Friday the 13th

Yep, it's that time again, time for a new Friday the 13th on the calendar, and a new Friday the 13th movie in the theaters (which I will NOT see, thank you very much). But this one is Feb. 13, which means that yesterday was Feb. 12. In my crazy-busy Thursday, I didn't get to post here like I wanted to......but Feb. 12 is a pretty darn significant day in my life. So you get my Feb. 12 story on the 13th instead. Deal with it.

All I really wanted to do was see the Prairie Home Companion show, live and in person when it came to Charleston. I'm a nerd, freely admitted, and love listening to that show on the radio on Saturday nights. I'm not old enough to remember the days of sitting around the radio with your family, listening to musicians and corny comics, but this show is like a taste of that. So in late 2003, I heard it was coming to Charleston, and K agreed to go with me to see it. Not his cup of tea really, but we decided to make it a Valentine's Day outing since the date of the show was Feb. 12, 2004. We even splurged on the most expensive tickets, which for 2 of us cost over $100.

I was pregnant with the Energizer Bunny at that time, and as 2003 turned into 2004, things started deteriorating. Headaches, high blood pressure, forced out of work due to the need for bedrest at home....you get the picture. It was the nasty preeclampsia rearing its ugly head again. My OB wanted me to go to the medical university hospital and get a very thorough ultrasound and checkup with the maternal-fetal medicine gurus down there, figuring I would become their patient soon enough. *sigh* Appointment date? Feb. 12, 2004. It was in the early afternoon, and I figured it would be ok to ask those doctors if I could pretty please with sugar on top go to the PHC show that night. I wouldn't do anything strenuous, just sit in an auditorium seat and laugh, that's all. I'd go straight back to bed afterwards, really. I'd even put my feet up while the show was going on, and I wouldn't drive because K would do that.

Well, I didn't even get the chance to ask that question. Instead, I got my "go straight to the hospital, do not pass GO, do not collect $200" card. Yep, that's what I said. A few more hours and I would have seen the show. Who knows what would have happened to me, or the Energizer, though. I honestly see now, as I look back, that I had no earthly concept of just how dangerous PE could be, and how many moms and babies die from it, even now in the 21st century. So I was admitted to the hospital, K took Mr. Literal up to stay with the grandparents, and thus began my month-long saga of trying to hold down the BP and keep that baby cooking for as long as we possibly could. Each day was a victory, each day was a little bit closer to "viability" for him. We made it until March 8, and even by then (at nearly 28 weeks) he only weighed 1 lb. 9 oz. On the 12th, as I was supposed to be watching Garrison Keillor sing the Powdermilk Biscuits song, my little man was estimated to weigh less than a pound. The doctors said he wouldn't survive, and we were expecting to deliver in a matter of days and then watch our child struggle and die.

But he didn't. He's 3 weeks from his 5th birthday, and as feisty and full of life as any child you've met. And I still listen to PHC sometimes on Saturday nights. I had a daydream one time that they came down here again for some shows.....and I contacted them and told my story. In the daydream, they gave our family free tickets, let us meet the cast, told the audience our story, etc and showed them my little miracle boy. You never know, it could happen, right?