Addy's Story, Part 2: Before there were 3….

If you missed any part of Addy's story, click HERE to catch up.

Part 2: Before there were 3...


Bryson Turner LeCroix was born July 14, 2009.  Hubs and I immediately began trying for a second child, and we were blessed with Abigail Leilehua LeCroix on August 23, 2010.  Turner came from hubby's grandfather, Granville Turner, who passed away from cancer when my hubby was 16.  Leilehua is my dad's mother... she's Hawaiian and French.  Yep, we have a hula dancer, actress and singer in my family!  I'm told she was pretty famous in Honolulu, you know, back in the DAY. It's pronounced Lay-luh-who-uh for those of you having a teensy bit of trouble.

Anyhow, I digress...

Did we have a certain number of children we "wanted"? I thought 2, then I thought maybe 4?  As my faith in God and His reign over my life grew the hubs and I decided that our Heavenly Father would make that call.  He did, after all, allow me to conceive Bryson while on birth control, so we're leaving that number up to Him.  We are ALL His children anyway.  I just have one request - please no odd numbers...

Ok, so we had our set timeframe where we wanted to have a child... summer is easiest when you're a teacher.  As you can see, we were a little off with Abigail (August), and we had given up trying to have it our way with Addison.  She was due September 17, 2012. So much for a summer newborn.

Problem #1: Vericose Veins - yee-ouch!
This pregnancy was one of the hardest I had experienced.  I've always had varicose veins, you know, those ugly purplish things on the back of your legs?  Well, I never really knew what the big deal was until this pregnancy.  Pardon my French, but they hurt like HADES..... Support hose?  Ha.  They hurt to wear and the second I took them off I was in unbearable pain as blood began to flow through my legs.  Were they hot?  Not for me.  I'm cold natured anyway, so that was NOT a problem.

Problem #2: The Haters
You know, they always say you should NEVER walk up to a woman and ask if she's pregnant.  Well, on the flipside, telling a woman she doesn't LOOK pregnant doesn't make us feel great either. Get to know the person BEFORE deciding to say either, that's my motto.... Telling me your sob story of how big you were, how small you were, how you waddled around and your ankles were swollen beyond belief does absolutely nothing for me.  Just because you cannot physically observe the large mass protruding from my belly does not in ANY WAY mean I don't hurt, I'm not nauseous 24/7, I don't swell, I don't waddle and I don't feel pregnant. Trust me, I go through it too.  If you don't believe me, ask my husband. I carry extremely low and inside... so I have an incredible amount of pain in my lower back and down there.... thanks little one! To add to it, the cute maternity clothes don't fit right... I don't have this massive belly protrusion so all that fabric just hangs there and it's only purpose is to draw your attention and your comments to how I look and ultimately how you don't think I feel. There was a time in my life where I wanted to draw attention with my clothing... not anymore.

Problem #3: Don't Touch my Belly
If you don't want me groping you, please refrain from rubbing my belly like it's a magic lamp. Nuff said.

Problem #4: Hiding a Pregnancy
I hid my pregnancy while at my job... first and foremost for safety reasons... I worked at an alternative school, you know, the school they send all the knuckleheads to when they decide they've done something worth expelling them for... well, it's not a safe environment.  Workdays filled with drugs, thugs and violence does not make a happy pregnant mommy.

Secondly, there were rumors that they were closing our school and would be transferring us somewhere else.  As much as they say it doesn't matter, I didn't want my pregnancy to be an issue or a factor in deciding where I would be teaching the next year.  (Really, who wants to hire a teacher just to take off for maternity leave? Very few employers.) So I took advantage of carrying low and inside and, having a chest large enough to push out my shirts, no one knew unless I told them.  (There were a few, for security purposes... my boss for instance...)

Problem #5: New Job
So I didn't want to wait until I found out if my school was closing or not, and was offered a job at a local private Christian school. My husband and I hemmed and hawed, prayed and prayed, calculated and recalculated the budget, ultimately deciding that God brought about this opportunity and I should go.  I would be teaching AP Calculus and Honors Pre-Calculus... classes some of us never have an opportunity to teach due to seniority... but, but, but... baby girl was due Sept 17... do you know how extremely hard maternity leave is when a) you don't have any sick leave and b) you still have to do all the work?  As a teacher, we still have to submit lesson plans, grade papers, and are still responsible for our cherubs whether we are physically there or not.  Now can you see why a summer baby sounds
so much more reasonable? Well, they hired me anyway, knowing I was pregnant and would need a couple of weeks off.  We already had a nanny, so I really just needed enough time to recoup from my C-section.

Problem #6: Weird Blisters
Wednesday, August 29, as I went through my day teaching at my wonderful but stressful new job, I felt this stinging on my chest.  Like a little bee sting or mosquito bite. I remember telling my friend and coworker that my boobs were on fire... what in the heck was that all about?  I called a friend and asked her if she'd ever encountered the firey boobs... yes, she said. And ice hurrrrrt... so she recommended heat. Or maybe the other way around, I can't remember now.  I just know I felt better because someone else had fiery boobs too. I got home and yep, I looked... and yep, little mosquito bites or blisters or something.  A tiny bit of blood, not much. Didn't even need a Band-Aid.  I put some Neosporin on those bad boys and called it a day.

As I got ready for bed the next day, I went to change shirts and yee-ouch!  Something bit me again!  Well, not really... the little blisters had formed a little scab and stuck to my clothing, so that when I pulled it off, scab came off.  OUCH!  But hey, no problem, that's what Band-Aids are for...

Fast forward to the following Tuesday, Sept 4.  Week 38. Doc says ok, time to schedule... this Thursday or next Thursday?  He was going to be out of town over the weekend.  Shoot, lets get this over with!  Thursday!  Oh... and I have these little mosquito bite blister things that are bugging me.... whaddya think? Do you need to look at them? Nah, probably nothing.  Women's bodies go through so many changes during pregnancy it's hard to tell.  I figured I would be in the land of estrogen in two more days so no problem, no worries….

Wednesday night, kids are with grandparents, hubby and I settle down for our "Night Before We Become Parents Again" Meal…. it has turned into a tradition…. Steak dinner… and yummy steaks from Star Market too.  Filet Mignon, Sweet Potato and steamed broccoli.  I know I have the picture somewhere.  We settle down to watch a movie recommended by a friend called "The Fifth Quarter".

Do NOT watch that movie the night before you're about to give birth to a child.

While we thought it was a football movie and were told it had an alcohol struggle in it that was overcome (one day we'll discuss that…), we thought it was your basic feel good movie.

No.

It wasn't.

And I won't spare ruining it for you.  The family has a son that's a senior (I think) in high school.  He is in a car accident and in a coma.  The family has to make the decision to take him off a life support or watch him be a vegetable… so they choose to take him off of life support and donate his organs. The rest of the movie is about how the family copes with the loss of a child.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANYONE RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE TO US? JEEZ LOUISE!

God.  That's why.  Hindsight is like 20/10 baby.

God had a plan, and this movie played an integral part.  I see the big picture NOW.  Right then, I wanted to jump off the cliff.  Did we watch the whole thing?  Yes… we hoped it would get better, that we would see the football element at some part. Nope.  So we went to bed and prepared for welcoming Addison Grace into the world the next day.

And thus ends Part 2..... stay tuned for part 3: Baby Girl is here!