Welcome Baby Matthew!!!

I spent yesterday with my daughter and son-in-law helping to bring their 2nd son into the world. What a joyous thing to share with them. Words cannot express how proud I am of my daughter. Childbirth is not for the faint of heart. She took the contractions one at a time and worked her way through. I choke up thinking about it.

Daniel Matthew was born at 2:21 in the afternoon and is a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz and 19-1/2 inches long! When you hold him, you know you've got something in your arms. :-) Early impressions are that he's pretty easy going and he's hungry ... all the time.

I also found out that the biopsy report on all 4 growths were benign. Yay! The stitches come out tomorrow. Yay again.

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. And we are.

Waiting for Daniel Matthew

Our daughter is ready to delivery grandson number two any day now. Her doctor has scheduled her to be induced on Wednesday if he's unwilling to make his debut on his own. They are all ready for baby Matthew's arrival (he'll go by his middle name) and so are we. We have the grandparents' equipment ready to go -- pack & play for a crib, bouncy seat and stroller. I can't wait to see the little guy. Grandson #1 thinks he's ready to be a big brudder. I'm sure there will be adjustments as he will no longer be the ONLY center of his parents' universe. But he's such a good boy, I'm sure he'll be a good big brother. Little Matthew is a lucky baby. :-)

Week one with the stitches is over. One more week to go. I popped a couple of stitches on my calf -- the doctor warned me that calves are hard and I see that now. It's just really hard to not stress that skin. Just lying in bed, the calf spread out and tugs on the stitches. But I also squatted down a couple of times because I wasn't thinking and started to cross my legs with that leg on top -- ouch. Who knows when it popped. I went to the doctor and they said it was healing well. They gave me "sani-strips" which are wonderful. I don't know what that adhesive is, but man, I think it would hold the wings on a 747. I use the strips to reinforce the middle where the stitches popped. The other 3 are all holding together well.

Thank goodness the stitches come out before Thanksgiving. We'll have a full house and I'm really looking forward to it. Jay's mom will be here along with our daughter and her family, plus her mother-in-law who will be down for a couple of weeks to help after the baby is born. It will be crazy and I'll be exhausted, but it will be a really nice time. And we definitely have a lot to be thankful for what with the new baby and all.

Then, it's on to Christmas! Good Lord!

Mole follow-up

It's Sunday now and I'm still feeling pretty good. I changed the bandages yesterday and everything looks good -- a little Frankenstein-ish with all the stiches, but good. There is no bandage on the one in my hair, but I still put some neosporin on it.

I'm amazed (and delighted) and how much they don't bother me! In a way, it's a problem. I don't have pain to remind me that they are there so I forget and hurt them by accident. Like when I folded my arms -- or tried to -- man that hurt the one under my boob! Or when I squatted down for something, that really hurt the one on my right calf. So I just have to remember to be careful about things like that for the next couple of weeks.

The doctor said no working out until the stitches come out. That worries me. I worked so hard to loose the weight, so not working out for so long is worrisome to me.

Moles, moles and more moles

I am a farm for moles. I swear. I've had a pretty big one under by left boob for several years now. Every year, during my annual checkup, I ask about it and, every year, the doctor says it's nothing -- it's just a mole.

This year I noticed a new one in my hair at my right temple. I asked about that in the spring and the doctor said the same thing. But it's gotten really big now in just one year. I was at the doctor for a blood pressure check (we changed up my medication) so I asked about it again. She still thinks it's not a problem, but says it looks irritated -- probably because it gets brushed when I brush my hair, I'm always pushing my hair behind my ear and I wear glasses. So she suggested that I get them both removed.

So, I went to a plastic surgeon and he agreed, they needed to go. While I was there, I asked about 2 other things that aren't moles. He didn't like the look of them and said we'd lop those off too. He's pretty sure they are basal cell carcinomas. We'll find out when they are biopsied.

So, today was lopping day. I was pretty nervous. I really expected the one at my temple to hurt. Just the thought of the injection into an area where the skin is so thin, made me nervous. I just didn't see how it wouldn't hurt ... a lot. But it didn't! And I definitely expected a bald spot for a bit, but nope! He didn't shave my hair or anything! Yay!

The one on my temple did hurt a little, but very little. And a slight burning sensation when he shot the lidocaine in, but also very little. The other 3 sites were a piece of cake. I felt tugging as he cut and stitched, but that was it. I was amazed. I was so tense going in; expecting a fair amount of discomfort. But there wasn't any. I was even chatting with the doctor and his nurse while he worked! Heavy sigh of relief.

Now I'm pretty tired ... probably because I was so tense for a while. But it's been 5 hours and I'm still not feeling horrible. Actually, I'm still not really feeling anything. I guess the lidocaine is still having some effect. Because at some point, I expect it to at least smart.

So if anyone out there is reading this and facing having moles removed, you can relax. It's really an easy procedure. Honest!