that’s it.

Just like that, wrestling season is over.

I have a love/hate relationship with wrestling season. My husband loves it, and I love him. He is gone all the time, and I am at home taking care of a stubborn almost two year old by myself, so I hate it. I love the team, going to watch them in the room in the afternoon, watching them interact with Cub and of course seeing them wrestle when I can make it. I hate the hours upon hours of wrestling watched at my house, the countless recruiting calls made/taken, and the disappointment on my husband’s face when he has to deal with a situation that he doesn’t want to handle, like disciplining an athlete for violating the rules.

Tonight I got to watch my husband coach in the national finals, the pinnacle for any wrestler. I cried, and not because we lost the match. I cried because I was so proud. I am proud of my husband for all the hard work he puts in, and so proud of Jon, his 197 lb wrestler, who has worked his tail off for years to get to this point. I cried because I wasn’t there. I cried because I wanted Cub to know what was going on and get as excited as I was, but instead he wanted to watch The Incredibles (Ok, fine.)

Wrestling season is over. That doesn’t mean I will get to see my husband a ton more, but any few minutes in the day it spares makes me a happy wife.

Charles Henley, I am so proud of you and the lessons and knowledge you instill in the minds of your athletes. No one works harder than you to make these young men great wrestlers and great people. And you still make time for Cub, Lucy, Milton, Rock and me. We love you and are so excited for you to come home tomorrow.

Count Your Blessings

I’m not a religious person. I never have been, and I can pretty much guarantee after our latest trial and tribulation, I never will be. But I do believe in being blessed. Whoever, or whatever, you think blesses you is one thing. I tend to think that your character determines your experiences, hence giving you blessings or challenges to overcome. Some are one in the same. That is the situation Chas and I currently find ourselves in.

Two weeks ago, we were on top of the world. I was 13 weeks pregnant with Baby T #2, who we saw squirm and wiggle in my belly just a few days earlier. After hearing the heartbeat and seeing that little baby move, I actually said out loud, “I am so in trouble! I can’t have a baby that moves more than the one I already have!” But that seemed to be the case. The baby crossed it’s legs, straightened all the way out, and did quarter turns in my uterus throughout the entire ultrasound. We went home thrilled. Thrilled that we could give Cub a sibling, and excited that summer would bring a new member to the family.

Even better about this whole situation, we were getting ready to head to Ohio to see all my family, and couldn’t wait to share the good news. My doctor had said that once you hear that heartbeat at 12 weeks there is only a 3% chance of miscarriage, which makes any mother’s heart leap for joy. We went to Ohio and told everyone that would stand to listen to us. I was fortunate enough to be inducted into my high school’s athletic hall of fame as well, so many family friends surrounded us over our few short days home. We were on cloud nine.

On our way home, I received a call saying that the Radiologist had seen something a little strange on the ultrasound, and they thought it best for me to head 3 hours away to Wichita and have a fetal specialist take a look. Knowing how much that baby was moving, I agreed, assuming that they just didn’t get a good enough look because of the the movement. Boy was I wrong…

Chas is in the middle of his wrestling season, so getting away for anything this time of year is really hard for him. Not thinking this was much to worry about, I had decided to go alone to my appointment. But at the last minute, my mom decided to drive out the day before and attend with me. I told her not to, because it was at least 12 hours each way for her, but she insisted, and I was secretly SOOOOOO happy. We stayed in a hotel the night before and got up early the next day. After packing up, we decided to go get some donuts, and sat down with a half dozen, splitting them all and picking out our favorites.

I signed in at the doctor’s office, filled out years of paperwork, and waited to be called back. I was excited to have another ultrasound and see that little baby move again. They eventually came and got us, but to my dismay, a nurse decided to take my entire history during the actual ultrasound. When she was done, which seemed mighty quick, I left feeling dissatisfied, like I had been robbed of the chance to see my baby because of the millions of questions I spent the entire time answering. The nurse escorted us to a room, and we proceeded to wait for the doctor to come in, which took almost an hour. Yes, a full hour.

Dr. Margaret O’Hara came into the room looking serious but soft, and immediately indicated that she didn’t have great news for us and was glad my mom had come with me. She proceeded to tell us that the fluid the radiologist had see on our baby’s spine in the first ultrasound was actually a disease called Cystic Hygroma. I won’t bore you with the details, but in many cases it resolves itself, but can sometimes be associated with a genetic disease like Turner’s or Downs Syndrome. My mind raced a little, but this was my baby she was talking about, and I knew in my heart we would be able to handle any issues that came our way.

Dr. O’Hara then said 2 words I will never forget- Hydrops Fetalis. She explained that some babies with Cystic Hygroma develop Fetal Hydrops, which causes fluid build up around organs like the heart, which is what happened to our little baby, causing it’s heart to stop, robbing us of ever being able to hug, cuddle or love on our 2nd little baby. I can’t explain to you how that moment felt. It’s unexplainable. I never want to remember it, but I know I will never be able to forget it. We had just seen that baby move a few days earlier.

Along with all this came a surgery last week, lots of heart ache and grieving, and a LOT of blessing counting. I am so happy that Chas and I got to see that little baby the week before, moving and showing off just for us. While we aren’t lucky enough to ever get to hold our sweet little Quinn, it makes me hold my Cubby so much tighter. It has made our marriage stronger, and I think we both see our family and future in a different light now.

I want to and don’t want to forget what has happened, and that is my reason for documenting it here on my blog. This is a really important part of my life now, and while it won’t define me, or us as a couple, the impact it has had, and will have, is tremendous.

Hug your babies a little tighter. Remember to cherish the small moments, and never take for granted the opportunities that you are given.

The day after that doctor’s visit, Chas had a home dual that I decided to attend, but hide high up in the coliseum. On my way to the dual, I thought about naming our baby. We heard that heartbeat and saw that baby dance, and it just seemed appropriate. I heard this song, and it pretty much sealed the deal. In honor of our Mighty little Quinn Lavelle, I hope you take a few minutes to listen.