True Story Tuesday - My trip to the ER

In 2004, Jeremy and I frequented the ER quite often.

Jeremy had a bad allergic reaction to flaxseed. Really bad. Scared me to death seeing him in pain like that. Drove him to the ER in a snowstorm.

Jeremy got hit in the eye with a capture the flag pole at a church event. Split his eyebrow open. Had kids running to find me at church saying, "Pastor Jay poked his eye out! There is blood EVERYWHERE!"

Jeremy cut through his thumb nail with a saw making Royal Ranger walking sticks on a Wednesday night right before church. Had kids running to find me saying, "Pastor Jay cut his thumb off! There is blood EVERYWHERE!"

So, since I was always the driver, I thought I'd even up the score and make him drive me.

No. Not really.

I had some blood pressure issues when I was pregnant with Annalise. My numbers were never dangerously high, just high enough to make them put me on bed rest a couple times.

At the end of December, I was 36 weeks pregnant. I was on bed rest for 3 days and Jeremy decided to get a deer.

My in-laws had come into town to help with Elayna while I was on bed rest. A family in our church processed the deer for us and my mother-in-law worked hard at freezing the meat.

She had made meatballs with some of the ground venison and frozen them on trays. On day 3 of bed rest, I was ready to get up and do something.

Now, if you have been on bed rest, you know that it isn't always pretty. I had not taken a shower in a day, maybe two. I was wearing a pair of VERY large, bright RED with sledding penguins pajama pants and one of my husband's old 3 Stooges tshirts. That is a picture, right? Don't even ask why I hadn't showered or why I was wearing that terrible combination. I just know I was tired, pregnant, huge and wearing anything that fit.

Thankfully, I was in pre-blog days and there is not ONE picture of this entire episode of the Goodwin family life.

The meatballs were frozen and it was time to take them off the trays and bag them. I thought to myself, "I can handle that!" So, I got up and helped.

My mother-in-law used a small knife to get her meatballs off the trays. I used a spoon because I knew that if I used a knife, I would cut myself.

Everything was going well until my last meatball. Seriously. the last one.

I could not get it to come off the tray! In my tired, pregnant thinking, I grabbed the knife my MIL was using and decided to make that thing come loose.

What did I do that for??

The knife slipped off the meatball, the meatball went flying and the knife landed right in the middle of the lower part of my left palm.

OUCH! this was very bad.

I knew I was going to the ER. Big, frumpy and pregnant. No time for a shower or a change of clothes.

We hopped in the car and off we went. I got to the ER and quickly realized that this was even worse than I thought.

I looked like I did and I had a knife wound on the inside of my hand. Not just my hand but my left hand. And, I'm left handed. What does that say to doctors? Defensive wound. Not cool.

I get checked in, put in triage and asked like a million questions.

"You are left handed?"

Yes, I am but I do lots of things with my right hand.

"Like what?"

Bowling, holding a bat in baseball (as if I do those things a lot), using scissors, and, well, cutting things with a knife. I hold the knife in my right hand.

"But, you are LEFT handed? Are you sure?"

Yes, I'm sure.

Over and over they asked me questions. Nurses... Doctors... I wondered if anyone was actually going to sew up my cut so I could go home!

It was awful. I was embarrassed and just wanted to go home! And, Jeremy was laughing.

Mmm Hmm. Laughing. He was enjoying not being the patient at the ER! Did he not realize how serious this was? Obviously not.

Finally, they realized that I wasn't changing my story and they sewed me up. It hurt so bad. I still have an ugly looking line about an inch long in my palm.

Before I could leave the ER that day, I had to get a tetanus shot. More fun, right?

I finally got my very pregnant, newly stitched up, not showered self home. With instructions that I couldn't get my hand wet for 24 hours. Another 24 hours without a shower.

And, that my friends, is a True Story.

A Wheel Chair and Some Tiny Talk...

We were on our way to Cleveland. Jeremy was driving and I was trying not to think about the fact that we were traveling so I could go to the Cleveland Clinic.

Jeremy had a few stops that he wanted to make as we drove up 71. It was a gorgeous day and, although I wasn't extremely thrilled with his chosen stops, I knew we would have fun anyway and it was a good way to take my mind off the whys of the trip.

We were talking about how I had been feeling and how I was doing better after another bad spell about 3 weeks ago.

"Well, my neck has really been hurting me this summer too."

