The Last Prayer: Part 2

This is a fictional piece based on my experiences.  I hope you enjoy.  

*trigger warning* child loss, infertility, miscarriage

 

Part 1

If time had been slowing down, with the entry of Dr. K, everything now moved at double speed.  Like a general commanding her troops, the hospital suddenly whirled into motion.  

Within moments, Ava was being wheeled up to ultrasound.  There, the technician confirmed the worst case scenario; ruptured ectopic.  Dr. K hovered over the technician, instructing her to call down to the operating room, we were on our way.  As the technician said the words, "ectopic pregnancy", Dr. K bellowed from behind her, "RUPTURED ECTOPIC!"  

This lioness would save Ava's life.

Soon Ava found herself back with Dave in the exam room.  Ava's mother had arrived, and both were close by her side as four nurses struggled to find a vein that hadn't collapsed for an iv.  Ava lost track of the number of times she was poked and prodded, as the needles found no vein strong enough to bear their burden.  Finally, in desperation, a neonatal needle was placed and the race to surgery began.

As Ava was wheeled from the room, she turned with one last look at Dave and said, "Sheesh, I guess my body will do anything to adopt."  Dave managed a small chuckle through his fear as his wife was wheeled out of sight.

In the operating room, Ava was helped onto the operating table.  The nurses tried to talk her through what was going to happen next, but all Ava could focus on was the eminent pain relief of being put under.  As they told her she was going under, the last thing she remembered was their laughter as she said, "About f***ing time."  

to be continued...

The Last Prayer: Part 1

This is a fictional piece based on my experiences.  I hope you enjoy.  

*trigger warning* child loss, infertility, miscarriage

"Please, God", she thought.  It was all she could do to form those words, all she could think through the blood and tears.

What had been one blissful day of joy soon became a nightmare.  Ava wove in and out of coherence as she sat under the fluorescent lights of the emergency room.  Across the room, she saw what she thought must be grandparents, holding a coughing toddler.  A school-aged boy threw up in the next row.

Still, they didn't call her name.  She'd told the nurse she was bleeding, that she was pregnant.  She told her the pain stabbed her with every breath.

Still, she waited. 

One hour stretched to two.  Finally, in desperation, she sent Dave away, asking him to find her doctor.  He left her alone in the emergency room in search of her doctor's office across the complex.  "Please come, she's bleeding.  She's in a lot of pain.  They won't see us."

A nurse pulled Ava into an evaluation room, asked her where her pain was.  "Nine." She said calmly, barely conscious of her surroundings. "I was at a six when I brought my leg a few years ago.  This is worse."

The nurse eyed her skeptically, surely a "9" would be screaming, and sent her back to wait in the lobby again.

Dave returned.  Ava's doctor was in surgery, but the office would let her know the situation.

An hour later, things began to blur together.  Conversations became more difficult for Ava to understand.

Finally, after three hours, a nurse ushered her in to an exam room letting Ava know, "the on call doctor has five patients in front of you, then he'll be in to see you."

Ava lay back, in too much pain to do more than close her eyes against the waves of it.

As the nurse left her room, she heard Dr. K come screaming down the hall, "WHERE IS SHE?!"

In that moment, Ava had her first hope someone would save her.

to be continued....

Homeschool 2015-2016

I've been feeling a lack of motivation, even before the beginning of this school year. Usually this feeling doesn't hit me until February. 

I've been saying things like, "I can just run down to [local Catholic school] and register her..." to my husband. 

Oh, and I'm the president of my local homeschool group this year. *sends all kids to school - has tons of time to be a great president* 😂

With this general feeling of je ne sais quoi, I decided I need to strip the curriculum back to the bones this year. Reading - Writing - Religion - Math. Back to basics, focus on the important things is mantra for the year. Which I will second guess the whole way through I'm sure. I'll just have to avoid Pinterest and all those amazing homeschool pins. 

Here's what this year looks like:

St Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2 *Free from a friend*

Modern Curriculum Press - Level E *Purchased last year when I found a great deal ~ $30*

IEW Writing Level A 

*Borrowing from a friend*

*An extra that I found a deal on and requires nothing from me - LB opens the box and does the whole project and clean up herself ~ $215 for the year's subscription*

So, with the exception of the Green Kid's Crafts, which are pricey enough that I consider them a luxury, my school books for the year for LB are $30. 

Except there's one subject missing - Reading. 

Enter b&w Kindle. Found a great bundle deal on Amazon. It was $85 including tax. (To find it for yourself, stop by your favorite blogger friend with an affiliate link, click through to Amazon and search Kindle for Kids). 

We'll be borrowing books from the library with the Overdrive app and takings advantage of the free classics that can be downloaded as well. 

So what does your school year look like?

Pray for us, we're jumping back in!

A Muggy Saturday Outing

AThe grass is starting to grow a little slower, the days are getting shorter. Summer is waving farewell as thoughts turn to school and sweaters. 

In the midst of summer's long goodbye, we're squeezing what we can out of it with a family outing every weekend. 

This week, we checked out our local botanical center. 

The morning started like this. But, we made the effort to get things rolling, and here's what we got in return:

Giant banana leaves (complete with tiny bananas). 

Lily pads floating on the water. 

A tiny frog spotting. 

A monarch butterfly release. 

LB faced the creepy-crawly factor and let one walk on her. 

And a few more. 

Our fearless little Viking was not to be outdone. 

She let them crawl all over her. 

Until this one flew into her eye. Then she was all done!

The children's garden was our next stop. 

Big sister for the assist in reaching the flower cut out :)

The children's garden is a beautifully designed miniature Mississippi River. 

Complete with boat and alligators in the river delta. 

Working with the dams. 

If you think my kids just swore at you, I promise they're trying to tell you about this!!

Three dams over the Mississippi River Rapids allow boats safe passage. We live very close to one of these. 

Catfish are big in the Mississippi, but thankfully, this isn't to scale :)

An outdoors Connect 4 (or put every circle in like SP did) ended our trip. 

Their game was a little more competitive than SP and mine :)

And with one last goodbye to some newly hatched butterflies and their fellow caterpillars, we headed home to lunch. 

Glad we're soaking up the last drops of summer. Prayers that your summer has been equally family-filled.