Category Archives: Grandbaby

False Alarm!

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Wednesday I went up to North Georgia to attend my depression group, and to pick up some medications from the free clinic I go to. It was a long but fun day. I stayed over night with my grandmother, because I needed to take her to a doctor’s appointment on Thursday. My mother had an appointment with the same doctor at around the same time on Thursday as well. The initial plan was for me to drop my grandmother off at the doctor’s office, pick up some strollers from my brother, and then head back to Augusta. My mother – and the friend that drove her – were going to take my grandmother back home after they finished up. They had planned to spend the night with her, and come back this morning. All of our plans got changed when we saw a weather report that said the weather could get a bit snowy/icy up there Thursday night. Since my mother’s friend had driven her up there, and her friend’s husband is going out of town for business this weekend, they really did not want to get stuck up in the mountains. Her friend wanted to be able to be back in Augusta to see her husband off.

So instead of dropping my grandmother off, and having my mother take her home, I had lunch with my mother, her friend, and my grandmother. After lunch I took my grandmother back to her house. In between all of that time, I had used my phone to email a very sweet couple – who I had been very close to at one time, and arranged to meet up with them after I dropped my grandmother off. Right before I was supposed to meet with my friends, my daughter-in-law (Krys) called me and told me she thought she might be having contractions. She was having pains every twenty minutes – that did not go away when she laid down or walked. She is technically due February 2nd, so in essence she is at that time in her pregnancy where things could happen at any time. My response to her news was “If this is the real thing, please keep your legs together until I get there.”

Poor Krys was at the house alone –  my mother and I were about four hours away – and none of us were sure if this was real labor, or not. After meeting with my friends, I started the road trip to Augusta – trying to get a hold of my mother as I traveled. When I finally got a hold of her, she was great and got a couple of her friends to go to the house to stay with Krys – in case this turned out to be the “real” thing. In the meantime, she had spoken with my father. Her version of the conversation was very amusing.

Dad: “What mile marker are you at?”

Mom: “Mile marker 90.”

Dad: “Okay, see you soon.”

Mom: “No wait! Krys might be in labor!”

Dad: “What!? I told her not to do this while you two were out of town!”

Now dad is the type of person who almost always works a little later than he has to. The person he carpools with usually is waiting for him at the car when it is time for them to go home. Not yesterday evening. This time dad was waiting for his carpool buddy – he was anxious to get home. He was also extremely relieved to find out that mom’s friends were at the house, and he would not be alone with – possibly in labor – Krys. He went to a local restaurant named “Wife Saver”, bought supper, and brought it home for everyone.

Whatever Krys was feeling, progressed to about 10 to 12 minutes apart and then stopped. While the baby (Scarlette) did not make her appearance last night, we did discover we had a very good back up plan, my dad is more than slightly excitable, and “Wife Saver” has decent food.

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Grandbaby And A Brag

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Guess What? I found out last week that I am going to be a grandmother. My son and his wife are expecting a baby. Right now the tentative due date is near the beginning of January. I suppose most women would be rather excited by the news. I want to be excited, part of me sort of is. However, I am not nearly as excited as I thought I would be when I received this news. My son still barely speaks to me, and he has already had some huge problems in his marriage (he and his wife have only been married since December). His wife is making an earnest effort to keep me up-to-date on what is going on with him and her, but I get the feeling that he does not really care if I know or not.

I love my son but I really dislike his behavior over the last few years. He has not treated his family very well. By family I refer to me, his sister, his Father (the man who raised him and loved him and adopted him), his grandmother and grandfather, great-grandmother, and Uncle and Aunt. It is as if he does not want to have anything to do with any of us anymore. From what I understand, this has become a bone of contention in his marriage. His wife very much believes family should stick with family at all times, and she is upset and perplexed by his behavior. I guess I am perplexed by his behavior. At one time I would have been upset, but I am long past allowing him to upset me.

In other news….

I have a niece who has had some trouble in the past.  As a result she is currently on probation.  The other day I had a chance to speak with her mother and she told me that the judge who had heard her daughter’s case said “You better be prepared to kick her out when she is 18 because she is going to be in and out of jail for the rest of her life.” Rightfully so, her mother was upset by what the judge said.  To me it was as if the judge was saying that this child 1. did not deserve a second chance, and 2. that she was incapable of turning her life around.

From what I understand, as part of her probation, she has to graduate, do some, in my opinion, very cool community service work, and deal with a juvenile probation officer.  Some of her community service has included working in an animal shelter run by a local not-for-profit animal rescue group, working in the office of one of the local churches, and I think even working in the office of one of the local court houses.  All of which she said she enjoyed.  Besides that, I think those community service projects were so much more educational and positive than having her pick up garbage on the side of the road.

Graduating from high school turned out to be more difficult than one would have thought.  Not because the young lady was not doing her work, but because the teacher’s, for the most part, stuck her in the back of the classroom and and basically gave her NO assignments.  Her mother went to the school principle about this and what he told the mother is that the teachers have decided that my niece had been labeled as a trouble maker and they did not see any point in giving her work they figured she would not do anyway.  After speaking about this to the juvenile probation officer, and the local school superintendent’s office, her mother placed her in a local alternative school.  She attends night classes there.

Her mother went on to tell me that not only is her daughter passing, her grades are in the A’s and B’s! Her probation officer is impressed with her turn around and the judge has been taken by surprise.  This child obviously needed the type of intervention she got from the state, probation and the probation officer, however, what really makes me angry is that other people who should have and could have helped her as well just flat out gave up on her.  What she needed has been the individual help she had gotten from the probation officer, the alternative school, and the positive role models she has had to to do her community service for.

I am very proud of her, she seems to be a happier kid, who has made a huge turn around in her life.  Not many people would have put the effort that she has put in to do things differently.  My hope and prayer for her is that she continues make good and positive decisions and actions about her life.