Blood draws and pills and glucose... OH MY!!!!

First.... BLOOD DRAWS. Remember that CDH research we were contacted about? (THIS POST) Well, we did it!!! The week before Tyler's 9th birthday, we took our kit over to Uncle Fred and had him draw our blood. Tyler was about 2 last time we did it, so he didn't really remember what a blood draw was all about. I explained all of it to him and was honest when I told him it would hurt, like a pinch and only for a second.

So, I went first because I knew Randy had a little anxiety about the needle (I warned him the day before that if he passed out I would kill him. We didn't need to scare Tyler. Nice wife, huh?). Uncle Fred was very gentle. Didn't feel hardly a thing. As I was getting my draw done, Randy was FREAKING OUT!!!! Pacing back and forth, sweating, scratching his arms!!!! IT WAS HILARIOUS!!!! If I would have known how entertaining it was going to be, I would have taken the video camera!!! AND THAT WAS JUST WATCHING ME!!!!! So, then it was Randy's turn. He is one of the toughest men I know. This man can HANDLE pain. But when that needle came out, he turned to jell-o!!!! As luck would have it, the vein on his left arm blew and he had to get poked a second time!!! Thank goodness Uncle Fred is a miracle worker and got it on the second try. I really did feel bad for Randy. It's no fun to get poked twice.

Next was Tyler!!! Uncle Fred had a specialist come in so it would go as smooth as possible. She took one look and liked Tyler's veins. They strapped him up and did the draw as smooth as possible!!! NO PROBLEM!!! He said, "you were right, mom. Just a little pinch!!!" Like it was a normal thing for him. I was SO proud of him!!! It's not easy to be tough sometimes, but he always ends up surprising us!!! As a reward/bribe, our kids know if they don't hit or kick the nurses when getting shots, they get a Happy Meal!!! He deserved that one!!!! What a stud!!! We might just have to buy daddy a Happy Meal too for being such a big boy!!!

It feels good to have sent that off to the doctors waiting up North to analyze it and try to improve the lives of anyone effected by CDH!!!



Next.... PILLS. Remember in THIS POST that for the first time in 4 years, Tyler's reflux is bad enough to have to go back on meds? Well, the Prevacid was wayyyy too expensive, so we asked about something different and it comes in pill form. My Aunt Iva let me in on a little secret, teach him to swallow pills by practicing swallowing Tic Tacs!!! We went to the store and he picked out his favorite, Wild Cherry Tic Tacs.


Wondering how this was going to go, I just told him how I swallow pills, opened the package, full glass of water and said, "go for it!!!". His first 2 attempts failed, but the 3rd time, he scored a home run!!!! He was shocked that he did it!!!! So, he did another and YEP, that one went down too!!!! So later that night when it was time for bed, it was time for the real thing. He wanted to test it again with a Tic Tac before the real medicine. The Tic Tac and the pill both went down without a hitch!!! We are so proud of him. Swallowing pills is such a big deal and quite the confidence booster when you can do it!!! He has done it every night without a problem at all!!!! YEA TYLER!!!!

Now we're down to GLUCOSE. Last week, I failed my GLUCOSE TEST miserably. Which means I had to go back in, fasting, for the 3 hour test. Thursday was the day.

Fasting test came out at 100 (supposed to be 65-110)
Drink the sugar drink and wait an hour
1st hour test came out at 212 (supposed to be under 140)
2nd hour test came out at 189 (supposed to be under 120)
3rd hour test came out at 168 (supposed to be under 110)

Not good numbers. They are all of them almost double what they should be. The thing that makes me the most mad, I don't study for tests, EVER. I just roll with it and hope I'm enough prepared. This test, I was really careful what I ate the last 3 days and even only drake one can of Coke each day!!! That's a big deal!!!! I did all that preparation and NOTHING!!!!!

I know it's not as bad as some, but it's still too high and must be watched closely and treated. There are a lot of complications associated with Gestational Diabetes, but the good thing is that is usually goes away as soon as you deliver!!! So, 6 1/2 weeks? I can do this. Especially with this man by my side, cheering me on!!!

There have been weird things happening in our lives lately. I like to see how easy we can handle it without a hiccup!!! I feel like with Randy next to me, I can handle anything. He makes me feels strong enough to handle any problems that comes our way!!!

