Cabbage Patch Kids? No…Eggplant Babies

          First off let me just start off by saying I love each and every one of my children and being pregnant with them was a true blessing. I have done doula work for women for many years and every time I witness a birth it is a true miracle. With that being said, I must admit that my body isn’t like it used to be.

          When I was 16 I got pregnant with my first daughter. With the pregnancy I had morning sickness but nothing newsworthy. Hardheadedness and determination lead me to a 20 hour long natural birth. When labor started I couldn’t even believe it was real.

          With my second daughter I was the same way, morning sickness: nothing major. I carried over by ten days and had to be induced. Two and a half hours later, she made her appearance into the world naturally and I walked from recovery to my room.

          With number three, I didn’t contract. I just couldn’t sleep. I went to the hospital at 38 weeks wanting them to give me something to knock me cold. When I got there the nurse said it was policy to be checked. So, I let her exam me and to my surprise found I was dilated 5. So they put me on Pitocin once again around two a.m. and at 4:23 a.m. she was born naturally.

          Baby number four was a little difficult at first. I developed hyperemesis gravidarum, a rare form of extreme morning sickness which Princess Kate has just been recently diagnosed with in her pregnancy. My heart goes out to her. It’s pure misery. I was hospitalized twice during that time for severe dehydration and I was almost five months before I could keep down solid foods. After the sickness let up, I had a healthy pregnancy, other than occasional vomiting throughout. At 38 weeks I woke up thinking my bladder was leaking and went to the bathroom. After helping my SIL clean out her garage that day, at two p.m. a bigger gush occurred and I realized my water was leaking. So I went to the hospital and they confirmed it had indeed “sprung a leak.”  Contractions never came and I once again was put on Pit. Three hours later she was born naturally with no complications.

Number five….God bless her. Since birth she has been a handful, but pregnancy with her was easy. Regular amount of morning sickness and no false labor.  However, at four p.m. on a Friday during week 38, I found myself stuck on the toilet and had to call my aunt for help. When she engaged in my pelvis it made it to where I couldn’t stand. They got me to the hospital and confirmed I was having contractions even though I didn’t feel any. My now ex-husband and I were having some problems at the time and I found my natural labor stressful. By nine p.m. I was hurting bad. By ten I had cussed every nurse, my husband, and my mama. She was born at eleven ten p.m. on March 31^st. Fifty more minutes and it would have been April Fool’s Day. I had never acted that way in labor before, and afterwards realized how embarrassed I was by it. I apologized to the nurse a million times. That baby girl is now seven and a half years old.

          That brings us to now. I have recently re-married. My new husband has four kids of his own and I have five. I am in my 38^th week with our first child together. I am 33 now and boy is it different. Not only did I have morning sickness, I have ached and hurt physically this entire pregnancy.  I stay hot all of the time which I never remember complaining about with any of my other children and some of them were summer babies. This one is a December baby and also my first boy. I have had pubic symphasis dysfunction for over two months now and every time I sit and stand it’s like knives shooting into my hips. The round ligament pain has been unbearable at times and I have to move really slowly when I get up or my knees will buckle from the pain. It has been horrible. So bad in fact that I would tell any woman who is waiting to start a family in her thirties that she is crazy. Do it in your twenties.( Even if that means a career hold.)  It’s also made me consider my doula work. Normally I work with teen mothers and young single mothers because they have no birth support. It’s made me realize us thirty year olds may need that support worse that the younger women. PersonalIy,I am so ready for this baby to be born. At night it’s hard for me to breathe because it feels like he’s up in my lungs. If he hasn’t made his entrance by Friday, I am going to attempt to make Scalini’s Eggplant Parmigana.

           Scalinis is a restaurant in Smyrna, GA that is famous for making women go in labor with their eggplant dish. So far there have been over 900 babies that are considered Scalini Eggplant Babies because their mothers had them within 48 hours of eating it.  I am so ready to try anything at this point. Since we are attempting a home water birth this time around, I am hoping to avoid the Pit drip. Hopefully the eggplant will get things started. I will post an update. A.S.A.P. on if it worked or not. At my last checkup I still hadn’t dilated any and my last four pregnancies I was dilated three for the last three weeks. Hopefully this labor will be smoother than the actual pregnancy.

