Arroz con Pollo

Someone asked for me to share how I feed the hungry horde, and to be honest, I use pizza delivery and Blackbeard bringing home some fast food way more often than I would like to admit. I do not meal plan, even though I know that I really should. What I do is plenty of Cuban cooking with a smattering of pasta dishes in between. In the summer, Blackbeard grills things while I cook the side dishes. I highly recommend getting your husband a grill for that very reason. It was my saving grace this past summer when I was deep in the newborn haze. read more

A Tale of Two Babies

I was awoken at 3 am by another pretty strong contraction. I had decided to start timing them, and they were steadily 8 minutes apart. The OB had told me to call and head to the hospital if that happened, because the last thing they want from a liability standpoint is a woman who has had five C sections in five years laboring. But, we had to go into the hospital in two hours anyway to have the section, so I decided to wait it out and just make some last minute preparations. Disclaimer: I do not recommend this and it was really stupid, but in my (weak) defense, I was really exhausted. read more

Ch-ch-changes

Ruthie spent her kindergarten year this year at our nearby Catholic school, which is run by Dominican Sisters.  We have loved having her there. She has been receiving an excellent education, and I have loved her exposure to religious vocations. She tells me she wants to be a nun when she grows up! Well, she also wants to be a mom, a clown, and a pianist, so I’m not holding my breath.

Despite our satisfaction with Ruth’s school this past year, after much deliberation, Scott and I have decided that it would be best for our family if we homeschooled Ruth and Rose this upcoming year. It was a difficult decision to make, and we hemmed and hawed about it for months. But we feel confident in this decision, despite the fact that when I informed Ruthie that we would be homeschooling, she asked, “But who will be my tutor?” Ummmmm me. *Sheepishly raises hand slowly.* read more

What Regina Has Taught Us About Down Syndrome (So Far)

Before Regina was even a twinkle in her father’s eye, I used to follow a few social media accounts of parents of children with Down syndrome because I sincerely enjoyed them. But after a while, I started to ask myself, “What if we had a child with Down syndrome?” After consideration, I came to the conclusion that the prospect panicked me. I wouldn’t be able to handle it, I just knew it. I remember unfollowing all of the accounts in a desperate bid to brush away my disquiet.  In the back of my mind, I knew what I was experiencing was a prompting of the Holy Spirit. “Not I, Lord!,” I thought. I felt extremely ill prepared and unfit to be the mother of a child with Down syndrome. read more

The Science Behind The Names

A reader asked me how the girls got their names, but was probably mostly wondering how we ended up with all of them having the same consonant sound a la familia Duggar. Surprisingly, we didn’t set out for all of our children to have “R” names. We like to fly by the seat of our pants and see where we end up. And in this case, we have ended up with all “R” names. Perhaps we should reassess this strategy, but it’s too late to turn back now!!

(Ruthie pictured with my goddaughter, Scottie.) During Ruth’s pregnancy we had a boy name all picked out that I now loathe. When we found out at the 20 week scan that she was, in fact, a girl, we were stumped. After months of deliberation, Scott’s twin suggested that we name her Gloria Ruth, and we loved that name. “Gloria” is the first name of both Scott and my grandmothers, and “Ruth” is Scott’s spunky great grandmother who was fortunately still with us when Ruth was born, but has since passed away. She is greatly missed. It has been a family tradition in both of our families to go by your middle name (both Scott and my dad go by their middle names, among numerous others), so we decided to call her “Ruthie.” read more

Baby Boy Stuff

I feel like for my other pregnancies, I might have done more tedious pregnancy updates. I must be losing my grip!

I am 23 weeks as of yesterday. People keep asking me how I’m feeling, and then immediately apologizing and asking me if I hate that question. On the contrary! Kvetching about my pregnancy discomforts is my favorite pastime. Pregnant and geriatric people have that in common. So I’ll do it here too, you lucky readers, you. Nausea and vomiting-wise, this has been exactly the same as my girl pregnancies. I’m still extremely nauseated the entire pregnancy (so far), especially in the morning. I have tried it all these past six pregnancies, but quite frankly the only thing that helps is medication. Zofran or Unisom work the best. Unisom is great at night, and Zofran is great if I actually need to be conscious. I’m getting heartburn already, which is early for me. Usually I don’t get that until the third trimester. I’m ok with it, though, because it is an excellent reminder not to gain ten million pounds. I have symphysis pubis dysfunction just like I did for Regina’s pregnancy, but as long as I don’t walk around too much, it is bearable. Sitting in the car is particularly painful, though. I am WAY more fatigued for this pregnancy than I was for my girl pregnancies. I mentioned it to my OB, who tested me for thyroid function and iron levels, but he said everything was in the normal range. Apparently, I’m just pregnant with five children under seven running around. Oh, and one with special needs. At least Scott tells me I look cute when I pass out on the couch during our coveted adult time after the kids go to bed. For my next appointment, I get to do the super fun glucose test. Last time, I forgot I was supposed to drink that awful stuff in five minutes, so I had to chug it in more like five seconds when the nurse reminded me time was almost up. That was great for my nausea. read more

In Which I Divulge the Gender of Baby Number Six

Thank you guys so much for your prayers and well wishes this week. We had our 20 week scan today, and apparently I’m only 18 weeks. Funny how with your sixth, you just cannot seem to keep up with how many weeks along you are. Whenever I go into the OB’s office and they ask me how many weeks along I am, I have to respond with, “Don’t you have that in your chart somewhere?”

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was incredibly anxious about this appointment. The OB sent me to the perinatologist for the scan and had in big red letters in my file: “LOOK FOR GENETIC ANOMALIES.” Well, ok then. This should be fun! read more

A Heart for any Fate

Testing, testing. Is this blog still on?

Where were we? Ah, yes.  I was still riding the high from miraculously weaning Regina off of her feeding tube in a ridiculously short period of time and she was eating like she had been eating by mouth all of her life. I thought to myself, “time to finally relax and rest on your laurels, Sylvia.”

There are some small obstacles that occur that are God’s way of reminding us that we were not made for comfort alone, and sometimes He likes to hit you with it like a ton of bricks. He knows that subtleties tend to go right over my head, so for me He chose the latter version. And quite frankly, I think it has taken me this long to write about it mainly because I am still reeling. I simply couldn’t find the words. read more

How I got Regina from Fully Tube Fed to Tube Free in 11 Days

I’m sure there is at least one person out there who is dying to know how I did this. No? Oh, well. I’m going to write this anyway. Because it’s what I do. It’s what I live for. To help poor, unfortunate merfolk, like yourself!

As I outlined in this post, due to a series of unfortunate events, Regina ended up being fully tube fed and retching and throwing up if any sort of nipple came near her mouth. Everyone assured me that this would magically stop after she had her open heart surgery. So, I decided to white knuckle it with her tube feeds until then. read more

Dear Mama with a Prenatal Diagnosis of Down syndrome,

First of all, let me say something to you that probably no one has said to you in light of your recent news: Congratulations!! I know that word may be sounding jarring to you now, but hear me out.

I know how you feel right now. I have been there myself. You are scared, and all of the medical professionals saying things like, “I want you to make an informed decision,” and “I want you to know your options,” which you know are both code phrases for, “You can have an abortion” which really isn’t making this revelation any less scary or emotionally charged. Ask them if they know personally anyone with Down syndrome. If the answer is no, then that may be telling. read more