The Finer Things in Life

Here & There

2009-07-21T13:07:00.004-05:00

So April came and went and our Little Peyter turned the big 1. She is getting so much personality and LOVES to be outside. It amazes me how much they learn every single day. Her new favorite word is YOGI. I think its a fun word for her to say, cause she says it ALOT! She knows people by their names and points them out very quickly. She loves to play with the dogs and is very very quick. We go outside to water flowers and she runs around the house three times before I even drop the hose to go get her. Josh-Becky & Gus moved in down the road, and that has been so much fun. I'm back to seeing Josh everyday, and Peyton and Gus LOVE to hang out together. We always thought Gus was going to be the insigater but now that we watch them two together we think it might be Peyton. Oops! We finally got most of the debris from the Tornado removed. We are now working on splitting all the logs! Yee haw! The grass came in and we built a pond and a garden so it looks halfways decent. We lost 15 yard trees so we dont have any shade, but what do you do! Other then that not much else is new. Hmmm I shot a turkey with my bow in May. That was pretty cool. No blind and only ten yards away. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. Rich shot one with his gun. Whatelse is new.... I go to the Mayo Clinic next week to finally figure out what is wrong with me.. We all knew I have issues, but now they really just want to figure out what is causing them all! Hopefully they do find something and I dont have to deal with being sick anymore... YUCK! So other then that, nothing else is really going on. Hopefully I can log on more and update. I keep forgetting I have a blog!

UPDATE... SLOWLY

2009-07-21T12:56:00.004-05:00

Sorry I never get around to updating. So lets start with one of the big events that happened last year. I know there were quite a few.. Tornado in July, Wedding in September, but this is my favorite event from last year. There were so many rumors and crazy stories flying around that I’m going to tell the real story of the “Lesnar Buck”. Straight from the mouth of the HUNTER.
For some hunters, it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
For others, its just dumb luck! For Me, it was both. And man do I feel lucky!!.

Growing up on a farm had its advantages in the hunting area. We had 300 acres to hunt and lots of deer to be hunted! I started hunting when I was 6 I would sit with my mom and Dad in the tree stands. My mom seemed to shoot a buck every single year, luckily I got to see some of them get shot, and if I didn’t I at least got to help clean them up! Hunting runs in our blood! It took me ten years to finally shoot a big buck. I became a primitive hunter in my older years. I picked up bow hunting in my later teens and enjoyed the challenge of it. I wasn’t able to shoot the first animal I seen or else I would be done for the season, so I was known as what my family called me as a “Trophy Hunter.” Now, I know there are a lot of different views on hunting, some people are in it for the meat, and some people are in it for the racks. I would say I’m in it for the fun. I enjoy every aspect of deer hunting. I enjoy waking up at 5:00am and getting all my gear on and heading out to pitch black woods! It doesn’t bother me one bit to get frostbite on my nose, fingers & toes. I might complain but in the end, I still get up and do it the next day! I’ve come a long way in my deer hunting views and management. We believe in food plots, passing on smaller bucks, and giving the deer a chance to mature. During the bow hunting season it’s normal for me to pass up 3-4 bucks and go a whole season without shooting a deer. I say “shooting a deer” because I am now known as the “great squirrel assassinator,” I like to shoot squirrels with my bow, it keeps me reassured I can still aim! On November 8th 2007, 4 months pregnant, I killed my first buck ever with a Muzzleloader. It was “Hercules,” a 3year old 10pt that scored 140”. We had seen him for the first time on trail camera pictures a week earlier. To my surprise he was bigger on the ground then through the binoculars. It was a 70yd shot through the heart. It was an amazing day for me! I thought to myself how do you top that!

November 8th 2008. 5:00am the alarm sounds. I had been laying awake for an hour already. I looked at Rich and said “Can we please get up now.” He laughed and said, “ it doesn’t get dark for another hour, your going to freeze.!” I knew I would, but I was so excited to get out there. It had taken me a whole week to find a babysitter so I COULD go out, so I wasn’t missing a minute. We ran outside where to our surprise it was snowing! Yippy, I love when it snows, the temperature drops and the deer move like crazy! We suited up and were putting on our boots when I realized that my father-in-law’s porch light wasn’t on. The night before he told me if the light wasn’t on he wasn’t going out. He is an “occasional hunter” this means, he hunts maybe two times the whole season. We just like to know if he is going to be out or not for safety reasons. His light being off also meant that the ladder stand he usually sits in was open. I thought for a second and decided to switch up my plans. In July we got hit pretty hard by a tornado and lost half our trees in the woods, this made for a really hard walk to my new treestand by the river. On the other hand the ladder stand was a little easier to walk to, especially in the dark. I decided to hit that stand instead of mine.

