For Erica….

One thing I am appreciating about the “comments” section is that people are often asking the same questions everyone else either wants to ask or have asked, and this allows me to answer the question for all that are wondering:). I suppose when I wrote that comment on Ty’s Christmas picture about him smacking his head, I could have added more details as to why I was taking a picture instead of picking him up LOL!

First of all, I’ll explain something about micro preemies. Micro preemies develop very differently than full term babies. One thing we notice with Ty (that is a typical micro issue) is that he has no concept of how to use his body against other physical matter to generate the most energy. Instead, he relies only upon his own body mass to propel motion which is highely ineffecient. For example, when Ty learned to roll over, he did not use his legs to push off the floor like most babies would. He stiffened his body and forced his weight over and then let gravity work for him. That required much more work on his part but apparently he was not to be defeated:). Because micros develop their muscles upward (up the back) instead of down the back), his sitting muscles are still weak. When you sit Ty on the floor, he doesn’t know how to conform his legs to the floor. He also doesn’t realize that he can use his arms to support himself off the floor or even off my legs if I am holding him. We are having to teach him to apply his weight to surfaces and rely upon them to help him. For this reason, when Ty wants to sit up, he fights his body weight. Instead of using his arms to push off the ground, he just tries to do a crunch with out any assistance. In the picture where he had just unwrapped my present, you see him lifting his head off the ground. He was trying to sit up. He doesn’t have the strength to sit up this way (most kids wouldn’t without using their arms) so inevitably his head falls backwards and he smacks it. I think this is sad to witness all the time but it happens constantly because our stubborn little guy is determined to sit up this way and apparently he has weighed the consequence of smacking his head and has deemed it worth it to continue the fight. That is spunk for ya!

Aside from that though, you were correct in assuming that I am not an overprotective mom by nature. I have been forced into this by preemiedom and have become downright paranoid about some things but only as a result of having a micro preemie. Let me introduce you to my REAL self LOL!

Being the oldest of 5 children, with 4 younger brothers, I have learned which battles are worth taking on and which ones are not. My mother will tell you that I was Daniel, David, Darin, and Dustin’s second mama. They trained me well. All thoughts of preemie related issues aside, I really don’t react to much. If your limbs are still straight, you aren’t profusely bleeding, and your still conscious, than you probably should just shake it off and go on with your day. No raising little sissy Mary’s around here! (That is Jim’s word by the way).

I’ll just list off a few “boy” incidents and you will quickly see why this is my mantra:

*I held Darin (age 2) when he pulled a long stemmed glass off the table and barely missed a major artery in his wrist. He got over 100 stitches inside and out.

*I saw Daniel taken to the hospital after falling off the roof. His arm was shaped like an “s” and he was in and out of consciousness.

*Saw David carried out after crashing through a plastic shower door…stitches were in order.

*I took Daniel to the hospital after he broke both feet in a gymnist accident. That one resulted in a wheelchair for a bit. You have never seen a temper fly like one that is propelled by immobility when younger siblings are taunting you thinking you have no recourse left. There are still holes in doors over that. LOL!

* Dusty got stitches in the same place by one of his eyes at least twice, I think 3 times.

* Dusty hung by his leg off a barbed wire fence and required stitches.

* Dusty went into antiphilactic shock once (THAT one wasn’t his fault)

* Darin has been hurt countless times as a result of basketball injuries.

* Daniel and Darin have both been knocked unconscious countless times in water skiing/wake board injuries.

* Jarrod (my cousin who I count as a brother) scared the life out of me one year when he…..wait….back up….I am going to have to explain this one. So we all went to a water park in California where we had to sign an insurance waiver to enter. This should have raised alarm bells! Sheeesshhh…what dummies we were. Anyhow, there was this cable that started at the top of a hill and then extended down over the lake. (I see your eyes widening as you are reading this LOL). In the middle of the cable above the lake (very small) there was an old tire strategically placed on the cable. The goal was to hold onto the handles from the cable, while gliding down the hill and then let go over the water before you hit the tire. Jarrod didn’t let go. He smacked into the tire at break neck speed and plunged into the depths below. He got a concussion (duh). That evening I was babysitting him (after he got out of the emergency room) and I made the mistake of giving him a bath. Apparently, you never put a person with a concussion in warm water or they could become delusional (which he did). He ended up back in the hospital. (He was about 7 or 8 at the time). My Aunt Karen and I sat around reading medical textbooks and cried ourselves silly convinced he was dying. He is still very much alive by the way.

