Lots Of Events

OKAY, I said in my last post that I would tell you what's going on with Kimi's health. This past week, on Wednesday, Kimi went in for a routine checkup and was told again that she had high blood pressure... only this time it was 168/94, much higher than the 140/80 they want her limits to be at. They rushed her over to the hopsital again to do the NST (non-stress test) and monitor her bp for an hour while doing blood work. If her bp didn't go down and if the blood tests came back with bad news, they told Kimi they would induce labor that night. AND OF COURSE, THE ONLY TIME I HAVE NOT BEEN WITH KIMI WHILE GOING TO THE BABY DOC, SHE GETS THE NEWS THAT WE MIGHT HAVE A BABY THAT NIGHT. Man, have I got bad timing sometimes. So I ran out of my office at work, jumped in my car and floored it all the way down to Norman Regional where they had taken her. I met up with her in triage in Labor & Delivery just in time for her to tell me everything was just fine and her bp had calmed way down. Big scare but she was safe for now. She had to do the 24 hour urine test where she collects her, um, pee for 24 hours and then the lab tests it for protien levels. The grossest part though is it has to be refridgerated... sick. Anyway, she's had to do this test several times and each time her protien levels have been just fine.

What we are trying to avoid is preeclampsia. Short version is this can cause Kimi to have damage to her liver and kidneys (protien levels tell this from the blood tests) and if the symtoms onset, she could have a siezure or worse. SO, on Friday, Kimi went back to the doctor, and after 4 tries she still had an elevated bp count. The doctor told Kimi she was worried about her because of her levels so they moved our induction date up... 3 WEEKS! That means that instead of August 1st being the day we meet Makenna, it's in 2 weeks from tomorrow. On JULY 11th, AND NO LATER, we will meet our baby girl. :) :) :) You can tell what Kimi thought about this by looking at the picture on the left. Our wonderful friends, BJ and Wendy will be coming down to visit the week of July 17th so Kimi will get to meet Lilyanah for the first time and we'll get pictures of both of the babies together! Isn't that exciting? We can't wait!

On July 11th, Makenna will cross the 37 week threshold, which technically would mean she's considered full term (hopefully no time in the NICU). At this point, there is really no danger to Makenna unless Kimi has a siezure. The damage from preeclampsia would be dealt on Kimi. On Friday they put Kimi on bedrest for the next two weeks. They told her she pretty much can't do anything. She has to sit most of the day or lie on her side to keep the arteries and veins open to keep good blood flow going. There is a lot of things left to do to get ready for the baby in which I just lost three weeks I was counting on. But it will be completely worth it. I'll rush around and get everything done in time for her.

With all the craziness over the past couple of weeks, here are some of the things you all missed out on. On Saturday, June 17th, we got a phone call from our friend Denise telling us she had tickets to see the OKC Yard Dawgz. It was Christian Persecution night so they tied them up on the field and began to... oh wait, no, sorry, it was just plain Christian night, no persecution, my bad... I know, not funny. But Bob and Larry from Veggietales was there and they took the time to pose with Neecee. In case you were wondering, the Yard Dawgz won by one point. :) Made it worth going.

Then the next day, my brother and I surprised my dad for Father's Day and took him to a gun range to test out our skillz at the biggest hand guns we could afford. Haha We shot a German made Long-Barrelled Luger 22 ca. Very accurate, little kick. We went through 100 rounds in about 30 minutes shooting 5 at a time. We took a small break and went back to the counter. We didn't want to try out the Desert Eagle because the bullets were like $50/box. Instead, we chose the 357 Magnum revolver. My dad called it a thumb-buster, which Terry and I didn't realize until after we shot it. It was a blast, literally. Haha It hurt so bad. But right as we were starting, the range guy came over and said we had 10 minutes left before our time was up. We still had like 50 bullets left so we had to make a decision. We pulled out the camera and went to town on the targets, pretending they were a burgler in the house! Please, if you get time, watch the following videos. FUN STUFF. My brother scarred me a little though...

1. Terry's Video


2. Jason's Video


3. Dad's Video

And last but not least, yesterday, June 25th, my brother Terry turned that crazy 21 years old. SERIOUSLY, he's 21 now. TWENTY-ONE. I really thought that day would never come but I want to offer my congratulations and a big fat Happy Stinkin' Birthday to little T. For his birthday his friend Ricky, my mom, Terry and I went to golf at a course in Edmond. We split into two teams, Terry and Ricky on one team and my mom and I were on the other. Basically, we got whooped. They beat us by 18 strokes and finished one under par for the day. My mom and I couldn't hit the ball straight to save our lives! Very pathetic. But it was a ton of fun and worth waiting for the Hideaway Pizza afterwards. :) Here are two more videos for you guys to enjoy.

1. Mom's Golf Swing


2. Terry's Golf Swing

Like I said, there has been a lot of events happening over the past two weeks, and once again, we will get no rest while we wait anxiously for the next two to get here. Please pray for Kimi and ask God to keep her safe. We go back to the doc again Wednesday afternoon so we'll have an update later on. Thank you all again and sorry for the long posts today.

