Friday, March 4, 2022

Luckiest: Secret Subject Swap

Mint Cheesecake Cups, individual chocolate mint dessert cups. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dessert

 


Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This month 4 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.



 

 

My subject is: What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you?
It was submitted by: Rena of The Diary of an Alzheimer's Caregiver.

Well, it is the month of St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? A month where we look for 4 leaf clovers and chase down that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. My pot of gold looks a lot different from most, though.
 
I once won a trip for two to Hawaii. It's a bit of a convoluted story, but in the end, I won it. It was a raffle at a work Christmas party. My boss had actually won but you have to be there to get the prize and he had left, they picked again. When he found out, he was not happy. I did not care. I took my sister, and we went to Hawaii. Actually, the trip was to Honolulu, but after spending the free time there, we extended the trip on our own and went on to Maui. That was the luckiest thing that happened to me.
 
Until . . .
 
Hubs and I had moved to the Midwest shortly after getting married. We'd wanted children but it wasn't happening, so I went to a local doctor. He told us that we couldn't have children should go home and accept it. I called my Boston gynecologist, who told me to get to a teaching hospital, there are avenues to explore and possible options. Turns out the doctor who had been recommended to me here was affiliated with a Christian hospital and instead of responding to me medically, he had been practicing his religion on me. 
 
I went to the local medical school hospital. Just about this time they were bringing in a reproductive endocrinologist from another city to start a reproductive department there. This doctor performed all the right tests, got the information she needed, and outlined the options. We were shocked to find out my tubes were fused shut. She tried to open them surgically, but failed, she could only get one partially open. The only biological option was IVF, the place where Hubs and I had drawn the line.

Funny thing about lines, they blur when you've got your toes up against them. But IVF 20 plus years ago was different from now. It was over $10,000 per try and not covered by insurance. The success rate was a terrifying 15%. We went for it. First try had to be stopped due to growths on my ovaries, there was a waiting period before I was cleared to try again. I got pregnant on the next try. And miscarried. 
 
Emotionally fragile, and physically uncomfortable (I was allergic to one of my multiple daily shots) we decided to give it one more try. I did get pregnant, but was understandably nervous that this would end in disaster too. And I was both sick and having sharp pains. The doctor watched me closely, but one night at about the 3 month mark, in the middle of the night, I started to see blood. My panic was exacerbated by the fact that Hubs was out of town, and the local tornado sirens were blaring. I sat straight up in bed until morning and drove myself to the hospital, knowing I was having another miscarriage.

My doctor's partner did an ultrasound and sent me right to the surgical unit. Maud, my doctor, came out, told me that the viable pregnancy had an ectopic twin ironically growing in the end of the tube we'd opened. That tube, supposed to be the size of a hair, was the size of a sausage and had to come out now. Had it ruptured, I probably would have died. I looked at her and, with tears in my eyes, said (of the fetus still in my womb), "please, just save my baby." Maud turned to the patient who happened to be sitting next to me and explained that her egg retrieval would have to be put off for a few hours. The woman looked at me, then looked at Maud and, with tears in her eyes, said "please, just save her baby."
 
 
Luckiest | picture taken by, featured on, and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #blogging


I was hospitalized and on narcotics when my husband's plane landed. The surgery had been rough and we didn't know if the trauma would result in a miscarriage of the other fetus, only time would tell. I wasn't just in pain, I was terrified about one and actively mourning the other. The next morning, a Sunday, Maud came into my hospital room holding her young daughter. "I know you're mourning," she told me as she turned her daughter towards me, "but I wanted to stop by on my way to church to remind you of what you still have."

Seven months later I brought my son home. It was the luckiest thing to ever happen to me.

Until . . .

I had frozen embryos we'd decided to take. Yet again, everything had to be abruptly stopped when the embryos weren't viable at transfer time. We made the difficult decision to try another cycle. One more. It ended in a pregnancy.

I was 10 weeks along when I'd gone back home for a visit. Hubs was back in the Midwest working, but I wanted my young son to spend some time with my family, swimming in the family pool and going to the beach. It was there where I woke up one morning cramping, in a pool of blood.