I know this all could be worse, but right now, it is a big deal to us. Nothing we can't rock out, but still a challenge that we weren't expecting. I am just hoping that I can have the control I need to eat the diet I should and that Tyler's meds will work and he wont throw up anymore and that the CDH research comes back with some amazing results!!!

I know this was a long post, but thanks for reading and leave a comment if you would like to!!!! Have a fun weekend!!!

Happy 9th birthday TYLER!!!!

Today is Tyler's 9th birthday. THIS is the post I did last year. In hopes of not repeating myself, I'm just going to say some of the reasons I love this kid so much!!!!


He shoots a gun left handed like his mama!!!!




He's not afraid to get dirty.... even when his mom is freaking out!!!

He loves playing with babies!!! He's so gentle and tender with them!!!



This is when we (Randy, Tyler and I) got our blood drawn for CDH research. He did better than his dad!!!! More proof that he is tough as rocks!!!


On Friday at Disneyland, we celebrated his birthday. He got his face painted, picked where we ate and of course, got his birthday pin. He stopped counting how many cast members wished him a Happy Birthday when he got to 40!!!


The CHEESE!!!! He pulls the funniest expressions!!!!




No "normal" poses for this cutie!!!
He is loving scouts and doing a great job!!!

He still thinks I'm alright!!! He even still will kiss me when I drop him off for school!!!!


He's getting really good at the "self portrait". A talent all of our kids have developed!!!


Here we are at Disneyland on Friday, right after we got his Happy Birthday pin. I love this kid so much. I can't imagine our lives without him here. He enriches my everyday and I'm proud to be his mom!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!
Daddy and I love you very much!!!!

A big medical day!!!

Today I had an OB appointment with Dr. Chamberlain. A few highlights....

*He gave me the ok to go on this ONE last trip to Disneyland (we leave Wednesday morning).

*I made him predict what he thinks this baby will be (no, we don't know. We like the surprise). He has been right with all 3 of ours. He said as much as he would like to say boy, but he's guessing girl!!! That's what Randy thinks, so he's pretty happy that Dr. Chamberlain said girl also!!!

*My blood pressure is good (120/58, for you mom because I know you always want to know the number!!!).

*I failed my glucose test (176, it shouldn't be over 140), so I get to do the 3 hour test. No matter how much I argued with him, he's sticking to it that it's high enough to get to the next round of tests :( He advised me to watch my starches and sugar intake until the next test, next week. (there goes my planned diet of churros and Cokes all day at D'land)

*The baby's head is down, I thought it was laying transverse (sideways), but he was able to feel the head down low and what I thought was the bum and the head are actually the body!?! I think we're in for a big one!!!

*We talked about upping my anti-depressant. I get pretty good post-partum depression after I have babies. It's not good. I get pretty mean and I don't like knowing that I am hurting those I love, so we're going to up my dosage and if I don't grow more tolerance in the next few weeks, he will put me on a different kind. PPD is NOT a joke to Dr. Chamberlain and for that I am grateful.

*I talked to him about Tyler's meds for reflux and he changed the medication he had prescribed. It was going to cost us $140.00 per month and now it's only $8.00 We just have to teach Tyler to swallow a pill but because of my wonderful Aunt Iva, we know how to do that now!!! With Tic Tacs!!! They learn with Tic Tacs and it's no big deal!!!! I'm not worried about that till we get home next week.

Then we have the blood work that we got to do today for the CDH research!!!! I will have to do a whole post about that one!!!! Let's just say, it was entertaining just watching Randy while I was getting MY BLOOD drawn!!!! Stay tuned for more details!!!!

So it was a big day, some good news and some bad news, but I guess that's how it usually goes!!!!

I will be busy tomorrow getting our family of 5 ready for Disneyland for the last time before we're a family of 6!!!!! It's going to be a great trip!!!!

Have a good day, everyone!!!

Tyler's guts...

So, as Tyler's birth defect goes, we have been really lucky. He hasn't had any lasting health issues because of having CDH. From birth to age 5, he was on reflux meds. It's almost unheard of for CDH kids to not have reflux, it's kind of just a given, so 4 years ago when he had an upper GI that showed no "significant" signs of reflux and no scarring, we were elated!!!! We have always questioned how long this would last, but have enjoyed every second he was off medication!!!!

