Thursday, March 10, 2011

Nursery Day, Reflections

Aunt Kim and I cooked up a plan to go to front yard nursery. Last year we went and Grammy and her treated Chris and I to an almond, peach, and nectarine tree for a housewarming present. I had never been to this nursery and fell in love. The workers are so friendly and informative. I purchased potatoes there last year and from about 5$ we were able to harvest about 40 pounds last year. It was a MUST to do over and do over BIG!Aunt Kim snuggling with O. Mom and Grammy watched Owen so we could get into trouble! We then enjoyed lunch, a quick cat nap, and tea at Grammy's. Mom and I then went on a gorgeous walk on the bike trail.
They were out of blue potatoes, although these look blue. I cut them to maximize production! Each half has a few eyes, which in turn, as your pantry may know, turns to a stalk/stem of the plant.
I prepared:
3 pounds of Red La Sodas
3 pounds of Russian Banana Fingerling
2 pounds of Russets
1.5 pounds of Yellow Finn
2 Pounds of Yukon Gold
They will be ready for planting around St. Patty's day. We will be going to SF that day for Owen's cath so I will likely not be planting them then. They will be waiting when we return.

I was reflecting while cutting up the potatoes the other day... A year ago this time I was waiting for my amnio results. We went ahead and got an amnio done with Owen due to the fact that otherwise I was very low risk for having a child with birth defects and they could detect at least 2 problems- his heart (then undiagnosed with what exactly wasn't right), and the cord only having one artery and one vein. We went ahead, and went for it. Needles-ain't no thang. Afterwards we came home, enjoyed comfort foods (stouffer's mac and cheese, what? only a 1000 calories?) , comfy jammies, and a nap. Chris was the best nurse ever. I had very few if any symptoms of Owen's world being tampered with. Then the wait began. It was 13 days of what if? What if the results include more birth defects? What if the results are fine? What do we do either way? What does knowing change? Wow, it was the hardest time of my life thus far, at the time....

And on St Patty's Day, I got a call from Kaiser. It was genetics. It was amazing of them to start the call: "Hi, is this Chelsea? I have good news, but I need your medical record number". I was thrilled. I remember taking the call outside, in the warm sun. I had my mom and sisters over for a corned beef and cabbage lunch, so they were there also awaiting the news. It was amazing to get such wonderful news and share it and celebrate it. I wonder what if we would have received different news that day... And my heart goes out to all that have... But for us, our story would begin with: Our baby Owen has a birth defect that affects his heart, but is otherwise "normal" and "healthy" and "perfect".

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