Maud called my Boston gynecologist who ordered an ultrasound. It felt like a death sentence, waiting for confirmation that I'd miscarried. Again. My sister, sitting by my side, asked the ultrasound tech what she was seeing. Techs aren't allowed to disseminate medical information, they can only report findings to a doctor. I'd been down this road before though, I knew what I was seeing and started to cry. "That flashing light," I told my sister, "is a heartbeat."

I was put on bed rest. I was bleeding out a blood clot and, once again, playing a waiting game to see if the fetus in my womb would stay or go.

Eight months later, my family was complete. And it was the luckiest thing to ever happen to me.

In this month of leprechauns and four leaf clovers, the pot at the end of the rainbow did not hold money for me. Luck was in the form of something way more valuable.

 

Mint Cheesecake Cups, individual chocolate mint dessert cups. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dessert

Mint Cheesecake Cups

 

I wish you leprechauns, and 4 leaf clovers, (and Mint Cheesecake Cups), and a rainbow, at the end of which you find whatever it is that makes you feel the luckiest.

 

Secret Subject Swap, a multi-blogger writing challenge | developed and run by www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver 

Climaxed 

Part-time Working Hockey Mom




Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics






Mint Cheesecake Cups
                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mint M&Ms
12 mint Oreo cookies
12 oz cream cheese, softened
2 TBSP sour cream
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2 eggs
2 TBSP mullticolored nonpareils

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place cupcake liners into the wells of a 12 well cupcake pan.
*Chop the mint M&Ms. Set aside.
*Gently run a knife around the inside edges of one of the Oreo wafers and separate so you have 2 chocolate cookie wafers, one plain and one with the mint filling. Place the halves without the filling into the bottom of the cupcake liners, flat side facing up. Set the other halves aside.
*Beat the cream cheese, sour cream, brown sugar, and mint extract until smooth, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the chopped M&Ms.
*Spoon the cheesecake filling into the liners, about 2 TBSP in each. Top with the reserved cookie halves, cream side up. Sprinkle with the nonpareils.
*Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the cheesecake is set. Cool completely and refrigerate.

 

20 comments:

  1. Oh wow, I knew parts of your journey, but reading it in one post made me both cry and smile. Your boys really, really wanted to be born! They heard there were going to be treats in your kitchen every week, and you didn't disappoint ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was such an incredibly difficult time, and I think often of those who took that same path but did not succeed.

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  2. Had to wait to be able to see so I could type. I knew a little about your IVF journey—the fact that you went through it and that it resulted—finally—in your wonderful sons, But what a heart-wrenching, beautiful story! I’m so, SO grateful you have your boys! Luckiest days for sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so cognizant of just how lucky I was, and still am.

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  3. I don't think I exhaled once during your story. I'm still so emotional, for many reasons. It also made me think of a friend back when I lived in Wichita, Kansas, who underwent some of your same journey (circa 1979-1980), except hers ended with her and her husband adopting two girls after her ectopic pregnancy. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm surprised you know 2 people who've had an ectopic pregnancy, they are so rare. Mine was even more rare as I had it while also carrying a viable twin.

      Delete
  4. Thank you for your bravery in putting your story out there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so grateful we pushed ourselves to keep going through the process.

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  5. We didn't have to get to IVF, but it was the next step. Once i got started, they don't know how since both ovaries were "too damaged" but i had more, losing one and almost dying 3 times. It's a long road and hard, and as you found out, worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you have a story similar to mine. We both have had as much good luck as bad.

      Delete
  6. Your story brought tears to my eyes. I lost my son when I was 5 months along in the pregnancy and then my brother and his girlfriend lost their son when she was 6 months along in her pregnancy. It's a horrible feeling I know. But I am glad that you kept trying and have the family you wanted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So many people have incredible stories of strength and determination.

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  7. What an incredible story! So glad you had two healthy babies after all that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My daughter went through ine round and luckily we got 2 for the price of 1. The luckiest day in my life! Those two are my heart.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your daughter got lucky with her 2, I was grateful to end up with one from that try.

      Delete
  9. Wow, what a pregnancy surgery. I ask women all the time about their birthing stories because I don't think women are given enough chances to have their story told.

    ReplyDelete

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