I looked at him and said, "It's a good thing that you are going for your physical next week. Tell the doctor about it but your not allowed to have anything serious."

Glancing over, he said, "I don't think it's anything serious."

"What's the pain from? Do you think it is from your accident in June?" (he was hit by a car while driving the church van on a kids missions trip)

"I think a few things happened that week... the car accident... then I fell over backwards in a wheel chair..."

"You what??" I start laughing hysterically. He just said it so seriously as if we have all fallen over backwards in a wheel chair at some point in our lives! As soon as he said it, I knew exactly what he had done. Somehow, he had gotten his hands on a wheelchair and he must have been showing the kids how he can spin in a circle, ride on the back wheels or something crazy like that. His trick must have failed and he fell over backwards. Only a children's pastor...

"Why are you laughing? I also rode a lot of roller coasters at Cedar Point... that could be it too."

More laughing from me... way too funny. Yes, he can for sure tell his doctor that his neck pain is from falling over backwards in a wheel chair or riding too many rides at Cedar Point.

I think I'd stick with the car accident story!

We stopped for a visit at Fin, Feather and Fur, a place near and dear to my heart because Jeremy's old Festiva died by the engine blowing up right in their parking lot while I was 8 months pregnant with Annalise. no joke, really. don't laugh... it was not funny. In an effort to save gas money, we left our brand new 2005 minivan at home in the garage and drove his car to Columbus that day. It was great fun, let me tell you! Trying to find a car shop, calling his aunt and uncle to bring us their car, finding a way to Columbus for our conference, explaining to my dad why we were stranded while I was pregnant... (True Story Tuesday? I think so.)

Across the parking lot from this very fun and memorable outdoorsy store, is Grandpa's Cheese Barn. Remember the prison van? Yes. Nervously, we went into the chocolate/candy barn first...

We walked out spending a whopping $3.46! And, I had to snag a picture of the Buckeye Recipe because my husband really wants me to make them this year.

Next stop... the Cheese Barn...

Jeremy found some cheese curds, which I VERY reluctantly tasted and the girls LOVED... bringing his taste buds back to Iowa for a few minutes...

Our next stop was about 20 miles north. It was a small primitive, pre-1800s store called "Log Cabin Shop".

The front porch is adorable with old furniture...

great fall decorations...

an old cannon and very worn wooden benches.

Inside is full of old books of all kinds... you'll also find weapons, clothing, tools, cast iron cooking wear, animal skins... some Civil War period uniforms... all very interesting!

While Jeremy handled Abby, (the girls had been warned not to touch anything) I took Elayna and Annalise up in the attic to look around. The majority of the books up in the attic were very old but I did see some newer ones. Dee Henderson, Karen Kingsbury...

I didn't really look at the newer ones because I was busy pointing out all of the very old books that I saw to the girls.

Well, Elayna and Annalise found a table over in the back by a window. It had books on top. As I walked over to the table, I heard Annalise exclaim, "Elayna! They must have had this book wayyyyy back then!"

I had to tell her that no, they didn't have Barbie books in the 1700's. I'm not sure she was convinced.

When we got back in the van, Jeremy asked the girls if they'd had fun.

Annalise yells up to the front of the van and says, "Yes! But I did touch some things though!"

Well, that pretty much sums up our educational, exciting and very entertaining trip to Cleveland.

I'm linking Jeremy's Wheel Chair statement and Annalise's amusement at Barbie books in the 1700's to Tiny Talk Tuesday. I told Jeremy he would be featured in my Tiny Talk post. He didn't seem to mind.

I'm often told I have 4 kids.

Yes. This is a true story.

"Why did you go this way?" was the question Jeremy asked me when we were leaving the house the other day.  We had some errands to run and I didn't turn the way he thought I should have for where we were going.

"Uhhmm... well, it's like 100 degrees out so I thought we'd run through Sonic and get some half priced drinks."

"Why don't we go to Quick Mart?"

"Quick Mart??"

"Yeah, Quick Mart. You know, down Dorothy Lane."

"I don't know of a Quick Mart. Why can't we just stop at Sonic?"

I knew the answer to this. I was sure that this "Quick Mart" must have a better drink deal than Sonic. I could get to where we needed to go by way of Dorothy Lane so I passed Sonic and drove to the "Quick Mart".

While I'm driving, Jeremy is looking at something on his Palm. I drive. and drive. and drive down Dorothy Lane.

