May 10th, 2008 by Not Martha
You may remember the very popular post here, To Snip or Not to Snip. Well, it’s been decided. Snip. Brian is having a vasectomy. He goes to see the urologist this week.
Now, technically that just means that the having of babies by me is done. I do not wish to be pregnant ever again! I know that sounds awful, and some women love being pregnant. Most people assume that because I have four kids I’m one of those women. I assure that I am not. All four of our pregnancies were high risk. Three out of four had many problems, and we nearly lost two out of four. It was an emotional roller coaster each time, and when I had complications in the 8th month carrying Ethan (our youngest) I proclaimed that I would never, ever again be pregnant.
We have four amazing, beautiful, wonderful little boys and for that I am thankful. Some quack doctor once told me after a miscarriage that I’d never have children. I think I’ve sufficiently proven him wrong at this point.
This decision does not mean that we don’t want to grow our family anymore. We would love to have more children… just not in the traditional way. There are so many children out there that need homes and families to care for them. They’re just waiting for someone to show some interest in their existence. Well, we care, and we’re interested. If we are able in a position to adopt we will jump at the chance. In our current situation I don’t see an adoption agency granting our wish for another child. Our home is not big enough, nor are our salaries. Let me clarify that — there are no income restrictions in the state of Virginia for adoption, but it wouldn’t be right to bring a child in on our already shoestring budget the way the economy looks right this moment. “Adequate space” is required however, and we have a three bedroom home with six people living in it … I think we’re limited on space by most organization’s standards.
This all makes me sad because I know there are many children out there that are waiting to be adopted and will spend their entire lives in foster care because everyone always wants a “new baby” and they overlook the many great children that are over the age of 1 and need a home. Sad. My heart cries for these children. Hopefully in a year or two things will be not so crazy and we will be able to pursue an adoption plan.
Technorati Tags: adoption, vasectomy, children, parenting
Share This
May 7th, 2008 by Not Martha
I feel like lately we are just spending all sorts of crazy time at the doctor’s office. Brian had his follow up on Monday. Apparently they only remove bone spurs if they are bothering you. Even if you have a kajillion of them~! So, we were worried about a whole lot of nothing on that front.
He’s got a new blood pressure medicine to try out and then he goes back again on Monday to check that, and has to have lab work done also. He’s been struggling with high blood pressure for awhile now, and all the medications they gave him have an ingredient in them that cause his gout to flare up. It’s a big toss up between high blood pressure and pain… but, the doctor is determined to find something that works for the blood pressure issue without flaring up the gout for him.
He’s been doing really good with taking his fish oil every day and following his diet plan. I’m bravely attempting to make a menu plan, but I admit that it’s slow going -lol- So far his favorites are rice with veggies, and spaghetti. Woo exciting things happening in my kitchen, I tell you!
So, that’s the news. No news is good news. I want to thank you all for your well wishes and food suggestions. If you have a gout friendly recipe to send in, that will be greatly appreciated too!
Share This
May 3rd, 2008 by Not Martha
Finally! Some good news for a change. Friday brought a few pieces of good news actually. Our van will be ready a week from Monday. One more week woohoo! After 700 dollars in rental car costs later, I will be very happy to have the van back. Watch, we’ll get it back and it will rain for weeks on end and we won’t be able to go to Busch Gardens or anything anyhow LOL That would so be my luck.
Second piece of good news is that Brian’s schedule is changing to four 10 hour days a week, giving him Monday’s off. We’ve been wanting this schedule change for awhile, as have a lot of people just because of the increasing fuel costs. Driving to and from work four days a week instead of five days is more efficient all around, better for the environment, and much, much easier on the wallet. Especially for the people that have long commutes of over an hour. I can’t even imagine what they are paying in gas every week. I know we spend probably about $100 a week on gas.
And that schedule starts immediately, which is good because he has a doctor’s appointment Monday about the bone spurs, heel spurs, and bone damage. We find out what exactly all those things are going to mean for him. So far he’s following the strict diet very well. I convinced him that cottage cheese is not the devil, and is really good mixed with pineapple. Even if it is kind of funny looking -lol-
Share This
May 1st, 2008 by Not Martha
The doctor’s office did all sorts of extra tests for Brian when he was in the other day. They’ve called THREE times with various results and things for him on these. I’m worried. I can tell that he is worried even if he doesn’t admit it.
We didn’t get a chance to talk about it a lot yet, but last night’s call was about the x-ray results. He has a lot of bone spurs, several heel spurs and the words “massive bone damage” were used in reference to his foot. Just the look on his face while he listened to all the information the nurse gave him, I knew it was serious stuff. This wasn’t your typical “hey your test is back….,” it was nearly half an hour of her explaining to him all the different things they saw on the x-ray.
There were two more calls from the today, but they wouldn’t tell me anything, he had to call from work. I am anxiously waiting to hear what the next news might be. He has to schedule a follow up with our regular doctor to discuss all the results and find out what happens next. I believe he is making that call before he calls me back also….
Please think happy thoughts for my honey and his foot.
Share This
April 27th, 2008 by Not Martha
Have a house for rent in Hampton? Want to rent it to me cheap!? That would be the awesomest. As you might recall from about a week ago we’re being forced out of our townhouse. I’m going to contemplate the any number of insane reasons there might or not be … it will only make me crazy. The bottom line is we do have to be out by June 30.
So, what does anyone looking to move do? They look for a place to move to, of course. Well, at least that’s what I thought I was supposed to. I’ve had some ridiculous responses to my efforts. Like how dare I try to plan 6 to 8 weeks in advance like that! pffft! One place actually laughed when Brian said we were looking for a move in date in early June. Not because that’s soon, but because that’s too far away! “We won’t hold anything longer than two weeks.” Seems to be a normal response from the real estate companies managing these houses that are for rent. (Not an apartment, going for house non-attached style)
Okay, well that’s great. June is only a handful of weeks away…. nothing stands between now and June except for the 31 days in May. Cut me some slack and let me look at the place. One place even told us no they wouldn’t show us the property now if we didn’t want to move in before May 15th!!! How insane does this sound? Am I really that crazy to want to attempt to have some kind of organization to my moving process?
*sigh* There aren’t a lot of options in our price range right now. I’m hoping the list will magically grow between now and June. There are a few we’re going to go look at this week. My plan is to go and say, “Okay. We really like it, but we already scheduled to look at a few more places. We’ll call you and let you know after we’ve seen everything.” Then call whichever one we like the best two weeks from then… mid-May-ish and if it’s still available put down a security deposit and set a June 1st moving date if they have the crazy two week rule in play. We’ll probably have to pay rent in two places for June. The kids aren’t done with school until around June 18th.
I have no intentions of being picky. I don’t care what the faucets look like or what color the walls are, or even if the windows are old. I just want a decent location and a landlord or management that isn’t going to stick their nose in the air at me. I don’t think that is too much to ask for. I hope not.
I wouldn’t mind lower rent, that would be nice. One of the places we’re going to look at is on the small side, and I’m kind of hoping to get them to knock a few bucks off the price. I can dream, right? Think happy house thoughts for me. I’ll post pics when we go and look at places so you can join in on the house renting insanity too.
Share This
3 Comments » 
