Over the past couple of days a couple in our bible fellowship class have been dealing with a very difficult situation. They were pregnant with their first child. Around 28 weeks of gestation they found out that there was too little amniotic fluid in the uterus. The mother was placed on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. They made it to 34 weeks gestation and the doctors decided a c-section was best at that point.
Once the baby arrived she was immediately placed on a ventilator and the doctors did everything in their power to try and get the baby breathing and stable...to no avail. Yesterday afternoon we received confirmation that the baby had passed away.
It is sad when a person loses their life--whether to age, sickness, poor decisions, etc. --it is especially sad and heartbreaking when the person is a tiny, sweet, innocent. I don't know why this particular loss has hit me so hard, but it has. I know of the couple. I went to school with the mother. They are in our bible fellowship class (however, they have been gone (due to the pregnancy complications) most of the Sundays that Jared and I have attended). We didn't know them personally that well. However, my heart is aching for them and their loss.
I worked at a hospital as a certified nurses' assistant for six years during high school and college. One of my duties was to help clean up patients after they had passed. I have seen death. I have experienced the loss of loved ones. This is different.
I have a little girl. I hug and sing to her. I rock her. I feed her. She brings me books to read to her. Every moment--even the exasperating ones--is precious.
These are all things that this mother had dreamed about doing with her little girl...and had thought she was going to get to do with her. And now those are just reminders of what has been lost. It breaks my heart. I have been and will continue to pray for strength and peace for these parents. I would also ask that anyone who reads this and feels so compelled to do the same.
What happened is sad. It is unfair. It is horrible. I have no idea how
long this ache will linger with me. I know it is devastating to these
parents and it will linger with them longer--probably all the days they
are on this earth. The only comfort I have is the knowledge that my God
is sovereign. I, in my limited human thinking, cannot comprehend this. I
will never understand why it happened.
I may never know the purpose,
but I have comfort in knowing that it is not for me to comprehend or
understand. And, by the grace of God, this sweet baby's loss will bring
glory to His name in some way. This death will further His kingdom and
fulfill His promises. It matters--she mattered.
Yes this post is about my very sore right butt cheek. I just started playing in a developmental women's ultimate league. We practice different throws, run some drills to help newcomers understand flow, force, marking, etc., and we scrimmage. Yesterday was the first day of league that we have gotten to scrimmage and I learned a very important lesson:
My body is NOT in shape!
I was super sore after the first week just from cutting and running --it has been a while since I was really active - more than walking and the occasional bike ride-- so I thought the worst was over. My muscles had gotten their reminder about how they are supposed to function and now it was time to get with the program (and not be sore).
I was wrong. Actual scrimmaging took its toll. I didn't think the soreness was so bad until I tried to go up the stairs at our house. My left side is fine, but my right gluteus maximus is really hurting. I guess my body needs more than one week to remember what exercise and being active is all about.
This means I won't be sore after next weeks scrimmage...right?!?!?
I know it is time to retire the skiing posts because I am having to force myself to sit down and continue to write about the trip. However, I think it is important to document Claire's first ski trip, so I am sucking it up and getting the last post over with. (Plus I still have some photos and videos from the trip that really need to be blogged.)
Ski Base Area
We arrived in Steamboat Springs, CO during late afternoon. Apparently the night before (while we were in Tulsa) Steamboat had received 27 inches of snow. The sun was shining and there were a ton of people coming down off of the mountain. The town was picturesque.
View from the front of our condo.
We checked in to our condo and got all of our bags unloaded. Jared and I got our lift tickets and our skis, boots, and poles while his momma took Claire to the grocery store and got some groceries for the week.
Jared with Claire at the condo.
We had a really nice relaxing evening and a delicious dinner. I tried to go to bed early because I was exhausted from our terrible night's sleep in Tulsa and the long day of travel. Plus, I wanted to be well rested for our first day of skiing.
Playing in the snow.
Jared and I got up bright and early and made it to the Gondola shortly after it had opened. It was a LONG ride up to the top, but there were some amazing views of the snow-covered town. It had started snowing sometime in the night and it continued to snow throughout the entire day. I think by the end of our trip Steamboat had received over 40" of snow in just a few days.
