Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today, it was a lovely Spring Saturday and we lived in Provo Utah.

Our friends came to get in one last good visit before we entered the whole man on man defense of parenting. Avee was due in 5 days.

Jay had about 3 more weeks of classes before he graduated from college. He was taking 24 credits, working about 35-40 hours a week, and worked evenings and nights on the weekends at a retirement center, soothing the elderly with dementia and promising to call the mayor about the birds who were freezing outside.

It was a very hectic time for him, but fortunately Bo has always been a good kid and my pregnancy with Avee was one of the easiest pregnancies of all time. I'm sure of it. Except for those people who go into labor and never knew they were even pregnant. I bet those pregnancies were easier.

My mom flew out in the beginning of March to help me with the transition from one child to two, and help while J finished out school.

In case you haven't picked up on it from my blog---my mom is awesome---and she makes everything better and I can do anything if she's around. Actually, everything gets done when she's around, and I don't have to do anything---but the other sounds more flattering, for both of us. I can remember counting the weeks, days, hours before she came. And it was everything I hoped it would be.

Until March 20th. She had spent the night with horrible pains in her stomach, and because I'm selfish and didn't want her issues deterring her from helping me with my issues, I made her go to an Insta-Care. Two minutes after the nurse took her back, the doctor came and got me and brought me back to her room. He said that she had a lump the size of a grapefruit (or was it a softball?) in her abdomen. He was fairly certain it was colon cancer, based on her recent, severe anemia. One of the only symptoms of colon cancer.

I actually dropped my mom off at the ER, per the doctor's instructions. There are moments in your life that when you are in them, you don't realize how incredibly stupid you are being, but when you look back, you'd give anything to do it over. And do it differently. I wished more than anything I hadn't dropped my mom off.

I had a 22 month old baby who needed a nap, and in true Cheryl fashion, she insisted I take him home for his nap.

I wish I had stayed.

Long story just slightly less long: She had a cancerous tumor removed from her colon the following Tuesday.

I waddled my pregnant self to the hospital as regularly as possible, with and without Bo. While Bo was a good boy, that doesn't mean he didn't often act like an ape on crack. He was very...active.

I have little to no memory of seeing J during that week. He was so incredibly busy.

Friends and family came and called all the time. Sometimes at 6 in the morning. And regardless of who you are or why you are calling, that kind of thing requires me to give you a what-for.

My mom was recovering beautifully. Her spirits were high, she was making fun of the older men on her floor who walked the floors in their gowns, letting all their backsides enjoy the breeze. That was until someone kindly told her, she herself was leaving little to the imagination on one of her walks.

Laughing hurt, but she laughed a lot. And then yelled at you for making her laugh.

I may get in trouble for telling this story, but to this day, it makes me laugh. One day she was sort of fading in and out of sleep and was getting so annoyed by a loud, buzzing/growling sound being made by one of the machines in her room. She wished they'd turn it off so she could get some real sleep. She almost even called someone to help her, when she jerked fully awake and realized the sound was actually her snoring.

Back to the lovely Spring day 4 years ago today....
We had a delightful afternoon and evening with our friends and the evening ended too soon.

Within an hour of them leaving I started having mild contractions.

I drove myself to the hospital at 3 am because the contractions, while still somewhat irregular (10 minutes, then 8, then 17) were more painful than I remember Bo's ever getting....

The rest: Four Years Ago Tomorrow----tomorrow.