No Quick Mart.

"Are you sure there is a Quick Mart here?"

"Yes. I've been to it before." Looking up from his palm he says, "Oh, if you are here, you went too far. Turn around and go back. It's on the left."

Grrr. Not letting myself get worked up, I turned the van around and headed back.

No Quick Mart. On the left or the right. I pulled into Speedway. They have .89 drinks in the summer and that would work.

He looks up from his palm. "What are we doing here? This isn't the Quick Mart."

Grrr, again. Obviously. So, I drove off again without drinks to find the mysterious Quick Mart.

25 minutes had passed at this point. We had to be somewhere very north of town and our errand was very south of town. Driving around aimlessly looking for cheap pops was not in the schedule for the day.

We passed where he thought it was and I kept driving. I was not going to stop until we found that crazy Quick Mart.

Around the bend, down the hill and past the hospital... almost to the Walmart very far from our house, I hear, "Stop! that's it! on the right!"

I turned pulled in and said, "Hon, this is a Circle K. Not a Quick Mart."

"Oh, Circle K... whatever. This is where the .59 drinks are."

"We drove around for 45 minutes looking for a Quick Mart that is really a Circle K and we have a Circle K right by our house so if you had said Circle K I could have gone there instead of driving around looking for a crazy Quick Mart?"

"We have a Circle K by our house?"

"Yes. Just a few blocks away."

"Oh."

45 minutes of driving. No Sonic ice. No Sonic flavoring. No Sonic at all but a Quick Mart Circle K and I have to say that I actually did not get upset.

Slightly annoyed. But, not upset. Going along with the whole marriage posts here lately, I can honestly tell you that we both laughed together at the aimless time we spent looking for some cheap drinks. I have done things like that to him (sending him to the pharmacy without the insurance card, driving an hour somewhere and forgetting the tickets to get in, not packing his pjs for a trip, yeah stuff like that)... and he has done things like that to me.

Grace reigned and instead of arguing, we laughed. Something that would have in years past caused tension and frustration was actually really quite funny.

We moved on with our day and finished our errands just in time.

And, I am proud to say... that is a true story!

True Story Tuesday - the sign at the zoo

Last week, my sister and I took the girls to the zoo. I wrote about our day here on Elayna's blog. There is a cute little video there with my girls and the chimps. So fun...

But, sometimes us moms do things that, well, aren't quite the smartest. Quite embarrassing actually...

We saw lots of cute animals...

But, then we entered the lion exhibit. Inside, they have this machine that is supposed to allow you to feel what it's like to open a lion's jaw. Their jaws take so many pounds to open and by pulling on this handle, you can try to pull hard enough to do it yourself.

Here is my cute pregnant sister trying... no can do.

I thought, "Well, she's pregnant. Maybe she just isn't trying her hardest. I can do it."

"Hey girls... watch Mommy do it."

Trying and trying and trying. I think I pulled on that thing 5 times. Not going to happen. Those lions have some crazy strong jaws. Holly can't do it. I can't do it. Urgh.

After trying and trying to pull that crazy handle and thinking we were quite big wimps, not to mention the people who saw us pulling and pulling, I noticed something on the glass. Something pretty important that we should have noticed before we started pulling like mad.

Well, thankfully, we had fun while we pulled and pulled, tried and tried to work this crazy machine!

For more True Story Tuesdays, visit Once Upon A Miracle.

And, don't miss out on an Uppercase Living Giveaway!

True Story Tuesday - The Sound

Once Upon A Miracle has a fun thing going on Tuesdays

This morning, Abby crawled into bed with me around 6:30. She is so cute when she comes into bed with us because she wants to be right in between Jeremy and I. Abby thinks that she owns the bed and that we must be there simply to lay on or cuddle up to. She has no concept that we are actually in bed sleeping.

As she moves around trying to get comfortable, her arms are on my head, over my stomach, legs in my side, bum in my face... she is everywhere. And, I hear something.

A small popping sound coming from her shoulders. A sound that has been there since before she was born.

Somewhere in my tummy, I could hear a popping sound. I was 37 weeks pregnant with Abby, experiencing contractions every day, diagnosed with very low fluid and seeing a high risk doctor twice a week. One day, after hearing the popping sound and realizing that it really was coming from within my belly, I asked the doctor about it.

He looked at me like I was CRAZY.

"Popping sound?"

"Yeah, like this (made a popping sound with my tongue on the roof of my mouth)."