During my travel I counted 6 new rubs and scrapes that were made within the last two days, I had sat in this stand bow hunting two days prior. This was even more exciting for me. I got into the stand, unloaded my backpack, put my primer in my gun and waited. The wind was strong and moving every which way. It circled me over and over, as I watched it I knew my chances of killing something were slim. With such a strong wind I was sure I wouldn’t be able to hear or they would smell me. I sat for a whole hour and a half with no wildlife activity. The snow began to fall harder, I could hear movement and I swore it was a deer. I stood up, turned around and watched the ridge and valley behind me. Nothing. I sat back down and heard the noise over and over. All of a sudden I heard something running from my left, I looked over to see a doe running my direction. As she was running I heard a grunt, I knew she was being chased by a buck, with my experience I didn’t get too excited because I figured it was just a small buck bothering a doe, and by the looks of the doe she wanted nothing to do with this buck. As she got closer I realized the wind changed and was heading right her direction. She got 20 yards away and stopped dead in her tracks. I didn’t move. I was still sitting when I heard the grunting again. I seen a larger deer, but wasn’t able to see the antlers. I lifted my binoculars and seen this was indeed a buck, but I could barely see it, the binoculars fogged up immediately thanks to my contacts. It had its head between two trees and it was down. I brought up my gun to get a better look through the scope, as I was doing this the doe turned around and bolted up a ridge, the buck grunted again lifted it’s head just to give me a glimpse of the crazy rack, and starting running after her. I couldn’t even count the points, as I was counting in my head, I positioned by gun on my arm, made a pathetic attempt at a grunting noise, aimed and shot. The buck was in mid-run when he took a quick left ran 5yards and fell over. I couldn’t believe it. I through my binoculars in the back pack and flew down the ladder. I actually missed the last four steps and landed on the ground, but I didn’t care! As I was running over there, I had visions of the buck standing up and running after me, too many late nights listening to hunter’s stories. I shook the vision out of my head and kept running. When I reached him, I couldn’t even see his rack and I got a little nervous, did I somehow shoot the rack off? oh oh. As I drew nearer I realized that the reason I couldn’t see his antlers is because his head was all the way back with the antlers in the ground, which made me wonder just how big he was since his head was sitting a foot off the ground. One good thing was he looked pretty lifeless to me, but I poked him with my muzzleloader anyway. I began to count then, and couldn’t keep up, I counted three of four times and everytime got a new number of points. I took a picture with my camera phone and walked slowly back to the house. Deer Opener is a huge day for everyone, I didn’t want to bother anyone’s hunt being that it was only 7:30am. So I went home looked through some trail camera pictures to see if this was “Big Boy” the ONLY big buck that we knew of in this area and we had on camera. Indeed this was not him. Then I started to think about “Lesnar” this had to be him. He was a deer that ran out in front of us three days prior. He was chasing a doe across the road about a mile from our place. It had to be him. Finally Rich called the house. He whispered “Did you shoot?” I said, “Yes.” He said “ Did you miss?” I said, “No. I think I shot Lesnar, either that or its Big Boy.” He repeatedly said, “Whatever, Yeah, Right.” I assured him I wasn’t lying and he freaked. He told me to come pick him up with the fourwheeler. He was hunting about a mile west of our place. Within 10 minutes I had 5 people there to come see Lesnar, and help me get him out of the woods. We all sat there in awe as the points were counted, and we realized it was “LESNAR” We never imagined in a million years he would come by any of us. He was only seen at night, and over a mile away from where I was sitting. We counted 27 Original points, three were busted off during a very recent fight with another buck. He weighed out at 200lbs and has an official Boone & Crockett Gross Score of: 210 5/8” and a B&C Net score of: 203 4/8. It was an unbelievable experience. I’m still in shock and have to look at the pictures every 5 minutes. I can honestly say, November 8th is my new favorite day, and I will continue to be a very strong advocate for deer management! For some hunters, it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time. For others, its just dumb luck! For Me, its passing up the smaller bucks and letting them grow to be 27 POINTERS!

My luck would have it that Brock Lesnar’s mom was reading the article in the Pioneer Press and gave it to Brock the day of his fight to Randy Couture. Brock’s attorney called me and wanted to meet. We met Brock Lesnar and his family at one of their homesteads in Independence, MN. It was awesome. Brock’s dad was my favorite. He wanted to keep Peyton and kept telling us to come back and visit!

Luck would also have it that “Lesnar” made the 2008 MN Non-Typical Whitetail by muzzleloader of the year award. He also made the 2nd largest deer shot in the world with by a women with a muzzleloader. Crazy huh! Like I said. Some say its pure luck, I say it’s the HUNTER and also luck! 

-No. I did not sell my head mount for $500,000.
-No. Rich did not shoot it and let me pretend I did.
-No. We did not have the deer tied up in the basement.
-No. We did not hit it with our car and pretend to shoot it.
-Yes. I really shot it all by myself, and I really shot it with a TC Muzzleloader.

God is great. Beer is good. And YES, people are CRAZY!

The Wonder Months

2008-11-06T14:42:00.009-06:00

Since I have over 8,000 pictures on my computer I suppose I can show you Peyton's journey through the months:

7 MONTHS UFFDA

2008-11-06T14:26:00.002-06:00

First I want to apologize for those of you who check this and get disappointed. I totally forgot that I started a blog. I think after I had a baby my memory reduced by 50%.

