I'm a mother and step-mom of five. I love creating new and unique things from wood. Feel free to challenge me with something new, fun and creative!
In 2012, my passion for the love of wood began. My Father & I began a small reno-project of a child's easel found at a consignment sale for my son. My husband & I had only lived in a two bedroom apartment at the time, not much space for a woodworker. Since my father & I didn't have much room to work we made outside our work space.
Not too long after we began our project together my husband & I finally finished building our house. Moving day was here! My father & I had to put our little project on hold. Once we were settled in our new home my father became very ill. He was in & out of the hospital. Many surgeries, one in particular gave him MRCA, an internal infection. During his illness I had become pregnant with our second child. We were thrilled to have another addition to our growing family. My Husband also had two children from a previous marriage. With our first child together we decided not to find out the s*x; we wanted to be surprised. We decided to do the same with our second child on the way. However, things for my father took a turn for the worst. Very late in my pregnancy we found out what we were having so that my father would know if he would have another grandson or a granddaughter. Turns out we had a baby girl!
The infection my father had seemed to be getting better. We were finally aloud to be around him again; before my father was too contagious for anyone to be in his presence. Now my father was up walking around & seemed to be getting better day by day. Until one day he took a turn for the worst & started feeling extremely ill. He was placed in ICU on Mother's Day of 2014. Only 48 hours later He passed away on March 14, 2014. My father passed away just 2 weeks shy of my daughter being born.
It wasn't long after he had passed away that I began to pursue a woodworking passion that I had only just begun to discover with my father. I now have most of his tools & have a workshop of my own in our basement. There isn't a day goes by that I don't think about my father or a new project that I finish, only wishing-anything I'd give to share the new completed project with him.
I became pregnant in 2015. About 7 weeks into the previous pregnancy the doctor was concerned since it could not be located. My HSG levels were low but indicated that the pregnancy was fighting to survive. Even though the pregnancy was fighting for survival, it was struggling. HSG levels weren't climbing properly. The HSG number is tracked and monitor for what the ultrasound can not see. HSG is calculated from blood work drawn. Since the pregnancy was not considered "standards" I was eventually told to expect a miscarriage. I'm not sure what could possibly be worse; hearing your baby wouldn't survive or waiting an unexpected amount of time for your baby to pass. Weeks passed without a miscarriage. Repeated blood work multiple times a week; eventually everyday. Now about 10 weeks pregnant. The doctor constantly examined my stomach, pushing my tummy searching for abdominal pain with numerous ultrasounds. Doctors were stunned at 10 weeks they still had no idea where the pregnancy was located.
The doctor finally suggested I complete a round of Chemotherapy to initiate & terminate the pregnancy. Unable to locate the pregnancy I, myself, would be at risk to survive. I prayed over & over crying my eyes out; begging for my child to be a miracle & survive. Keep in mind that if there was even so much of a slight chance the pregnancy would have survived I would have opted to risk it. God, calmed my heart letting me know the decision I was about to make was the right one.
I arrived at the Cancer Center and received my first Chemotherapy treatment. The doctor assured me only one treatment was needed with an immediate success for women who received it. I was going to change that statistic. After receiving my first treatment my HSG levels were monitored as blood test showed my numbers decreasing and ultimately rising again. The numbers continued to rise showing the baby fighting. Still the numbers werent strong enough. I received another 2-treatments with the same patterned results. The option of surgery was mentioned early but suggested to avoid. Surgery results listed of a hysterectomy or Worse case scenario; I bleed out on the table. No surgery-could result in me bleeding internally if the pregnancy wasn't found. After 3-Chemo rounds I opted for surgery. Surgery was a success. The pregnancy was located in my right tube as an ectopic. I lost everything on my right side but survived. Had I avoided surgery my right tube would have burst causing me to bleed internally.
A short month later, I was pregnant again! Pregnancy showed early struggles. No heartbeat was found until almost 8 weeks! Tears spilled from our eyes as we heard the first beats. We welcomed our third baby to the family; another baby girl--May 2016. Emma is a snuggle bug and a Daddy's girl like no other. She is about the same size as her sister and is constantly mistaken to be her twin. The girls, Elle and Emma are actually two years apart.
Pregnant once more with our 4th! Symptoms were intense during early and late trimesters. Baby had concerning signs during two stress test and we were rushed for an emergency delivery. Baby was delivered not breathing and rushed to the NICU. Rae arrived and had two pneumothorax in each lung, a dimple in her tailbone area [Possible twist in spinal cord], Jaundice, and excessive weight loss. of 9.5%. The left lung pocket was so large her heart was pushed to the other side of her chest cavity making it even harder to breathe. Rae had multiple issues after birth. We spent most of May in the Hospital before coming home. She is currently battling a large hernia in her belly [Procedures for surgery will not be determined until later in age or unless the hernia becomes a more serious issue for immediate surgery].
All kids are now ages 18, 16, 5.5, 4, 2 & 2 Months.
07/09/2018
