Love is......

For my Mum's last birthday we went to a buffet restaurant where everyone can find a little something that they like. My favorite part is, of course, the dessert. I try to have a little taste of everything and when I got to the ice cream section I scooped one scoop of lime sorbet and one scoop of orange sorbet. It was a delicious combination and as soon as I tasted it I knew it was something that Andrew would love. We have very very different taste in food, but I have a pretty good idea when I taste something if he will like it or not. I turned to Andrew to tell him that he would love this combination and he should go and get some. He tapped his bowl with his spoon, smiled and said "Soooooooo good!" He had the EXACT SAME THING in his bowl. "I was going to say you should try it, but I see that you already have."

Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy

Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy

For the last few months I've been fond of saying "A lot can happen in three months." after the nature of my Father's death.
Well, for the next few months I guess I'll be saying "A lot can happen in three days." after my recent experience which, thankfully, has a happy ending.

It's completely devastating, heartbreaking and also very, very personal.
It's also something every women who is trying to conceive should know about.
It happened to me last Monday (April 19th 2010) and because I didn't know what was happening I could have died. Luckily my husband had the good sense to call 911 and not listen to me when I claimed it would pass and I would probably be fine in a few hours.
An ectopic pregnancy is not that dangerous when detected early and properly treated. Left unchecked however it poses a serious threat to a woman's life as a rupture will cause severe internal damage and bleeding. (Not to mention unbelievable agony.)

Andrew and I have been trying to have a second child for some time now. In the past I have told people when the ask the completely unintentionally insensitive question "When are you having your next child?" That: one is enough, or we can't afford more, or some other excuse that saves me having to explain that according to medical science I should not even have the one child that I have already. Especially since so many people say that since I've had one I can obviously have more. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. And I may be over sharing slightly when I say that The Amazing Fantastic Benjamin was preceded by literally YEARS of unprotected sex (wiggle eyebrows suggestively to personal taste at this point).

How does that old saying go? Even a fool knows that you cannot touch the clouds, but this does not stop a genius from trying. (Or something along those lines).

So yes, we have been trying. But no, I did not know that I was pregnant. Nor did I know I was rapidly heading towards a crisis. My recovery will not be quick or easy and yes, I am in a lot of pain.

You may ask, if I wanted this baby (very, very much in fact), and I lost it in such a fantastically painful and dangerous way, how could this possibly have a happy ending?

Well, thanks to the wonderfully skilled and amazing staff of nurses, doctors, and surgeons at Scarborough General Hospital , I was stabilized quickly and able to have life saving surgery to fix up all the internal damage. I was kept in hospital for three days and I could not have asked for better care, as all the staff I came into contact with were really wonderful, kind, and caring.
The happy ending is that I am alive and recovering. And that against the odds I do have The Amazing Fantastic Benjamin. So while I am sad (and bruised, and in heaps of pain) I also know how truly blessed I am, and I refuse to focus on what I have lost while I still have so much.

My family is taking good care of me and I am surrounded by so much love that I can't help but feel lucky.

That is all.
God Bless and Goodnight.

New hair and a Wedding!

Ready for something dramatic?
I chopped off most of my hair and died the underhair
BRIGHT FIRE ENGINE RED!!!!
It's the coolest hair I've ever had. I wasn't too sure about it at first because the stylist insisted on straightening it with a hot iron, but I like it better now that it's been washed. (It's a bit fluffy though.)




I did it so that I could look super stylish for Dan and Maria's wedding, which was yesterday and absolutely fabulous. It was the biggest wedding we've ever been to and we were seated soooooo close to the head table!!! I felt really honored and touched.
It was also like a little reunion, with old friends coming in from all over the place. I've known Dan since highschool (Andrew's known him a bit longer) and he's more family than friend. We all love Maria lots, and it was great to see this awesome couple finally make it all nice and legal. The bride was of course drop dead gorgeous, and the groom was not only hansom but also very well behaved ;)
It proved to be a bit too much for Ben who lasted through the actual service but wouldn't stay for dinner.
(His exact words were "Mummy I've had all together too much of this and I need to go home RIGHT NOW." to which I responded okay lets just eat a little first. Then I took him into the dinning room, where they had a lovely buffet of appetizers, and when he saw the size of the room and all the tables and the chandeliers and all the decoration he had a complete melt down. So, Andrew took him directly to Tim Hortin's and then home!)
The food was so good, starting with a cold appetizer buffets (salads, and cheeses, and other lovely treats). Dinner proper started with a shrimp and scallop skewer with fancy greens (wrapped in a long thin cucumber slice), followed by a pallet cleanser, then a pasta course (penne in tomato sauce and a sort of cheese in a pasta pouch tied up in a green onion, no idea what it's really called but it's was v.v. tasty!) , then steak and potatoes with veggies. Berries with cream for dessert, and twenty a million cakes each one as delicious as the last (with ice cream too of course). At the very end a chocolate fountain!!!
I decided not to take pictures at the wedding because I wanted to enjoy every moment rather than capture it in photographs. Besides I'm sure some pictures will come my way eventually.

Happy Anniversary to me!

And my darling Husband too of course.
Four years ago today we exchanged vows and we're still going strong. Due to a sever lack of money we have yet to decide what we will do to celebrate. The last two years we have gone away for a weekend, hopefully we will find away to do it again this year!
On a side note, Andrew has started up a blog of his own! It is of course very different from my myriad of blogs.....