Peyton is now 7 months old. She is an awesome baby. She makes me smile and laugh everyday. She has already developed a strong personality. She loves to be outside, she loves the dogs, and she loves people. I didnt think she would ever be a shy baby, but I also didnt think she would be so open to strangers. People come up and talk to her all the time, and she just smiles and talks right back! I wonder where she gets her talkativeness??? hmmmm. Anyways, its been quite the year. Lets recap:

February- Grace's Wedding
April- Peyton was born

June- Peyton's baptism

July- Tornado - We lost 7 trees in the yard, and had a ton of damage!
Bachelorette-Bachelor Parties

August- Crystal's Wedding
September-Our Wedding & Deer Season Opener
October- Heather & Sammy Wedding
Josh & Becky bought a house next to us!!!!

Its just been one of those crazy crazy years! Exciting & Crazy!!!

We are still cleaning up the tornado mess and fixing damages areas. Peyton loves to be outside so its kind of nice!!! We took her on a long 4wheeler ride and she fell asleep! It was hillarious!
Well i will try really hard to update every week.

Peyton & Gus

2008-05-22T23:54:00.007-05:00

So we all have figured out that I'm horrible on updating this blog. Well, here are some newer pictures for ya'll to see! As of today, Ms. Peyton is 6weeks old. She LOVES to be outside and is getting more and more active by the minute. I know this sounds crazy, but she tries really hard to crawl and when I stick my hand under her feet she pushes off and makes it all the way across our bed! Its so much fun to watch her, I just lay there and laugh at her grunting and cooing! She also has taught herself to roll over. She is definately entertaining! You'll notice I added a picture of her frowning. Rich calls this the "Kelly Otto" frown. He swore she would come out with a frown and pigtails, and by-golly you could almost put her hair in pigtails and she definately has a frown. I can't wait for her to start talking! Me and Rich have a bet going that she will be walking by 9 months and her first words are going to be "puppy" or "monkey." Her favorite spot in the house is her changing table... I bought a $1 monkey at Walmart after Valentines day. It was intended for Lewis my dog, but I just thought it was so cute, so I kept it. Well, good thing I did. Peyton LOVES him. She lays there and punches and grabs at his nose while smiling the whole time. I find it so amusing! She is going to be very aggressive... must get that from her dad (wink, wink)

Mr. Gus- Well as you can see, he is growing like a weed. Becky texted me last Friday after his check-up and he was 18lbs and 28" long... AMAZING. He is going to be so tall. He is the cutest thing ever. He loves to push Peyton around all ready. We went over to Becky's sisters Sammy's house and had them both laying on the floor. Gus grabbed Peyton's shirt and rolled her over. I can't wait for them to get bigger and beat eachother up. I've already been preparing Peyton by having her watch fighting with Dad and Ultimate Fighter with Mom! :-) Its going to be intresting!!!!

Well, I'll try and update more later. Peyton gets weighed in on Friday so we will see how much she has grown. Her 6week weight check brought her at 8lbs 14oz. I bet she is at least 9 now!

Friends Baby Shower

2008-05-06T16:05:00.004-05:00

ECFE & Friends Baby Shower

Peyton's awesome "auntie" Bria threw us a shower on 5/3/08. Before the baby shower there was a community "baby shower" that the ECFE class in Cannon Falls threw. It was nice to see all the new babies and get some pictures of the kids together.

The shower was great, We got alot of awesome gifts and it was really fun to see everyone and how all the babies were progressing and growing.

PEYTON MAE GUSTAFSON

2008-05-06T15:59:00.003-05:00

4 Weeks Old

Peyton is the best baby! She already has such a funny personality. She has the "Kelly Frown" thats what Rich calls it, she loves to look or be outside, and she dosent stop moving. We have bets on when she is going to crawl and walk. Rich seems to think she is going to run before she crawls or walks! Shes been moving her head around since two weeks, she has a very strong neck. She likes to grab my shirt and crawl up my chest. When we go to kiss her she opens her mouth and turns towards us. She is hillarious. I'm trying to think of a nickname for her little squeaks she makes. She sounds like a baby lamb.

Weight gain- She just got weighed yesterday and is a whopping 8lbs 9oz. I find it hard to believe that she is that big because she still doesnt fit into anything. I had to buy her a couple Premie outfits. Soon enough she will be wearing some of the clothes that fill the closet!

Peyton's Journey

2008-05-06T15:08:00.005-05:00

She is here. She arrived 4-6-08 at 4:47pm, after a long 24hrs. Her journey began around 5:00pm the previous day. I had been staying at my mom and dads all week taking care of Betsy and Yogi, my mom and dad were on vacation. My rents were coming back on Sunday April 6th so I decided it would be nice to do something with the kids. We decided to go to a movie. Friday night I was having some harder contractions then I usually had, Rich came over and we actually thought about going to the hospital. I decided to just keep taking baths, and they seemed to help. I didnt want to be one of those pregnant chicks that goes in and they send you home, so I just waited it out. Saturday came and the kids and I cleaned and decided to head to a movie. Rich picked us up and we went to "Horton Hears a Who" in Red Wing. Towards the middle of the movie I got a severe headache and started getting hot. My contractions were within minutes of eachother, but not unbearable like I had been warned. I didnt think much of it. As we left the movie I started seeing big orange bubbles in my vision. I knew I had to go to the Dr. At my last visit on Thursday they said that due to my pre-eclamptic symptoms that if I got a headache and blurred vision I needed to come in immediately. Well we did.

