Memory Monday-Random Gymnastic Memories

Ah...gymnastic memories!  There are so many, but I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites.  I know you all are dying to see a picture of me in a leotard, but that's not gonna happen.  Unfortunately, all the photos are packed away and none are scanned into the computer (boohoo!)

• I once fell on my head when I dismounted the bars.  It was not so funny at the time, but my parents caught it on tape and it was actually pretty funny.  I over-rotated a flip and WHOP landed on my head.  Did I just lay there and cry?  Nope-I bounced up with a huge smile, saluted the judges (what gymnasts do at the beginning and end of their routines), and then turned and started crying. 
• I had a very bad habit of breaking apparatus at gymnastic meets.  At one meet, another coach helped my coach Brian set up the bars and did not tighten them down so in the middle of my routine, the bars went all loose.  I did not complete my routine and I was pretty sure I would kill myself and luckily I was allowed to repeat the routine once the bars were tightened down.  At another meet, I was doing a jump on the balance beam and the beam fell down on one side, so the beam was at an angle.  I did complete my routine this time, but fell off multiple times.  (It's pretty hard to stay on a beam that is crooked...)  Luckily, I was able to repeat the routine again.
• Gymnastic camp at Mizzou was a blast!  I remember yelling at the basketball camp boys from our dorm window and almost getting kicked out of camp because the camp counselors thought we were yelling at them!
• Tropical Sno!  I still LOVE Tropical Sno to this day.  Brian would take all us girls to Tropical Sno or have it brought in during our long practices.  Yum!
• Squid!  Although I remember all my gymnastic friends well for different things,  the fact we called a teammate Squid blows my mind!  LOL!!
• There was a particular mean judge that loved me because of my scars.  (I have scars on the side of both of my legs that go pretty much from hip to knee from orthopedic surgeries when I was younger).  I swear I got better scores with her just because I was rockin' some serious scars.
• My fear of vault.  I remember my Mom bribing me with ice cream after practices if I would just go over the d&*% thing.  I never liked tossing myself off a spring board onto a vaulting horse.  I would run down and instead of vaulting over, I ran around the thing.  Pretty sure I did this at meets a few times too.  I don't think I would ever have been able to toss myself over the tongue looking vault horse they have now.  (This was changed right after I was done with gymnastics)
• Yang Bo...My Dad always tried to stay up with the gymnastic lingo, but this was the funniest.  We were watching gymnastics on TV and the announcer said "Oh look at that Yang Bo!!"  My Dad replies "Hmmm...I didn't know that was what you called that?!?"  I was surprised that he even knew the name of any gymnastic jumps (a Yang Bo was a jump that was named after a gymnast).  Then he continued on..."I just thought it was still called a wedgie!"  Yes-apparently the gymnast on TV had one half of her leotard up her butt (as opposed to both sides) so my Dad thought a one sided wedgie was a "Yang Bo"  I still use this term to this day!

Logan demonstrating the "Yang Bo" today

There are about a million other memories I could share, but this is a good start.  I'm sure I'll write about others later...but really can anything top Logan and his "Yang Bo"?

