This Christmas has been so "different" to say the least. We don't even have a tree up yet (it's going up tonight!!) Moving, only having one car (and it's a pickup) swaps, and babysitting have all been very time consuming and we are so far behind on everything. Anyway, even though this Christmas is not as I had planned I know it is going to be wonderful and magical for the kids.
I wanted to share a story about a year that I missed Christmas, but I did have Christmas Angels. Eighteen years ago I was pregnant with my daughter Lexie. All four of my other pregnancies had gone fine but with Lexie about 3 weeks before Christmas I developed toxemia. I was put on strict
bed rest. How is a mom with 4 kids suppose to be on
bed rest right before Christmas. It was hard and after a week my boys found me in bed having seizures. They called their dad and 911 and then went and caught the bus for school. They were such little troopers. I was admitted to the hospital and wasn't allowed any stimulation. No lights, baths, limited visitors, etc.... I was on Mag Sulfate, which is a very strong med to keep your blood pressure down. It wasn't the best timing!
Anyway, my sweet sisters, Cathy, Robyn and Stacey went over and put up our Christmas tree and decorated it with the boys. My Mom and Dad took my kids for Christmas break and kept them at their house. Mom, Dad and my brothers and sisters all made sure the boys were taken care of so I didn't have to worry about them. My mom was a nurse at the hospital so besides taking care of my boys she also would go to work and always stop in and take care of me. One evening she even came in with some kind of dry powder shampoo stuff and "washed" my hair for me so I wouldn't feel so gross. My sister, Cathy, brought me a little Christmas tree with little decorations and put it on my bedside table at the hospital. I collect music boxes and my mom brought me a globe music box with the Nativity scene in it and put it by the tree and then there was a light that shined right over the tree and music box. It was so beautiful and so nice to look over at and have a little Christmas of my own.
On Dec. 27 they finally decided they'd better take the baby because I was
deteriorating so fast. So I was put under general
anesthesia and woke up to find out that I finally had my beautiful baby girl. Lexie only weighed 3lbs. 6
ozs. and so she was in ICU for a couple of weeks.
After I got out of the hospital my brother, Mike, organized a nightly dinner drop off for us. For well over a week someone would drop a wonderful dinner off at our house. It was so nice to not have to worry about dinner every night while I was recovering, taking care of the boys and trying to make daily trips up to see Lexie.
I don't know if my family realized how much that meant to me, but I will never forget their kindness towards me and my boys. I
truly have a wonderful family and they are all angels to me!
This is a picture of my sisters Cathy, Robyn, Stacey, me and then my Momma.