As we left the theatre I felt bad telling the kids and Rich we had to go to the hospital so I can get checked out. Everyone was starving and we were hoping to go out to eat. We walked into the urgent care section and were greeted by Tiffany Sjoquist. I've known Tiffany for a long time, so it was nice to have someone you know help you out. They brought us upstairs and hooked me up to machines. Low and behold, my blood pressure was really high and the contractions were between 2-5minutes apart. They decided to monitor me for 3hours. The doctor came in and talked about preeclampsia and how serious it was, and expressed her opinion on inducing me. She said in my case with how everything was playing with the blood pressure and with me already dilating that she would like to induce me, I told her I would like to let it go naturally. It didnt make sense for her to give me medication to have the baby when she was progressing by herself. She obliged and said she would be back in three hours. Being that I was going to be monitored for three hours it was a perfect time for Rich to bring the kids home and feed them.

During the three hours I dilated another centimeter and my blood pressure got as high as 152/92. I'm usually a 90/40 patient so for me, the blood pressure was extremely high. The Dr. came back in and said she couldnt let me go home. I was actively in labor and my blood pressure was just too high. So the wait began.

Sad part about the whole thing was, Rich went to bring the kids home assuming I would be leaving so he just came back. So now he had to run back home and get all of our stuff! He had to do alot of running around.

The night seemed to go pretty quickly. I couldnt sleep and the contractions got harder and more painful. Around midnight they offered me some medication to simmer the pain, of course I refused. I had already made up my mind not to take any meds or take the epidural. I sometimes get weird reactions to medicines and I didnt want that to happen when I gave birth, I wanted to remember everything and not have to go into a C-section due to me passing out or falling asleep. So.. there I sat in pain. I had an awesome night nurse Maggie. She came in around every 20minutes to check on me. She would laugh as she looked at the contraction monitoring, she said... oh you had some intense ones, and you seem so calm. I stayed pretty calm the whole time. Around 5:00am is when the back labor got super intense. I decided to take a bath, and that seemed to ease the pain a bit.You hear horror stories about back-labor and how you never want to have that. Its very true. I would have been totally fine if it hadnt been for that.

8:00am came and the Doc came back in. She said I was dilated to 5cm and that she wanted to break my water. The backlabor pain got so intense, I started vomitting like crazy. Not to be gross, but I filled a whole tub full in about an hour. It was not fun. I made trips to the bathroom every 1/2 hour trying to relieve the pain by moving. It didnt help much. There wasnt anything I could do to relieve the pain. The contractions were every 1-2minutes. I would just get my bearings back when the next one would come.

10:00am my new nurse Megan was explaining to me the benefits of Nubane. She knew my wishes on not taking any drugs and she sympathized because she didnt take any drugs with either of her kids. She finally looked at me and said, "Kelly, you are being really strong and calm, but you need to take the pain meds, the vomitting can dehydrate you and then we run into more complications." I said ok. She gave me some nubane, and it didnt help at all. She said it would help my relax and get some rest. It didnt.

12:00pm- I was getting delirious. The throwing up and pain was making me go wacky. I felt like I was going to pass out and at one point couldnt get out of the bathroom. Rich got really concerned and told me to take the epidural. The nurse agreed so they brought the guy up to hook up the epidural. It took him about 2minutes and 5minutes later it kicked in. Rich said my face went from Death to Smiling. I was super sad that I didnt take it in the morning. I went through all those hours of hell to feeling perfect. So sad. My philosophy was, if they could do it back in the day with nothing, I can. Well, I couldnt. Epidurals are amazing!

2:00pm- I was dilated to 8cm and the epidural wore off so they wanted me to start pushing. We started on my back. Pushing hard every minute. It didnt work. The baby was moving down but got stuck in the canal. We moved to a "Water-Skiing" position. They brought this bar in that goes over the bed and you squat on the bed, it was crazy, I had never heard of it, but we tried it. I pushed for another hour and the doctor could see the head pretty much the whole time, Peyton just wasnt coming out. Another problem came, I couldnt breathe. Every push they had to give me oxygen, that sucked and I was getting really weak. Finally I had the feeling that I was going to pass out, so I pushed with all that I could and she came.

Peyton- She came out quiet as can be. They set her on my belly and she stared at me and blinked twice. Being that she didnt cry or make any noise they quick took her and gave her oxygen. They wouldnt tell me what was going on and it seemed very very quiet for the next ten minutes. The Dr. wouldnt say a word. I knew Peyton was ok because she blinked at me but I didnt get to hold her for quite some time.

She came out with a full head of black hair, she weighed 6lbs 7oz and 19.5" long. She didnt even cry for the first day. It was amazing. She slept everytime we had company and would be wide awake after they left.