*Dusty was bit by a rattlesnake on the hand while taking out the trash. Thankfully, the poison barely “grazed” him. His arm still swelled though.

*One summer my parents took the boys to the ER so many times for stitches that the ER staff knew them by name and then sent my dad home with a stitch kit!!! No kidding!!! He removes all stitches now. LOL.

* And my personal favorite (NOT), was when David fell off a cliff. I can’t tell this story short either or it would loose too much.

So David, Darin, Dustin, Jarrod, and Josh (Brooke’s brother making him mostly a brother in love:) all went up to Sheep’s Crossing for the day (this was about 5 years ago). Sheep’s Crossing is a very remote place and requires (or did at that time) about 3 hours on a windy steep dirt road just to get there. They were warned not to jump from the bridge. So they didn’t. They went up the cliff instead. Big surprise. (With boys, you must learn to be very specific in your instructions).

I won’t get into the details on the how’s and why’s because suspiciously the details are still fuzzy to this day:). For WHATEVER reason, David and Jarrod were both climbing the cliffs and David slipped and fell into the shallow portion of the river. This fall was bare minimum 40 feet but probably closer to 60. When Jarrod got to him, he was going into shock and was in and out of consciousness. OF COURSE they were on the opposite side of the river to where the truck was so Jarrod had to swim him across. While there are portions of this we do find humor in, realize that this incident was serious enough that David and Jarrod still suffer post traumatic stress and nightmares from it to this very day. Jarrod didn’t even know if David was alive when he was swimming him back across the river as David kept drifting out of consciousness.

When the other siblings first heard the news, it didn’t even warrant a pause in their fishin’. One rarely blinks at injuries with my brothers. Once they realized the seriousness of the event though, all the boys were in a panic. When David was conscious, he thought he was dying and had the boys convinced he might. They loaded him in the back of Jarrod’s truck and with every bump in the road David was in agony. (And no, he should not have been moved but the guys were in a very remote place and were scared and desperate). The Lord intervened. Jarrod’s drive shaft went out. This truly was an intervention because we are all convinced that they all would have died driving in a panic on those steep windy roads. Jarrod went on ahead and flagged someone down and called for a helicopter. David was airlifted out. By the time we got to the hospital, we had no idea what to expect. If you saw where he fell from, you would say paralysis of the legs would have been a lesser outcome of what you would expect. Ultimately, he had broken ribs, an injured back, a broken arm and both feet were broken in several places. He too spent time in a wheelchair. You would have thought that Darin would have learned his lesson after taunting Daniel in the wheelchair. Nope. He pulled the same stunts on David. Watching a person in double casts fly across a room after a younger pestering sibling is quite a site to behold….believe me:). There are holes in the door from David too that give testimony to what I have just shared with you.

And those are just the short list of the injuries….

I could also write about the situations they have put themself in over the years that would strike terror into the hearts of the bravest souls. I don’t dare share most of them with you but one is coming to mind that will give you a glimpse.

A few years back a rattlesnake bit David’s puppy. David, the paramedic in the family, gave the puppy an IV and the puppy miraculously survived the bite. However, David thought retaliation was in order. (Remember, I come from a family of hunters). David, Darin, Dustin, AND Jodi and Aimee went on a hunt to the snake cave behind my parents house (their house is up against a mountain preserve). They all came back with rattlers in both hands…yes even the girls were carrying them. (BTW, they DO taste just like chicken:).

So back to MY boys. After considering the above, it probably makes a little more sense to you why it takes quite a bit to even get my attention (DAVID!!!!!!! – YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY – insider to all who HOPEFULLY missed his comment that I DELETED! LOL). Last night, we had the rare priveledge of spending a little time with Graham and Noah (they were both 100% healthy). Brooke and I were on the couch and heard a commotion. I glance into the playroom and watch both Tanner and Noah jumping off the play table onto the recliner and then to the floor. I said to Brooke “You know, Tanner has never thought to try that.” Brooke replied, “If all those two do is jump off a table we had better just count our blessings.” With a sigh, I nodded in agreement, prayed for a good outcome;), and went back to my conversation.

As Tanner would say “Trouble trouble trouble. Yep!”

Note to my siblings: Feel free to add to the list using comments if you would like:). I am sure I am forgetting stuff!