Review- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II

**SPOILER ALERT***

          I just got home from watching the 10:00 viewing of Breaking Dawn Part II and although I have four and a half fingernails less, I have to say I was pleased if not completely excited on how they showed everything. I feel sorry for the people that were still standing in line for the midnight viewing when I left. They were there when I got there at 8:45 and the line was wrapped clear around the building when I was leaving.

          I do have a few quips about the beginning being a little off from the book as Bella and Edward were the only two in the room when Bella awakes and she didn’t move fast like she did in the book or spin off of the table. That had me worried, but after the first five minutes I was hooked and the way they changed the hiker in the woods to a rock climber was better to me than what I pictured in the book itself.  Her dress didn’t get as disheveled when she was fighting the mountain lion, but little changes like that I can live with.

          Now, let me say that Edward and Bella had one more hot night in the

new cottage. I think the lovemaking scene was actually better than the honeymoon in part 1. Sexy, sexy is all I can say on that. No headboards were broken but it was definitely smokin.

          I laughed when Jake had to tell Bella that he imprinted on Renesmee. It was funny to actually see him a little scared of her.

          Mckenzie Foye played a perfect Renesmee Cullen.  The CGI they did on her face was great. Now the scene with J.Jinks didn’t go down quite the way it should have, but it got the point across as far as what Bella knew about her own fate. Now as far as the rest of the story line goes, they held pretty much to it. Until……

          Yes, people. You were promised a surprise ending by Summit and let me tell you they delivered.  This is a MAJOR SPOILER ALERT. At the end of the book Alice shows up at the last minute and shows Aro what proof she has found that Renesmee isn’t a threat to their way of living by showing him her thoughts. This holds true in the movie but then there is a fight scene that didn’t occur in the book and the first thing you see is Aro pulling Carlisle’s head off and setting him on fire. I thought for a minute there was going to be some type of riot in the theatre the screams were so loud. As the fight progresses, Jasper is also killed along with Seth and Leah Clearwater and Alice and Sam Uley kill Jane. Bella sends Jacob away with Renesmee clinging to his back for dear life. Bella and Edward kill Aro in a kick ass tag team effort. By this point, I was shaking I was so angry that they killed off so many main characters. Then it goes back to Alice standing in front of Aro and it’s realized that the whole thing was just her vision of his future if he decides to take the path he has chosen. Needless to say Aro concedes and nothing happens. Alice of course comes through and Nahual appears with his aunt and then everyone learns that there are other half vampire/half humans in the world.

          The movie ends in the Bella and Edward’s meadow instead of the bedroom like it did in the book, but I think it was fitting. Edward gets to hear Bella’s thoughts for the first time and everything is perfect. After all they do get their happy fairy tale ending and move on into the depths of Forever.

          I have heard Summit is planning on continuing the franchise without Bella and Edward. I don’t see how, but I’m guessing it follows along the lines of Jacob and Renesmee. I don’t agree with doing that because their story isn’t Twilight, but we'll see in time.

          Hats off to Stephanie Meyer. She is an excellent author as well as a great producer.  I can’t wait to see her next project The Host.

         

Eden's Gate Givaway

I am giving everyone a heads up. Something good is headed your way!!!! I'm giving away copies of my new book Eden's Gate. So mark your calenders for November 1st and make sure you enter to win!!!!

Robert Pattinson Junkie Patrol

Ok, everyone who personally knows me, knows I have a thing for Robert Pattinson. I can't explain it and yes, these days it's almost cliche. I am a total twi-hard and twi-mom. It's ridiculous I know. I am just a fan. I'm sure everyone out there has some celebrity that gives them goose pimples when they see him or her, so stop judging. I do however have a problem with some of the things I see online like: How can I get Rob's address? Who is his agent? Is he coming to so and so? All I can say to that is WAKE UP YOU FREAKS! I know the odds of me personally meeting him is 4,000,000,000,000 to 1 and if I ever did get the chance, I hope I would have the civility about me to not go stupid fan girl on him.