About a month ago, he started throwing up really early in the morning, about once a week and no other symptoms of being sick. I knew deep down that our days of no meds were over. I ignored it for 3 weeks and then when the 4th time hit, I knew it was time to get it looked at.

We went in to our beloved doctor and he ordered an upper GI and chest x-ray. The upper GI to look for reflux and the chest x-ray to make sure his diaphragm isn't being naughty and moving again. I love that Dr. Chamberlain doesn't take any chances. He takes Tyler's health VERY serious and I also love that he will take my mother's intuition serious too. He knows that I have made myself an expert on CDH and always takes my instincts into play. That is important to us.

We get a chest x-ray at least once each year, that's the easiest way to make sure everything is staying put. If the patch on his diaphragm (that makes up quite a bit of his diaphragm) were to tear, he would go into respiratory failure and we'd be in deep trouble. It's no joke, we have to make sure it stays in place.

So, yesterday was the day for the upper GI. The GI doctor was talking to me while they did the test and said that there was significant reflux once the barium got into his stomach. It would go all the way down, clear into his stomach and then reflux back out. He was impressed that Tyler's guts look so good for how bad his defect was!!! I like hearing that stuff!!! So, we knew Dr. Chamberlain would get the report today and would tell us what kind of treatment we were going to do.

I got a call from Dr. Chamberlain's office today that he needs to go back on Prevacid. It's a good thing. I don't think Tyler feels the pain of reflux, I think it's the "norm" for him, so I'm glad we got the upper GI to SEE it instead of just treating him.

So we're back on the meds!!! We knew it wouldn't last long. The stomach is kind of a snotty organ. It doesn't like to be touched or moved and his had been both.... severely. Sadly, it's nothing that diet or vitamins or anything else will help, it's just the way his body is built.

We are so grateful for modern medicine and the chance it gives my son to live a normal life, pain and illness free!!!

1-12-96

Today is mine and Randy's first date anniversary!!!! Yep, 15 years ago we went on our first date!!! We tried to go to Paula's for dinner, it was too busy, then Pizza Factory, too busy, so we ended up at Taco Bell!!!! We would probably do the same thing today!!!! After a lovely dinner of burritos and laughs, we went to the movie Bio Dome. Dumb movie, good times. I wont deny that we might have made out during the whole movie and then some more after the movie, but I will say, it was a lot of fun!!!! :)

I didn't know then how amazing and wonderful my life would be, but I'm so glad I chose this life. Randy makes me laugh so hard every, single day. He thinks I'm beautiful (cellulite, stretchmarks and all) and makes me feel like a princess. He is the perfect daddy, son-in-law and husband. Things we never knew would happen 15 years ago.

I don't feel worthy of the man I scored, but I will thank my Heavenly Father everyday for him. His is the yin to my yang. If you know us, you know there's no one else on Earth that would put up with me!!!! Not only does he not kill me, but he continues to build me up and love me. A true angel!!!!

Happy date anniversary, baby!!!!

Maybe we should make out tonight just to celebrate? :) Love you!!!

Oh my naked body!!!!

Caution: this post contains inappropriate material for some readers. There is talk of nudity and a situation that would be embarrassing to most people.

Don't say you weren't warned!!!

It was established long ago that I do not possess the gene that makes people embarrassed. Not only is that gene broken, but I don't understand how it works for other people. What does embarrassment help with anything? How is it beneficial to get embarrassed? There are cases in my life when it is probably a good thing I don't posses that trait or I would probably die. This is one of those times!!!!

So, it was about 10:45 last night when I was on Facebook and my neighbor said it was snowing. I wondered if she was in Idaho or something, I didn't think it was snowing here in Sunny Southern Utah. Well, I was going to get in the shower, so I stripped naked in the big room while watching TV with Randy. As I was leaving to get in the shower, Randy heard what he thought was rain and I told him it was snowing. So, we went to the back door to see if it was rain or snow. Keep in mind that it is almost 11pm and our back yard is pretty private. As we stood at our back door, staring into our yard to determine if there was snow or rain falling, I caught some movement in the corner of my eye......... our neighbors were in their carport, locking their car doors!!!! I started laughing at the thought of Randy standing in the doorway with our porch light on to light us both up and me, in all my glory, nothing but a smile on my face, in the doorway standing right next to him!!!! Yes, I was completely naked, staring out our back door!!!!!

I ducked to the side, laughing hysterically!!!! Randy stood in awe that I wasn't embarrassed. He just didn't know how it was possible!!!! I surprise him regularly, but I think he's getting better!!! But just imagine what my neighbors saw, if they saw anything!!!!

THIS (7+ month pregnant) hot body......

NAKED!!!!! I know it's scary, no one should see it naked EVER!!!!

I ended the night taking the shower I had planned on before "the incident" and all was well!!!! I think this is one that will be laughed at for a long time!!!! Do I think it's normal for me to laugh so hard at my own stupidity? Probably not, but my mom taught me that if you can't laugh at yourself then no one else should laugh at you!!!! I am just providing some comic relief for everyone!!! I am just giving like that. I will sacrifice!!!! HAHAHA!!!!!

Being naked in the security of my own home has never been a big deal to me and will continue not to be a big deal. I want my kids to be comfortable with their bodies and where better to teach them that within the walls of our own home? I grew up with lots of sisters and a mom that was not overly "modest" if you will. I could never leave the house dressed inappropriately, but if my mom was in the bathtub today when I go to her house, I would not hesitate to go in and chat with her. It's just how we do things and it's ok for us, so I never knew any different. I have always had a positive self image and I think that is why. I plan on passing that on to my kids this same way.

Now, before you get all excited about us being exhibitionists, we don't parade around naked. If we're getting in or out of the shower, we just don't make a fuss about the kids not being clothed and covering up at all times. That's just how our family operates in our home. There's my soap box moment of the day!!!!!

Now back to that picture of me and my hot mama body.....
enjoy your night and don't stand in your doorway NAKED!!!!! :)

Life changing news for the Clyde family

So, about 9 1/2 years ago, our baby was diagnosed with a birth defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). We didn't know much about it until our Perinatologist referred us to CHERUBS, a support group for families dealing with CDH. Well, to make a long story short, when we had Tyler, our odds were that he (if born alive) would have a 50% chance of survival including 4-6 months in the NICU (in a children's hospital 300 miles from home) and have a lifetime of health problems. The only answers we were given as to why this happened was, "if the mother took a bath in pesticides in the 8th week of gestation, that might increase the odds of your baby being born with this birth defect". WOW!!!!! I knew we would eventually find out more.

Tyler right after his surgery on day 5 to put a patch on his diaphragm
to make it complete, keeping his guts out of his chest cavity.
He was a VERY sick baby. Very, very sick.

As you know, this Clyde family doesn't do anything the way we are supposed to. We suffered through some REALLY hard times. Really hard. But Tyler has a determined personality and never gives up, right from the minute he was born. His defect was quite severe, but he defied all the odds and came home on day 28 on only oxygen and reflux meds!!! He has no major health problems that are connected to CDH and he is talked about as "Miracle Tyler". We get comfortable with him being a healthy kid and sometimes he gets sick and we realize how he is not "normal". We live with the fear that the patch that the doctors put in him at birth and then modified at 4 months, could come loose and he could die. Yea, it scares the crap out of us, but he's been doing great.

This is Tyler at 4 months before his second repair.
That is pain you see in his eyes. Absolute and unbearable pain.

Over the years, we have done genetic counseling, blood work, questionnaires, and other things to help find the reason that kids are born with CDH. It's a slow process. A couple months ago, I got a letter from the University of Utah about participating in more research, of course, we agreed. Last night I got the call from a doctor in Salt Lake City. He gave us news that could change our lives and lives of future generations.

He informed me that Tyler has some very distant relatives living in Utah that also have CDH. There has never been any genetic link proven, but this newest research has found a possible link between us and them and the doctors and dying to get their hands on our blood. To tell you how distantly we are related, you would have to go back 6 generations from Tyler to even see where we are related. He wouldn't tell me if it's my side or Randy's side of the family, he knows, but couldn't tell me yet.

This is life changing. Because of our participation in past research and that other family's participation, we could possibly be changing the future course for CDH. I can't tell you how happy I am!!!! This is the kind of news we have waited for, for almost 10 years and others for so much longer!!!!

The doctor will send us containers to do our blood work. Randy's uncle Fred will do the draws for us like he has in the past and we will ship it back up to SLC. This doctor was so excited to tell us the news and I have been on cloud 9 since the phone call!!!!