Thats the start of Ms. Peyton's journey.

Mr. Gus

2008-02-15T07:45:00.004-06:00

I visited with my nephew and brothers on Wednesday. That was really exciting. Gus is getting so big. He is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen. He has big chubby cheeks and an awesome smile. He can really burp too! Josh is a very proud daddy. He takes pride in his little boy! I cant wait for Peyton and him to meet. I have a feeling little Peyton is going to give his as much hell as I gave Josh! It will be fun to see how genetics and personality combine!

Catching Up

2008-02-15T07:35:00.005-06:00

I know, I know. I'm really bad at updating this blog. I'll soon make a habit of at least once a week! I'm currently 31 weeks. Its been going pretty darn good. There have been a few minor issues but everything seems to work itself out. At my last appointment the baby weighed 2lbs. Its still a girl, she hasnt mysteriously grown any new parts. Rich has them zoom in just to check. We've heard so many stories that "they said it was a girl, it came out a boy." I hope not, I finally decided to incorporate a little "pink" into her bedding! I had been dead set on making a camo bedding set, I already had some really nice fabric from work, but now, I've decided to either make a pink/brown set, or buy one on ebay. We will have to see.

A few things have been happening. First I have been swelling quite a bit, it seems to have disapated a little, but my ankles continue to swell. I'm retaining water like most pregnant woman, but I'm slightly dehydrated. At first it didnt make sense to me, then the dr explained that water can enter the blood stream or "pool" in the skin, mine is pooling, causing me to retain water instead of using it. Bummer.

I previously was diagnosed with Placenta Previa. The placenta was covering the cervix, in 99% of the cases they move. Luckily, I was in the 99% range. Yippy. That means no scheduled c-section! I'm also having braxton hicks contractions. Those started in th 27th week. The contractions seem to just come and go. I dont really pay attention to them. Sometimes they hurt, but to me they just feel more or less like my cysts popping so I just do my thing. Its kind of weird, but fun.

So far we are calling the baby "Peyton." I'm pretty sure thats going to be her name. I've been exhausting other options as well, but Peyton and Reagan are our two favorites.

Peyton seems to not want to sleep. She moves 24hours a day. The Doc said she thinks its because the baby is uncomfortable. Great. Its cool and all, but sometimes I think she is trying to climb out. I'm thinking she is going to be a very active child! I'm going to add some more GATES to my registry!

The last ultrasound was great. The tech said she hasnt seen such an active photogenic baby in a long time. She actually had her foot turned around and was sucking on the toes. We got to watch her tounge move in and out. That was really weird. She is very flexible! We also got some good looks are her face. She looks just like Rich to me. She kept giving us frontal shots where you could see her face. At one point the ultrasound tech had to wait for me to stop laughing. I swore I seen a dimple chin, like Rich's. My mom and Rich didnt believe me so the tech zoomed in. I think she is going to look just like Rich. If you look at the picture it sure looks like a dimple chin to me!Hmmm whatelse. I have a Dr. appointment today so I will try and update this coming week!

BABIES

2008-01-05T19:24:00.002-06:00

CURRENT BABIES BORN
-Sophie Serene Sjoquist -Clinton & Bonnie Sjoquist - 9/1/07
-Gus Micheal Otto- Josh & Becky Otto - 12/28/07
-Miley Kay Pagel- Taylor & Mindi Pagel - 1/5/08
-Lukas & Victoria Hemmah- Ted & Lori Hemmah - 1/7/08
-Mason King- Nick & Johanna King- 2/11/08

Lots of friends for our little girl!

"Its A........"

2008-01-05T19:08:00.001-06:00

Best Christmas Present Ever.
Rich and I decided at our 21 week ultrasound that we would have the Ultrasound Tech print of the "sex" pictures and put them in an envelope and possibly open it for Christmas. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I didn't want to know, but Rich and I were hoping the first child would be a boy. I loved having olders brothers, and Rich wanted someone to pass on his name. He is the only "Gustafson" boy. I wanted it to be a suprise.

Well.... Christmas day came, and we wanted to know. We waited to about 2:30pm and open the present. Rich's mom had framed and wrapped it up. Rich opened it, and we stared for awhile, then busted out laughing. It was a GIRL. Everyone was so excited. Rich looked nervous. His first words were, "you know its going to be a girly girl, she is wearing pink and doing girl things." His sister, mom and me all just laughed at him. His sister said, " do you know who your fiance is?" We laughed. If anyone knows me, you know that I am not your typical girl. So, he was already preparing himself for a different mind frame. I on the otherhand had a feeling it was a girl the whole time, so I was estatic to find out what it really was. Rich is still nervous, and very excitied. Everyday he says " I just cant wait for her to come," "she is going to love the puppies." or he will make some comment about her having an attitude. I dont know why he would think that? :-) He currently calls her "KJ" for Kelly Jr. I already know she has a temper and is stubborn, she doesnt stop kicking and punching and when I poke around at her, she kicks right where I'm poking. Hopefully that means she has good aim.. Good for softball players!!!!

