Dean family posting

Everyone is invited to the Dean household to celebrate the New Year- we will provide the site for X-box competitions, nerf and air soft wars, and other food and entertainment.  I hope this works for everyone- and maybe there will be snow on the ground- so put on your chains before you head up the hill.  We will have the wood stove burning and the holiday music playing.  Also- I bought these yarning loops/pegs?? they are supposed to allow one to easily and quickly make scarfs and hats…so if a grandma could show me how to do it- I failed last night on my first attempts.  I want to make red, black, and white scarfs for my bball team for their end of season awards.  Well I’ve got to get some grades submitted and get to practice- we are late practices this week.  Love. Jenn and family.

Almost vacation

It is just 2 weeks until we leave for Louisiana. I am really looking forward to being able to just relax. Yes, I did get quite a break from work while I was in the hospital but that wasn't quite relaxing. My hyperstimulation has calmed down a lot. I still have some fluid in my abdominal cavity but it is staying put and I can finally sleep on my side again and not wake up with horrible backaches (Yeah!). Well it looks like I may follow the trend in this family of "morning" sickness. However mine doesn't seem to care what time of day or night it is. Apparently my diet these days can no longer include Thai food, pizza or Mexican food. And I am only good for about 1/3 of the portion size that I used to eat. You know this whole pregnancy thing kind of sucks right now. Who thought this was a good idea?

I know you don't need to hear all the details for the next 8 months. What else... I am back to work full time but may work from home all week. We still have snow on the ground from last weeks snow. Greyson and I had to go fix the electric dog fence again yesterday as some critter chewed through the wire again. At least they do it more or less in the same spot so I know where to look. When the fence was down Ada figured out she could push the garage door open and helped herself to some of the recycling, spreading it out on the lawn, and had a meal of chicken feed. Greyson is still very busy with his "interactive map" and restaurant website contracts. Other then that we are very happy being snuggled up in our warm house during these cold days.
-Mel

A hello from the windy city

From Aunt Chris/ Sister:

No not that windy city; Simi Valley is Indian for "windy something".. city, valley, who know?

Well, I'm glad to say we all are doing very well here; we're shying away from hospitals, emergency rooms and health clubs.. They can all be dangerous to your health...... ha ha.

We're very busy with our new puppy, but couldn't ask for a better one. He slept through the night since we brought him home; goes outside and loves the grass. Does his business there except when the winds blew leaves and twings around him. Guess he thought a whole play yard was coming just to him. Kind of forgets to do his job and chases everything blowing by. But cannot complain at all. Everything he does is funny and that's more than I say about Phil and me. Can't remember the last time we were funny, especially after 35 yrs of marriage. ( your folks have us beat by 3 years) We're very excited to see our pregnant daughter and son-in-law. They've got temperatures of 13 degrees at their house , so we're glad they are coming here and not us going there.

Melanie, so glad to hear you are better.. You know in medicine they always say "common things happen commonly and rare things happen rarely?". Well you are a rare one. Even thought that complication is known to happen, you sure don't think it will happen to you. So now it's time for you guys to have the "common" thing have happen; hope you have a common pregnancy.

And yes, Jennifer; kidney stones are also "common" but definitely need to be watched. ( what is it with you guys??) Stay well this next year, you hear!!

Grandma is fine, but getting tired of the Simi Valley winds. Her apartment on the third floor and is like a wind tunnel. She asked me about if the wind is always like this; then remembers she's been here almost 4 yrs, so she should know.

Well, I need to go and finish decorating the Christmas tree. The best to everyone.

Love,
Chris

real quick update before bell rings- Dean family

Brian, Emma and myself all have a cold right now- that attacks our voices.  The doctor at Kaiser thinks I might have kidney stones- had strange happenings yesterday with constant discomfort involving my urinary tract…and then progressively worse blood in my urine- it looked brown in the sample I donated last night.  Boys are both healthy…Gabe has wrestling in Oregon City on Saturday.  Nicholas has a break from sports until January.  We’ve had two late starts due to the weather…we still have frozen snow at our house.  That’s it in an nutshell…time to rush to my classroom.  J I’ll think of more positives to share in my next posting.

Yes I am home

So I got my abdominal drain tube removed last night and then got to go home. I am feeling alright today, just a little beat up. I finally got a pretty good nights sleep last night. Greyson went into town this morning and got my pain meds and pizza which is helping me feel better. Apparently my last hcg test (which tests progression of a pregnancy) increased at a normal level and higher then my last tests. So at this point it is still ok and I will just have to wait and see what happens. I am supposed to try to go back to work tomorrow but I don't know how that is going to go. For one thing, I am leaking fluid out my side hole. I tried some bandages but it soaked through those in just a few minutes. So I have switched to laying with a handtowel folded up next to the hole. I have already gone through 2 towels and am working on my third. But I think it is actually keeping the pressure off my stomach so I am not to eager to close it up.

So enough of all that. What are all of you up to?

HOME!! (post by Mom)

Melanie is on her way home from the hospital at last.

Up and about

I was feeling well enough today for a trip to the Starbucks (pushed in the wheelchair) to check email and get a smoothie. Those dang Starbucks are everywhere. This one is in the neighboring Doernbecher unit. I still get really tired if I walk around much. My tummy is getting slowly better. We were draining off 4 liters of fluid a day in the beginning but am now down to between only 1 and 2 liters a day. The only drawback of not having much fluid in me is that if I run out of fluid while drawing it off it will suck random internal body parts against the holes of the tube instead. And that really, really hurts. My latest baby related bloodwork levels are a little concerning so there is a fairly big chance at this point that I may get some sad news with the next blood draw tomorrow. We will just have to deal with that as it comes. We have a bunch more embies frozen for more tries.

Other than that I am pretty bored and really tired of the food here. Since I am feeling a bit better I may try to get out of my room more and check the blog. So get to writing so I have something to do.

Mel

Happy Holidays (from Mom/Janice

Had a good time at the Deans. Brian has another skill we knew nothing about until today when we undertood Melanie wreath-decorating activity. Brian knows how to tie beautiful bows. Learned it at his Mother's knee apparently. You just never really know a person.

The boys preferred pumpkin pie to chocolate cream. Odd, I thought. Not Sharp-like. However, they certainly can pack it away so no concern about their appetite. The girls are so cute and full of energy as usual.

Melanie is still in the hospital, but looks a lot better. I feel sorry for her now, but am not so worried. For awhile there she had all my motherly instincts at high alert. Hopefully she will be out in a few days. The tube they put inside her belly is huge - like 6 mm in diameeter and about a 10 inches long -- clear across her belly. Hurt like crazy going in and probably will not be much fun coming out.

Jennifer had lots of food for us plus what we packed. More than we could begin to eat, of course. Jennifer showed the utmost in generosity by suggesting to the boys that they invite Vic because she didn't think he had anywhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner, and he didn't.

Greyson gave us his king-size bed for the two nights. Very kind of him considering he has been sleeping on a very uncomfortable hospital bed the last few days.

Hope the Porters had a yummy Thanksgiving. Any snow yet?

Mom/Jan