Back-Blogged

A number of things have gotten in the way of my blogging during the past five days:

- A storm knocked out our modem Friday night, and we couldn't get it fixed until Monday.
- Both girls have been sick. For three nights in a row, Jenna has had a wee-hour protein spill -- resulting in bleary-eyed bedding changes. We are getting used to hearing the washer run at 3 a.m.
- Our dryer went on strike at the end of last week, and I spent Friday afternoon at the laundromat getting all the laundry in the house done in case we couldn't get it fixed for a while. I got five loads washed, dried and folded in about an hour-and-a-half, something that would never happen at home. So it was fun, it a weird sort of way.

The modem and the dryer are fixed (thanks to the AT&T guy and Chad, respectively), so that leaves the girls. They are both home again today taking liquid Phenergan.

I'm glad I got out of the house Friday evening to scrapbook with friends, because since then, I've only left the house to go to the doctor and pharmacy. Yes, that's right. I said scrapbook. I've been meaning to start Julia's Baytown scrapbook since we got here and I can now say the project is in progress. It was fun. I got several pages into the book, hung out with church friends, ate M&Ms, and I even scored a playdate for Jenna -- which is supposed to happen this Friday, if only Jenna would stop pulling her Linda Blair imitation in the middle of the night.

The Dr. Phil show on hyperemesis last Thursday was great. My HG friends and I believe so much progress was made towards raising awareness of the disease. Just for Dr. Phil to look into the camera and say to an audience of millions, "This is NOT morning sickness" was huge. We've been trying to tell the world that for years. The hardest part for me to watch was the segment about Meagan, a woman who is battling the disease right now. This once- active and vibrant woman is now curled up under a blanket on the bathroom floor and she doesn't know when it's going to end. I was there, too, and I wish I could just zap those memories out of my brain.

On an unrelated note, "Daniel Cook" just came on Disney and I said, "He always wears that orange shirt." Julia said, "Maybe his mom never does laundry."

Despite the craziness of the last several days, I have, in segments, been able to watch "The Lake House." I wanted this movie to work. I really did. But it drags horribly and Keanu sleepwalked through most of it. I think it would have worked better as a comedy. The concept is interesting, though. Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to meet the 1986 version of your spouse? Or to talk to the teen-age version of you? I'd like to think that "Teen Deana" and I could go for a long drive (I would drive, of course, I wouldn't dream of letting her) and I would give her advice about all the things she needed to avoid to make her journey to adulthood not so messy.

But truthfully, if I ever found myself in a car with my 16-year-old self, I pretty sure I would slow down, lean over, open the passenger-side door, and push her out onto the highway.

Well, that's not entirely true.

I wouldn't slow down at all.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

Marcia, my friend from way-back-when who I blogged about a few weeks ago, has a blog now. Go check it out at marcia-marcia-marcia.blogspot.com. You can find out her take on having a Brady Bunch name, plus what possibly could have happened in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere that inspired her to finally break down and get a cell phone.

And now for today's Target report. I went in this morning with the intention of looking at scrapbook stuff. I have all the pictures I need to make Julia's book of Baytown memories, I just haven't started on it yet. When we first moved here, I couldn't work on it because looking at the pictures and all the notes members of our former church family had written to her made me sad. But I think I'm all good with that now.

But on the way to the scrapbook aisle, I thought I'd check out the 75%-off clothes in the back of the store. I wound up in the fitting room having an out-of-body experience because a SIZE SMALL Isaac Mizrahi black dress fit me like a glove and was showing off body parts I forgot I had. I scored it for EIGHT BUCKS. (I'm telling you, the "S" on the tag is worth at least eight bucks all by itself.) I got it and a pair of pants (and a can of vegetarian chili) for a total of 16 dollars.

So I called Chad on the way home and said I have this hot dress and just need a place to wear it to. He said, "So get a sitter for tonight."

Let's recap:

- Target

- black Mizrahi dress

- 8 bucks

- SMALL

- date plans with hot husband

...all before 10:30 a.m. Not bad work if you can get it.

Don't forget Dr. Phil today! I'm taping it because I'll be retrieving kids from their respective schools.

Hyperemesis Gravidarum

If you never watch Dr. Phil, please watch it this Thursday, April 12. The topic will be hyperemesis gravidarum. Here is a description of HG that I borrowed from the Hyperemesis Education and Research website:

"HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s). "

That paragraph is a very condensed version of what happened to me during the summer of 1998, when I was pregnant with Julia. This was not morning sickness, folks. Between June 4 and Sept. 19 of that year, I threw up around 15 times a day...and that is no exaggeration. I lost 35 pounds, missed two months of work and was hospitalized seven times for severe dehydration. To make matters worse, my doctor was clueless and had no idea what to do with me. (I also had HG with Jenna. It wasn't nearly as bad, but I was on home healthcare for a while.) After my ordeal was over, I was frustrated by the fact that I couldn't find any information on HG on the web. So I started my own online community for women who had suffered or who were currently suffering from it. I met women from all over the world who had been through this horrible disease. I met many who had terminated their very much wanted pregnancies to save their own lives. I also met Kimber MacGibbon, who will be featured on Thursday's show. I eventually let my website go and later, Kimber and some others founded the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation, or HER. The HER Foundation website, www.helpher.org, has excellent resources for HG patients and their families.

So little has been known about HG -- most survivors I've met had never heard of it until they were diagnosed with it. We campaigned Oprah for years to do a show on it without success. But we got Dr. Phil, and isn't he the next best thing? Please pray for this show to help shatter the silence and ignorance that has surrounded HG for too long. And pray for research and a cure. Julia knows now how sick I was with her, and how blessed we are for her to have been born healthy after I didn't digest anything for almost half my pregnancy. I pray for medical advancements to be made so my girls can have the joy in their pregnancies that I couldn't have in mine.

Please watch the show! Someone you love may have HG one day.