Other then finding out we are having a little Kelly, we were also informed that I have Marginal Placenta Previa. This means that the placenta is covering the cervix. In 99% of the cases it moves and everything is fine. With my case, they are going to doublecheck on my 28th week check-up. Being that I have a small uterus it may be diffcult for the placenta to move like it normally would. If that is the case they will schedule a C-Section. Soooo after my January 16th Appointment I will update. :-)

HERCULES!

2007-11-09T14:15:00.001-06:00

The journey of Kelly Otto's 10 years of hunting starts at the age of 12 years old.

My first sit was horrible. From age 12-16 you are required to sit in a stand within-50-100yds of an adult. So I was going to sit by Pa. He had a stand all picked out and everything was going great. The day of opener morning, we get up at 5:30am, get all dressed in our beautiful blaze orange and head out to the big bad woods, in hopes of killing a big ole buck. If anyone knows our property there is lots of land and plenty of places to go. Well my dad, being the wonderful man he is, he wanted me to get a deer for sure, so we went behind the house "in the valley" I was to sit in an old stand in the valley, we got their and the tree had fallen down. We stood in disbelief. So the next option is to have me sit on a log. I was fine with that. I had a my dad's old 4-10, which to this day, is still my favorite gun! Anywho, If you know anything about hunting, its a waiting game. You wait for deer to get restless walk around, go to a field, get up to eat, or go bed down. Another tricky thing to hunting is direction. No matter what, odds are you are facing the wrong way. It sounds like the deer is coming in front of you, when in reality it comes behind you... Well that was the case for me. I had been hearing this crunching noise and assumed it was coming from my left. Well it wasnt I heard a snap, and turned around to find a huge deer 25 yards behind me. To my advantage the sun was shining and the deers silloute was perfect. Again, I am sitting on a log, so I try to turn around, which after three trys, I successfully did. I was so excited and suprised. I sat there in silence until he started moving again. Mind you I was in a really brushy area and trees were everywhere, the deer would stop behind a tree everytime he stalled. So i brought up my gun and started to panic. My first thought was "the bullet is going to hit the tree and rickashay(spelling) and come back and hit me." Anyone who knows me, I have ten concerns for every event. So I sit there, and waited. Well in the meantime, the buck is walking farther and farther away. So I stand up and full the trigger. Click. He hears the click sees me try and sit down, snorts and jogs away. I was so sad. I sat there sulking for the next hour and 1/2. I wanted to cry, and maybe I did, I cant remember. I hadn't put a bullet in the firing chamber. How stupid. My first day deer hunting by myself and I blew it. Needless to say that nice big buck is now on our wall. I cant remember if it was that day, or that night but my mom shot it! :-) It was a beautiful 8 point monster! That was the first start of my bad luck. Now if I had to tell you every badluck story from the age of 12, we would be here all day! Further more, it was year after year of weird events. One year my new 870 Remington locked up, and I had to use my dad's 12 gauge. He had used it forever, very reliable gun, no problems. First morning I sit out with it, I go to shoot a 10pointer jumping over the fence at the edge of the field, and the gun falls apart...... How does that happen? Bad Luck.