"That can't be from the baby. I've never heard of noises being made by the baby that the mother can hear outside the womb."

"Well, I'm hearing her. Every time she moves I hear popping noises."

The doctor didn't believe me and my high risk doctor didn't believe me, but I knew I was hearing a noise.

Fear came in when I realized that I was hearing popping from Abby and that she could have a dislocated shoulder or hip and could be in pain when she was born. I kept praying that I was just hearing things and it really was nothing. After all, the doctors said it was nothing.

But, in my mommy heart, I knew it was something.

I heard these popping noises all the way up until I delivered her.

The night she was born, we were in our room and the lactation consultant came in to help me with nursing. As the lactation consultant was positioning Abby on my lap, she heard a popping noise.

I heard it. Jeremy heard it too...

"Did you hear that? That is what I've been hearing for 4 weeks!"

And, to this day, her little shoulders pop when she raises her arms or moves them around. Nothing is wrong, no pain... they just make a popping noise.

A noise that I've heard since before she was born.

The Coffin

I happened to be on facebook the other day and saw a comment my mother-in-law made and it reminded me of a story that would work perfectly for this fun True Story Tuesday meme.

It was the spring of 2001. Jeremy and I had just gotten engaged and while he went on a missions trip to Africa and completed his ministerial internship in Ohio, I went home to Kansas City (where my parents were living at the time) to work and plan the wedding.

After dropping Jeremy off at the airport, my not-yet in-laws were helping me pack my things and bring me home. I was having car trouble and so my father-in-law rented a car dolly to pull my car on. I was riding in Lily, the big suburban.

On our way out of Springfield my father-in-law said that he had to make just one stop to visit an old college friend.

Little did I know that his college friend now owned one of the most successful funeral homes in Springfield. We pull up to the funeral home and Rick gets out to shake hands with his friend.

"Where is it?"

"Just inside the door. Come take a look."

A few minutes later, Rick and his college buddy come outside pushing a big blue coffin.

Why? I do not know, but Rick was picking up an unused coffin to bring home to Iowa.

"Where are you going to put it?"

"Well, let's unhook the car and see if we can fit it in the suburban. We'll put some seats down and it should fit."

Problem!!! I'm sitting in the back! By myself! By a COFFIN!

My future father-in-law laughed and laughed.

Even more laughter came after this picture was taken and developed.

Obviously, I was one tired girl.

We pulled into Kansas City and I just knew my parents were going to have something to say about this. You see, Goodwins love craziness. It makes life interesting and full of fun. My family, on the other hand, does not ask for coffins to take home and get a good laugh from. In my family, that would have been slightly disrespectful and somewhat creepy. Not for the Goodwins.

Problem!! I was about to BECOME a Goodwin!

We met my parents at the Wabash, a great BBQ place in Excelsior Springs. We ate and then got back in our cars to drive the rest of the way to my house. I got in my parents' car for the remainder of the ride, somehow forgetting about the coffin in the back of my inlaws' suburban.

My dad was following and so he stopped when Rick stopped in the parking before leaving the Wabash.

Rick got out and started talking to the guy who runs the smokehouse for the BBQ restaurant. My dad wondered what Rick was doing and my mom just laughed.

"Oh, it's just Rick... wait, what is he doing?"

There he is, opening the back of the suburban, pointing at something. The BBQ guy starts backing up, waving his hands in the air, motioning for Rick to close the car door.

"What is in the back of the suburban?" my mom innocently asks? "Why is he reacting that way?"

"Oh... you know... uhmmm... Rick has a, a big, well, a big coffin in there."

"WHAT?"

At this point my mom and dad are half shocked, half laughing, slightly embarrassed and fully ready to LEAVE the Wabash parking lot.

Rick got back in the suburban, drove to our house and we all had a good laugh as my parents saw what was in the back of Rick's vehicle.

Really, it's all true. I promise.

And, to show my now-Goodwin pride...

I must let you know how cool my father-in-law really is. I thought I'd link to our family business page so you can read a little more about our history... Goodwin House Moving (or get a house moved or lifted if you just so happen to live in the Iowa, Indiana or Illinois area) and let you know that you can see our family on HGTV. Haulin' House taped two shows with Rick: Frantic Farmhouse and Saving A Victorian Farmhouse.

Check your local listings to see Rick Goodwin moving houses and doing a GREAT job at it!