God bless!
Jason

Grandpa's Funeral

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know how my Grandpa's funeral went. We had the service last Friday night and about 70 people showed up. It was very reverent and respectable, which was nice. What you might not know was that I was asked to give the Eulogy speech. I have never done one of these so I was completely nervous and didn't know what to say. The whole week, I kept getting more and more stressed out about it... mainly because what do you say to comemmorate a man's life? I know you talk about the good times and I did that. It was more than just that though because my Grandpa professed not to believe in God and even though I do not know that to be completely true (he was raised in church so there's a chance), it was still very hard to tailer a speech to tell others to lean toward God while still respecting my Grandpa. But my brother summed it up well for me. He said that if Grandpa WAS saved, he'd be in Heaven right now watching the funeral hoping that I'd tell everyone about Jesus. And if he was NOT saved, he'd be in Hell right now watching the funeral hoping I'd tell everyone about Jesus. So I prayed and tried to listen to God's voice and the night before the funeral, on the way home from the store, God spoke to me. So I hurriedly grabbed my phone and recoreded those thoughts as a memo. I love technology. Anyway, I wrote it all down that night and it came out in such a way as to respect my Grandpa but still point people toward seeking God's Will for their lives. I was so relieved.

My family and I just wanted to thank everyone who was able to attend and for those of you that weren't but had us in your thoughts and prayers. It was very much appreciated and my family and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I am including a few pictures from the reception before and after the funeral. It isn't very often you can get us all dressed up together so the smiles were for the camera, not Grandpa's funeral. Click on the pictures to view their photo pages at Flickr.com.

I HAVE TO INCLUDE THIS ONE BECAUSE OF HOW FUNNY IT TRULY IS. DO YOU SEE MY MOM'S IMPRESSION OF THE "DEER-IN-THE-HEADLIGHTS" LOOK? SOOOOO FUNNY. ;)






One of the reason's why I wasn't able to post for a few days has to do with Kimi. We're having some medical issues with Kimi right now which I will explain in my next post. Until then, please pray for us three. Thank you all again and I'll write again soon.

God bless.
Jason

My Grandpa

I write today with sad news. My Grandpa Gandy passed away this morning at 3:52am. He has been sick for about 4 years with Alzheimer's Disease, which progressively got worse. I'm not complete on the details because my mom called me at 4:15am to let me know. But he wasn't doing well at 9pm last night when she called to wish me a happy soon-to-be Fathers Day. She said he probably didn't have long and she was expecting all of this to happen next week sometime. She got a phone call at midnight saying to come to the nursing home because he wasn't doing well. She got there, saw he was stabilized and sleeping so since she lived only less than 2 miles away, she went on home and was going to come back at 6am. She got the phone call at 4am that he had passed away. All of this, even though we knew he was sick, was very sudden.

I'm guilty of not visiting my grandpa very much over the last few years. I know I should have but it was so hard to see him in that condition. I first noticed it a few years ago when me and some others (I can't remember exactly who) went to my Grandma Gandy's house to go fishing. My grandpa was there and he went with us across the street into a giant open field where there was a few small ponds and the one we called the "Big Pond". My grandpa used to take us to the Big Pond when I was little to go fishing. We always had a blast. He'd bait my hook and I'd throw the bobber out into the pond under the tree and wait until the ravenous perch (at least they seemed that way) would take it under and I'd catch me a big one. When he went with us this last time, it was different. He wasn't the same. He kept on telling us the same 5 stories over and over again, each time not remembering that he had already told us that story. I know the older you get the more you forget, or so it seems. But this was just more than forgetting. It was the early stages of Alzheimer's.

I have a lot of memories of my grandpa playing basketball with me and my brother Terry. We'd have some close games of H-O-R-S-E. And for a man in his 60's, he'd pretty much beat Terry and I most of the time. Haha. When I went to see him last, I asked him if he knew who I was. He looked at me for a minute, then said Yeah, we used to play basketball together. I thought that was one of the most incredible and saddest things in my whole life. He could barely recognize my mom and yet he remembered that he and I used to play basketball together. This disease is so terrible. It is so hard to describe it without getting broken up about it. Thats one of the biggest reasons why I found it so hard to go up there and visit. I know I should have gone as often as I could but in my heart, I wanted to remember the good times we had and how he used to be. He used to call me Jethro. Haha He got that off of the Beverly Hillbillies character, Jethro Bodine, who would knock you over (and sometimes a wall or a door) trying to get to dinner when he heard Granny cry out, "Come and Get it, Vittles'r Ready!". I wasn't that bad when I was younger but I sure did eat like Jethro. Haha

I'm not sure what day the funeral will be held on or where it is going to be at yet. My mom and her sisters and brother are in the process of figuring all of that out. I just wanted to share a few memories I had of Grandpa with you guys. I do not know if he had ever accepted Jesus Christ as his savior but I truly hope that he did. I know that is the most important thing of all but I'm afraid I might not know the answer until I see him in Heaven. I just wish he could have been both physically and mentally here long enough to meet Makenna. Anyway, when we find out the details of the funeral, if any of you would like to go, just post a comment and I'll get back to you. Thanks for listening guys. We'd appreciate your prayers through this tough time.

God bless you all.
Jason