In all honesty, I think I would just want to be his friend. It would be cool to just hang out and listen to him play his guitar or ask him questions about acting and his life. Real questions not that media crap. He answers the same thing over and over when he is promoting his work and as an author I think I would like to know some of his perspectives on other artists. Since I live in Mississippi, I think I would just want to take him to all of the blues history locations and maybe The Elvis Presley Museum in Tupelo. Here, he could probably get by without being noticed for the most part. I bet he could walk into the McDonalds I'm sitting in currently and walk out with a Big Mac without anyone knowing who he is. I'm not even kidding. Most people I talk to around here are like who's Robert Pattinson? Of course, I think they are all out of touch with reality, but whatever. I don't even have to buy my tickets to the Twilight movies ahead of time in the town I'm in and I only have wait in line at the midnight shows for about an hour. Usually I'm at the front of the line.

Reading is my hobby and writing is my passion. I wonder sometimes about celebrities if acting is really their passion or not. It would be great to have a friend as funny as he seems to be in interviews and still be down to earth when the cameras are off. I might be wrong, but he catches me as that type.

So this is my message to all fans of celebrities. Being a fan is important, without you there would be no movies made, but when you go all stalkerish, it makes the rest of us look like idiots. Celebs will stop taking their fans seriously and start hiding. If a person has to hide all of the time from their fans, it changes them and causes them to lose their realistic qualities. So, STOP BEING FREAK STALKER IDIOTS! That is my rant for the day! Thank you and keep reading.

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

WARNING!!!! Spoiler Alert!!!

I would like to say right off the bat that...WOW!!! I mean...WOW!!! It has been a long time since I've watched a movie that packed that much of a punch. I gave a great review for Part 1 but this was totally the best one of the series.

I took my twelve year old daughter with me to see it and I asked her as we were leaving the theater how she would rate it on a five star scale. She said five and a half. I totally agree. Five for following the story so closely and graphic art. Half for good measure as Hermione would say. The effects in this film were awesome to watch and the sound was incredible the way the speakers reverberated Voldemort's voice. Daniel Radcliffe brought it in this film by being able to feel Harry's pain. It made it all so real. I held it together even though someone two rows over was blubbering like an idiot when Harry finally realizes his fate. There were plenty of sniffles and a few coughs from the guys.

I did notice several differences that were changed like the lost diadem was in a box not on the head of a statue and they mentioned Ariana one time but never told the story of what happened to her. To me that was a key point. I also noticed the cups were not hot like they were supposed to be in the Belatrix's vault. That kind of took away just a little but only briefly as Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly pulled you back in. What I did like that they changed was the battle scene inside Hogwarts. That completely blew me away. It seemed to be more than what I envisioned from the book and that made me happy. I have to say that there are a lot of sad Potter fans tonight I am sure, as the end of an era has finally happened but, those of us who read the books cried our tears over the end of the era back when it was first published. Seeing it all put together on screen actually felt more of an accomplishment than an ending.

I will say the best quote from the movie was directly out of the book. It came from Molly Weasly and it earned applause, whistles, and I even heard someone say, "hell yea!" It was: "Not my daughter, you bitch!" As a mother of five daughters, I could not have agreed with her more.

With everything I expected and then some, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be a family favorite for years to come.

Black Hole Time Warp Springfield Trip 2011

So today is the second day here in Springfield. I got wisked away Sunday evening for a girl's road trip that ended up being a surprise trip to come see my husband up here for the week. After a seven hour drive we finally arrived yesterday morning around three a.m. We stayed up and I didn't sleep at ALL! So yesterday we went on a walking tour of downtown while my hubby was in his classes at THR University.(He works for Treasure Hunter's Roadshow.) We started out at The Union Station Visitor's Center and got all the info we needed. We left there and went to the Lincoln Memorial Library where they have an excellent civil war exhibit right now called The Boys in Blue. I saw a real picture of some fallen soldiers at The Battle of Corinth. It was gruesome. They also have a sketch exhibit of all of the fallen soldiers that have died from Illinois after Nine Eleven. It brought tears to my eyes to see how many young kids we have lost in the last ten years.The average age of the deaths was around 19.