Our first few runs down the mountain went pretty well. I was feeling good and my ski skills were coming back easily. So We just skied down a few blues and road a lift back up to the top. Then we skied a few more blues, I tried a blue-black (which did NOT go well) and then we road another lift back up to the top. This was my first mistake. I was exhausted by this point and I still had the entire mountain to ski down. Jared tried to find the quickest way to the bottom, but it required going down a slope that was NEVER ENDING. I swear it was the longest run I have ever tried to ski in my life. My legs were shaking and burning and I fell over and over. I even tweaked my knee pretty bad during one of the falls. I started crying and was really afraid that I was never going to make it to the bottom in one piece. I am pretty sure at some point I was cursing Jared for taking me on this wretched ski trip. However, we did finally make it back to the condo. I took some deep breaths and Jared's mom fed us a delicious lunch.
I didn't do any terribly permanent damage to my body, but my knee was really pretty sore and I was exhausted, so Jared had to ski by himself that afternoon.
After a good night's rest I was ready to go back up the next day...but I only went to the top of the mountain one time. Then I skied all the way back to the condo and had an early lunch. : ) I was not going to let myself get overtired and stuck at the top of the mountain again. We went back up in the afternoon and although my knee was still sore I felt a little bit better and we skied a few more runs than we had in the morning. We even took Claire up for a trip down the mountain. It was a fairly warm day and it wasn't snowing, so Jared wore her in a front carrier. We were just going to go up a small lift and do a green or two, but the ski resort has a policy that babies can only ride up in the Gondola, so we had to take Claire all the way up. We also wanted to come down the most direct route, so we ended up on the never ending blue run again (I hate that run!). Claire loved it though. I could hear her giggling as Jared skied down with her. She only got fussy when he had to stop and wait on me to catch up. Here is a short clip of Jared skiing with Claire towards the end of the trip. It was getting close to nap time and from the looks of it she was really ready for nap, or super bored of skiing. ; )
The third day was definitely the best day of skiing for me. The snow had finally stopped and they had managed to get all of the slopes groomed. It was also a Thursday and the mountain didn't seem as crowded. We did several runs and I ended the day feeling really good and thinking that I might actually let Jared take us skiing again. (I just need to remember to take it easier on the first day).
All in all it was a really great trip and I am so glad we got to take advantage of some vacation time as a family. Jared's mom was a true blessing to have along with us and it was really nice to be able to leave Claire inside were it was warm with her JuJu to look after her. It was also really nice for Jared and I to have some grown-up time together on the slopes. Here is one last video of Claire being super cute in a ski shop we went in to.
To get to our ski destination we found the cheapest flight out of Tulsa to Denver. We thought it might be nice to get the drive to Tulsa over with and not have to get up SUPER early to make our flight. We also thought it would be super fun to take Claire to her first zoo. (Technically she has been to the Chilean National Zoo as well, but she was still in utero for that trip, so I don't count it.)
Claire ate her first hot dog. She saw giraffes, elephants, sea lions,
monkeys, bears, a cheetah, etc. Her absolute favorite exhibit was the
flamingos. I have to admit that the flamingos were pretty fun. They were
flapping their wings, squishing the mud with their feet, squawking, and
having all kinds of fun. It was so much fun seeing her walk around and giggle at all of the things there were to see.
She also got to go down a slide with mommy, pet some goats, and ride on her daddy's shoulders. I think the latter was probably the most fun to watch. She almost immediately found daddy's ears and started to use them as handles. She really tugged on his ears until they turned red. I felt sorry for him and eventually took her for a while--I knew he would never stop her/put her down no matter how much his ears hurt--he is such a good daddy.
After the Zoo we went to our hotel and got checked in and settled. Jared and Claire took a nap. We ate dinner and then we took Claire to the hotel pool. In my opinion the pool was just as much fun as the zoo. Claire loves water and she splashed and kicked to her hearts content. It was a lot of fun.
We drove to Tulsa a day ahead of time, so we wouldn't have to get up super early and miss out on sleep. We had good intentions, but in hindsight it didn't make much of a difference, because Claire had one of the worst night's of sleep she has had in a long, long time at the hotel. Oh well...the zoo was fun. : )
