Dinner

It was one of those days for Kevin.  He was out doing a bunch of errands all day today.  He was so busy that he even forget to pick up Lauren on the way home from town.  He was totally on auto pilot and didn’t realize it until he got home.  At least he realized it! 

Because he was out running around, dinner was pushed back a little later than normal.  I was laying in bed watching “Princess Diaries” with the little kids, when I heard an odd noise.  As soon as I tried to isolate the sound it went away.  I got back into the movie when I heard it again. 

If I was a cat I would be dead.  I have to check stuff out.  I looked up and I busted Matthew licking his little table that he eats snacks on!!  It was thoroughly haunting.  It sits low to the ground, so the 2 big dogs lick this table after Matt is done eating.  And I hadn’t washed it off since the last time Matt ate.  So the Lord only knows what kind of nasties were on that thing!  When I told Matt to not lick the table (something I never imagined telling anyone!) he gave me a very sad look.  After 11 years I no longer fall for the puppy dog eyes but he had to try.

Even with everything that Kevin did today, he made an incredible dinner.  We had pork chops, corn, ranch style beans, cottage cheese and peaches.  It was delicious. 

We are a HUGE supporter of all of us eating dinner around the table.  Since I’ve been down, we haven’t done it routinely.  Usually Kevin and the children come in my room and eat with me.  But tonight we managed to all get around the table.  It was so much fun.  I don’t think the children have laughed so hard in a long time.  At least not as a group. 

We had Lauren laughing so hard she snorted food across the table and it landed on the side of Matt’s head. 

Austin made a joke we didn’t get.  After we all told him we didn’t get it, he told us that he didn’t either.  He was just making stuff up.

I love that we can make the impossible possible.  Not very many families can get their teens, or their special needs kids, to share in a family meal around the table.  I’m very blessed that I can get both around the table and we enjoy it.

Matt’s Ultrasound Memory

Last Thursday I said that I would start doing my memory’s from the very beginning but I unintentionally lied.  I’m going to go back just a smidge to Matthew’s first picture, his ultrasound.  

Matthew’s Ultrasound

I should have known my ob-gyn was worthless because he failed to tell me to make sure I had a full bladder before going in to my ultrasound.  It takes me a while to connect the dots.

So I got to sit there for an hour drinking a poo load of water.  I hate water so I was pretty stinking miserable.  I was so happy to finally get in the room and get the darn thing over with. 

It was so amazing to see my baby on the monitor.  Back then they didn’t have the 3-d kind like they do now, but it was still incredible.  The tech was a sweet older woman.  She excused herself and brought in a girl that was a bit older than I was.  She starting showing her things on the monitor.  It kind of made me nervous.  They were discussing all his parts with big words that I knew I wouldn’t remember once I left there.  And I knew if there was something wrong they couldn’t tell me.  I would have to wait until my doctor saw the ultrasound.

She caught me off guard about a minute later and asked if she could bring a couple of students in.  I hesitantly told her that it was okay but I was starting to seriously freak out.  What was so messed up with my baby that she is pulling all these people in? !

So now I have 4 people hovering over this monitor.  They were all zoned in on whatever they were looking at.  I think the tech finally realized that I looked like I was going to faint.  She instantly apologized.

She told me that Matty had the most perfect heart.  It was perfectly shaped and centered in the cavity.  It was easy to see every detail of it in the ultrasound.  She could see it working as it pumped blood throughout his growing body. 

She had students in observing and practicing ultrasounds that day.  She told me that every teacher dreams of having the perfect organs come through on a teaching day but it never happened.  She just got excited because Matty had the perfect teaching heart…and on teaching day!  She could also see the other organs well what she was most excited by his heart.

I left there with Matt’s first picture, a video of the ultrasound and the wondrous feeling that I was carrying the most perfect baby boy in the world.

We all know what Matt’s future is.  What is interesting is that mitral valve prolapse is found in some fragile X patients.  Because of that ultrasound I have never been worried about it though, neither has his pediatrician.  I think that the ultrasound went the way it did to alleviate some of my fears for my son when I did learn his fate.