Memory Monday: L's Birth

Many of you may have heard this story, but I'm going to tell it anyways!
I was due with L on June 27, 2009.  I went to my weekly appointment for my 36 week checkup and my doctor said "No way this baby is coming early!"  That made me relax, (although dread that last 4 weeks).  She did want me to have my blood pressure checked midweek since it had been running borderline high my whole pregnancy. 
I went to work on Wednesday morning and I was working alone at a satellite location.  When I had a break, I decided to run upstairs and have my blood pressure checked.  It was 150/110.  Uhoh!  The nurse called my OB Dr. B and Dr. B promptly told me to go to labor and delivery.  I felt fine, so I just wanted the nurse to check to see if I could stay at work another hour to finish my patients up.  I was told "You need to go to labor and delivery right now.  Do not even stop at home." 
I called J (who was in the middle of a massage) and told him he needed to meet me at labor and delivery.  I will forever remember one of my PT interns because on my way to Labor and Delivery I called a possible employer to give a reference for him (it was a good reference!). 
I was really upset about going to L&D because I had hoped the only time I would have to go would be when I went to deliver L.  I arrived, went upstairs, and was triaged.  J still wasn't there.  I call and he is chatting with the massage receptionist.  I told him he should probably get here soon. 
The nurse came in and took my blood pressure, they did an ultrasound, and made me pee in a cup.  J finally arrived.  We decided not to call our parents because we figured I would just be sent home on bed rest.  No need to worry them until we knew more. 
The on call doctor (not my OB) came in, checked me out, then left.  In walks the nurse.
Her-  "Well-looks like you are not leaving.  You're gonna have a baby!" 
Me- "What?!?!?"
Her- while checking my blood pressure "Your amniotic fluid is low and the doctor wants to induce.  If we send you home, you'll be back in less than a week with lower fluid levels and need to be induced then anyhow."
Me- "I'm having a baby today?!?!?!?
Her-  "Well maybe not today, probably tomorrow sometime.   Oh my!  I don't think we'll count this blood pressure since you are a little stressed at the moment.  Your blood pressure is 160/130!"
Needless to say.  I was speechless and shocked.  I had planned a natural delivery (not because I'm crazy but because I don't react well to medications).  Being induced is a natural delivery nightmare!  I had planned on going into labor, staying home until I absolutely had to go, them delivering Logan (with a whole lotta pain!).  But, what are you gonna do?  I wanted Logan to come into this world healthy.
They checked to see if I was dilated or effaced.  0 cm and 0%.  Not a good way to start an induction.  So while we waited for a room.  We watched some cheesy Disney movie with a very young Justin Timberlake in it and called our parents.  J's mom was about to get on a plane to Florida, but we caught her in time!  J ran home to get my stuff (I had most of my bag packed, but I had to talk to him over the phone to get the rest of the stuff).
Once I finally got a room, they started me on Cervidil.  This was started at about 1 pm or so.  No biggie, just chilled out and then once evening rolled around tried to get some sleep.  By late evening, I was hurting pretty bad.  J had gone home to sleep, but at 2 am I called him because I needed a distraction.  He (because he's wonderful) headed over to the hospital to keep me company.  I had a really nice nurse who would let me get up and walk around which really helped with the pain.  Then early in the morning, the pitosin was started.  DISASTER!  Of course, I reacted poorly.  My contractions were right on top of each other and I didn't even feel contractions, just pain 100% of the time, no break anywhere.  Poor J was trying to help me with my Lamaze breathing, but that doesn't work so well when you don't ever get a break from the pain. 
My doctor arrived and broke my water.  She told me to take some pain medicine.  I wasn't ready to do that because I was scared of how I would react to it.  They kept giving me medicine to slow down the contractions (which didn't work too well) then started the pitosin again.  L and I were both distressed, so I had to have oxygen and he had to be monitored very closely.  I finally started throwing up from pain around 10 am, so I agreed to a shot of Stadol. 
Did it work?  NOPE!  I had less pain for about 10 minutes, then I asked J to shoot me in the foot because it would take my mind of the horrible pain.  I decided to get an epidural.  I felt sorry for the poor anesthesiologist man.  I was looped from the Stadol (I reacted poorly to it and most of the next 24 hours I barely remember).  I do remember telling him I was sorry that I needed him to come and give me the epidural over and over.  The epidural worked, but I was so looped I remember very little except at some point around 1 pm, my doctor came in and told me I needed a C-section.  She was worried about both me and the baby and I had only dilated to 2 or 3 cm in 24 hours.  "Healthy baby, healthy mommy".  I agreed to the C-section because I wanted L out safely.  Things happenned very quickly from there.  I kept telling J two things over and over.  "Stay with the baby when he's born!!!"  This was all I remembered from our birthing classes for C-section since I kind of ignored that part.  "Did you call our parents?"  He had.  "Did you tell them to come now?"  He had.  I still made him call them back and tell them again. 
Into the delivery room we went.  Doctor B kept asking me if I could feel her, which I could.  She forgot to tell me that I would feel her, but I needed to tell her if I felt sharpness.  Finally we figured that out and the surgery started.  I remember being more worried about J passing out and kept telling him to look at me and to stay at my head.  I felt like I couldn't breathe and the anasthesiologist had to take off my oxygen mask and put nasal canula in.  It didn't help I still felt like I couldn't breathe.  L was born quickly and cried the best cry ever!  The nurses shielded J from my open insides and he cut the cord.  The first look I took of L was pure love and happiness (even in all my loopiness from the drugs).  He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  (I had expected him to be ugly because newborns usually are).  He wasn't though, he was perfect with piercing blue eyes!!  They told me I could hold him, but I couldn't move my arms.  I told them this and they told me they were unstrapped now.  But I really couldn't feel or move my arms.  Apparently, my spinal block had numbed me a bit too high.  They propped L in my arms anyway and it was perfect! 
The next several hours were a blur due to the drugs, but I do remember my doctor and the nurses talking about Margaritas.  When I told them I would like a Margarita too, Dr. B told me to go back to sleep. 
Although I missed out on his first bath and all that newborn stuff since I was being sewn up, there are plenty of pictures from my family. 
What a wonderful day-even if it wasn't what I had planned!  L was and is still the most perfect baby EVER!

The Littlest Loser

I am a huge fan of The Biggest Loser.  Not really sure why because it drives me berserk.  I think it is such an unrealistic portrayal of weight loss.  There is no way those contestants could do those exercises and workouts without being under constant medical supervision-which is never going to happen in real life...yet I'm still addicted to the show...go figure!

I've been on Weight Watchers since September and have lost 18 pounds, but still have another 18 to go.  I've been at a stand still pretty much for the past few months.  I feel like I needed a jump start to give me some external motivation to lose the weight. (and I don't mean a picture of me in a bikini-gross!)  I decided to finally start training for a 5K and eventually do a sprint distance triathlon.  I'm a swimmer by nature (my arm muscles have always been my strongest feature) but the running is really hard for me.  I just figure if the Biggest Loser contestants can run a marathon, I should suck it up and run a 5K. 

I started my training this week, and it's gone well so far.  I still haven't picked a 5K yet to run, but I am contemplating one on Memorial Day.  With all my hip surgeries-running a 5K (and especially doing a triathlon) would give my orthopedic surgeon another thing to pat himself on the back for!

I think the NBC should have The Littlest Loser for those of us who just have a fraction of the pounds to shed.  It could be 12 weeks long and no one would get eliminated!  It would be a much more realistic portrayal of how weight loss works in the real world (that means no crazy workouts, you would still live at home, etc.)  Now really-why am I a physical therapist?  I missed the boat-I should totally be a reality TV writer!  Hmmmmmm...

Well-here I go!  Even if I don't lose the 18 pounds, I will still feel very accomplished and proud of myself.  Plus, I'll be healthier-and isn't that really what matters in the long run (no pun intended!!)

New Design!

I'm working on a new design for my blog.  I've had a little extra time while waiting in the ICU for my Dad's surgery to be over.  He's doing great, but we are still waiting to see him.  Check out my new design and comment on anything you like or hate:)