The Tale of Hercules: November 8th, 2007. I raced to my car after work in order to make it in time to hunt. I get done at 4:00pm and you cant shoot after 5:25pm. I was in a hurry. Rich had left the previous Sunday for Iowa, he was in great hopes of finding his own monster to bag. If anyone has heard tales of Iowa, they grow some of the biggest deer in United States! I was on my own journey to kill a monster. It was 4:45 by the time I finally was climbing into my stand. Well, it was actually Rich's stand that I was forbidden to sit in. I had no other options, with the wind and not knowing if Rich's dad was sitting in my other stand, I had to take the chance of climbing into the 25foot stand. I was forbidden to sit in that stand for the reason, obviously I was four months pregnant, but also because the pegs on which you climb into the stand were like 5 feet a part. Furthermore, it took me a little while to shimmy up the stand. In the meantime, my muzzleloader strap gets caught on the last peg. I stall hanging on for dear life. Oh well, I can just crab it when I get up into the stand right? Nope. I get up there and realize that its at least 4-5 feet down from the platform. So I do what any normal person would, grab my rattling antlers and proceed to try and hook the strap on the antlers. Rattling antlers are two antlers tied together with a string to make rattling noises to make the bucks think there are two more bucks fighting. They get curious and want to join in on the fight. Male thing. :-) Anways, so there I am, flat on my stomach trying to get my gun up into the tree. Finally I succeeded. I was sweating from being so nervous and paniced that I had to sit down for a second. As I moved to sit down my backpack, which was open from grabbing the antlers out, fell out of the tree! The loudest noise ever, not only was everything falling out one piece at a time, the bag got stuck on a branch about ten feet down and was dangling. I had to take my muzzleloader and break off the branch, which made in even more crashing noises. By the time I got back up and stood in my stand, I was furious. I couldnt believe all this was happening. I was so excited to go hunting that night, and it all seemed to be ruined. I stood there fuming, with heat steaming off my head.. I looked up to see a 6 pointer trotting across the field coming directly at me... I stood there in disbelief. I had made the loudest noises and been in my stand less then 5 minutes. I laughed and stood there. The 6 pointer came within 15yards to my left and started walking into the woods... I was just watching him in amazement. He was so curious at all the noise that I was making that he walked right to me... So weird... As he is moving around and eating branches I try to turn to watch him. The snap on the bottom of my pants comes undone and makes a scratching noise on the metal platform of my treestand.. Great... The deer looks at me and grunts... I laugh, then I hear a louder grunt.. I stood there wondering if I really had just heard that. So I turn around to see a black blob. I knew that it was a deer, and an old one at that. The darker the deer, the older. I couldnt believe it. The "big" deer was grunting at the lil guy, and didnt even notice me. I was in a weird postion. Facing left trying to turn 90 degrees to bring my gun up so I could look at him through the muzzleloader scope. He was walking up the hill away from me, about 65 yards. By the time I got a good look at his rack, I had seen the left side, and it looked pretty darn nice, so he is at least 70-75 yards away now going UP a hill and facing the wrong direction. Of course, thats my luck. I grunted he stopped, turned to HIS left and I aimed for the heart and shot. He didnt even flinch. He looked my direction, and took off up the hill. I quickly reloaded my muzzleloader, thinking I missed. I sat there in disbelief, first for the fact I thought I missed, no way... I missed, 2nd because I head grunting from the other direction, and the 6 pointer was still standing there. If anyone has shot a gun before you know how loud it is, a muzzleloader is even louder. I sat down to think about what had jsut happened. Had I really missed, I instantly thought of what I would tell Nate, Rich's cousin. He was hunting in the valley to my left. I thought I would just tell him I shot at a coyote or something. As I'm sitting there astounded at the fact that I just missed a deer after taking 10 careful years of planning and preparing to "Shoot the BIG ONE." Then I heard a bunch of grunting again. To may far right there were deer coming out into the field. Another weird event. I just shot a LOUD muzzleloader not 100yds away and the deer were coming from everywhere. All these years I thought they were SMART animals. Anyways, I decide to get down and check out the deer that I "missed" it was useless for me to sit in the tree any longer, even if I seen a huge buck I couldnt shoot at it, just in case I got the other one. By this time it was 5:15pm, 15minutes of daylight left... So I hobbled down the tree. Picked up all the loose items that fell out of my backpack, hiked down the valley to where I shot the buck. No blood. I was furious. Mad at myself, and mad at the deer. So being that I am halfway up a hill I decide to climb all the way up to overlook the other field. I get half way up the hill and hear a grunt to my right. I dropped to my knees and looked down the trail to see a doe coming towards me.. She moved her head looked at me and snorted, then I heard a grunt follow her. Now I really had to take a time out. Not only did my gun get stuck on a tree step, my backpack fall out of a tree, I shoot at a deer and cant find blood, now I had deer walking right up to me while I am sitting on the ground. I stood up, looked at the sky and said " What the heck is going on." At that moment I decided to head back, I turned to the left and saw a glimse of white. My first thought was, "No way," another deer. I walked towards it and soon realized that it was MY BUCK. Hercules was down! I named him as I stood there and stared. It was amazing. He looked like a sleeping dog. I didnt touch him. I called home to get some help.

Mom and dad came to the rescue. Dad helped me drag it up a ways, and we drug it out at least 300yds down a trail into the field. THere of course my dad gutted it for me. I had to take the fourwheeler down the the house to get my "buck tag." I came back and we realized it was my bear tag. SO needless to say by the time I got back with the right tag my dad had finished the job for me. Dad's are great aren't they. So that pretty much wraps up the big "Hercules" adventure. Rich didn't believe me when he called. He knows that I've been waiting FOREVER to shoot the "right deer" so he just laughed and said "whatever." He finally believed me when my mom got on the phone. He came home the next day, he was too excited, he just had to see it. Men. We scored it, 141 2/8" Pretty good size for my first buck. Yippy! I already wrote in the "Baby Journey" book that the baby had already accomplised shooting it's first buck! 4 1/2 months old and already a goodluck charm and good hunter!

2ND ROUND

2007-10-23T11:27:00.000-05:00

OCTOBER 16ST, 2008
Beginning of week 13. Yippy. So what did I get for reaching 13weeks. PAIN, PAIN, PAIN. This wasnt pain like I had before. I have had cysts bursting for 5 years, I have had a 6"cyst removed from my left ovary, and the pain I was experiencing wasnt compariable to any of that. It was in my actual abdomen, then moved to my whole stomach down to my ovaries. I would sit, it would hurt, I would stand, I would have to sit just so I could breathe. To say the least, it was not normal, and I felt like I ate a box full of knives. So off to the Dr. I go....

Wednesday October 17th, 2008
I am informed that of the .15% of people I am lucky enough to have my uterus POP up from my pelvic area. Never heard of that before.. but whatever. I havent heard alot of the things they have been telling me over the years! The doc. also informs me that my corpus ludius cyst bursted.. Okay whatever. I'm just wondering about this damn uterus popping thing.