We left there and ate lunch at Maldaner's restaurant. It was great. The place has been there since 1884. The ambiance is worth the visit with it's metal tile ceiling and low lighting, it could be a great place to take a lunch break or pop the question to your honey. They had an awesome lunch special. We had prime rib with mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans for $6.50. The service was awesome. I can't wait to go back. It totally gets a five star rating.

We left there and went to see Abraham Lincoln's house. It was really interesting to see where that great president lived. I actually touched things that he had touched in his life and it actually felt like I was in a piece of history. The houses here are very historical and beautiful.

After we left there we went to place called Robbie's and got a beer to cool of. The setting there was also nice. It reminded me of one of those old mob movies and I expected Bugsy to come walking through the door at any moment.

Last night we ate at the Mexican restaurant next to the hotel called Los Cabreros. The food was ok but the margaritas were what rocked the night. Afterward I finally got a good nights sleep.

This morning me and my friend Alisha set out on a mission to go to the beach at Lake Springfield. Somehow, we got sucked into some kind of Black Hole. I'm not even joking. We were on one road and then we weren't. Then we were on the other side of the lake. Neither of us could figure out how we got to where we were. We found The Lincoln Nature Center on accident and took a hike down the trails. It was very cool. The exception was the swarm of locusts that have invaded the ares for now. I felt like we were onto something of Biblical proportions there for a minute. After we left there we finally found the beach. It was closed. Figures. We turned down one road and realized we were back on the road we started on like we never left it. Alisha and I have come to the conclusion that we were victims of the Route 66 version of the Bermuda Triangle and it just spit us back out where we started.

So far it has been and adventure. Who knows what lies in store the rest of the week or the rest of the day for that matter.

Soul Food Buffet Review

I have to say that when my great-grandmother passed away seven years ago, I thought I would never get to taste her homemade fried chicken again. It was one of the many foods that I loved of hers to eat. There was something about that chicken that just gave me a feeling of calm. So my thought was when she went, the chicken went with her. I was wrong.

As I walked into the Soul Food Buffet on Bankhead Street in New Albany, Mississippi, The first thing I noticed was the aroma. It was a soothing comforting scent of my Maw Maw's kitchen. It's a simple place with just three small food bars but good golly what's on them will send your taste buds straight to heaven. As me and my family sat down at one of the home upholstered booths, the waitress came up and took our order for sweet tea which in the south is a food staple all to itself. I have to say the tea was just like I make mine at home. Yum. There was a salad bar on the far wall but I'm not going to lie, I skipped it heading straight for the two hot bars that had my attention from the time I walked in.

They have oval shaped plates and round plates. I opted for the oval shaped plate since I was planning on trying a little of everything. On the first bar was hash brown casserole, baked macaroni and cheese, chicken and dressing, cornbread muffins, peach cobbler, and corn. The second bar had homemade lasagna, turnip greens,fried okra, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, giblet gravy, green beans, pork neck bones and last but not least fried chicken.

As I bit into my drumstick, I almost cried. It was exactly like my grandmother's. I wanted to go and find the cook and hug her neck. Everything was so delicious. I finished my meal with a piece of strawberry cream cheese pie. I was so stuffed I thought my husband Randy was going to have to roll me out the door. He actually ate two plates full of everything. It's $8.99 for adults to eat the buffet and $6.99 for kids age 4-10 but that price includes your drink. On the weekend the price is $12.99 but that includes all you can eat catfish and ribs.

I can't wait to go back. On a five star scale I give them a five which doesn't happen very often from me. The server was prompt, the food was incredible, and I felt a sense of peace like my grandmother was with me. If you get the chance, make sure you go by and check them out. I promise you will not be disappointed.