A Million Pictures... and Roxie's Birth Day Story - Part Four

Good Tuesday afternoon!

I want to set the record straight.

I have more than one child.

I have Austin, my oldest.

I have Josh, my second oldest.

I have Roxie, my baby.

If today was the first day you ever visited the blog, you would think I only had the one.

And that just isn't the case.

Here are pictures of anything and everything leading up to the Homecoming Game.

I will post the Homecoming Court pictures TOMORROW, Wednesday, October 1!

RANDOMNESS #1 - We attended the Homecoming Powder Puff Football Games Thursday night.


This is the Senior Team and the Senior Coaches.

No one knew at the beginning of the night how awesome this team was going to be.


Roxie doesn't like anyone touching her flag.


But she doesn't mind grabbing someone else's flag.

That's a whole different story.



After two games, the Seniors were declared the champions.

Those are winning smiles!


Roxie and Coach Seth.


Ally and Roxie.

Ally made the first touchdown of the night, and Roxie made the last one.


What they lack in muscles, they make up for in EVERYTHING else.


Kelci and Roxie (photo bomb courtesy of Bryant, Kelci's brother).

Kelci came straight to the Powder Puff game from playing volleyball in Tuscaloosa, and hopped right into the middle of the battle!

RANDOMNESS #2 - Roxie was a Senior Representative for Homecoming Court in the Pep Rally Friday morning.


Roxie, Seth and Alyssa prior to the Pep Rally.


Roxie and Hunter.

Hunter came by before heading to his classes.

It made Roxie's day, I tell you.


Seth and Roxie.


Five minutes later, Seth was crowned Homecoming KING.

Homecoming King is announced during the Pep Rally.

Homecoming Queen is announced during halftime of the Homecoming Game that evening.

Just wanted to clarify.


Roxie and Grandmother (after Seth was crowned).

RANDOMNESS #3 - Roxie and her escort, Seth (also known as King Seth), rode together in the Homecoming Parade later in the afternoon.


Roxie and Alyssa.


Roxie, Seth and Kelsey.


Seth and Roxie... and the cool car we borrowed from Hannah's grandparents!


Roxie and Mikie.


Roxie and Seth mid-Parade.

RANDOMNESS #4 - Before the Homecoming Game, Roxie and friends took pictures at a the home of a lovely woman who owns and boards horses.


Roxie and Josh.


Roxie and Hunter.


Ragan and Roxie.


Hunter and Roxie.


Alyssa and Ragan.


Roxie and Heather (Hunter's little sister).

Cutest seven year-old ever.


Hannah, Ragan, Alyssa, Roxie and Ally.

This is what Roxie calls a "laughing" picture.

She loves to take laughing pictures.

And everyone else is nice enough to just do as they are asked!


I loved this tractor pic. Roxie said it was "okay," but as you can see, it is more than just "okay."


Roxie, Samson and Hunter.


Samson and Scottie.


Samson belongs to this lovely young lady, Hanna Ray.

Hanna Ray is also Hunter's younger sister.

Sweet Chick and sweet horse.


Roxie and Roxie.

Yes.

The horse's name was really and truly Roxie.


Roxie and Alyssa.

Roxie's Birth Day Story - Part Four

As the weeks slowly went by (as they so often do in the last trimester of pregnancy), my numbers went up. It took a long time, but three weeks before Roxie was due, I had reached the "borderline number." It wasn't my goal number, but the doctor was much more confident of a safe delivery at this point of the pregnancy.

However, as I stated before, we were about to hit Incident #4 of this pregnancy. I was now going to the doctor weekly. A sure sign you are going to have the baby sooner than later. I was huge. And I don't mean huge from eating powdered doughnuts and Sneaky Pete's hotdogs thrice daily (see Austin's Birth Day Story). I mean huge as in Kate Gosselin (I'm carrying six babies) HUGE! However, we knew because of multiple ultrasounds, there was only one little baby in there. Hmmm.

"You're measuring over 44 weeks," the doctor told me.

"I thought when you measured 40 weeks, it was pretty much time for the baby," I said.

"That is correct. Let's do another ultrasound and try to figure out what's going on," he said.

Now, I'm okay with ultrasounds. Except for a little cold jelly on the belly, it isn't painful, and because it is basically taking pictures of the baby, it's right up my alley.

"The baby is a normal size for 37 weeks. However, there is a very large amount of fluid," he told me. Fluid. That didn't sound bad. I could set a two-piece place setting of china and a pot roast on top of my belly and still have room for the dessert tray, but as long as it was just fluid causing my enormity, I could deal with that.

"What causes extra fluid? Am I drinking too much?" I asked.

"No. There is a 50-50 chance that the baby's esophagus is not attached to the stomach. That means instead of the fluid going completely through the baby, it is backing up." He let that sink in a little.

"That doesn't sound good," I finally said. "How do we get the esophagus to attach to the stomach?"

He then went on to explain that after Roxie was born, she would be whisked away to NICU for testing. They would have to give her a dye and X-ray her to make sure it went through her entire digestive tract. It would show if the esophagus wasn't attached.

I thought about that information for a little while. "What if it isn't attached?"

"We transport her to Children's and she'll have surgery that day to correct the problem. It's a pretty basic surgery," he reassured me.

"Can I go with her?" I asked.

"No. We won't transport you, because unless you go into labor before we schedule this birth, you'll have to stay put and recover from your C-Section."

Okay. This man was getting on my last nerve. He was nothing but a big fat bad news bearer from beginning to end.

"That's not acceptable. If one of my kids is having surgery, I will need to be there," I said stubbornly.

"You're not understanding," he said just as stubbornly. "This will have to be taken care of quickly. As soon as we see a blockage, she'll be transported immediately."

After asking a few more questions, I waddled out to the waiting room where Mike was waiting to drive me home. Everything had happened so fast in the doctor's office, I hadn't even had time to call him back. We talked about this latest development on the drive home.

"Okay. Here's the deal. I want you to stay with Roxie from the minute she's born until we know what's going on. I want you to ride in the ambulance with her, and be outside the operating room waiting for her, and I don't want you to leave her side until you know she's okay. Mom will go with you, too. And Daddy will stay with me until we hear something."

"I'm not going to like leaving you after you have surgery, but that's what we'll have to do," he agreed.

With a plan in place, we prepared ourselves for the birth of our third (and final) child. We were to wait two weeks for the scheduled C-Section. (The ultrasound indicated she was a little small, and if she was to have surgery, they wanted her to be a little heavier.) Needless to say, it was going to be a long two weeks.

You'll be glad to know, Roxie will be born tomorrow as far as this story is concerned.

You've gone this long, you might as well come back tomorrow and finish the story. You know you want to!

Okay, Guys. I'll be back TOMORROW, October 1, with the rest of the Homecoming Pics AND Brad and Stephanie Wedding Pics, a new-to-me recipe and THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF ROXIE'S BIRTH DAY STORY!

I Know y'all are thrilled.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda