Author Archives: yeagerturner

First Kiss

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   First Kiss

You always remember your first kiss, especially if it’s a special one.  I recently had one of those moments.

A little over 36 years ago I was born. And while I think it was a special day, not too many people outside of my parents seems to remember or boast about it.  Not too many people reminisce about my born day – except for Mr. Siegfreidt.  He loves to tell people that he came to the hospital on the day I was born.  Even 36 years later he is proud of that memory.

Mr. Siegfreidt and I attend the same church, St. Matthews Episcopal.  And ever since I can remember, he’s always given me a kiss each and every Sunday.  He always sits in the same front pew, greets me with a warm smile and a kiss on the cheek.  Although his movements have become slower over time and his hair much more gray, I can tell how much it means to him to see me smile his way in passing.

He’s been married 62 years but the past couple of years his wife’s health has declined. You could tell it was a struggle for the two of them to come to church together and then a couple of months ago they just randomly stopped attending.  It was just a couple of weeks before I went on bed rest.  It was odd to look in his pew and not see him there. He said his wife was no longer at a point where she could come to church and they were both now going to the service at the nursing home where they now lived.

I was so excited to go to church with Maximus so that my church family could meet him and they were overjoyed.  But, there was one person I know was disappointed not to be a part of that moment – Mr. Siegfreidt.  Well, last weekend Milton, Maximus and I finally made to the nursing home so Mr. Siegfreidt could meet Maximus.  Once again his face lit up at the sight of seeing us.  He was so proud to see that I was a mother and even more excited to hold Maximus.

But the moment I will remember most (actually I’ll probably never forget) was right before we left, he held Maximus tight and gave him a kiss.  The kiss I looked forward to every Sunday for 36 years, was now being passed down to my son – priceless!!

I Now Understand

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 I Now Understand

I used to be in an all women’s investment club. We called ourselves S.T.A.F.F. (Sisters Together Achieving Financial Freedom). Our group met monthly for over 10 years and we saw various members get married, move away and start a family.  I left the group at the beginning of the year in 2011.  And one thing I was known for with the group was always being on time.  If the meeting started at 7:00pm, you can believe I was there by 7:00pm.  Often times I would be the only person there for 10-15 minutes.  The running joke was that if I left my house at the start time for the meeting, I’d get there around the same time as everyone else.

It wasn’t until yesterday that I understood what was going on.  Yesterday Maximus, at the ripe age of five weeks old, was asked to film a newborn video that would be shown in hospitals to new mothers.  He was going to be paid a savings bond and filming started at noon.

To me that seemed like plenty of time to get things done, but little did I know that being on baby/youth time is different than single/independent woman time.  It first started with a baby that did not want to be put down.  Morning time is usually snuggle time and this day was no different.  Usually that’s fine, but not when you’re praying that at least one dress fits over my now wider hips and it’s more difficult to do when lil man is in your arms.  Then comes getting Maximus dressed. Usually that’s pretty simple, but now I must time it so that he doesn’t puke or poo on his clothes since he’ll be filmed.

Which leads to breast feeding. I tried to time it just right so that eating would be the last thing we did before leaving the house.  All seemed to go well and I thought I would still be on time – until I realized I couldn’t find the black dress I had picked out to wear.  It’s a simple black dress, it couldn’t be in too many places.  I looked high and low and couldn’t find it.  Maximus wasn’t much help.  I found a less pleasant dress to throw on. As I was getting ready to walk downstairs, I remembered I’d put the dress in the dryer to get out the wrinkles – and there it was.

We were finally on our way.  While I would love to say I was 10-15 minutes late, we were actually still on time.  BUT, I can now completely relate to my friends being late places and having a million things to do before one simple task can be complete.

It feels great to now be a part of this not so secret parent society where most people speak the same language. I’m not the president or the founder.  I’m just a rookie member starting to learn the ropes. Go team!

Timing is Everything

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 Timing IS Everything

Father’s Day (6/17) – Milton and I go out to eat for the first time since bed rest and I notice my car has hail damage.

Monday (6/18) – I call State Farm and set up an appointment for the hail assessment.

Friday – I go to the easy process and receive a check for my hail damage.

Tuesday (6/26) – Maximus and I go to the my preferred Repair Shop and they say it’ll be close to the end of August before they can get to my car. I say “No problem, my car still drives so it’s no big deal.” They say I have a great attitude and everyone is not that positive.

Wednesday (very next day) – They call back and say one of their repairs were canceled, they went through the 50 jobs waiting to be done and mine seemed like the easiest to do (talk about timing!).  They asked if I could come in the next day.  (Uh – YEAH)

Thursday – I drop my car off there and Enterprise picks me up to get a rental car since they say it could take a week.  I end up with a Camry.  I absolutely LOVE the Camry, the way it rides and space for baby.

Friday (6/29)- Repair Shop calls back saying my car finished (say what?!).  I pick up my BMW.    Milton now as a renewed interested in getting a new car for him (we’ve been looking into it for five months).

Saturday (6/30) – We drive to to Sam Swope and work with Lamont Chandler and Shawn Garner. We were told Sunday was going to be considered end of month so it was a great time make a deal before the weekend was over.

Saturday night – While looking online to determine which car to get, Milton happens upon a great end of month deal (a really great deal) at a dealership out of town.

Sunday – We call to see if Sam Swope can match the price.  They say yes. We leave with a cool Camry.  I shed a fake tear. We traded in my “dream” car that I’d had since 2006 so that Milton could have his “dream” family car to drive to Fort Knox.  Everything seemed to fall into place so I knew it was the right thing to do. DRIVE ON!

Lesson: Some time you have to survive the damage to the storm in order to reap the benefits and see the beautiful rainbow.

No Dial Tone

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  No Dial Tone

I’ve seen it before with some of my friends.  They run around looking like their head is cut off and never seem to have it quite all together.  Many of these friends of mine have kids (plural) and always seem a little bit frazzled.

Earlier this week Maximus and I went out to eat with some of my former colleagues.  He slept the entire time.  We went to the bank.  He slept the entire time.  We just had one more stop before going home and it was a quick stop to a small baby boutique.  For some reason, Maximus doesn’t always like the car and he starts crying – loudly – and won’t quit until you pick him up (which is impossible to do while driving).  In route to the store, the drama started. When we arrived, I took him out of the carrier and walked with him inside.  We made a purchase and headed home.  I could tell him was hungry, so as soon as we walked in our room, I pulled out the milk factory and all was good.

I looked for my cell phone and couldn’t find it.  I looked in the diaper bag (I can’t believe I now carry around a diaper bag!) and it wasn’t there.  I looked in the car – not there either.   So now I start to worry.  From my house phone (thank God for still having a land line) I call my cell phone.  It went straight to voicemail.  I tried two more times and had the same results.

Crap! Please don’t tell me I Iost my phone and someone else has already  started using it.   Although I knew the phone could be replaced, I hated that many of Maximus’ undownloaded newborn pics were saved on it.  I called the Baby store and they didn’t see a phone. I asked them to check the parking lot.  They saw nothing.  Oh me oh my! Had my iphone gone to phone heaven?

I decided to take fate in my own hands and drive back to the store (it was only five minutes away).  I looked at my parking spot, which now had another car parked. Underneath the car I could see my red phone case.  ALLELUIA!  I picked up the phone and although it wasn’t crushed, you could tell it was melting from the heat.  Luckily oh luckily it just needed a little TLC and air conditioning and worked just fine.

Lesson learned: Don’t give up hope too easily.  Even when you think all is lost, take that one extra step to give it your all.  Just because someone has taken your spot (like the other car did my parking spot) doesn’t mean that your opportunity is lost.  And the most important lesson learned – iphone cases are everlasting gifts from God!

Week One As a First Time Mother

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Who knew that once you turn one day old your schedule becomes so busy!  On Monday, all before noon, Maximus met his pediatrician, my ob-gyn, the hearing check lady, the nursery gals, got a circumcision and hospital photos.  Whew!  During the tests, they discovered that Maximus had jaundice.  And while you don’t want to hear about your child being diagnosed with anything, at least this was treatable and common with 60% of babies.  Luckily, though, instead of taking him out of the room and into the nursery under the phototherapy light, they brought in what looked like a baby sized heating pad that lit up.  He had to wear it under his onesie at all times but it at least let him stay near to us.

We were discharged on Tuesday, June 5.  Everyone said discharge would be before 12:00pm.  Milton and I anxiously watched the minutes on the clock pass.  The cafeteria called asking for my lunch and dinner order.  I said I wouldn’t need it since I would be going home today, but they took it any way.  All we needed was for the pediatrician to come in and say we could go home.   Noon came.  He (the doc) didn’t.  Lunch came.  He didn’t.  I had been encouraged to walk around the floor in order to avoid getting blood clots.  Around 1:30pm I went for a stroll.  I became more frustrated because the majority of the floor was empty.  All the other pregnant women had been able to go home with their babies.

Little old me was already sick of bed rest and hospitals and now I was the only patient still waiting to be discharged.  Sadness started to set in.  The nurse finally called my doctor and he said he was on his way.  (Now why did you have to be called to come in and release me?)  He finally arrives and says go home.  However, Maximus’ bilirubin levels did not decrease so we’d have to go home with a phototherapy bed that fit in his crib.  I felt like Maximus was sleeping under his own tanning bed.  I hated not being able to hold him as much as I wanted to, but knew the more he was under the lights, the better he would be.

Our first day home felt like we were finally family.  Ma, pa and baby were all reunited and it felt so good.  Maximus loves to breast feed and thought that he should breast feed every hour on the hour throughout the night!  It felt great to connect with my child, but it was also very tiring!

On Wednesday morning we went to hospital to have his bilirubin levels checked again.  This was done by pricking his heel and taking blood.  I knew they did this in the nursery, but to watch your own son go through the process is something else.  He just cried and cried and cried and all we could do was watch him. We came home, took some newborn pics and then Milton’s dad came in town to hang out with his first grandchild.

Thursday morning was the same thing with taking blood. This time though, they needed three vials so we watched Maximus yell three times as long.  Luckily by Friday, his bilirubin levels decreased and the “tanning bed” was taken away. Milton and I were so happy when they told us the news – it was as if Maximus scored his first touchdown and we were cheering in the stands.

Milton’s mother, brother and best friend Rob came by over the weekend.

Week one of being a new first time mother has definitely been action packed.  Feeding, crying, dirty diapers, crying, feeding, dirty diapers and just a little sleep are part of my daily schedule.  But, I have been BLESSED to have such a supportive husband that wants to also be a supportive father.  Often times, I’ll breast feed Maximus and Milton will change his diaper.  Milton also makes sure I get in a nap in the middle of the day so my body has time to rest. He loves to hold and bond with his son. We are in love and in awe with what we have created and can’t believe it has only been one week!

HE’S HERE!!

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Just when I start trying to enjoy my freedom of bed rest, life happens.  Saturday night (less than 48 hours of being off bed rest) comes and I think my water/amniotic fluids are starting to leak.  Since I wasn’t sure, we call the hospital and they encourage us to come to labor and delivery.  We arrive close to 8:00pm.  Although I am now 4 cm dilated, my water had not broken and I was sent home.

Early Sunday morning around 1:30am, I start having contractions.  Once again I start timing them.  This time they are a little more strong and are four minutes apart.  I was sick of false alarms so I wait two hours to see if they slow down.  They don’t. I wake Milton up. He suggests we go in. I say I don’t want the nurses talking bad about me since we just left.  We give them a call.  We head to the hospital.

We arrive at the hospital at 5:00am.  I am 5 cm dilated. They quickly let me know it’s time to have a baby. Whoa baby!  The contractions really start to kick in, especially in my back.  I’m talking real, genuine pain.  They ask if I want an epidural.  PLEASE AND THANK YOU!  Shortly after, the best medicine God could invent gets entered in my back.  Moments later I feel as if I can conquer the world.  I am now 7 cm dilated but I feel no pain whatsoever.  Life is wonderful. The nurse breaks my water.  Time quickly goes by and I continue to dilate.  Around 10:20am, they come in and say it’s almost time.  They get the delivery team set up in my room.  I start pushing around 11:15am – and at 11:32 our beautifully, wonderfully, joyful son was born!  They positioned a mirror so I could watch the entire thing and I’m glad that I was able to witness every minute.

Like all previous mothers and fathers say -it’s an overwhelming feeling you’ll always remember.  Neither Milton or I cried, but we were just so full of joy and excitement!

Maximus Thomas-Martin

June 3, 2012

11:32am

6 pounds, 7 ounces

19.5 inches long