He told us an easy way to explain it to people, it's like Tyler is a book, a big novel. In all his pages, there are 2 sentences that have grammar errors. In the blood work, he will try to find those 2 sentences and link them to the other distant family member's 2 sentences!!! It's so specialized and exact that it makes my head hurt to think of what they are trying to do.

After the phone call with the doctor, we talked to Tyler about it all and it was cool to get to explain my beliefs on this. I believe that Tyler lived so that he could participate in research to help find a cause and cure for CDH. I have always felt that. Medically speaking, he should not be alive, so we are truly blessed and I feel it's our obligation to do this. Tyler understands and agrees. I'm so proud to be his mom. It's not been easy, but I know he is a chosen spirit put on Earth to do good things.

Anyhow, that was long enough, but it's just amazing news and our family is so happy!!!!!

If you want to take a minute and watch THIS VIDEO I made to document his journey with CDH, I thank you. Awareness is a big part of getting things to happen!!!! Have a good day, everyone. I know I will!!!!

New Year!!!!

I'm soooo ready for 2010 to be over!!! I'm looking forward to 2011 and the good times that are going to be had this year!!! Our Christmas was GREAT!!! We started out Christmas Eve with my family at my house for our annual party. Christmas morning after the kids saw what Santa brought them, we called my parents and they came over to watch the kids open presents. It was so fun!!!

After that, we always eat donuts and go to Randy's parent's house. We all get spoiled by the Clyde's!!!! This year's code (remember LAST YEAR'S code? Read almost to the end of that post to see what I'm talking about) was vowel sounds. It wasn't easy to figure out, but somehow we got it. Randy was oo, like on his presents were words with the oo sound!!! It was fun!!!

One of my favorite presents of the whole day wasn't even for me. When Randy crashed his motorcycle a year and a half ago, I was so thankful that he had such a good helmet and that he wasn't too macho to wear it every time he got on his bike. When he crashed, his head went through the back window of a Ford Explorer. If he didn't have his helmet on, that crash could have easily killed him. Well, that helmet has been sitting next to our piano since the crash. I just couldn't throw it away, it represented how blessed I am to still have my husband. Finally, this Christmas, I asked Randy's brother to make a helmet bag for his crashed helmet so we could keep it forever. I knew Steven could make it, he's made a few of his own. Well, Randy didn't know I had asked him to do that and Christmas morning when Randy opened his present, it was a helmet bag, but what I saw was what Steven embroidered on the bag. GLASS PUNCH!!!!

A glass punch is a tool that Steven has for his work (he's a Utah Highway patrolman) to break windows in emergencies. I laughed SO HARD and Randy had no clue what was so funny!!!! It really was one of the best presents this year!!! THANKS STEVEN!!!!

New Year's Eve was just kind of chilled out this year. I'm tired and didn't want to do anything big. My sister, Blanche and her family along with my parents came over to play games. Well, about halfway through our mean game of Phase 10, someone walked in my carport door, when I looked over, I saw my nephew's daughter. My brain didn't work for a minute, I was so confused. I knew it was Brooklyn, but they live in Kingman, AZ!?! They surprised my sister and came up last night. I LOVE surprises!!!! It was so great to have them here!!! I love Brandon and Lacey so much and it's terrible having them live away. I HATE IT. So any chance we get to see them is always a good time!!!!

After ringing in the New Year and kissing the coolest dude I have ever kissed, it was time to start the year off right!!!! WELCOME 2011!!!!


Last night, the 2 little kids fell asleep early, so Maddison made sure to put our plates out for New Year's Jack. Randy's family has a tradition that if you put your plate on the table on New Year's Eve, if you've been good, Jack Frost will leave a present or 2 on your plate in the night!!! Thank goodness Jack thinks we were all good this year!!!!


We spent today hanging with Blanche's family, playing games, laughing too loud and making inappropriate comments about pretty much everything!!!! It's been fun having my brother-in-law, Michael make jokes about his daughter, Brittney and I having to enroll in over eater's anonymous. She's due in February and I'm due in March, so our bellies are getting quite round!!! It's been great!!!!

Now we're home and I'm pooped!!!! I'm ready to hibernate the next couple of days and snuggle with my family!!! I hope everyone has a good new year!!!!

Obviously Cambelle has been tired, too!!! She is asleep like THIS!?! Yes, I moved
the banana chair so her neck wouldn't hurt!!!