Doc. Informed me that because of my wonderful ovarian disease, I never experienced normal cycles, which there fore did not allow my uterus to stretch. When women are going through their menstrual cycles, and you experience that cramping, that is your uterus stretching to help shed. Well, I dont experience that wonderful cycle, in return I have a very small UTERUS. GREAT. So her parting words to me were. You are going to be in pain for a long time. NICE.

We were brought to the ultrasound room to check the ovaries, and gallbladder, and ultimately the baby.

It wasnt a piece of rice anymore. It was an actual baby. head, feet, hands, spine, toes, fingers, eyes, chin... I didnt see a butt chin so I was excited. Rich was disappointed. The only thing I ask for is NO BUT CHIN! :-) The baby was JUMPING like crazy, "trying" to do a somersault. It was crazy... I was in so much pain from the ultrasound tech pushing down that it was a little hard for me to get the full effect of seeing the little thing.. but man was it entertaining. You have to picture a 5-6inch baby jumping in a tiny uterus. It had no where to go.. but it just kept moving around. I was glad it was only 5-6inches.... when that thing starts getting to the 10"mark.. I'm in alot of trouble! OUCH.

So things have been a little on the rocky side. I learn somethign new everyday. They havent said if having a small uterus will complicate things. I think they are afraid to tell me anymore weird news. I ask too many questions! Mainly.. Are you kidding me? :-)

So week 14 is better. Its Tuesday and I'm at work so that has to be a plus!

I'll try and update daily.. Probably wont happen... But at least weekly...

1ST ROUND

2007-10-23T11:15:00.001-05:00

The first round was a bit rough. I was blessed with MORNING & NIGHT SICKNESS. Again, something I learned along the way. I didn't know people could have both! Crazy! So they gave me medication right away. It's seriously a miracle drug! Works like a charm. The only downfall, it dosent help the PAINS. Oh yes, not only did I do I get to have morning & night sickness. I get stretching GALORE. So far this little devil has been treating me sooooo good! NOT. The really bad pains started ON THE DATE of my 2nd Trimester. What are the odds.

The picture to the right is me at my bestest bud jackies wedding where I was.... hmmmm 6 weeks pregnant! I didn't know. Good thing I didn't drink that much! I was craving sprite most of the night! :-)

The Rocky Beginning

2007-10-22T14:11:00.000-05:00

Lets start from the beginning:
Once upon a time there was this man and this woman... they lived in WELCH. They were a happy little couple. They went hunting, fourwheeling, tubing, all the fun things you can think of! The week before the couple went bear hunting, the woman got very ill. Ill to the point of no food or water for 3 days. The woman became dehydrated and had to go to the hospital. They pumped two bags of IV fluids and told the woman she had the nasty flu/stomach virus that was going around, and to try and keep down fluids. The woman went home to lay on the couch for the 7th day..... Two days later....
A phone call came from the Doctor's office. They had some news about the blood test they ran and wanted the woman to call back right away. This was a Friday at 5:30pm. The woman called the hospital and the DR. was no where to be found. The woman assumed they were going to tell her she failed the LYME'S DISEASE test. The nurses station took her call. She was connected with the nurse that took care of her for her hospital visit. She informed the Woman to sit down. The woman stood. The nurse said, " Well your blood test came back positive that you are pregnant." She continued, " with you situation and your disease, we are unsure if this means you are truly pregnant or if you hormones are producing HCG hormones." The woman listened. This was babble to her. The nurse continued..."we need you to come in immediately to do another blood test." The woman said, "well I'll have to come in next week, I'm going bear hunting."

And that is the beginning of the journey for Miss Kelly Otto.

To say the least, it was a huge suprise. For those of you who didnt know, I have a disease called PCOS. Its an ovarian disease that can cause inferitility. Its crazy. I get 40-50 cysts on my ovaries a month... what happens is instead of releasing eggs like everyother normal woman, every egg turned into a cyst.... it never reached that pushing through the ovary stage! So it was seriously a miracle!

I switched to Red Wing, for the fact that Cannon didnt even run a dang pregnancy test before they injected me with 3 different harsh medications during my hospital visit. The nurse asked me after the 2nd drug, did Dr. Turna run a PG test.. I said No. So my confidence in Cannon took its last toll that day!

So being that it was August 31st the friday before labor day weekend, I obviously didnt get into the Dr. Office until that following Tuesday, September4th. They ran a blood test to test the HCG levels. (pregnancy hormone) I got a call back that night saying they wanted to see me the next day for an emergency ultrasound. They weren't sure what was going on, I was unsure of what was going on... so our official ultrasound was:
September 5th....
They found the grain of rice, which to my suprise was a baby! It was crazy. I though they were joking, but there it was. Weird! They took a gander at my ovaries to find 40 some cysts on my left ovary, and 50some cysts on my right. The Ultrasound technician said the baby was going to be a persistant little bugger to make it through all the cyst folicles and get fertalized. I agreed. If it is half as stubborn as me, its definatley going to be and ULTIMATE FIGHTER! :-)

More to come.......